Original Release: House of Black Dream Fantasies, PC, 2013
A foundational hentai doujin Metroidvania that shows a lot more effort than usual for these sorts of games
The Paradise Fortress of Repure Aria (PC, House of Black Dream, PC)
Where to Buy: DLSite
Review by: Master-B
Repure Aria is a very popular (in the “H” community) title from the early 2010s when these types of doujin adult games were starting to explode. The scene has become choc-a-bloc with these sort of “monster cuddling” platformers since, but this game still stands out as a true sprawling Metroidvania with a huge map full of recursive unlocking and complex boss battles. Though it’s been out since 2013, it didn’t get a proper English translation until late 2021 (and I believe native gamepad support was added at that time as well).
It’s also interesting in that the “adult” content is almost in the background as compared to its focus on story and dialogue. We begin playing as a boy who wakes up in some sort of demon world with no memory, and the game’s first five minutes or so are actually its roughest bit as initially you have no powers whatsoever and what you’re doing is only very slowly explained. But eventually we learn that you’re sharing a body with some sort of princess of this monster world, who tells you you’ll need to make it through a giant demon castle to set things right. You can then transform into the girl, who basically becomes the “default mode” of the game and has the ability to use magic to defend herself. But at first she doesn’t have the ability to do much but throw fireballs and wall-jump, you’ll have to Metroidvania around to power up.
Most of the sex content comes from playing as the nervous young lad, who is immediately set upon by horny monstresses when they spot him. This is actually to your benefit most of the time though, as they can sometimes confer new powers on your team in return for his enseedening them. Sex with different monster types/factions also contributes to an affinity meter that can lead to some optional doors and side stuff being unlocked throughout the course of the game. And you’ll also eventually gain some new characters to play as. With the huge map and all the backtracking, there’s definitely a huge amount of overall gameplay content.
If there’s anything to criticize here, it’s that the gameplay is a tad on the basic and sloppy side. Levels are also graphically simplistic for the most part, with better detail reserved for occasional individual rooms such as shops. The sprite work is solid and on the detailed side of things, however. If you have any interest in these sorts of affairs, it’s a no-brainer to check out at the about $6 DLSite is asking for right now – you get a whole lot more value at that price than for games that charge 2x to 3x that amount.
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