[h1]QUICK FACTS[/h1]
Type: bullet-hell roguelike
Developer: Eiros Hentai Games (ok)
Publisher: Nofit (ok)
Price: €6,59
Est. playtime: 3-6 hours
Censorship: no
[h1]THE GAME[/h1]
[b]MECHANICS[/b]
Reincarnation Asura Zarandara (RAZ) styles itself as a bullet-hell roguelike. You control a character moving through 2D dungeons , encountering monsters that attack you in real-time with barrages of ranged attacks. Defeating the monsters requires dodging as well as both ranged and melee attacks. In between fights, you collect power-ups and gems, that can be used in between missions to further enhance your abilities.
[b]STORY[/b]
You play as the cursed emperor Zarandara and his wife Vrinda, who fight to restore their empire. The story takes place on an apocaliptic future earth, where humanity has been driven underground after being nearly wiped out. Assisted by a shaman-like figure from another tribe, you try to cleanse the world from the so-called black carnage while preventing Zarandara from being consumed by his curse. As the names of the titular characters suggest, the story dips heavily into Indian mythology.
[b]QUALITY[/b]
From the offset, it’s clear that RAZ has been developed by an indy studio. Interestingly enough, they have made a few unconventional choices for the H-genre – controls, gameplay, interface, music, drawing style as well as story theme are probably all somewhat diferent than you’re used to. This in itself is a refreshing change of pace.
Unfortunately, not much of it is good. The gameplay looks promising at the start, but gets repetitive quickly. The enemies you encounter are fairly easily dispatched, after which you spend most of your time collecting hundreds of crystals scattered around the many maps. Which takes beyond forever, because your character is slow and the pick-up range very short.
The story, while original, is presented in a convoluted fashion, with a barrage of exotic names and terms being fired at you in rapid succession. Add to that a messed-up translation with broken grammar, and you’ll probably lose track of what’s happening five minutes in. The game doesn’t feel finished, either: the user interface in particular is clunky and bland, and the gameplay sometimes buggy (though not game breaking).
[h1]THE GOODS[/h1]
[b]SUBJECT[/b]
The lewd in RAZ is mostly about monster-emperor Zarandara having intercourse with his wife Vrinda, which according to the story is necessary for defeating the Black Carnage. In fact, they’re having sex non-stop: your main character in the dungeons is actually Zarandara carrying a tied and mostly naked Vindra around while engaging in the act.
Keywords: [spoiler]big breasts, bondage, humiliation, monster, pregnancy, public, straight [/spoiler]
[b]CONTENT[/b]
An animation of Zarandara and Vrinda having sex, with various clothing options for Vrindra. Several scenes made out of static CG’s. I can’t tell you how many exactly though, as I couldn’t bring myself to complete the game.
[b]ACCESS[/b]
The animation of Zarandara and Vrinda is permanently visible in the lower bottom of your screen while you’re inside a dungeon. In those dungeons, you encounter buffs every so often that change Vrinda’s outfit. In between dungeon expeditions, there are visual novel-style scenes which usually involve sex.
[b]QUALITY[/b]
The quality of the lewd is somewhat amateurish and, more annoyingly, inconsistent. There are pretty decent CG’s, but also stuff that looks like the artist chugged down a bottle of vodka halfway through the drawing, then finished it with his/her eyes closed.
[h1]VERRO’S VERDICT[/h1]
I’ve tried very hard to like Reincarnation Asura Zarandara, because I do so much appreciate the efforts of indy developers that try to build original, actual H-games. And RAZ does have potential: with slightly smoother controls, a bit more balance in level design and progression, consistent artwork, an experienced English-speaking editor and some overall polish, it would have been a solid product. In its current state however, it doesn’t meet the bar, even for an indy game.
(The dev has announced updates though, so I'll check back later and update this review if necessary).
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