[h1][b]Saint MariBUGGY[/b][/h1]
Let me begin by prefacing my long, degenerate history buying H games on DLsite and other stores that sell H games. Believe me when I say this game is awful on so many levels, and is more or less a cash grab. I've been buying and playing good and terrible H games for over a decade, and while the visuals and character customization may seem like a decent reason to buy this dumpster heap, it's not. Anyway, let's begin the review.
[h1][b]THE STORY[/b][/h1]
Saint Maribel's story basically takes place around the medieval times, basically swords and magic. The Succubus Queen, thought to be dead, was revived-- or rather, a new one was appointed. It's "the main character's" job-- yes, she's supposed to have a name, but doesn't, and you can't even name her- to stop the succubus queen from running rampant. Don't bother trying to understand the story unless you're playing in Japanese, because the English translation is basically machine translations copy and pasted from Google Translate. It's pretty standard fare on level of confusion.
[h1][b]THE GAMEPLAY[/b][/h1]
Saint Maribel's gameplay is what you'd expect from any trashy H-ACT game. That is to say, it's just terrible. Attacks lock you in place based on height, but you can cancel attacks with jumps or dodges, and the animations are all sorts of jank and half of them looks like it should hit in a wider area but doesn't. You will also fall through the world a LOT, or get stuck in areas and be forced to exit to the world map, having to go through areas you already cleared. That sort of alleviates the necessity to grind, at least.
Aside from that, the flow of the game is similar to Odin Sphere, or Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, if anyone has played it. In fact, I believe Saint Maribel's systems were inspired by Odin Sphere. The map system, the fact that each stage is a circle that loops until you transfer areas, the POW gauge, and how eating food gives levels and restores HP as well as increases maximum HP, it is 100% trying to be Odin Sphere. However, unlike Odinsphere/Vanillware's works, Saint Maribel falls short on every aspect, which is no surprise, given it's probably worked on by a tiny team.
[h1][b]THE SOUND/MUSIC[/b][/h1]
Music: Standard unity stuff
Sound: Standard unity stuff
Nothing new, here. If you've played any low-quality cash grab UNITY Engine games, you'll find most of the same here.
[h1][b]THE VISUALS[/b][/h1]
The graphics and assets are all standard UNITY-made assets. You can probably find most of them on UNITY's asset store, and other websites if you bothered to look for like 10 minutes, heck, nothing in this game screams "original", not even the Succubus Queen or protagonist.
It's just a bunch of generic assets smashed together and a really trashy UI that makes even the worst MMO UIs look super good.
[h1][b]THE H CONTENT[/b][/h1]
The section most people who look at these types of games care about.
Courtesy of the adult patch you can get on Azucat's ci-en page(check one of the discussions on the forum), you can turn this game into its original R-18 state. It's 100% free to grab it, so download and apply it if you want it. I'm sure that's what most people getting this game is interested in to begin with.
The H Content is sorely disappointing. The limited camera control and poor angles, the janky, lazily-made animations, etc, everything about the H content is just... bad and generic. If you're looking to buy a game that has good H content, don't even bother with this one. Just buy like... Karryn's Prison or Ideology in Friction here on steam.
[h1][b]THE CONCLUSION[/b][/h1]
This game is a hard pass. Even if it were to go on sale for 80% off, or even 95% off, it's not worth the time or money. Just skip it on all fronts. It's not good for killing time, it's not good for H content, it's just a heap of garbage.
If you want to buy an actual good H-ACT game that features [i]BETTER CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION[/i] and IS NOT BUGGY, go make an account on DLsite, learn how to purchase points, and buy a game called "Holy Knight Rika"/聖騎士リッカの物語 白翼と淫翼の姉妹. That game is basically this one, but infinitely better, and isn't a buggy mess.
[h1][b]1/10, SKIP THIS GAME AT ALL COSTS, IT IS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME OR MONEY[/b][/h1]
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[h1]Additional Input/Thoughts[/h1]
The TL:DR is just above this section.
I was actually playing this game very seriously for review purposes, as I do any other H game. However, while I was trying to get the achievements and whatnot, they apparently don't even register. I've already met the conditions for several of the achievements, but I haven't gotten any. Not only that, the game simply boils down to spamming the first active skill you get(fires like 5 magic shots), and spamming dive attack-- you can alternate between the two to trivialize most of the game. However, you still have to grind Mana and Medals to gain levels. The way the game works is, if you're a high enough level, or low enough level, the damage you deal or take will be 0, so you can just grind to trivialize most of the game-- as tedious as it is to play this junk.
