[h1][b]THE SHORT GAME OF THE PRINCESS[/b][/h1]
Sometime ago, i'm pretty sure I saw this game on DLsite or some other website, but I didn't bother picking up, though I couldn't quite remember why. After playing it briefly, I realized that i'm glad I didn't double-dip on this one-- it's a very short experience, and the difficulty lies in whether you choose to have Estelle lose her virginity or not. Anyway, let's begin this review.
[h1][b]THE STORY[/b][/h1]
The story in this game is basically laid out for you in the first few minutes of the game, the game's synopsis, and if you scroll down and look under story. How do I feel about the story? It's bland, like the majority of H games out there. It's not the first time this sort of premise has been used, and there's quite a few strategy games that employ this sort of plot device that you can pick up on DLsite if you scrounge around a little and look for SLGs.
[h1][b]THE GAMEPLAY[/b][/h1]
Pretty simple, you can move your units as many tiles as you want if they're your tiles(indicated in blue). Touching an empty red tile or trying to attack an enemy will end the turn of the unit that was moved, and if the enemy on a tile is defeated, you will capture the tile as well. Aside from that, I mostly found myself using the archer to chip away at enemies on first hit, deal damage with the soldier, and then finish off with mage. I almost never utilized the Knight or Armor Knight, and somewhat utilized the Guardian Dragon-- they do virtually no damage and cost too much to heal to be worth using.
Don't engage an enemy if it puts you in a point where 2 or more enemies can attack you at once, try to bottleneck them if you're having issues. As stated earlier, the game's difficulty lies in whether Estelle is a virgin or not, and there ARE endings tied to the state of her chastity. With how short the game is, learn the game by popping her cherry as soon as you can, then go for the virgin ending on the second run; the game's short enough, and easy to understand to do as such.
[h1][b]THE GRAPHICS/VISUALS[/b][/h1]
Aside from Estelle and the CGs, everything else, from backgrounds, to units, etc were stock assets in RPGmaker, Wolf Editor, and various other engines that you can lift assets from.
[h1][b]THE AUDIO/BGM[/b][/h1]
Much like the graphics, everything is stock-standard stuff you can lift from various engines and websites, with the exclusion of Estelle's voice actress. In other words, basically nothing to write about, though I will admit that I enjoyed the vocal performance, it was pretty expressive in a good way.
[h1][b]THE H CONTENT[/b][/h1]
I have to say it every time I write a review for an H game:
This is the section all of you are interested in.
To summarize, it's mostly just PZR, Mouth stuff, non-con, and eventually consenting(mild corruption, I guess). There's a few tags that some might be interested in, namely Somnophilia and Hypnosis, but it's very light, and there's only like... 8 CGs with a few variations. The H content is light, in other words. If you're a complete freakin' weirdo like me and have been in the H game scene for over a decade, you'll definitely find this game's H content severely lacking(alongside the game itself...).
[h1][b]MY PERSONAL ENJOYMENT[/b][/h1]
I'll be honest, I was strongly considering filing for a refund. The game definitely isn't worth $8, especially with how long it is, but I played it long enough that I could consider it a "minimum wage" level game, so for what it's worth, if you consider game duration versus price, then it's priced properly.
The game itself wasn't very fun to play, and gave no explanation on how to actually play the game, but it's not difficult to understand. Did I enjoy it? No, not really, but it made an hour slide right by, so I guess it's somewhat okay, at best.
[h1][b]THE CONCLUSION[/b][/h1]
The Winning Secret of the Newbie Strategist Princess is kind of a pain to play, but there's definitely worse out there. If you want to be silly, you can probably just pick the game up, grab the adult patch from OTAKU Plan's website, and maybe get a quick fap, then refund the game after. The game's short enough to do all of that within the refund window.
[h1][b]THE VERDICT[/b][/h1]
[h1]3/10[/h1]
Skip this one, unless it's on sale for 50%(or more). I'm not cheap enough to refund a game I beat, but I will definitely say that the game is [b]NOT[/b] worth $8. The only reason why the score is as high as it is is because the vocal performance was entertaining, and Estelle's dobonhonkeroos are just about the right size for my weirdo tastes.
