July 2018 Eroge Releases

It’s summer, the time to enjoy the hot springs (AkabeiSoft3’s Haru to Yuki,) or fulfill some promises with divine beings (Alumi Soft’s Wanko no Yomeiri ~Youkoso! Inu no Shippo e~). Nitro+’s newest offering, Minikui Mojika no Ko, shows the ugly side of people, while CLOCKUP’s Erewhon welcomes you to a mysterious crimson-hued world where you are viewed as a bringer of good luck. If you’re looking for something a little different, look no further than Qruppo’s Nukige Mitai na Shima ni Sundeiru Watashi wa Dou Surya Ii Desu ka?! Can you protect your chastity!?

The theme this month is apparently a trip to the rural countryside. A good chunk of the games backing out of the high school settings for a breath of fresh air feels refreshing even when they may not be stellar games to play. So here’s to a month celebrating summer with more than just swimsuits. 

Erewhon

Company: CLOCKUP
Game site: Erewhon
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
It all began when Yukihito happened upon a handwritten note about a village that does not appear on any map. He had just quit his job, and set out in search of this village in the depths of the mountains. It was a place where the camellia bloom out of season, the autumn colours come out earlier than usual, and red flowers are everywhere. The forest surrounding him was so intensely red that it felt like it would drive him mad.

When he came to, he found himself in the village of Kimachi. He had collapsed at the edge of the town and had been asleep for three days. The villagers welcomed him as a marebito, a divine being that brought prosperity and happiness. This year was particularly important for them, as it was the time for the special Hanasaki Festival, held once every twenty years. He was fetted with two beautiful women who attended to his every need. They were born for continuing this treasured ritual dating back to ancient times: to welcome the god that will visit them.

The mysterious traditional setting came through in the trial, and it was clear that it will also feature a lot of H scenes on top of any plot since you have two girls bestowed upon you and you have to choose one before the festival. They start off the game with Carl Busse’s poem “Yama no Anata” (“Over the Mountains”), so it’s likely that the theme will be similar: the search for happiness elsewhere, but in the end returning home teary-eyed without finding it. But I guess at least while you’re there, you can have some fun.

Personally I am a complete sucker for rural folk legend type stories. There is something appealing about the setting giving an air of simplicity. So in theory I should like this idea. Sadly though when they start over sexualizing the cultural traditions I can only sigh and strike yet another game off my to play list. What really gets to me is how it all happens, the ease of which the women are objectified and given to him as tribute. I could accept the protagonist fulfilling some condition to be defied in the local shrine. From this foundation a story needs to be built. Clockup made the mistake of moving far too fast with a plot that is definitely not anything unique. We already know more or less some of the story from the start so it is understandable to try and skip some things. However they went too far with the heroines. A shrine maiden that serves the shrine and thus the living god in non sexual ways would have been about the limit I could tolerate. Sure the sacrificial maiden concept is meant to appeal, and I understand that. But this is no longer evokes such feelings as they discarded most of what drives any empathy. Giving the protagonist two sex toys to choose from means any depth or interesting development of the cultural setting and characters goes right out the window. Of course there is going to be some attempts to do so later, likely dark sides and blah blah. We know how these go by now. So what it boils down to is rather than an interesting story about a setting not a high school, we are given an excuse for justifying whatever H scenes the makers can think of because it’s religion.

Haru to Yuki,

Company: あかべぇそふとすりぃ (AkabeiSoft3)
Game site: はるとゆき、
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
The small ryokan Yuki is located deep in the mountains, away from the other hotels and ryokans of the hot spring town in the Tohoku region of Japan. It has a unique system where the guests and staff are free to dress however they want on the ryokan grounds. While it is possible to bring your own clothes, there are some available for rent too. The staff also takes requests from guests on what to wear. However, it is forbidden to be naked outside of the baths, and you can’t touch the staff, as expected.

Wouldn’t you like to stay at an unusual ryokan like this?

Ah, there’s other strange things aside from the cosplays, but don’t mind it. It’s just some dead people that come for a stay, but since they possess physical bodies that can be touched, you won’t be able to tell the difference from living beings anyway. Yuki welcomes any and all guests, so please pay them a visit!

The protagonist Haruto is a staff member at the ryokan. I guess he has to submit to cosplay requests as well. I guess the game’s mostly focused on the cosplays. Who doesn’t like to be served by girls in nurse outfits, china dresses or mini yukatas?

Exact opposite of above really. Similar setting but more a light hearted excuse for cosplay. Not much more than offering a variety of outfits for the heroines to use during the H scenes. Only really worth it if you find any of the heroines appealing.

Minikui Mojika no Ko

Company: ニトロプラス (Nitro+)
Game site: みにくいモジカの子
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
Suteru was bullied daily by his classmates because of his extremely ugly looks. He possesses an ability called ‘mojika’, which allows him to ‘see’ the true feelings of others by looking at them. However, he could not stand the malicious thoughts about his appearance that he saw every time he looked up, so he sealed away his ability by only looking downwards.

Then one day, a classmate that he had a secret crush on confessed to him… but when he looked at her fearful face and saw her true thoughts, he realized that it was not genuine. It was at that time that he finally decided that he will change the world and seek revenge on the entire school.

I can’t say that this is the type of game that I like playing, but I do like how it is presented by Nitro+ with more of a first-person view (at least in the trial). Bullying is a major problem in the education system and it’d be nice if it can be properly addressed in the story and not only used as a device for humiliating and raping girls (not matter if they ‘deserved’ it or not). Poor Miyu. She’s really got no way out of it. I’m also curious about Tsubaki’s situation and past, and why mojika doesn’t work on her.

I do agree that the response to bullying should be hands off as long as no serious physical harm is done, let the kids decide on their own if they wish to submit or do something about it. That said the methods here leave a lot to be desired. As the famous saying goes “Two wrongs don’t make a right” and bullying isn’t such a big deal that the others deserve anything worse than what they inflicted. Still though, I find the whole concept rather annoying given the problem is the protagonist themselves. Especially as in the end he chooses to blame everyone else and get even instead of improving himself and how he deals and or addresses others. Either learn to be confident and tell people who have a problem with you to “fuck off” or just accept a life of being passive like every other eroge protagonist. All the hand holding and coddling over the issue just makes things worse. Well truthfully the issue is completely the parents fault, in at least ninety percent of such cases. And they should be the ones facing criminal charges in my opinion. But this is why the backlash is a more modern thing, instead of offering guidance while letting the kids develop emotionally and learn to sort out their issues on equal footing in preparation for being an adult; Parents are either dismissive and ignore the kids or blame others and expect the problems to be addressed instead of teaching.

Point being Nitro+ hasn’t made a good game in a long time. They tend to like darker games which is fine and all, but trying to be controversial is not a good choice. Especially when projecting a protagonist that is a horrible human being in a realistic setting dealing with actual problems people face in the real world in the worst way possible. Usually I am against any form of censorship or suggesting that games or music cause violence. However, this is practically a how to instruction manual for angry kids on how to deal with their minor issues like humanoid shaped scum. All we need now is some asshole to commit some crimes while owning the game to bring things into a negative light that causes problems for the entire industry. I really really hope this doesn’t happen, not that I would mind if Nitro+ went poof, but don’t ruin it for everyone else who has more sense.

Very unlikely to happen unless it gets localized, which I don’t see happening any time soon.

Would be even worse then. But doesn’t have to be anything too major just lashing out in one way or another to cause a public backlash that politicians would use to further their own ends.

PV

Motto I×SHE Tell Mini – Ayaka & Yoshino Mini After Story

Company: HOOKSOFT
Game site: もっとIxSHE Tell 彩楓・芳乃ミニアフターストーリー
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
This is the fandisc for IxSHE Tell, with mini after stories only for Ayaka and Yoshino. It doesn’t seem like there’ll be after stories for the other heroines. Just like with the Making＊Lovers fandiscs, you’ll get to choose between different outfits.

Fandisk for a game I already forgot existed.

Wanko no Yomeiri ~Youkoso! Inu no Shippo e~

Company: あるみそふと (Alumi Soft)
Game site: わんこの嫁入り ～ようこそ！いぬのしっぽへ～
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
This low-priced title is the first game by Alumi Soft. Taiya is the only son of a shrine priest, and his dream is to become a pâtissier. Caught between his dreams and reality, his life completely changed with the arrival of twins Koharu and Azuki. They had dog ears and tails and introduced themselves as divine messengers who came to marry him as promised. Eager to change the dated image of the shrine, he decided to open a ‘shrine cafe’ and asked for their help in making it turn into reality.

Twintailed doggy girls voiced by Akino Hana and Mikoshiba Koyori. That only is worth the price of admission! The SD CGs are pretty cute too and cafe-themed games are always relaxing to play. I’ll probably check it out.

Wankopara.

Cute Resort ~Shiyou yo Ecchi na Activity~

Company: Digital Cute
Game site: キュートリゾート ～しようよエッチなアクティビティ～
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from June. This is Digital Cute’s 10th anniversary work and also their first fandisc, covering Musumaker, Otome Switch and Tincle★Twinkle Festival!. Cute Resort is a premium luxury resort where guests can openly enjoy both ero and leisure. However, nowadays it is only visited by virtuous guests and the important ‘ero’ is nowhere to be seen. It had become just like any other resort.

Aiming to accomplish its original goal of being an ecchi resort, the ‘Ero Cute’ management group decided to invite three full-fledged perverts who would not hesitate to do erotic things in front of others to enjoy the facilities. Their two-night stay with their sex partners will be the most perverted and erotic time that the resort has ever witnessed.

Fandiscs usually are all about the H and you can bet that Digital Cute is going all out on this one.

While not my type of game I appreciate them being direct and honest about what they made. Here’s a brothel for our established characters, go have fun.

Digital Cute heroines are pretty high on the perversion scale.

Grisaia: Phantom Trigger Vol.5

Company: フロントウイング (FrontWing)
Game site: グリザイア ファントムトリガー 第5巻
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
This is the fifth volume of FrontWing’s all-ages Grisaia: Phantom Trigger series. A few weeks have passed since SORD successfully resolved the Kitaoka University terrorist incident – albeit with some sacrifices – when Murasaki’s older sister Yuuki returns to Japan to rejoin Class A. Being more sociable and capable than her sister, Yuuki immediately befriends the other students and builds a trusting relationship with them.

“There’s no reason for me to be at Mihama anymore…”

As Murasaki starts questioning her raison d’etre, she reminisces about the time when she first met Haruto.
Lamenting his lack of experience, he had come to her village hidden deep in the mountains in search of new skills.
Where could he find this supposed “secret art” that is said to have been passed down for generations…?

“I’ll never forgive you…!!”
“It’s okay… Don’t worry… I’m not… going anywhere… I’m here with you…”
“I’m stumped… It’s exactly as she said – and there’s no way to cut a phantom…”
“Come on. Chin up… Show me your courage…”

Their fateful meeting was also the beginning of a tragic story…

“Won’t you… give me the order to kill my sister?”

I can’t even be bothered to cringe at Frontwing anymore. They have reached the realm of creating a singularity of awful whereby I cannot conceive there being any possible means to compress things into a higher density of bad. I suppose this in itself is an achievement of sorts so credit where it is due on that. The company is in desperate need of an intervention though. Someone needs to take their computers, pens, pencils, and anything else that might be used to write away from them so they can do no more harm to the brain cells of humanity.

Boku no Amayaka Seikatsu -Seishou-chou Kankouka, Mainichi Ecchi na Locodol Katsudou!-

Company: Carol Works
Game site: ボクのあまやかせいかつ‐星湘町観光課、毎日えっちなロコドル活動！‐
Release date: July 27, 2018 Delayed to September 28, 2018
Comments:
As soon as his summer vacation started, Hikari was called to the Seishou town office where his older sister Meika and cousin Niina worked. He was shocked when they told him that since they had used the budget for the Seishou Shiosai Matsuri to cover up a previous mistaken order, it was clear that some of the planned events at the festival would have to be cancelled. They were afraid that there would be found out and fired in disgrace, and expected him to do something about it. Meika sensed resistance from him, and took drastic measures. She forced him to dress up as a girl and work as a temporary worker doing PR for the town’s tourism division. Together with help from Niina’s imouto Eiru, will the festival proceed with no problems?

There’s two clear lessons to take away: 1) if you screw anything up, get your younger sibling to fix it; and, 2) girls will do a better job of PR than boys. And for some reason, it all ends up with them having sex together. Well, it’s an eroge after all. Hikari passes the cute trap test with flying colours.

In all fairness girls being better at PR isn’t exactly a surprise so at least his reasons for cross dressing are better than those found in Ensemble games. Pretty straightforward story though, girls get protagonist to do their job for them and pay him in sex.

Iegami Nyoubou ~Zannen Bijin na Byakko to Dousei Hajimemashita.~

Company: Casket
Game site: 家神女房-イエガミニョウボウ- ～残念美人な白狐と同棲始めました。～
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
The protagonist was entrusted by his parents with watching over his grandparents’ house for a month during his summer vacation while they were travelling overseas. It’s been ten years since he visited the rural village of Toshimasu, which has a population of only around 100 persons. He was bored to death, but soon he met a beautiful lady with fox-like ears and tail.

“Long time no see, my husband. Do you remember our promise from that time?”

Ukano was an iegami, a divine spirit that protects the home, and also his wife? So suddenly begins his cohabitation life with an admirable yet doting goddess. Along the way, he finds out about the bonds with others and what he wants to do in the future.

Casket is affiliated with Reon, mainly focused on low-priced games with a single non-human heroine. I’m not sure if breast sizes are measured differently for fox goddesses, but that is not a 90.

What is with everyone escaping the city in favor of the rural outdoorsman style H scenery this month? Not much to say about this one other than maybe they are illusions? 

Shukusei no Girlfriend -the destiny star of girlfriend-

Company: mirai
Game site: 宿星のガールフレンド -the destiny star of girlfriend-
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
One day, the ordinary student Seiji was attacked by monsters. His classmate Yuuri came to his rescue, fighting with mysterious powers that he had not seen before. However, she was unable to repulse the monsters and they suffered serious injuries. Her superior rushed to the scene and used life magic to save them, binding their lives together with a magical red string. As a result, they had to stay within a meter of each other for the next three months until their lives were no longer at risk. That meant that he had to live together with the beautiful Yuuri, who he had always admired.

Unlike mirai’s debut work (and those published under Lillian), this game is strictly an ADV with no battle elements. It is the first of three games, with the other two focused on Maja and Kanoko. Another story with an ordinary guy suddenly getting to live together with the girl of his dreams. Makes you want to become an eroge protagonist, doesn’t it?

See above with magical girl instead of fox ears.

Shin Koihime†Musou -Kakumei- ~Son Go no Ketsumyaku~

Company: BaseSon
Game site: 真・恋姫†夢想-革命- 孫呉の血脈
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
This is the second of three new Koihime titles, expanding on the events from Shin Koihime†Musou and focusing on the Go faction. There’s a couple new generals and strategists, but I’m mostly interested in Renfa, Shaoren and Minmei. One more year and I’ll get to see Shuri and Hinari again! Hawawa!

Baseson is officially the new Circus. What makes that worse for me at least is they have managed to turn war boring. Still stand by the biggest problem being lack of real story, all the games are harem fests for no good reason. Even if they try to resolve a few Baseson end up adding more characters anyway. A shame really, as Baseson scared away everyone else from using a similar setting. Would be nice to have actual writers use the same backdrop.

Nukige Mitai na Shima ni Sundeiru Watashi wa Dou Surya Ii Desu ka?

Company: Qruppo
Game site: 抜きゲーみたいな島に住んでる貧乳はどうすりゃいいですか？
Release date: July 27, 2018
Comments:
This is the debut work for Qruppo. Seiran Island is a paradise where perverted sex is permitted by law. The transfer student Junnosuke is a proud virgin that steadfastly values chastity. He believes that there should be no sex without love, counter to the rules imposed on the island residents. However, those who do not have sex are subject to immediate arrest, fellatio and intercourse! Will he and his friends be able to escape the clutches of the student council and disciplinary committee, known as the ‘SS’? Their battle to keep their virginity begins!

It’s a ridiculous plot for what seems like a nukige, but is actually a stylish escape and battle comedy. The heroines all have their own reasons for not being subject to the sex rules, whether it be looking like a loli, misconceptions of being a slut, or just being plainly forgettable. The trial was engaging and fun to play. I recommend that you try it out. It appears that the scenario writers and artists are all rookies. This may be the dark horse for this month. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen some nice OPs.

Only real problem I have is the stupid setting. You don’t need to make silly laws for this kind of story. In fact by manipulating the setting in such a way weakens the humor of it in my opinion. If it was a more normal island could have more fun with the setup for situations the protagonist had to escape from instead of building motivation into the setting itself.

Seiran Island sightseeing promotion movie

Koi wa Mofumofu! Love Me Teddy

Company: KATE
Game site: 恋はもふもふ！ ラブ・ミー・テディ
Release date: July 27, 2018 Delayed to August 31, 2018
Comments:
This is the first title by KATE, a sub-brand of MORE. On the last day of a study tour to a rural hot spring town, Shunsuke rashly decided to peep at the women’s bath. However, it was a mysterious bath which had been closed to men since the olden times and he was immediately turned into a teddy bear by some strange power. He still hadn’t yet realized what had happened when his classmate Arisu entered the bath.

He was in a panic, thinking that he had been found out, but he looked just like a teddy bear. Arisu took interest in him and took him home with her. Thus began his life together with her, but being a teddy bear wasn’t his only problem. If he got an erection from sexual excitement, he would temporarily return to his human form (and naked at that)!

You’re a fucking teddy bear!

Yes, yes you certainly are that.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Koi wa Mofumofu! Love Me Teddy
2. Nukige Mitai na Shima ni Sundeiru Watashi wa Dou Surya Ii Desu ka?
3. Wanko no Yomeiri ~Youkoso! Inu no Shippo e~

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Nukige Mitai na Shima ni Sundeiru Watashi wa Dou Surya Ii Desu ka?
2. Iegami Nyoubou ~Zannen Bijin na Byakko to Dousei Hajimemashita.~
3. Shin Koihime†Musou -Kakumei- ~Son Go no Ketsumyaku~

Teddy bears are a girl’s best friend.

Arguably a guy’s best friend as well.