Bara Blood - The Crimson Heir

Premise This review reflects my personal experience with the game. While I aim to write thoughtfully and as fairly as possible, my reviews are subjective in nature and should not be used as objective metrics to assess/critique a game. I also curate a steam group which focusses on reviewing BL/Bara/MxM VNs. Feel free to join if you would like to see more reviews! :) [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/46061383-Gay-Games-Vault] Gay Games Vault[/url] [code] SECTION | SCORE --------------------|------- Writing & Story | ★★☆☆☆ Representation | ★★★★☆ Gameplay | ★★★☆☆ Art & Direction | ★★★☆☆ Recommendation | ★★★☆☆ Completion: 3 hours [/code] Writing & Story — ★★☆☆☆ Story once again feels secondary in a Male Doll game. During the journey through treacherous forests and a holy land, you meet several bosses, but there is very little opportunity to understand who they are. Bosses receive a still image and perhaps two or three lines of dialogue, then you are quickly returned to the platforming. That is particularly unfortunate because some of these encounters could have given the journey more personality. A boss does not necessaril…

It's a decent game, with some caveats. $10.99 seems a bit much for what's here (and I bought the Deluxe Edition to support the studio since I like them). My playtime is nearly 2 full playthroughs, I died on the not easy difficulty near the end and had to start over. Continue didn't work, it just started a new game for me. More on the difficulty later. The spritework is nice. Though I found the CG sprite work a bit lacking comparatively. I'd expect a bit more detailed than what we ended up with. The resolution is also pretty low on them. The music loop is pretty noticeable, otherwise it's serviceable. The gameplay is pretty simplistic. I didn't like the mapping on controller with dash on triangle/Y, that felt awkward. And you cannot dash mid-air. It's a lot like another game they made, that cop one. A Mega Man-Lite. I find the special weapons largely useless to use because they fire so much slower, are situational and you don't get the ammo back when you revive so for boss fights you just end up with your main weapon anyway. And that has a much higher DPS. Difficulty wasn't bad, but I died multiple times due to the game itself. The trigger for the enemy sex encounters telepo…

[h3]At a Glance[/h3] [b]Recommendation:[/b] Recommended with Caveats [b]Format:[/b] Platformer [b]Lead:[/b] Gay Male (Implied) [b]Character Design:[/b] Bara, Monster [b]M/M Framing:[/b] M/M-Exclusive [b]M/M Desire Framing:[/b] Shame-Free [b]Romance:[/b] No Romance [b]Sexual Content:[/b] Explicit (Visual) [b]Content Advisory:[/b] Dubious Consent [b]Best For:[/b] Players seeking a short, sex-focused gay platformer featuring muscular male monsters. [b]Not For:[/b] Players seeking romance, substantial narrative, forgiving checkpoints, or extensive content for the price. [b]Playtime:[/b] Approximately one hour to reach the final boss; campaign not completed. [h3]A Closer Look[/h3] [b]💬 Supportive Caveat[/b] This review covers play up to the final boss; the campaign was not completed. I ended my attempt after two failed final boss attempts required restarting at the beginning of the final level. All sexual encounters involve defeated enemies, including regular monsters and bosses, making sexual conquest a recurring part of the experience. The developer identifies these encounters as involving dubious consent. With the final boss reached in approximately one hour and limited bos…