Explorer of Yggdrasil is a lewd RPG about a ditsy, slutty adventurer (lovingly called “Cow Tits”) and her journey with an armless man they ascend the “Tower of God”.
At-a-glance
(Adult) Content?
(FxM) Sexual content.
Censorship?
No. Woot! Woot!
Hours of Gameplay?
Four hours.
Modding Support?
No.
Patch Available?
Download from Kagura Games.
Foreword
I received a free, early access copy of this game for review purposes — thanks Kagura Games! For the purposes of this review, the adult patch is installed. I will not be discussing the unpatched game.
Gameplay (4/5★)
Ascend the “God Tower” and collect randomly generated loot! Each floor is swarming with foes, some of whom equipped with weapons. Combat is turn-based, but attacks first (and how often) is determined by their “agility” and weapon. Foe’s weapons are randomly selected, and in some cases, randomly buffed with abilities. You can take their gear by brute force, or through more. . . sensual means. Enemies have a bad habit of dropping their gear whenever they have sex! Between rounds of combat you may choose to heal, which has a chance to force the opponent into heat. As you gain sexual experience, you’ll gain “Lewd Points” (which can be used to improve your stats outside of leveling up). As leveling-up becomes increasingly difficult, it’ll be necessary to bang your way to higher stats. If you’re not having sex, you’re playing the game wrong.
Story (3/5★)
Long ago, a tower fell from the sky. Deemed “God’s Tower”, it became a widespread attraction. Inside are floor-after-floor of monsters armed with an endless supply of weapons. Adventurers pay a pretty penny for a swing at the Tower’s treasure; Mei is one of those adventurers, though she is unsure what her true motives are. All she has a few distant memories, and all she knows is that somebody had already saved her once before from the tower. She snuck back inside and stumbled upon an armless man named Gilles. Lacking their respective “Entrance Fees”, they were forcibly removed. He offers to take her back inside via a hidden entrance. With his wits and her arms, they form a team to reach the top! As their adventure unfolds, Gilles and the Tower’s purpose and origin are brought to light — and Mei finds that she may be a little over her head.
Visuals (4/5★)
The titlescreen is a pleasant sight (but I was disappointed to see no “settings” on the main menu). Audio and display preferences can be adjusted in-game via the “System” menu. Graphical presets can be toggled using the “F5” key. I’d only touch this key as a las resort — “low spec” is a damn slide slow. The application can be borderless fullscreened via the “F11” key. A gallery can be accessed in-game from “Record”. Unfortunately, hiding the user-interface is iffy at best. Most CGs use the game itself as a backdrop, allowing sprites and text to poke through — I’ve always found this to be a major turn-off. If you miss any dialogue, you can hold the “W” key to bring-up a log; this is good for whenever you accidently activate the “Auto Mode” via the “Shift” key. If you want to access Steam Overlay, I suggest only doing so outside of dialogue.
The Goods (5/5★)
There are thirty-five sex-scenes, each comprised of dialogue and one or more bases (with lots of variations!) Each non-boss enemy offers a sexual animation that is used for “combat”. There are seven such animations (sixteen if you count recolors), and each one has a climax (triggered at will). These animations are high-quality, but the real meat of the game is the sex-scenes. These are tied to your “style”, which determines what costume you wear; most sex-scenes are costume dependent. Unless you go out of your way to unlock them, you won’t see very many during your playthrough. The artwork is phenomenal. It’s like a blend of anime and realism (but it took me a few hours to get used to — at first, it’s almost uncanny). There’s blackmail, rape, and tentacles. The main protagonist is total slut; I don’t think it’s possible to rape her! Thanks to the magic of aphrodisiacs, rape scenes always end with the victim begging for more (so I guess. . . it’s only half-rape?)
Verdict (4/5★)
Wait for a sale. Explorer of Yggdrasil is a fun game, but it’s short and grindy. This game is rather grindy; most of my playthrough was fighting/banging the same enemies again and again. In retrospect, I could have avoided most of them (and skipped to the boss fights). However, doing so would have made this game even shorter. Making matters worse, there are only a handful of enemies to see — and most of them are recolors. The story and cast started strong, but as the game went on I lost interest. It’s sprinkled with twists and turns, but character development is tragedy of missed opportunities. On the plus side, the artwork and sexual content are pretty awesome. If you’re willing to work towards them, they’re totally worth the effort. I’m usually unfettered by adult content in games but. . . wow. Just wow. I kind of had to cover-up with my PC. . . they’re really something! Explorer of Yggdrasil is a novel game with great lewds, but I wish everything else was better.
