Once born into this world, you must live. That is the single truth that exists for all life in the beginning. Mentors and models to follow, the will to do good and abhor evil—are all a fiction we learn later, a fiction known as "ideology". Living this fiction is what makes us human. But do we need such ideology to be human, as we do our limbs? Does that make those who lose or abandon such ideology less than human—does it make them limbless maggots? If so, then this tale is devoid of humans—it is a tale of maggots. Crawling to survive, like the maggots we are. Maggot baits, winner of the 2015 Moege Awards Top Fetish game, is the newest title from ClockUp, the studio that brought us the infamous erotic thriller, euphoria. Do you have what it takes to stomach this dark and violent tale, maggot?
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This review contains spoilers
a clockup visual novel that i actually think is sort of good? what a plot twist!
ironically enough, it's considered worse than euphoria but maggot baits was a lot more tolerable to me. i saw a review for a clockup visual novel where someone said they could tolerate maggot baits better since the witches aren't human and i think that's part of why it's easier to handle. especially since i've played several black cyc visual novels that already dwell in similar subject matters (sadistic blood, gore screaming show). despite none of this being new to me, i still thought wouldn't be able to tolerate it in maggot baits.
however, turning the filter off the imagery of the gore itself isn't ~horrible~ per say. a lot of the 'horrifying' bits seem to be in the writing itself. the writing really goes all out, they will talk about that shit in DETAIL. you'll think that tiny little visual imagery of an open wound on screen isn't bad, but in the writing they'll
say shit like 'you can see their rib cage and organs' and so on.
the writing is generally pretty descript and has a good eye for detail (... outside the shock horror). i feel like it flows rather nicely, the beginning of the visual novel instantly had me hooked on the story. it only got more interesting as time went on, we learn that there doesn't seem to be such thing as a perfectly good human being in this city. even the main character himself isn't quite good either, despite his desire to save all the witches. he really likes to fight and battle (and i mean REALLY likes it. the story doesn't seem to hesitate to emphasize how much he gets off on it). everyone is selfish in their own way and the story calls even calls them 'maggots'. i was also shocked to see just how this story seemed to showcase just how scary being a woman is, especially in this universe and in this city where men are more than eager to release their sadistic desires on them as much as they can. despite the witches being mostly immortal and quite strong, they are still terrified by humans. especially if the humans can decapitate them, which seems to the only true way to kill witches.
another thing that witches seem to be terrified about is in the title are these strange creatures called maggots. yes, we're getting more references to maggots in the story, yay!
except these maggots seem to be a weird amalgamation between human and monster. they're primarily there to defile witches. their dna is also used to inject into people so they can grow some unusual body parts. but honestly, those monsters are mostly there for some certain scenes. i would say the maggot creatures end up becoming more relevant by the end of the game.
this visual novel has an interesting amount of research and references put into it, ranging from christianity and its relics, ancient execution methods, and the east timorese crisis to quotes from various novels. it's something i really didn't expect in a clockup work either. it's the kind of writing i'd expect in a nitro +/chiral visual novel more than a clockup one, but to emphasize, i've only read two other clockup visual novels. it could be possible that this is mentioned in others, but i just haven't read them yet.
though of course, this doesn't mean it's without any issues. the same issue that shows up in the clockup games i've played are in this game. while for the most part,
the adult scenes seem to be there to showcase just how disgusting and morally corrupt humanity is, clockup puts in way too many of these scenes at once and it kills the meaning of the entire thing. the bad end was notorious for this. after the very beginning, all these scenes just seem like your typical dark eroge/h manga moments and not something to actually be horrified about. i ended up skipping a lot of these scenes (obviously skimming for relevant plot info but usually there isn't any. it typically just focuses on their suffering). but again, this IS clockup. they're pretty well known for making grotesque h-content so it wouldn't be shocking if this was the true intentions of making this game. though i do appreciate the writers making this a well-written story so it didn't make me think that at times.
funny enough, i didn't feel too traumatized or grossed out by the scenes in maggot baits, especially compared to how i felt towards euphoria's. though once again, i did skip plenty of the h scenes later on in the game if they didn't seem plot relevant enough and had content that's a hard NO for me because the shock horror began to get obnoxious. and again, like i mentioned earlier, the witches are seen as immortal beings and the setting has fantasy elements. so it doesn't traumatize me too much compared to something like euphoria where the setting is basically real life (except for the sci-fi elements but you know).
so would i recommend this? yes and no. if you love the gritty 'the world is shit' environment commonly featured in visual novels and love stories that will emphasize how shitty the world is in writing, then yes. but if you cannot handle gore and extremely grotesque things? probably not. i'd only recommend it if you're used to gorey, gross visual novels like euphoria, gore screaming show, and subarashiki hibi, to be more specific. if you liked dead end aegis, you'll also like this game due to the striking similarities which i will partially go into for a bit.
SMALL (BUT COULD BE CONSIDERED MAJOR) SPOILERS FOR THE NORMAL AND TRUE END
i gotta say that i was not expecting this game to pull a literal madoka magica and this is the second visual novel that has similarities to that anime! the first one i read with similarities to madoka magica was dead end aegis. it seems like gen urobuchi's inspiration really runs deep with visual novel writers and it makes sense because that dude also writes them LOL
i've already heard beforehand from youtube videos and reviews that maggot baits will be an amazing, emotional piece and i partially do agree with that. despite the glaring issues, the true ending was beautifully crafted. if you're strong enough to brace yourself through the grotesqueness of it all, i think you'll be getting bountiful rewards in the end.
oh, and the opening is pretty incredible. it fits really well (despite coming off as 'edgy' to some) and it's definitely one of my favorite openings in a visual novel, but it's kinda funny that an american band was like 'yeah we'll put our song in a game like this :)' i will say that this is also my type of music too, so maybe i'm a little bit biased LOL
ironically enough, it's considered worse than euphoria but maggot baits was a lot more tolerable to me. i saw a review for a clockup visual novel where someone said they could tolerate maggot baits better since the witches aren't human and i think that's part of why it's easier to handle. especially since i've played several black cyc visual novels that already dwell in similar subject matters (sadistic blood, gore screaming show). despite none of this being new to me, i still thought wouldn't be able to tolerate it in maggot baits.
however, turning the filter off the imagery of the gore itself isn't ~horrible~ per say. a lot of the 'horrifying' bits seem to be in the writing itself. the writing really goes all out, they will talk about that shit in DETAIL. you'll think that tiny little visual imagery of an open wound on screen isn't bad, but in the writing they'll
say shit like 'you can see their rib cage and organs' and so on.
the writing is generally pretty descript and has a good eye for detail (... outside the shock horror). i feel like it flows rather nicely, the beginning of the visual novel instantly had me hooked on the story. it only got more interesting as time went on, we learn that there doesn't seem to be such thing as a perfectly good human being in this city. even the main character himself isn't quite good either, despite his desire to save all the witches. he really likes to fight and battle (and i mean REALLY likes it. the story doesn't seem to hesitate to emphasize how much he gets off on it). everyone is selfish in their own way and the story calls even calls them 'maggots'. i was also shocked to see just how this story seemed to showcase just how scary being a woman is, especially in this universe and in this city where men are more than eager to release their sadistic desires on them as much as they can. despite the witches being mostly immortal and quite strong, they are still terrified by humans. especially if the humans can decapitate them, which seems to the only true way to kill witches.
another thing that witches seem to be terrified about is in the title are these strange creatures called maggots. yes, we're getting more references to maggots in the story, yay!
except these maggots seem to be a weird amalgamation between human and monster. they're primarily there to defile witches. their dna is also used to inject into people so they can grow some unusual body parts. but honestly, those monsters are mostly there for some certain scenes. i would say the maggot creatures end up becoming more relevant by the end of the game.
this visual novel has an interesting amount of research and references put into it, ranging from christianity and its relics, ancient execution methods, and the east timorese crisis to quotes from various novels. it's something i really didn't expect in a clockup work either. it's the kind of writing i'd expect in a nitro +/chiral visual novel more than a clockup one, but to emphasize, i've only read two other clockup visual novels. it could be possible that this is mentioned in others, but i just haven't read them yet.
though of course, this doesn't mean it's without any issues. the same issue that shows up in the clockup games i've played are in this game. while for the most part,
the adult scenes seem to be there to showcase just how disgusting and morally corrupt humanity is, clockup puts in way too many of these scenes at once and it kills the meaning of the entire thing. the bad end was notorious for this. after the very beginning, all these scenes just seem like your typical dark eroge/h manga moments and not something to actually be horrified about. i ended up skipping a lot of these scenes (obviously skimming for relevant plot info but usually there isn't any. it typically just focuses on their suffering). but again, this IS clockup. they're pretty well known for making grotesque h-content so it wouldn't be shocking if this was the true intentions of making this game. though i do appreciate the writers making this a well-written story so it didn't make me think that at times.
funny enough, i didn't feel too traumatized or grossed out by the scenes in maggot baits, especially compared to how i felt towards euphoria's. though once again, i did skip plenty of the h scenes later on in the game if they didn't seem plot relevant enough and had content that's a hard NO for me because the shock horror began to get obnoxious. and again, like i mentioned earlier, the witches are seen as immortal beings and the setting has fantasy elements. so it doesn't traumatize me too much compared to something like euphoria where the setting is basically real life (except for the sci-fi elements but you know).
so would i recommend this? yes and no. if you love the gritty 'the world is shit' environment commonly featured in visual novels and love stories that will emphasize how shitty the world is in writing, then yes. but if you cannot handle gore and extremely grotesque things? probably not. i'd only recommend it if you're used to gorey, gross visual novels like euphoria, gore screaming show, and subarashiki hibi, to be more specific. if you liked dead end aegis, you'll also like this game due to the striking similarities which i will partially go into for a bit.
SMALL (BUT COULD BE CONSIDERED MAJOR) SPOILERS FOR THE NORMAL AND TRUE END
i gotta say that i was not expecting this game to pull a literal madoka magica and this is the second visual novel that has similarities to that anime! the first one i read with similarities to madoka magica was dead end aegis. it seems like gen urobuchi's inspiration really runs deep with visual novel writers and it makes sense because that dude also writes them LOL
i've already heard beforehand from youtube videos and reviews that maggot baits will be an amazing, emotional piece and i partially do agree with that. despite the glaring issues, the true ending was beautifully crafted. if you're strong enough to brace yourself through the grotesqueness of it all, i think you'll be getting bountiful rewards in the end.
oh, and the opening is pretty incredible. it fits really well (despite coming off as 'edgy' to some) and it's definitely one of my favorite openings in a visual novel, but it's kinda funny that an american band was like 'yeah we'll put our song in a game like this :)' i will say that this is also my type of music too, so maybe i'm a little bit biased LOL
i dropped it insanely early because curiosity overtook me- and yeah no i'm just tired of this cringe garbage of just adding epic shock value for literally just making it look epic and gruesome!!! it had some interesting ideas but i am a firm believer that some people should really think twice before writing things like this
Euphoria tenia excusa, pero aquí ya no puedo defender esta visual novel, que putisimos cojones, si, la historia está bien, pero no es tan tan bien como en comparación para mi Euphoria y el analisis antropológico que busca al final no llega en completo con su mensaje.
its shit in every way, i genuinely believe everyone who praises the story past the porn are great liars since literally any interesting or intriguing story point will be dealt with the most boring H-scenes you'll ever read in your life that adds nothing to the story
A really good plot hindered by its gratuitous amount of torture porn. Don't get me wrong though, I love the story and its few notable character like Shoujo and Carol. The villains were fun especially Brian but I wish there more scenes developing the other Witches instead of being subjugated with 50 torture scenes.
On that topic, I really do feel like the torture scenes hold this VN a lot because not only are they really dragged out, it really ruins the pacing especially in the final acts of the normal and true routes. One thing Clockup works don't get enough credit is there insanely cracked voice acting. Everyone here gave it their all and I'm also happy that some male character including the protagonist is voice acted(something I wish Euphoria had).
I feel really torn about Maggot Baits but I really liked the story and characters overall. With Dead Days around the corner I'm really excited to dig into that one one since its by the same writer as MB(more tamed by looks of it).
On that topic, I really do feel like the torture scenes hold this VN a lot because not only are they really dragged out, it really ruins the pacing especially in the final acts of the normal and true routes. One thing Clockup works don't get enough credit is there insanely cracked voice acting. Everyone here gave it their all and I'm also happy that some male character including the protagonist is voice acted(something I wish Euphoria had).
I feel really torn about Maggot Baits but I really liked the story and characters overall. With Dead Days around the corner I'm really excited to dig into that one one since its by the same writer as MB(more tamed by looks of it).
H scenes are pretty good