Bophadese
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This review was initially posted on June 6th, 2022 on Steam.
Have you ever played a game that felt remarkably.... evil? Like, halfway through playing you realize that that the morality of your participation in the game is suspect? As if the video game ESRB rating system was completely justified? Can you imagine a game so base, so vile, so filled with disgusting content that it made you shiver every time you boot it up? Have you ever played a game that was so horrendously malicious yet managed to consistently draw you back in?
Well, I have.
I present to you Magical Girl Celesphonia, a game that hit me like thirty colossal trucks going 120mph straight towards my cerebral cortex. I really haven't played too many RPGMaker games, but if the rest of them have the mechanical fidelity of Celesphonia then I have stumbled upon a veritable gold mine. Obviously you won't find astoundingly high production value here, but what you will find is a fascinating game.
An evil game.
I get this unshakable feeling that over in Japan, sensibilities are a little bit skewed from how we approach things here in the West. That being said, this game posits rape in an exceptionally problematic way. It's frankly disgusting. No amount of showers, regardless of thoroughness, can cleanse me of the terrible things in this game. It's vile. And it was essentially enough for me to put down the game and rethink my life. At least until the music started playing.
Seriously, I want to find whoever did all the music for this game and buy them a fancy meal. The first time I opened the overworld map (showing various destinations in town), I was stunned. The absolute groove that hits when that alto sax is going ham is nuts. Then the night variation of the track is much smoother, slower paced, and contemplative.
Then terrible things happen.
The story is fine. Maybe a little bit better than that. I'm sure plenty of people will simply dismiss Amane's struggle to cleanse the town of malicious monstrum in the continuation of her mother's legacy so that they may instead crank their hog until the next completely messed up scene. I threw up a little writing that. But the plot is serviceable. I somewhat wish there had been some kind of dating simulator cooked into the game, as well as a more Persona-styled friendship system. But the latter may be pointless since you are your only party member, and the former may be disregarded in case you want Amane to be as sexually liberated as possible.
I laughed a lot during my initial playthrough, but maybe not in places I was supposed to. After defeating a demi-monstrum (effectively boss battles), they'll stagger back, say something or other about not believing they were defeated by this absurdly powerful magical girl, then they will explode. And the sound effect never fails to make me laugh.
Slay monstrum, convert their souls into upgrade materials, upgrade your weapons and armor, unlock various magical skills and abilities, and just have a grand ol' time as you walk around as a one-woman rpg party. You're almost definitely gonna be overpowered as heck, but at least you're gonna listen to some good jams as you do it. If you'd like a little primer for starting off, I unlocked Close Combat, Healing, and Explosion magic to start off with. Between those three (as well as the spell that allows you to repair your clothing), you'll do just fine.
If any of this interests you and you aren't dismayed by the unbelievably despicable depictions of non-consensual sexual encounters, then you should give this game a try. In fact, the music alone was worth the price of admission for me. But recognize that this game is fundamentally evil by design. And download the 18+ patch if you're willing to engage with the horniest game I have ever encountered in my time (and I played College Kings).
I'll return to this game eventually, trying to find scenes that I missed, rethink opportunities I squandered, and change my starting answers around to see how great an effect on the game they truly have (hypothesis - they hold little influence on the game if any (but I'm willing to be surprised)).
Until then, happy hunting! And for God's sake, please buy as many tissues as possible and set them to auto clean Amane. Her journey is not a clean one.
But the jams are impeccable.
Have you ever played a game that felt remarkably.... evil? Like, halfway through playing you realize that that the morality of your participation in the game is suspect? As if the video game ESRB rating system was completely justified? Can you imagine a game so base, so vile, so filled with disgusting content that it made you shiver every time you boot it up? Have you ever played a game that was so horrendously malicious yet managed to consistently draw you back in?
Well, I have.
I present to you Magical Girl Celesphonia, a game that hit me like thirty colossal trucks going 120mph straight towards my cerebral cortex. I really haven't played too many RPGMaker games, but if the rest of them have the mechanical fidelity of Celesphonia then I have stumbled upon a veritable gold mine. Obviously you won't find astoundingly high production value here, but what you will find is a fascinating game.
An evil game.
I get this unshakable feeling that over in Japan, sensibilities are a little bit skewed from how we approach things here in the West. That being said, this game posits rape in an exceptionally problematic way. It's frankly disgusting. No amount of showers, regardless of thoroughness, can cleanse me of the terrible things in this game. It's vile. And it was essentially enough for me to put down the game and rethink my life. At least until the music started playing.
Seriously, I want to find whoever did all the music for this game and buy them a fancy meal. The first time I opened the overworld map (showing various destinations in town), I was stunned. The absolute groove that hits when that alto sax is going ham is nuts. Then the night variation of the track is much smoother, slower paced, and contemplative.
Then terrible things happen.
The story is fine. Maybe a little bit better than that. I'm sure plenty of people will simply dismiss Amane's struggle to cleanse the town of malicious monstrum in the continuation of her mother's legacy so that they may instead crank their hog until the next completely messed up scene. I threw up a little writing that. But the plot is serviceable. I somewhat wish there had been some kind of dating simulator cooked into the game, as well as a more Persona-styled friendship system. But the latter may be pointless since you are your only party member, and the former may be disregarded in case you want Amane to be as sexually liberated as possible.
I laughed a lot during my initial playthrough, but maybe not in places I was supposed to. After defeating a demi-monstrum (effectively boss battles), they'll stagger back, say something or other about not believing they were defeated by this absurdly powerful magical girl, then they will explode. And the sound effect never fails to make me laugh.
Slay monstrum, convert their souls into upgrade materials, upgrade your weapons and armor, unlock various magical skills and abilities, and just have a grand ol' time as you walk around as a one-woman rpg party. You're almost definitely gonna be overpowered as heck, but at least you're gonna listen to some good jams as you do it. If you'd like a little primer for starting off, I unlocked Close Combat, Healing, and Explosion magic to start off with. Between those three (as well as the spell that allows you to repair your clothing), you'll do just fine.
If any of this interests you and you aren't dismayed by the unbelievably despicable depictions of non-consensual sexual encounters, then you should give this game a try. In fact, the music alone was worth the price of admission for me. But recognize that this game is fundamentally evil by design. And download the 18+ patch if you're willing to engage with the horniest game I have ever encountered in my time (and I played College Kings).
I'll return to this game eventually, trying to find scenes that I missed, rethink opportunities I squandered, and change my starting answers around to see how great an effect on the game they truly have (hypothesis - they hold little influence on the game if any (but I'm willing to be surprised)).
Until then, happy hunting! And for God's sake, please buy as many tissues as possible and set them to auto clean Amane. Her journey is not a clean one.
But the jams are impeccable.