Sakura Dungeon Review (visual novel-hybrid game)

 

This review was originally published on Fuwanovel Forums on June 1st 2018.

Warning: This is review is based on the Steam version of the game, without the 18+ content unlocked. The free uncensored patch unlocks two dozens of CG, including straight-up hentai scenes and adds more nudity to the "clothing damage" system. The "clean" version, however, is still very heavy on sexual themes and can be considered "complete" when it goes to the story.

Among the dedicated fans of visual novels the infamous Sakura games by Winged Cloud are one of the most despised and ridiculed elements of the Western VN market. But, as much as we might not like it, it is also a very popular and in many ways seriously influential series, one that played an important role in popularization of visual novels in the West (and, most likely, did a lot to cement the very poor perception of the genre in the PC gaming community). After the surprising success of Sakura Spirit in mid-2014, with its viral spread all over the Internet and nearly 500k copies sold on Steam, Sakura franchise spawned a huge number of titles – mostly very lazy, relatively short VNs filled with tons of fanservice, uninspired writing and poorly-executed popcultural references. At the same time, the company behind it became unquestionably successful, with decent sale numbers throughout the years and a thriving base of Patreon supporters. 
            The ecchi formula established by Winged Cloud, throwing nudity and mild sexual themes at the player at every possibility while never going into actual pornography, proved once again that in the VN world “sex sells”, even without actual sex or any other merits that the game could offer outside of pleasant visuals. A bit later, the company expanded into the world of actual eroge, adding hentai scenes to their brand of trashy, shallow VNs with paper-thin plots and stylisation. There were, however, two times when Sakura series tried to offer a little bit more than that. The first one was Sakura Fantasy, a yuri VN in which obvious effort at crafting a better story and giving slightly more meaning to the sexual content was appreciated by the players – however, what was meant to be an episodic game, forever stopped at the first chapter. Maybe the production costs associated with actually giving a f*** proved too high? At this point, no one truly knows. The second attempt at innovation on Winged Cloud’s part produced probably the most interesting (and definitely highest-rated) game in the series – the yuri-themed VN/dungeon crawler hybrid called Sakura Dungeon, that I will be taking a closer look on today.

In Sakura games, fanservice is the ultimate goal of everything you do. But why not give the player a reasonably good game on top of it?

 

So, what the “best Sakura game” is all about? Story-wise, it follows an ancient fox spirit, Yomi, who after many centuries in banishment, is freed from a magical prison and attacked by a female knight named Ceri – an adventurer hunting such “monsters” for a living. Ceri is quickly overpowered by the kitsune and magically bound to serve her, and together they go on a quest to reclaim the dungeon which the fox spirit once ruled, but control over which she lost after being betrayed and locked away. Non-human, centuries-old protagonist is already something we don’t really see that often and the game does a surprisingly good job at developing Yomi as a patient and in many ways benevolent, but somewhat eccentric and morally dubious being. With her vast knowledge and experience, she offers a perspective very different from a typical fantasy lead and is contrasted by Ceri, not only unmeasurably younger, but also somewhat hot-headed and prejudiced. While the game’s writing, in general, is rather bland and rarely in any way original, this main couple and the dynamic between them are definitely its best parts.

            Of course, we're still talking about a Sakura game – after the basics of the plot and the main characters are introduced, Dungeon focuses on delivering the fanservice galore, with occasional yuri themes on top of it. Every “monster” in the dungeon you explore has the form of a scantily clad girl, which can become even more exposed if her clothes get torn after a critical hit (this is an actual, meaningful game mechanic, which lowers defence and can also affect members of your party). Also, nearly every boss fight, special encounter or in-town event between dungeon runs awards you with more or less nude CG. With 30 levels of the dungeon, impressive enemy variety and around 20 hours of total gameplay, there are undeniably tons of anime boobs and girls-kissing-scenes to be seen. While I’m personally not a huge fan of the artstyle used by Wanaca, Winged Cloud’s main artist, I can’t say that Dungeon’s art is in any way ugly or that I didn’t find a few drops in that sea of fanservice somewhat appealing – the general quality and variety of art assets were quite impressive, even if they usually weren’t exactly “my thing”. Also, there were some bits of actual romance in the story that maybe didn’t get any serious development (sadly, even between Ceri and Yomi, where it begged for something more than just hollow fanservice and one scene of cuddling), but definitely weren’t a bad addition.

While Sakura Dungeon’s writing might often feel bland and generic, its main cast isn’t as shallow or uninteresting as you might expect

 

As for the dungeon crawling aspect, for me, it was definitely a positive surprise. While it’s pretty simple in its mechanics (with traditional, hex-based movement and no gear – just levelling and some permanent stat-boosting items), it’s also for the most part pretty well balanced and the levels are decently designed. On the standard difficulty, the game flows very smoothly, without unnecessary grind or pointless backtracking, just letting you explore each dungeon floor and progress naturally after you’re done with it. One of the game’s core mechanics, capturing monster girls and incorporating them into your group (up to six active members at any point, with possibility of switching them when in town) also makes every new level interesting, as it provides you with a challenge of discovering and subduing new types of enemies and fitting them into your team composition. With consistent switches into dialogue and secrets/events hidden on every floor, it makes the core gameplay quite engaging and entertaining. For those interested in more challenge and spending more time on RPG elements on the game, two higher difficulty settings are available – for me, however, the default one felt pretty much perfect.

            As I’ve already complimented the CG and sprite artwork, the same has to be said about the other visual assets – the dungeon itself looks quite appealing and have a pretty decent variety, switching the main theme multiple times (ex. from a natural cave to ancient-Egyptian ruins, Japanese architecture etc.). Same can be said about other backgrounds and elements such as attack animations – they all are at a very consistent level of quality and, maybe most importantly, give the game quite a lot of charm. The mood is also supported by a great soundtrack by Zack Parrish, which could very well be used in a much more “serious” and high-budget RPG game and absolutely wouldn’t feel out of place. All this, at least for me, made Sakura Dungeon a surprisingly relaxing and fun experience, even if I’ve found its desperate attempts on being “sexy” quite laughable (if anything, it was rather cute).

Dungeon crawling, while might get slightly tedious in later portions of the game, have surprisingly good pacing and atmosphere

 

Paradoxically, all those positive things I can say about this game lead me to a rather sad conclusion. Winged Cloud is not a team without some talent or interesting ideas, but is above all a team without ambition. Sakura Dungeon was one of the last examples of them trying to innovate and present their audience with a different, more compelling product, that isn’t simply a few hours of nonsense dialogue in between blatant, trashy fanservice. Maybe the relatively low sale numbers, below “masterpieces” such as Sakura Agent or Sakura Beach 2 discouraged them from actually trying. It’s possible that their core audience is actually just interested in anime boobs, without the need for any innovation or variety.

            Still, I want to believe that caring about quality is actually worth it and I can respect a product even in the most trashy format, if its authors are interested in making a decent game, rather than just making a few quick bucks through as little effort as possible. Winged Cloud, however, seems to be only interested in the latter and I have little hope on them changing this attitude unless their own fans force them to. Knowing this and with the allegations of nasty business practices by the company’s CEO, I can only cautiously recommend buying Dungeon and suggest avoiding everything else by Winged Cloud, both for your own good and the good of the industry.

 
Final score: 3/5
 
Pros:
+ Interesting protagonist
+ Well-balanced RPG mechanics
+ Tons of content and “monster” types
+ Great soundtrack
+ Very decent, varied artwork
 
Cons:
- Fanservice, fanservice everywhere!
- Often uninspired writing and absurdly forced “sexy” moments
- Grindy on higher difficulty settings


VNDB page
Buy Sakura Dungeon on Steam