Adult Games #8

Imouto Paradise! (2011)
By: Moonstone Cherry Genre: Visual Novel Players: 1 Difficulty: N/A
Featured Version: PC
Also Available For: Android, DVD

The first title screen I've ever had to censor here - eeek!

Despite the best of intentions, my experience of visual novels has remained fairly limited since I first discovered them a few years back. The few I have tried all seem to have some sort of pervy content too, and few more than this one. I think it aroused my interest (no pun intended) when I saw a few screenshots somewhere and liked its visual style. Upon playing it, however, I quickly found that it's premise was one of a highly questionable nature. You play as high school student Soichiro Nanase who lives with his parents and five younger sisters. The game takes place during the summer holidays at a time when their parents have gone on an overseas trip leaving the six siblings alone. This leaves you, as Soichiro, to pursue inappropriate relations with whichever of his sister takes his fancy.

Here they are, lined up specially for you!

So yes, it's an incest-themed sex game. Can't say I've played one of those before but these types of themes can often end up being more comedic than sordid (such as Kissxsis, an anime I rather like) so I figured I'd give it a go. It quickly became apparent, however, that there's very little actual game here. Visual novels aren't generally the most involving games anyway but they at least give you choices between saying/doing particular things at regular intervals which then affect your path through the game. Here there are no such choices. Instead, every now and then the game will give the choice of which sister you want to talk to. You don't actually get to choose what you say to them at any point. So, assuming you don't object to the game's premise, it's basically a case of pursuing your favourite girl.

Michika has fallen but is still apparently reading her book...

They are at least a pretty varied bunch even if they are forbidden fruit (or should be)! Firstly we have the cheerful Aya (pink hair) who is the 'mother' of the group and takes care of the cooking, laundry, etc. The blue-haired girly is the tsundere Rio who acts like the teacher of the group, making sure everyone takes care of their studies. The mysterious Michika (black hair) spends a good deal of her time alone reading, but also takes care of the finances. Lastly there's Hiyori and Koharu, twin sisters who couldn't be more different - the former is timid, naive, and innocent (not to mention clumsy) while the latter is outgoing, impulsive, and not at all innocent! These two also appear to be underage though, further muddying the already murky moral waters (I can't remember if their actual age is specified).

Soichiro imagining Rio in a bikini...

And that's basically it. There's no main story really, never mind any sub-plots, and nothing much else happens. You do get to leave the house a few times, as part of your attempts to endear yourself to a particular sister, but that is the only object of the game - score with whichever one you like the most. And restart the game and go after another if you like more than one, I guess! Visually it's as good as I initially thought it would be. I like the art style and, while there isn't a massive number of actual locations, the ones we do get are well drawn. The audio is also decent enough, with a nice music and good voice work from the actresses involved. These things are pretty much a given with most visual novels though - it's the story and character arcs that usually reel you in, and this has basically none.

Oh dear, that's what happens when you hog the bathroom...

I suppose that was probably the main (or even only) point but it doesn't alter the fact that this is hentai and nothing more. Even if the girls weren't related to the protagonist, and even if they were definitely all 'of age', there would still be no point playing this other than to see various naked anime characters and to be (loosely) involved in a few saucy scenarios. I'm far from opposed to a bit of harmless smutty fun now and then but would it hurt to have an actual story, some engaging dialogue, and some decent characters to go with it? There's even an Imouto Paradise anime now, apparently - lord only knows what that's like - but as a game this is seriously lacking if you ask me. Even if you're into hentai, the subject matter is still a bit creepy. I'm not trying to find pervy games I swear!

RKS Score: 3/10

Special Note: No trailer for this one I'm afraid - I did find one but not a clean one so I'd better not post it here! If you're really interested, just head over to YouTube where you'll find plenty of related material... :)