What, four stars? I like Magical Girls, I like battlefucks, and I like binding, so this should be a home room for me, right? Well...hmm.
So. If the fact that the inherent magic that Luna uses is called "Innocence" doesn't tip you off to how this is going to go, Magical Girl Luna's Misfortunes has a bit of a silly vibe to it's writing, and centers around a self-declared "Magical Girl" in a world with witches. I'm familiar with the sorts of media the dev was referencing when writing Luna herself, so I was able to take it as is, and even enjoyed it to a degree.
The story is...actually really good. I'm jealous of how well the dev pulled off some of the ideas from my own writing. It's very much aimed at the sort of person who likes it from the beginning, so it may not be to your taste if you're used to more western H-Games, but otherwise it's pretty good. (This is actually one of the things I enjoy in my H-Games, a feeling like these are more than just empty characters meant to receive bullying, which will lead into part of why this game lost a star for me.)
The game itself, like many female-led binding games, features no male enemies and very little penetration. The fetishes on display here are overwhelmingly bondage and orgasm control, either preventing orgasms or overwhelming you with them, or sometimes both, and it's clear that the dev has a forced masturbation and electrocution fetish. Being honest with you? This game is only 3 or 4 steps removed from a Ryona game, and you will see elements of it in some of the fights, so be aware of that.
The battle system starts out as a pretty bog-standard RPGMaker system, revolving around using opposed checks to escape from or dodge binds, until you get a skill that allows you to entirely no-sell them. After that, it becomes about resource management and avoiding certain defeat through finding things in exploration. Early on the game encourages you to search everywhere, sometimes more at once, and if you keep that up throughout the game, you're rewarded with both amusing scenes and enough powerups and support items that once you know what a boss does, it's simply a matter of defeating them; once again, not getting defeated is more about keeping your health and mana up and maintaining certain protective skills.
This is actually really well executed, too; if you're exploring as much as the game wants you to, then you'll never feel like you're too weak to defeat an enemy, simply that you haven't found the right way to do it.
However, there's a glaring problem with battles; in order to get advice on defeating the enemy, as well as collecting the special art from listening to the advice, you need to be defeated. And the further you get into the game. the longer. even trash defeat scenes. can go on. There's an item that allows you to instantly lose, and the best way to get the advice scene is to use it immediately at the start of battle, since once you're bound you can't use items. Otherwise, you'll be subject to several turns of the enemy slowly teasing you until the game mercifully asks if you're ready to give in. This happens in every battle once you're bound to the point of no return, and it can make recovering from a loss you already know happened take forever.
The other reason why I took off a star is the game just feels meanspirited. I play female-led games almost exclusively not just because I'm a girl, but because I like to see girls and especially my character enjoying themselves. This game, however, doesn't let Luna enjoy the feeling of being pleasured at any point. Even when she's brainwashed. Even when she's masturbating (usually because of being brainwashed). Yeah, she lost, and she shouldn't want to, but for a game that talks a lot about making Luna into a slut made for pleasure, she always is expressing distress or discomfort at what's happening or is crying from being broken. It was kind of weird at first, and got slowly more uncomfortable as time went on. It's simply not fun for me.
It's possible you might like this style or these fetishes, and if so, this is a really good game for you. The defeat scenes do drag on, but especially now that it's in English, it normally just takes one defeat to understand how to win, so you don't wind up walling. The artwork is well done, in a certain style, and there's certainly enough of it. There's plenty to like here, even if it's not for me.
It's a game that I certainly enjoyed enough to finish, but it's probably not one I'll be going back and looking at the gallery.
So. If the fact that the inherent magic that Luna uses is called "Innocence" doesn't tip you off to how this is going to go, Magical Girl Luna's Misfortunes has a bit of a silly vibe to it's writing, and centers around a self-declared "Magical Girl" in a world with witches. I'm familiar with the sorts of media the dev was referencing when writing Luna herself, so I was able to take it as is, and even enjoyed it to a degree.
The story is...actually really good. I'm jealous of how well the dev pulled off some of the ideas from my own writing. It's very much aimed at the sort of person who likes it from the beginning, so it may not be to your taste if you're used to more western H-Games, but otherwise it's pretty good. (This is actually one of the things I enjoy in my H-Games, a feeling like these are more than just empty characters meant to receive bullying, which will lead into part of why this game lost a star for me.)
The game itself, like many female-led binding games, features no male enemies and very little penetration. The fetishes on display here are overwhelmingly bondage and orgasm control, either preventing orgasms or overwhelming you with them, or sometimes both, and it's clear that the dev has a forced masturbation and electrocution fetish. Being honest with you? This game is only 3 or 4 steps removed from a Ryona game, and you will see elements of it in some of the fights, so be aware of that.
The battle system starts out as a pretty bog-standard RPGMaker system, revolving around using opposed checks to escape from or dodge binds, until you get a skill that allows you to entirely no-sell them. After that, it becomes about resource management and avoiding certain defeat through finding things in exploration. Early on the game encourages you to search everywhere, sometimes more at once, and if you keep that up throughout the game, you're rewarded with both amusing scenes and enough powerups and support items that once you know what a boss does, it's simply a matter of defeating them; once again, not getting defeated is more about keeping your health and mana up and maintaining certain protective skills.
This is actually really well executed, too; if you're exploring as much as the game wants you to, then you'll never feel like you're too weak to defeat an enemy, simply that you haven't found the right way to do it.
However, there's a glaring problem with battles; in order to get advice on defeating the enemy, as well as collecting the special art from listening to the advice, you need to be defeated. And the further you get into the game. the longer. even trash defeat scenes. can go on. There's an item that allows you to instantly lose, and the best way to get the advice scene is to use it immediately at the start of battle, since once you're bound you can't use items. Otherwise, you'll be subject to several turns of the enemy slowly teasing you until the game mercifully asks if you're ready to give in. This happens in every battle once you're bound to the point of no return, and it can make recovering from a loss you already know happened take forever.
The other reason why I took off a star is the game just feels meanspirited. I play female-led games almost exclusively not just because I'm a girl, but because I like to see girls and especially my character enjoying themselves. This game, however, doesn't let Luna enjoy the feeling of being pleasured at any point. Even when she's brainwashed. Even when she's masturbating (usually because of being brainwashed). Yeah, she lost, and she shouldn't want to, but for a game that talks a lot about making Luna into a slut made for pleasure, she always is expressing distress or discomfort at what's happening or is crying from being broken. It was kind of weird at first, and got slowly more uncomfortable as time went on. It's simply not fun for me.
It's possible you might like this style or these fetishes, and if so, this is a really good game for you. The defeat scenes do drag on, but especially now that it's in English, it normally just takes one defeat to understand how to win, so you don't wind up walling. The artwork is well done, in a certain style, and there's certainly enough of it. There's plenty to like here, even if it's not for me.
It's a game that I certainly enjoyed enough to finish, but it's probably not one I'll be going back and looking at the gallery.
