I bought Deviant Dungeon, a game published by Cherry Kiss and released on JAST USA, last month, on a whim. It was on sale (and as of the time of writing this, is still 25% off), and its main story involves a protagonist who is sucked into another world, so I thought I’d give it a shot. The oppai on the cover didn’t hurt either. While the isekai genre is simple, and is well defined elsewhere so I won’t get into it here, the idea of a regular person sucked into a fantasy world is, in my experience, less common in translated visual novels and similar games. That’s not to say they’re unheard of, Eiyu*Senki: The World Conquest, available from J-List, is a recent example. When the genre shows itself in visual novels, it’s more common to see it reversed, where fantasy characters (usually girls) are appearing, and going after the protagonist. I felt that the novelty of the genre was, along with the art quality, reason enough to give the game a chance.
So I was intrigued by the genre, as the main character finds himself summoned by a demon queen, and intrigued by the description from the website (NSFW), mainly the main character’s job to “fortify her dungeon against all those who would dare enter.” I tend to buy, and play, visual novels that are more traditional, without gameplay, though I prefer games with routes over those with no real choices, so the idea of playing dungeon master for a while against some well endowed heroines seemed like a neat concept. Unfortunately, I got swept up in the moment, and you all should know that Deviant Dungeon has no game play elements, other than choices, and no routes on top of that. Something the page description doesn’t say one way, or the other, but which is apparent if you read between the lines a little.
So this game was not what I was expecting, but that happens. I delayed playing when I realized it wasn’t what I was expecting, but when I got back to it, I recognized it for what it was: a solid nukige, with a variety of fetishes, and a good amount of content for the price. In case you don’t know, the term nukige means that this game is, above all, filled with common, easily accessible, explicit content. All the female characters in the game get a lot of screen time, alone, together, and in a few other combinations, and the story basically doesn’t go more than five minutes without a new scene popping up. Some sections of the story even take less time than any of the scenes, which are all quite long.
Would I suggest Deviant Dungeon? Yes, with some reservations. If you’re looking for a longer game, or a story-driven game, or one with substantial choices, or just actual game play, this is not the visual novel you are looking for.
This is for you if you just want to enjoy some lengthy lewds, with a variety of fetishes that include (but are not limited to), corruption, transformation, water sports, piercings, harem, and mild non-human scenes (there is a demon queen after all). It’s written without any notable errors. The art is good, though the character portraits are worse than the scenes, and there’s not a lot of variance in character body types. There’s an animation effect you may like, including blinking, but I found the mouth movements awkward with the dialogue, and considered turning animation off. The characters hit a number of soft spots, from arrogant Risette, to onee-sama Ulysses, to the demon queen who barely recognizes the protagonist’s life as having value, but they are all fairly shallow, and you’ll know every personality trait they have before the game’s halfway point. Nothing stood out about the music, but the voice actors did a good job. Deviant Dungeon has not won a spot among the top nukige I’ve ever played, let alone top visual novels, but it’s been made with quality control, and effort, to be a good, reliable, version of what it was intended to be: new sexual fantasy fodder.
