Subverse is an ambitious cinematic gameplay erogame that blends visual novel dialogue, SHMUP and grid-combat gameplay, and animated ero.
Introduction
Subverse [Steam] has been one of the most highly-anticipated eroge ever released in the West. The Kickstarter campaign (for an eroge!) raised a record $2.3 million USD, and catapulted to #2 in Steam's weekly overall rankings on release. The appeal was simple: a Mass Effect knockoff with hardcore porn, made by the Mass Effect porn creators Studio FOW. A project that was hoping to raise $140,000 ended up raising over 10x that, and thus what should've been a small amateur porn game became a multi-year blockbuster production.
Subverse has been in development for 2 years, culminating last week in the Steam release of 6 of 22 currently planned chapters [Release FAQ]. Priced at $30 for the full game, the initial release (Act 1) contains 5-10 hours of content, with 30hrs planned for the full game. Act 1 introduces the smuggler/mercenary protagonist Captain and his AI assistant DEMI, the rogue scientist Lily, and the ex-pirate boss Killi, as well as a number of other non-playable characters. 6 additional heroines are planned.
Subverse blends story, gameplay, and ero in a ratio of about 40:20:1. The story is the main focus, with (mostly optional) gameplay segments interspersed. Ero is fairly light and completely optional.
Story
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| The setting is unlikely but surprisingly coherent. |
The galaxy Prodigium is dominated by the Imperium, which seeks to propagate its sexually-repressive gospel, the Veil, in order to restrain population growth and preserve the dominance of the ruling Senu (space-elf) elite. Enter the protagonist, the Captain of the cutting-edge stealth ship the Mary Celeste: a notorious smuggler, anti-pirate mercenary, and general pervert (and thus outlaw). The story opens with a pirate ambush. The Captain escapes with the aid of the genius hacker Fortune, who enlists him (on pain of death) in an audacious plot to cast off Imperial rule and its draconian restrictions on sexual freedom. To successfully face the might of the Imperium, he must now travel the galaxy and amass a harem of beautiful but deadly vixens.
While the story largely follows the Captain and his crew, perspective occasionally shifts to show the interactions of the other major factions, including two introduced at length in Act 1. The Senu-led Imperium is transitioning from the rule of former Empress Kasidora, a hardliner championing the Veil and the suffocation or outright destruction of any races that would opposite it, to the young new Empress Celestina, who favors a relaxation of state-sponsored restrictions, as she believes Kasidora's oppressive regime has antagonized the other races and destabilized the Imperium. The Requital, led by the ruthless human ex-General Blythe, is a terrorist organization bent on eradicating the Imperium and establishing an independent human state--by any means necessary.
Subverse's story is easily its strongest asset. This story is told primarily through lightly-animated visual-novel-like character dialogues, with cinematic sequences for major scenes. The Captain is a huge pervert (which you might have guessed from the panty mask), and light sexual humor pervades much of the dialogue. While humor is an overarching focus, it doesn't crowd out other elements: we still have characters with at least superficially plausible motives, as well as a surprisingly detailed and coherent setting. In an overarching narrative about sexual liberation, it makes sense that sexual humor would abound, in the same way that politics polarizes the conversation of ideologues in real life: the adopted language demonstrates group affiliation. The writers cleverly sculpted a setting that justifies the oddball story they wanted to tell.
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| The Captain always strives to be subtle. |
Gameplay
Subverse's gameplay consists of two major mini-games: a shoot-em-up (SHMUP) where you pilot a space fighter and fight off large waves of enemies on a large map, and small-scale 2D grid-based land combat where you control one heroine and 3 bio-engineered monsters against similarly-sized waves of enemies on a small randomly-generated map.
Despite the limited customization options, the SHMUP combat is pretty fun and doesn't wear out its welcome. The fighter can be upgraded to modestly increase damage and durability with resources from space and ground missions. The secondary skill changes with the heroine brought along for the mission; in Act 1, Lily's is an explosive projectile, while Killi's is a short-range shotgun blast. The typical player will probably have to redo a few missions, as some enemies can be challenging, though the fighter is pretty durable and the shields regenerate quickly, so failures usually require taking many hits back-to-back.
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| The shoot-em-up space combat is simple but fun. |
The grid-based land combat largely falls flat, resembling the very generic system in a mediocre RPGMaker title with a visual facelift. The tactical options are extremely limited: allies and enemies can deal physical or energy damage, can start with physical or energy armor, and perform either melee or ranged attacks (melee does more damage but can be countered). Terrain performs no function except obstructing movement, and any potential for tactical movement is stymied by the tiny map and the ability of new waves of enemies to spawn literally anywhere, including inside your formation. Given the system's simplicity, they could have removed the 2D grid entirely and implemented Darkest Dungeon style linear combat with no significant loss in tactical flexibility, while increasing the pace of combat. Customization options are also extremely limited: stats and skills are determined entirely by level, and while it looks like a variety of ally monsters are planned, only 4 are available in Act 1, meaning you'll be using more or less the same team in all of the 15 or so missions. In a game so focused on its waifus, it seems like a strange decision to limit players to one per mission and force you to populate the other slots with generic grunt units that have little story presence. Due to the limited tactical and customization options, there is essentially no challenge: attack armored enemies with the opposite weapon type and you win; it's that simple. Altogether, the land combat feels mostly like filler, though the event battles are somewhat less generic and more meaningful. The only saving grace is that the battles are over quickly, and are mostly optional.
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| The grid-based land combat is pretty generic and the maps are tiny. |
Ero
Subverse's ero is entirely skippable and consists of short animated sequences that can be chained together in any order; select scenes have additional "intensity" gradations controlled with a slider. The 3 cuddleable heroines in Act 1 are sexually assertive: no virgin heroines here.
Studio FOW's specialty is animated ero, so expectations were high here. While the animations are high-quality, they're just that: animations, devoid entirely of context. These aren't so much scenes as generic video clips that can be assembled into a mechanical sequence. Furthermore, they have zero dialogue and are quarantined from the main story. Eroge fans will likely be highly disappointed. Those who are easily bored by the dialogue-heavy sex scenes in Japanese eroge might appreciate how Subverse's ero gets to the point, but even they will probably be disappointed by the limited selection of animations in Act 1. For a game where the ero was supposed to be the selling point, there's surprisingly little of it.
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| If short animations are your idea of a good sex scene, Subverse is your H-game. |
Conclusion
Subverse is definitely a good game, but whether it lives up to the hype is going to depend on what you were expecting from it. Act 1 doesn't have a lot of content, and certainly not $30 worth. But if you're sold on the concept and don't mind waiting, I'm convinced you'll get your $30's worth in the full game. If you're a fan of Western-developed erogames, and especially if you're tired of the tropes in Japanese hentai games, this is a must-buy.
Highlights
Pros:
- Colorful characters and dialogue
- Well-developed setting despite the unserious concept
- Fun SHMUP combat
- Strong cinematic visuals
- High production values, especially for a Western-developed eroge
Cons:
- Generic grid-based land combat
- Ero content is (currently) sparse and lacks context
- Initial (early access) release lacks sufficient content to justify the price
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