Critical Hit is a short eroge visual novel released in 2016 and it is the first game by developer Tsukiware. Despite the game’s short length and low budget, I found it to be quite enjoyable. I will admit that it does not live up to all of its potential, and that its short length and lack of choices make it hard to justify the $10.00 price tag, but I do feel that this game is worth playing for anyone who has a fondness for Dungeons and Dragons and for femboy hentai.

CW: References to rape, sexual content, and the “trap” slur.

Our story takes place in a world that is clearly meant to be based off a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that frequently makes references to there being a game master, dice rolls, and an infinite time loop that is clearly meant to signify different campaigns. This is obviously going to be lost on someone who knows absolutely nothing about Dungeons and Dragons so it is recommended that someone knows at least the basics before going in. Otherwise, the plot will come across as disjointed and confused due to its meta subject matter.

One of the main features of the story is the “two entities share the same body” trope, which applies to our main character Akira. To be technical, they are the same entity; one is just an older and more desensitized version of the other. Unfortunately for the older one, he cannot talk to his younger self nor can he take control. Additionally, older Akira remembers his own past adventures that tend to reset back on each other (obviously indicating that these are supposed to be previous campaigns), but younger Akira has his memory wiped each time.

Additionally, Critical Hit takes after games like Contact, Pony Island, Imscared, and (to an extent) Undertale in how it implements a 2nd person narrative from the point of view of the player themselves. Unlike those games, however, the only reason the player exists from a story standpoint is so older Akira has someone to spill his exposition to. Granted, it could also be implying something about all of this just being a game, but the problem is that the emphasis is on a tabletop game, and not a video game. This still could have worked if this part of the plot was a little more fleshed out, but it was rarely touched upon in game and you don’t get any answers at the end.

While most may not like this approach, I actually find it fairly interesting and it adds a bit of mystery to what is otherwise just a silly porn game. Granted, this is hardly anywhere near The Beginner’s Guide level of depth and subtlety, but it makes things more interesting than just explaining everything upfront. I honestly found the story of Critical Hit to be more intriguing than most eroge I have played, and if anything, it’s a premise that would be cool to see in a more serious game.

I am fully aware that there are a ton of games out there that have tried to be Dungeons and Dragons. Hell the entire western RPG industry can be summed up as an attempt to emulate Tabletop RPGs. What I am more so referring to is the meta concept of Critical Hit; the idea of a game world where you discover more about it based on repeat playthroughs determined by elements of randomness and choice. A game that implements every playthrough into the storyline, and maybe even touches upon existentialist themes about our own existence, and whether we even want to know the real truth. But nope, we instead just get a bunch of excuses to put a dick in Akira’s ass, to paraphrase the game’s own words.

Furthermore, Critical Hit is a kinetic novel, meaning there are no choices to be made. This was rather disappointing given how much of an element that randomness and choice is part of Dungeons and Dragons. Still, Critical Hit made better use of its premise than the last femboy eroge I reviewed.

The actual story is very tongue in cheek and even immature at times. Critical Hit is not the least bit subtle about how Akira was given a very feminine figure and personality just because the game master has a bit of a forced fem fetish going on. Hell if you just made Akira a girl, the frequent rape that he experiences would take a much darker tone.  Then again, hentai games were never known for dignified portrayals of women either so it’s probably not even worth mentioning.  Hell I’m kinda into the whole femboy thing to (I wouldn’t have played the game if I wasn’t) so it’s not as if I didn’t enjoy this part of it; n fact, it’s one of the game’s greatest strengths.

I really liked the sex scenes in this game. Due to being on anti depressants, it is virtually impossible for me to ejaculate and it is difficult for me to even get hard. This game… didn’t quite manage the former, but it did do the latter. While it was limited on animation, I used its words really well and they made me horny as fuck, especially the first scene with the goblins. While it was jarring to see things described that did not match the current picture, the description itself was very effective.  However, Critical Hit will only be sexy if you are into both femboys and degradation.

The tricky part of reviewing eroge is trying to look at it from the point of view of people with different fetishes or kinks, given how abstract it is to fully comprehend them. As such, one’s perspective could be based entirely on whether or not it was what you were looking for. I have previously cited Lewdgamer’s review of this game and took issue with several factors. Namely, it was the fact that the Dungeons and Dragons setting completely flew over reviewer The_Patient’s head, but I also found it jarring that she went into it expecting a “yaoi” title.

I don’t know or care what the established or official terms are; femboy eroge is not the same as yaoi, and there is a fundamental difference (for clarification, “femboy” refers to someone who identifies as male, but still looks and/or acts female. This has nothing to do with trans people, although the same goes for them). A lot of us joke about the “are traps gay” meme, but not a lot of us really think about it that deeply. The problem is that the descriptor of “gay” is aimed at the “traps” themselves and not the people who like them. Quite simply put, if someone likes femboys/traps but does not like men in general, they aren’t gay. Also “trap” is a horrible anti trans slur and you shouldn’t use it.

I am a lesbian, and therefore I lack any sexual or romantic attraction to men. However, I have been known to say that I would still have sex with a crossdressing man if he looked enough like a woman and was legitimately attractive to me. Sexual attraction is largely based on looks, and from the outside looking in, “femboys” and “real women” don’t look far apart. The only perceivable difference is the genitals and in personality. I like femboy hentai, but I sure as hell don’t like yaoi. As such, if I like it, or if straight men regularly like it, that shit ain’t yaoi, and expecting it to present itself like one would be a mistake; and what do you know, Tsukiware agrees with me.

These tweets definitely put a lot into perspective on what the game was going for. It seems obvious to me that this game was not intended for a specific demographic other than whoever finds femboys attractive, which can be the case with almost any sexuality. As such, “yaoi” is not a proper indicator of its content OR what it was going for. Hell, it seems safe to assume that the emphasis was entirely on Akira himself given that none of the monsters that rape him are going to be conventionally attractive; it’s entirely about Akira being degraded and humiliated.

To quickly go over the rest, the art style was decent; Akira was cute and that’s all that really matters. I also remember the music being alright but I can’t remember any tracks. There is no save option but there is a chapter select option, which is convenient enough because this game will take under 2 hours to complete. There are also some issues with being unable to make the user interface invisible and the text log can fall behind and jump forward. The biggest issue with Critical Hit is its very brief length in addition to its $10.00 price tag. However, it was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it to anyone who is curious if it’s ever on sale or included in a bundle, as that may serve as this game’s saving throw.

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If you are interested in purchasing this game for yourself, it can be bought on MangaGamer.com (here) and on Nutaku (here). BOTH LINKS ARE NSFW!!!

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