Devious: First person Dungeon Crawler or Visual Novel: You decide! (Possibly Eroge)

[Redneckerz]

Recently found out about this game. Partially copied over from the official website, rest is edited. Bit much for just an introduction to a game (This is well the length of a proper OP!) but hey, this looks cool.

DISCLAIMER: Top Hat is no stranger to socalled H-Scenes, short for Hentai Scenes. Devious is no exception to this and features the following:

• 16 H-Scenes, with straight, yuri, femdom, and light BDSM themes

However since the RPG and VN parts can be played optionally, it means you can skip over these parts if you decide to solely play the Dungeon Crawler part of the game. Because this game is more than just a VN but contains a very lengthy dungeon crawler part, i felt this is thread worthy, but not without a disclaimer upfront. You have been warned!

Proof of this:

Why they decided to make it optional:

''We think accessibility is an important part of reaching wider audiences; some people enjoy stories and some people enjoy gameplay. In a game like this that includes both facets, we thought it would be better to make it as accessible as possible rather than splintering audiences.''

Click to shrink...

I hope by this disclaimer, this is explained well enough.

CONTENTS:

• Introduction
• Story
• Features
• Screens
• Video
• Links
• System Requirements

INTRODUCTION:
Top Hat Studios is a small indie studio based out of New York. You might know them from Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story, Karmasutra or Episcava Vol.1, among others. Top Hat favors the VN (Visual Novel) genre and blending it in with traditional adventure and story elements. Or in their own words:

''We have a passion for a lot of different types of games. While we've dabbled in a variety of genres from arcade to RPG, but there's a strong place in our heart for visual novels.''

Now Top Hat is working on its newest game, Devious. In Top Hat's own words:

''Devious mixes action-based, real time dungeon crawling combat with an intriguing, mature story about power, faith, and revenge. A real time first person dungeon crawler mixed with optional story-telling visual novel segments, taking place in a fragmented world on the verge of war. As countries clash and tensions rise, the traditions of the old world find themselves fighting with the ever changing culture of the new era.''

STORY:

Long ago, the world was united under the single kingdom of Nor – a grandiose regime that stretched to every corner of the land and sea. Legend says a single king ruled over the kingdom for many years, appointed by the Gods. But as the kingdom flourished, its size grew to its own detriment, and clashes between regions began to spur, and faith in the King began to wane. Fearful that he may lose his power, the King grew violent in his reign, and the people of Nor felt his wrath. But four heroes – The "Arbiters" appointed by the Gods – emerged to end the so-called Age of Blood. The soul of the king was split in four, and according to tradition each quarter of his soul spawned a nation. The Arbiters faded, but some say in times of great distress, the council of each Nation will appoint an Arbiter to take a pilgrimage, and hear the words of the Gods.

In a world on the brink of war thanks to the political and religious tensions between the four Nations, the Arbiters are summoned once more to deal with the growing international chaos; However, the Arbiter's return seems abrupt, and vastly different compared to the legend. Not only does there seem to outside forces influencing their every act, but even from the inside, they cannot decide on their true purpose.

Click to shrink...

FEATURES:

• Story Mode & Gameplay Only Modes. These modes present the ability to play the game as a visual novel and skip gameplay segments, or turn off the story and play the game solely for its levels.
• 40+ Levels of Gameplay
• 4 Different Playable Characters, each with their own style of gameplay and unique story
• Old School FPS style graphics mixed with Dungeon Crawling style gameplay
• Visual Novel-style storytelling between levels
• An estimated 20-30+ hours of gameplay, across 4 different stories estimated at 4-8 hours long each
• A mix of old school art for gameplay segments with a beautiful painted style for story segments

SCREENS:

VIDEO:


LINKS:

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/846250/Devious/

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

• OS: Win XP+
  
• Processor: 1.5 Ghz
  
• Memory: 1 GB RAM
  
• Graphics Card: At least 512 MB Video RAM
  
• DirectX: Version 9.0
  
• HDD: 2 GB free space required

Personally, the combination of a VN and a real time dungeon crawler with pixelesque graphics is quite unique and as such it catched my eye. Not too fond of the Eroge parts, but this is why i appreciate Top Hat for making it optional, both inbetween dungeon crawling gameplay, or standalone. Options are never bad, so in this case, I take my cap off for Top Hat to include this. Is ought to have been released end of May, so might be released any minute now.

 

[Bomblord]

Not to take away from it potentially doing something well but if you think a dungeon crawling VN is unique and interesting.... Well OP I got a nice surprise for you and it comes on the form of a country known as Japan.

 

[鬼作.]

I think I've played like, half a dozen Dungeon Crawler-Eroge hybrids, Japan has been making them since forever.

Dungeon of Regalias for example was alright, mainly because I love M&M's art.

 

[closer013]

Will wishlist this for sure, thanks for the heads up and detailed post!

 

[UltimateTrainer]

Not really a big fan of action based first person dungeon crawling. The art for the VN segments feel like they clash too much with the pixel art of the actual dungeon crawling.

 

[Redneckerz]

Not to take away from it potentially doing something well but if you think a dungeon crawling VN is unique and interesting.... Well OP I got a nice surprise for you and it comes on the form of a country known as Japan.

Click to shrink...

I should have said real time movement in dungeon crawling, free movement instead of grid based movement. That seems like a novelty to me.

 

[Redneckerz]

A bit disappointed this has yet to see more interaction. I think its a pretty nifty title.
I recently joined up their public Discord to ask what this was running on, and it runs on Game Maker Studio 1. I have to say, it looks really good.