Drain Dungeon is a rogue-like dungeon crawler that sees us play as a faceless hero saved from sure death by a trio of succubi. His adventuring ways got him into trouble, but he is all too eager to return to that dungeon after a deal he made with the three girls. You see, after leaving the dungeon you will revert to level one and the succubi want to suck out all his levels before that can occur, to grow ever more powerful. Seems like a pretty dangerous thing in the long term once you think about it, though luckily for the plot premise, our character thinks with his other head.
After giving you a very handy crystal that lets you teleport away from the dungeon and back into their brothel, off you go back into the depths. You have no gold and you have no equipment, it is fully expected that you won’t last long as you trudge back in there with your bare hands. The best hopes you have is to find some loot while exploring down there to stand a fighting chance. Depending on your luck, you can last quite a bit or die a quick, unceremonious death. Whatever side of fate you find yourself on, it is unlikely you’ll stand a chance against the first boss starting off.
If you lose, you will be raped by the boss. Not only will it drain you of all your levels before the succubi can get them, but more importantly, it will cost you all of your unequipped items and half your gold as well. Learning your current limits will serve you well as you can return with all of your hard earned loot and sell off things you don’t want for even more gold. The town’s store doesn’t have good gear, the only two things of value it sells are healing potions, and a bestowal scroll that raises the stats of your equipped weapon or armor.
Funnily enough, neither your levels or the succubi truly matter nor amount to anything other than a sex scene. It is not even worth talking to them as they have only a few lines of dialogue, if you don’t count the ending and the naughty sex talk while they drain your level. Just walk out letting your levels disappear into thin air, and head straight back into the dungeon if you are here for the gameplay alone. You can ignore most of the hentai aspects as long as you don’t get raped by a boss or a mimic while adventuring. I’m not sure why one would buy a title like this in the first place if that’s the case, though you won’t be missing out on much.
The sex scenes are very short as our hero simply cannot last long while doing the deed. There are different tiers to choose from that will cost more levels and there is nothing to gain if you choose one you already did, as you can simply view it again at any time from the gallery. It’s worth remembering that you can’t go below level 1, so say the tier you want costs 10 then you will need to at least be level 11 to purchase it. You will want to be well over the tier limit you’ve chosen if you want to see the second portion of that tier as it will cost you more None of the characters are voice acted and these H scenes only feature a few basic sound effects. With how short they last, I wouldn’t get this game solely for this reason alone.
Exploring the dungeons is a simple yet addicting affair. You either choose to go left or go right as your character moves continually forward. Those two movement choices will give you some options as to how you want to approach things. For example, you are low on health and there is a merchant to your left, meanwhile to the right you see a treasure chest. Choose wisely as once you’ve made your choice there is no going back. It will sting even more if that chest has a trap you didn’t detect and get yourself caught in an explosion. On the other hand, it could have a really high-quality potion that would have cost you a fortune to buy. That risk-reward factor is enticing and keeps it feeling fresh through multiple runs despite how little there is to see.
You’ll encounter the same type of enemies on any given floor and they are not all too interesting to look at. Battles are a turn-based affair in where you get to select one action and one target at the start of each turn. You can attack, defend, use an item, or an ability if you have any equipped. The mobs are not too difficult unless you find yourself in the unfortunate event that your foe is resistant against the one elemental based weapon you carried into the dungeon. That said, they will whether your health down which can be quite dangerous if you don’t have a healing potion and soon finding yourself really hoping a merchant randomly appears soon.
On plenty of occasions you can simply avoid a fight. If there are monsters to your right, just go left. The problem with that however, is that you will find yourself under-leveled when it is time to face that floor’s boss. They are the true danger and will easily wipe the floor with the unprepared adventurer. Not only do you gain levels from defeating low tier foes, you also get some cash. Using it to buy a one-use elemental item against a boss that is weak to that specific element may just turn the tide of battle in your favor. Buying anything from the merchant is not cheap so, on the other hand, you may want to save on some cash and risk it with what you got. It’s that constant risk and reward factor that keeps it so addictive, more so than the simple gameplay.
Knowing this is a hentai game, it should come to no surprise that the mysterious dungeon merchant is a catgirl. Randomly she may offer to have sex with you at the cost of some levels. That is an extremely dangerous move considering you are still in the treacherous depths below with every corner containing possible death. If you go with it anyways, you’ll secks up the catgirl and be downgraded a couple levels. Once you do, there is an additional scene immediately after if you are willing to pay her some more. I’m not entirely sure why your levels are drained if she isn’t a succubus, but what is a certainty is that the rest of your run will be that much more difficult afterward due to it.
There aren’t any more new H scenes with the catgirl, so you only need to do that once. She still offers herself up from time to time after that however. It can be a hazard when she shows up for those that like to zip right through the dialogue and menus since you may accidentally agree to her offer again. That may lead to a situation where you just wanted to buy a piece of bread and find yourself balls deep in trouble after being drained again. I highly recommend you use the X key to exit her stores as mashing that button will decline her offer even if it is highlighted when you press it. Mimics meanwhile are a constant fear as the only way to avoid them is to not open treasure chests. They are quite rare, yet remain a deliberate constant fear throughout due to it also knocking you down a few levels.
As you delve deeper into the dungeon, you will start to grow hungrier after each step. Starting off, you can take a hundred steps before you start starving and losing health after each movement. Not only that, but your stats take a big hit when you are starving. A hundred steps is more than you’d think, it is just important to always take it into account and purchase some bread off the merchant every now and then. Of all the things you may want to skimp out on to save some gold, bread (only food item) is not one of those. It is less of a problem early on as there is a good chance you’ll be dead before walking that far or be forced to retreat back to town.
Despite losing all levels upon return, you do gain something called Prana points. These can be allocated to serve a wide variety of functions for your character. It allows you to permanently raise stats, pick different classes like mage or warrior, allow you to go longer without starving and more. Most importantly is the amount of items you can carry into the dungeon. You can’t simply go in there with all of your stuff. It will only allow you to take a few things, and at first, you’ll be faced with the decision of whether you want to take your armor or a weapon, much less any backup supplies. Your skills and magic also count as pieces of equipment. It is a very interesting system and you can swap around any Prana spent freely as to constantly be experimenting with new builds or ways to approach things.
There are only four floors and bosses, though it will take you a decent amount of time before you gather the power to face them. After the fourth, you get an ending and gain the ability to continue past that point to play endlessly. There are no new monsters or bosses, all prior ones will simply be far stronger once you move past the fourth bosses area. All in all, you get quite a decent amount of content for this low priced title. It is simple enough to casually pick up and engaging enough to keep you invested for a good chunk of time. The hentai scenes are more of a side dish to the game rather than the main focus. Drain Dungeon is a decent title in its own right and is a worthy purchase for those looking for actual gameplay substance to their ecchi games.
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