Dungeon & Maid is a 2D Action Platformer with a tinge of Metroidvania-like exploration. We play as a nameless blonde that has inexplicably found herself deep inside of an underground fortress. There is no story or lore. Right on the main menu, we are given a list of the controls and are immediately let loose upon starting. Our character has access to a double jump, a dash, and all other abilities she is capable of. This is not a game where you are artificially blocked off from exploring. We have access to the entire skill-set and are encouraged to make full use of it.
Things start off rather simple and linear to get one accustomed to its projectile-based combat. Our first enemy is behind a wall that he can’t jump over, teaching us about the value of charging our shots. The basic attack will simply dissolve upon impact of that wall, yet spending a couple of seconds to charge it will let forth a massive stream of energy that penetrates through anything in its path. It also doubles to teach us about the mana system. Every attack will drain from that blue meter, meaning that you can’t just spam projectiles. All of this lends combat a more tactical quality that forces you to balance between several factors, such as should you spend the extra seconds to charge an attack mid-battle, or possibly retreat to recharge your dwindling supply of mana.
Your mana pool isn’t very large at first. As these magic projectiles are your only form of attack, monitoring that meter is crucial. It slowly recharges over time, but on occasions of things appearing relatively safe, you can start masturbating to vastly increase the recharge rate. This is done by holding the C key. Simply letting go of it will instantly give you full control over your character again, allowing it to be used in the midst of combat if you’re skilled enough. Enemies tend to be faster than you, however. Spending the extra seconds charging a projectile, while being efficient for your overall mana usage, will be interrupted if you take any damage. Add to that some enemies are short enough that your standing attacks won’t connect, causing you to choose between them or flying foes. All of this makes combat an absolute blast, where quick thinking is just as rewarded as fast reaction times.
I wouldn’t call Dungeon & Maid a difficult title, yet it will certainly be quick to punish careless play. The foes you face early on hit like a truck, and the only way to regain health is to hope for a slain enemy randomly dropping a healing potion. If you meet your demise, you will have to load up from the last save point, losing all progress since then. Those save points are pretty sparse, adding some serious tension as you venture into unknown territory. It can lead to tough decisions, be it risking potential death in order to explore a branching path, or possibly even backtracking to a prior save point rather than pushing deeper into the abyss. Enemies respawn after you exit an area, so danger remains always lurking, whatever your decision.
There is no map of any kind. It is necessary to memorize the routes taken and where you saw locked treasures. Exploration will not be an open-world type affair. While it has a ton of branching paths, there are several points where you can no longer backtrack. If you missed out on something, it is forever lost. This can be particularly costly if you didn’t find the keys to open the locked treasure chests. You’ll just have to walk past any you find throughout the rest of the journey. There are four colored keys that open all chests of that color. Missing one is hardly the end of the world, but damned if the thought of possibly missing one doesn’t motivate us to explore every area, whatever the danger.
You have surely seen that currency counter on the bottom left. This is used to purchase green crystals that, when used, unleash arcs of green lighting around your character. It is undoubtedly your most powerful attack, and a sort of get out of jail free card in your times of need. Or you can just use them to cheese bosses if you stock up on them. As useful as that is, this is not your prime motivator for exploration. That honor goes to the scrolls scattered about, which permanently increase your stats. From boosting your damage output, defense, HP, or overall mana, they are game-changing. You’ll be able to one-shot foes that previously gave you trouble and worry far less about how many projectiles you can afford to shoot out.
As much as these scrolls increase your survivability, they are often found in hard-to-reach places or in dangerous areas you don’t have to be in. The irresistible prospect of more power will only fuel your desire to explore and brave any risk. More so due to the unfortunate flaw of not knowing when you’ll be locked off from backtracking. At times, it is obvious like a room opening right after a boss fight. While on other occasions, simply walking into an unsuspecting hallway will trigger it. I’m not a fan of that unwarranted ambiguity, even if there are more than enough stat boosts throughout. It is much fairer when it is your decision to proceed. The moments when you reach the end of a hard fought area, turn around, and think to yourself, “like hell I’m going back there for +20 HP” are a significantly more positive memory than being forced into it.
There are times when you need fast reaction times to get those scrolls, such as dropping down into an area, and needing to quickly readjust to reach it as you fall. Those moments can also result in you being permanently unable to get them. It still feels completely fair, unlike when you’re unlucky enough to step into the wrong room. My favorite such situations are when an enemy drops a pre-scripted power up. As an example, one power-up item are feathered boots which grant you unlimited jumps akin to being able to fly. Like the rest of them, this item isn’t permanent. This causes you to decide whether you should risk rushing forward before it runs out, or continue playing safely advancing inch by inch. From my experience, these secret locations are incredibly valuable, yet the promise of riches could just as well spell your end.
Dark & Maid is balanced rather well. As someone that loves exploration and found most scrolls, I found the stat boosts never felt overpowered. It did become significantly easier over time, though they keep introducing new foes and dangers to always keep some amount of challenge. You could just as well not bother with them and not go off the beaten path if you’re skilled or confident enough. A skilled player can make great use of the Dash ability and manage the invincibility frames it grants to escape any damage. The increased health, defense, and mana is nice to have, yet not the sole factor of being able to succeed. Mastering your base move set is by far the most valuable thing and absolutely fuels that itch of wanting to replay it without those stat boosts in the future.
As much as I’ve gushed about this game so far, it has a few flaws. One of these is the sheer repetition of the backgrounds and environments. I’m looking at all the pictures I took while playing, and all of them are nearly identical. Without the stats on the screen, I’d have no idea where most of these occurred. It all looks the same from beginning to end. This being the same dev of the visually amazing Dark Star, I can’t help but to feel disappointed there. Another smaller issue comes from the hentai aspect of this title. When enemies manage to grapple you, you’ll need to press the left & right arrow keys to break free from their sexual assault. The problem comes in with how fast your progress depletes. In order to mash them fast enough to escape, I needed to use both hands. Constantly repositioning my hands to this awkward pose was not enjoyable.
These hentai animations mostly occur when you play recklessly enough to get grappled or hit, but there are some plant-based platforming hazards that do the same. Those bothered me more since our character’s hitbox feels slightly too large and you’ll get pulled in without physically touching them. It generally occurs when they ask for pinpoint precision during platforming, which is not often. Whether or not you manage to escape the sexual assault, you’ll be lying on the ground for entirely too long. It is slightly frustrating to see the other foes continually advance on you without being able to get up for so long. If others do get into melee range in the meantime, you only have a brief window of time upon standing to Dash to safety.
In total, there are 44 unique sex animations. All of them are of good quality and feature mostly vaginal penetration. There is some light voring, but nothing too extreme. Your foes range from dogs, an ass enjoying cyclops, and zombies, so there is that element of unconventional sexual partners. After defeating a foe for the first time, you’ll be able to freely view their H animations via the Gallery mode in the main menu. While in that mode, you can change the background, the amount of clothing your character has, etc. It is the ideal place to enjoy this element of the game as they cause a ton of damage if you allow it to happen while playing. One thing you can’t view is the other women in bondage that you save throughout. They don’t have sex animations, though it is still a shame we can’t enjoy their sprites outside of the campaign.
If you’re wondering if Dungeon & Maid has controller support, the answer is sadly no. Connecting a controller will allow you to move your character and attack, but not jump or other vital actions. One thing I found pretty odd is that it comes packaged with three different copies of the game. Each have the graphical assets for the title in different resolutions and the max is 1080p. If you want the highest visual quality, select that one. All in all, Dungeon & Maid lasted me around three hours. I sat through the entire thing in one go as I was hooked right from the start. The in-depth gameplay, rewarding exploration, and the addictive stat progression it offered were a winning combination. It is quite simply put one of the best hentai games I’ve played. Minus some slightly too large hit-boxes for the rare moments of precise platforming, it nailed everything it set out to do. Challenging, sexy, and a ton of fun at just ten dollars. Dungeon & Maid is one of those gold standards you’d point at to show the value of what adult games can offer.
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