Rachel Hazard Raid is a 2D action title that is heavily inspired by the aquatic horror theme that Resident Revelations focused on. From that to the way you heal your character also being via herbs, this title wears its inspirations on its sleeve. There is no setup or story to be had here; instead, we are dropped right into the action after selecting our stage. The why and the hows of finding ourselves in such a situation quickly fall from your mind as the mutated fiends that dwell in this ship start making their way towards you.
This is not an RPG or a survival horror type of affair. The enemy onslaught is endless, and our character Rachel has an infinite amount of ammo to match. It is very much an action game with a horror theme. This is not a negative, but it is something to be aware of if you expected Resident Evil like gameplay. Our pistol is the only weapon we’ll have access to throughout, yet it is exceptionally powerful. A few shots will dispose of almost any enemy, making it a matter of who survives being who manages to strike first. With the limited vision the narrow camera gives us, our range is a minimal advantage against their numbers and entirely melee-based nature.
Aside from our gun, we have a grenade to clear the screen of all enemies and a herb to heal ourselves with. They can rarely be found in a level. Your primary source of getting them is via the store on the main menu. This is where things start to get a bit weird. You start off with a ton of money, easily allowing one to stock up on a ton of supplies. There is also a gun upgrade that I suggest not buying unless you are somehow really struggling. Upgrading it will cause most foes to die from a single shot and destroy what very little difficulty it had in the first place.
An aspect I’ve yet to mention is the lewd content. When a monster manages to land an attack, there is a seemingly random chance of it sexually violating your character. The act does no damage, and it fills up your orgasm meter the more sex you wind up having. Having an orgasm has no gameplay effect other than having our character compulsing from getting off. Given how little damage actual attacks do, sex seems to be a significant focus at the expense of the game itself. We can also buy each monster’s love-making animation from the store and freely view them from the main menu.
One of the first things that will likely catch your eye are the visuals. It features some quality artwork which does wonders to set the dreary tone. Each of the five stages have their own look and starts introducing new foes as you progress. Everything looks brilliant, quite frankly. I am also a big fan of how they designed the UI to show the keyboard keys to press for your available actions. If you look closely at a screenshot, you’ll be able to see that P is to use a herb, Enter for grenades, and Crtl to attack. This, in addition to having nearly nothing in the way of story or text, makes it quite easy to get into for Westerners, even if the game is solely in Japanese.
In total, this title lasted me around twenty minutes. The stages are not long at all, and its lack of difficulty allows us to barrel right through it. It does feature a save system, though it is pretty archaic. Clicking Save will open up your OS directory window and create a file that you can store wherever you like. Once you exit the game and come back, you’ll need to load up that file to start again where you left off. That is quite strange, especially for such a short title, but I’d still rather have the option to save than not have it. Another thing of note is that every time you finish a level, it abruptly kicks you back to the main menu. The ending is just as abrupt as well, and there is hardly any sound making the world feel empty in a bad way. All of this in combination just causes it to feel like an alpha build or proof of concept more than a complete product.
All of the previous issues would be of more extensive criticism if this title wasn’t priced at under two US Dollars. With the excellent art style and thirteen unique sex animations, it is a good bang for your buck. On the gameplay front is where it falters. It just isn’t enjoyable due to a lack of balance, challenge, and the brevity of stages. The foundation for a good game is there, yet it is not capitalized upon. A house without a roof would be a decent analogy. However, for those with a taste for horror-themed hentai or just dig the cool art of this game, it is worth experiencing. As incomplete as it feels, there is nothing broken or severe enough to keep one from getting to its worthwhile strengths.
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