Eris Dysnomia is a 2D Action game with a focus on maintaining combos and switching between fighting styles as the situation demands. If you’ve ever played Devil May Cry, you have a decent idea of what to expect here. Our character is a nameless vampire, out to right all the wrongs in her world. There isn’t much in the way of story or background, just enough to tell you why you are fighting. Speaking of, to switch the language to English is a bit of an obscure process. You’ll have to activate the middle option in the main menu and scroll down around the halfway point again. With how stat and menu-heavy this game can be, do not proceed without doing so unless you understand Japanese.
Starting off our adventure will see us in our castle, which serves as a hub world. In it, there is a portal to the town center where we can buy items and talk with its denizens. Yet, our first order of business should be playing the tutorial. To do so requires us to speak with our bat familiar just before the town portal. As tempting as ignoring tutorials can be, that is ill-advised here. Eris Dysnomia has many unique mechanics. Chief among these are the fighting style changes, which are more like temporary transformations. Your base form has multiple forms of attack, yet they serve more to push away enemies until your MP bar recharges enough to let you transform. That is where the real fun begins. You can either transform into a gun-wielding maiden that can annihilate singular foes under a barrage of gunfire, or summon in a scythe that devastates crowds of foes with stylish combos.
There are three MP bars in total, to which you can use to transform. Defeating enemies will refill chunks of it as a reward for playing aggressively. A more critical aspect is maintaining your powered-up form as long as possible to multiply the damage you dish out, up to a hefty 50% bonus. Being stunned, grappled, or allowing the transformation timer to run out will reset your streak to nothing. I wouldn’t fret too much about it if you find doing so overly tricky. Ignoring it will hardly keep you from finishing the game. On the higher difficulty settings, however, mastering it can greatly help you overcome the challenges you’ll face. Easy, Normal, Hard, and Hell are the four difficulty settings to choose from and can be changed anytime. I’d recommend starting with Normal as to become familiar with the game’s systems and gathering abilities to suit your preferred playstyle.
Considering Eris Dysnomia only has a single attack button, it has a surprising amount of depth. This comes down to making good use of directional inputs to widen what combat options are available at any time. I’ll let you discover the rest, but if I had one tip to offer, it’d be to not ignore slide-kicking. Completing the tutorial will reward you with a hefty chunk of Red Orbs, which I’ll be calling RO from now on. RO can be used to either buy items from the merchant or to upgrade your Abilities. Both are pretty important, so even if you’re close to being able to afford a new skill, it may be better to purchase a few health potions in case things get ugly. Abilities have a wide range of benefits, with only four being equipable at once until you buy more slots. From summoning bat familiars when you transform, increasing the number of pellets your shotgun shoots out, or the amount you can attack before needing to stop to breathe. There is a ton to experiment with and strive for.
Gathering up Red Orbs never becomes redundant as you can continually level up the abilities you do like for increasingly large sums. That dramatically increases replay value for the five stages on offer. It could be completed in around an hour otherwise. They do make full use of their small selection, however. Each level has a different theme, entirely new enemies, and a unique boss at the end of it to truly test your mettle. An interesting aspect of stages is that they are split into multiple sections. For instance, the first stage has six sections. When you reach the end of one, you can choose how to proceed and what the next area entails from a selection of three paths. The Crossed Sword icon will pit you into an arena. A Road icon functions more like your typical level where the goal is to reach the end of the screen. And to name another, the Spa, which refills your health and removes any impurities.
The section system also contributes to the replayability, as while there are only five stages, there are many ways to get through them. I’ve previously mentioned there is little in the form of a story here. Most of the text is found when you meet a boss and essentially amounts to listing their crimes. Bosses are the main reason I started off by saying you should play the tutorial. I wouldn’t call them unfair or brutal, yet not correctly understanding the combat system is a recipe for disaster against these mighty foes. They are a world apart from your typical mob enemies that pose little threat and are where one can go all out. Each possesses their own moveset to take you down, and are all memorable. I can easily recall all five. Defeating them will net you a big payout of Red Orbs. Losing, on the other hand, will see you sexually violated.
Yeah, with as much as I’ve gone on about how enjoyable combat is, it is finally time to talk about the hentai. Before that, let me mention that you can turn off all R18 content in the menus, which is a superb addition, as many other devs would have a separate version to buy. That said, the sexual content is primarily that of the humiliation and domination variety. Nothing too extreme, but be prepared for your character to be mistreated slightly. Depending on the boss you lose to, she can be turned into a sex slave, made to act like a monkey in heat, or put in a dog costume and stuck in a wall. Boss defeats are the second portion in where you will see most of the text. Their writing is decent, yet where it really shines is the sprite animations. They are high-quality animations with a good amount of them to see. Losing to regular enemies also result in unique sex, but without any text to the event. Meanwhile, beating the game allows you to view all H content in the now unlocked Gallery mode.
There are no CGs here. All of the hentai is animated sprite-work. The screen wisely zooms in to let you more easily view them, whether in-game or in the unlocked Gallery mode. It’s not all sex, though. When you are grappled, many different forms of foreplay can be activated depending on your state of clothing. Damage eventually destroys clothing, so the more you are losing, the lewder it gets. Foreplay can also hinder your ability to fight if you’ve been fondled too much. It naturally is not easy to move around much, jump, and perform flashy attacks while incredibly horny, as indicated by the heart in the bottom left of the screen. To reduce your heat, you’ll need to reach a spa, take an item, or have a specific ability. As good as the animations are, I wouldn’t purposely lose, considering you can unlock all of them by merely beating the game. All said, the H aspect is very well implemented into the gameplay itself.
After you’ve had enough sex or walked around naked for long periods of time, you’ll develop new fetishes that will make her more susceptible to foreplay of that type. There is a wide selection of them, like loving to be shamed or being a fan of sexual acts involving her butt. You’ll have to select at least three weaknesses once you gain enough fetishes. After you’re kinky enough, you can make your character masturbate on command. It doesn’t help you in any way, but you can. If you are into thick thighed, flat-chested women, this is a title that should be on your radar. Even if you don’t care for the Action genre, there is a ton to do and see. Just set it on easy and button-mash your way to success, or bang every monster that crosses your path. As a second tip in this review, I’d like to mention that you can purchase a dresser from the merchant to take off your clothes and change your hair for a bit of customization.
What really pushes Eris Dysnomia over the top for me is the addition of a Stadium once you complete the game. It allows you to tackle challenges or to fight until you drop in the arena. All of your abilities are unequipped when you fight in the arena, so you must rely on skill. After each round, you will get a random selection of three skills to choose from. It is a lot of fun and a great way to make Red Orbs to further empower yourself for the main missions. Surviving for a certain length without dying will unlock the final sixth ability slot to truly put you over the top and ready to tackle anything. There are other secret things to unlock as well. Eris Dysnomia is a title anyone into Devil May Cry styled games should at least download the demo to and give an honest chance. You can turn off all Adult content, and if you enjoy hentai, there is a large selection of sprite animations to view. Either way, Eris Dysnomia is a game that can easily stand on its own merits and is well worth the $12.50 asking price.
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