Hot off the press, Demon Queen Melissa is one of the latest releases from adult games publisher Kagura Games. Initially released in 2016 by Japanese doujin developers Acerola, Demon Queen Melissa was initially skipped over for translation in favor of other titles. With the game finally receiving an English release, will this seven-year-old H-game still hold up?
A Legacy H-Game
Having played other titles from Acerola, such as Treasure Hunter Claire, Brave Alchemist Colette, and most recently, Holy Paladin Cynthia, I was looking forward to the release of Demon Queen Melissa. If you’ve played Acerola games before, you would know they often follow a similar concept: a Heroine gains special powers, and is mandated to become stronger to save the world. How does a heroine become stronger? Of course, everyone at Acerola knows: Semen makes you stronger.
As with many H-games, if purchased on Steam or GOG, users need to download the restoration patch available on Kagura Games’ website to access R18 content.
Unlikely Friends: Demon Queen and Hero
Acerola always makes sure to throw a twist in the mechanics, and in Demon Queen Melissa, players don’t just play as the heroine. You play as THREE. Not only the Demon Queen herself, but players also play as her right-hand demon maid, Marina, and the Hero, Lufia. This adds a layer to the admittedly thin battle system, as each party has unique stat distributions and skills fulfilling classic RPG party roles: mage, red mage, and paladin. However, regular skills are limited to healing and attacking, with no status effect or buffing skills at all (Players can, however, stun enemies by using sexual skills to drain enemy mana to zero).
As briefly mentioned in the previous section, the main way to get stronger in Demon Queen Melissa is with semen. Yes, players are able to buy some weapons and accessory upgrades from stores using gold–but outside of that, there are no experience points in this title. Melissa’s party levels up solely using cum (measured in ml), incentivizing players to indulge in debauchery more often than not. Perversion, in this game at least, will carry players far.
For players who want a bit more challenge in combat, there are actually three “superboss” style dungeons featuring monsters stronger than the story’s final boss. These dungeons do also feature some fun easter eggs for those who’ve played other Acerola games, in addition to unlocking some unique equipment and items.
A Veritable Buffet of H
Another factor that the party system takes advantage of is by giving each heroine unique H-scenes and quests. All H-scenes, and other limited lines outside of those, are voice-acted in Japanese. I’m not a voice-acting enthusiast by any stretch of the imagination, but they certainly didn’t detract from the experience. I did particularly enjoy Lufia’s voice acting; It really helps paint her as the party airhead which can also be seen when she gets bullied by Melissa and Marina (She may be a little dumb).
As with all Acerola games, the H-scenes cover all the bases: paizuri, blowjobs, anal, creampies, and more. The proposition/prostitution command, where the current party leader can ask most male NPCs for a quickie, makes a return in this game. Most of the “vanilla” scenes come from this command, whereas more detailed scenario H-scenes can be triggered by talking to characters with a heart icon floating above them. These H-scenes often showcase the unique outfits of each heroine, which also double as armor sets for battles.
The game does curiously have a pregnancy status and a handful of H-scenes featuring this. In other Acerola titles, heroines have had a magic spell cast on them to prevent pregnancy. Not so in this title! There are no long-term consequences to this, however, as players simply can use an item or visit a pregnancy clinic to remove the status. In the case of the clinic, heroines give “birth” to an item for later use (such as a Potion, or Honey Pancakes).
Also important to note, Demon Queen Melissa’s English release is uncensored–no mosaics are present when the patch is applied.
Faults
Despite all the good this game offers, I found myself not enjoying it as much as the previous Acerola games I’ve played. First, I wasn’t as much of a fan of the three-heroine setup as I thought I was going to be. While being able to have the “snack” of your choice at any time is a nice idea, I really just found myself gravitating to Lufia’s scenes.
In Holy Paladin Cynthia for example, seeing a side-heroine’s H-scene is a nice palate cleanser from the steady dose of main character smut. In Demon Queen Melissa, I really just wanted more Lufia, and well, there wasn’t that (for absolutely fair developer resource reasons). For someone who’s into all three heroines, Demon Queen Melissa would absolutely be a great experience, but for me, I would trade the variety for a more focused experience any day.
In addition, each city location is exactly one screen excluding building interiors, which made exploration feel limited. While other Acerola games certainly do not have huge cities, the lack of space in Demon Queen Melissa felt particularly stark.
Graphically, I also experienced some sprite pixelation at higher screen resolutions–this didn’t bother me much, but I could see it being quite a distraction for others.
Verdict
Demon Queen Melissa has the most interesting combat of any Acerola game I’ve played so far. But unfortunately, that’s not what most people are playing this for. While it’s certainly still enjoyable, and absolutely worth a play, it’s probably my least favorite of all the Acerola games I’ve played so far. If you do find yourself fancying all three of the main heroines, you may well get more out of it than I did. Otherwise, I can’t recommend this over the other Acerola games on the market right now.
WAIT FOR SALE ON DEMON QUEEN MELISSA
If you would like to see more Adult Games, you may be interested in our review of Dohna Dohna ~ Let’s Do Bad Things Together or Doukyuusei: Bangin’ Summer.
Many thanks go to Kagura Games for a PC review code for this title.
A self-professed ero researcher for as long as he could access the internet, Mac is always on the search for the next great ero-mangaka on Pixiv, Twitter, and Skeb. Catch his R18 Twitter likes and ‘research’ @erohonscholar
