Forgive me Lord for I have sinned. Repeatedly and with great pleasure. Through the few hour playtime of The Humbling of a Holy Maiden, I’ve corrupted one of your servants. And she liked it.
Not Your Standard Isekai
Following the standard ‘reincarnated in another world’ theme, you play as the ‘Professor’ who has died and come to another world. While people are summoned to this world to be a hero and fight against the Demon King, you have a humbler position. The Professor spends his time gardening, doing carpentry, and occasionally sharing his otherworldly knowledge with those in the capital.
Most of The Humbling of a Holy Maiden takes place shortly after the Demon King is defeated. Rather than the standard adventure to save the world, it talks about recovering in the aftermath. There are refugees from destroyed cities, the previous capital has already been lost and famine is a problem across the land.
While this is an interesting setting and does include some great scenes, it mostly feels like a backdrop. In the end, this is a nukige – a type of visual novel that’s primarily about sex scenes. And the reason behind this is Seina.
The (Un)Holy Maiden
Seina is the Holy Maiden. – the living representation of the Holy tree. Beyond that, she’s the princess of the country and daughter of an overly pious king. Despite that, while she plays the part, she certainly has her doubts. She’ll preach the word of god in front of the masses but privately thinks that even if one exists, they’d not care about a single world and the effects of a demon king. The protagonist is the only one that she confided these thoughts in. As an outsider, it’s less of a risk than speaking to the priests or noble ladies who surround her.
That’s not to say that Seina doesn’t have the interests of the people at heart. As a Holy Maiden should, her concern is more with the people, rather than the religious rules. She’s very practical too, at one point asking how they’ll collect enough tithes to help the poor with the threat of the Demon King gone. As she says herself, “With the Demon King vanquished, our true enemy becomes poverty”.
Humiliation
Through some convoluted logic, Seina believes that a holy maiden such as herself needs to debase herself in service. She very suddenly proclaims how she’s fallen for the protagonist and seems to want to be forced and humiliated sexually. The Professor is more than willing.
I didn’t really understand her logic here. She seems to feel guilt for her privileged life while the weakest suffer famine. She seems to think that by becoming weak herself through this method, she can then receive salvation. Later on, Seina seems to imply that she’ll become corrupt over time. And that this way she will be corrupted by a partner she chooses.
Sexual Degradation
The Humbling of a Holy Maiden is certainly an adult game. There are no patches required whether buying on Steam or elsewhere and there is no censorship. As you’ve probably guessed by now, the main focus is around humiliation or humbling. Though interestingly Seina isn’t particularly haughty. She sees herself as on top, but she’s not outspoken about it.
To give an idea of the type of humiliation Seina has to endure, the protagonist steps on her and uses his foot to stimulate her. He commands her to do various uncomfortable things. At one point he even builds a device to restrain her. While making occasional complaints, she is very much into this.
There are thirteen adult scenes included, which is most of the content of The Humbling of a Holy Maiden. It tends to have a little bit about the world or some interaction, followed by an adult scene. This pattern often repeats. Some of the scenes have a disembodied penis and internal cross-sections, which some have strong feelings about. It also involved anal and impregnation scenes.
The adult content in this game is certainly niche and very focused, but I felt that it’s well done in terms of the scene writing. While Seina’s reasoning leading her to this type of kink feels unusual, it’s not like most hentai has a solid story.
One-Minute Man
This is a fairly short visual novel. While it will vary based on your reading speed, it took me less than three hours to complete The Humbling of a Holy Maiden. It’s a kinetic novel too, so there are no choices and no replayability.
While the price is currently not known at the time of writing, the publisher’s previous title was very reasonably priced. If this is the same, then the short length won’t be an issue.
Art, Sound and More
The illustration Giuniu has provided some wonderful art for The Humbling of a Holy Maiden. There are a total of 14 CGs, which is a good amount for the runtime. The sprites look great too, though I would’ve liked to see more expressions and poses here.
One thing I didn’t expect was that this visual novel is in the 4:3 aspect ratio. While I’m fairly used to this in older visual novels, the original version only came out in 2018.
In terms of voicing, only Seina is voiced. With that said, the vast majority of the spoken lines are hers or the protagonists. Others occasionally chime in, but quite rarely. Shino Saaya played Seina and did portrayed a kind but sometimes dispirited priestess well.
Options are fairly basic, consisting mostly of volume and text speed sliders.
Small Issues
I occasionally had issues with switching windows if using full screen, which is worth mentioning. Speaking with someone who has worked on the title, they mentioned that the game engine doesn’t play too nicely with it.
I came across a few minor typos. They were along the lines of ‘churces or temples’ and ‘as her cheecks turn’. Overall though, the editing was well done and there are almost always a few things that slip through. While I’m unsure of Love Lab’s process, many visual novel publishers continue to update after release.
Verdict
I feel like The Humbling of a Holy Maiden will be most appreciated by a niche audience – those particularly interested in the kinks on display here. That said, there’s still certainly a lot to enjoy about it. It has an interesting setting, wonderful art, and some great voicing. It is a bit short, but it packs a lot into that time.
THE HUMBLING OF A HOLY MAIDEN IS RECOMMENDED
If you are looking for a visual novel with lighter content, perhaps Sankaku Renai or the more recent Harem Kingdom would be worth checking out. Another with more niche content? Dohna Dohna ~ Let’s Do Bad Things Together is very interesting.
Many thanks go to the publisher Love Lab for a PC review code for this title.
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
