Are Game Over Hentai games objectively flawed?
Lately I've been running into this discussion more often, so I figured I should write a post about this once again.
I actually did so once or twice in the past, but this time I intend to write a post that can be refered to whenever this question comes up.
Now before I start, let me say this very important thing right off the bat.
No matter what your opinion on this topic is, wether you like or dislike these kind of games.
Your opinion is valid, and without knowing your point, without having talked to you or knowing you as a person, I can already say that your point is absolutely valid as well.
You are free to like or dislike whatever is to your tastes, as such is the nature of things.
We all like different things to eat, different hobbies, and get along with different kinds of people, each of us is an individual with a distinct personality and experiences we made in life, so we all have our own viewpoint on matters, which is perfectly valid.
But I also have to respectfully ask you to keep in mind that people will disagree with you, and that they too will have a point.
It is a matter of taste after all.
One more thing to get out of the way before we can truly start:
In case you were refered to this post, you probably don't know me.
So let me briefly explain who I am and what I do before we dive into the core subject.
I don't want to talk too much about my personal life and the experiences and suffering I went through during my younger years, but I think I should at least mention that I do have masochistic tendencies, possibly resulting out of what I experienced, and all of the main characters (player characters) in my games are a "part" of me.
So in a sense it is a self insert and definitely not driven by sadistical means, it's definitely masochistic in nature.
I do enjoy hard games and rogue-likes/lites that make you lose a hundred times before you possibly have any chance at winning.
Also, I am a hentai game developer who basically specializes in making Game Over Hentai games.
Looking back when I worked on "Paperheads" in 2012, there were not many games of this kind.
When the game was finally released in March 2013 on DLSite japan, it was one of the first game over themed brawler hentai games.
Featuring a simple escape mechanic to prevent a bad end, as well as the bad ends that happened upon failure to escape.
Mind you, there were a couple RPG Maker based game over hentai games.
Also games like the Raidy series, and of course Kurovadis from Kyrieru, to name a few.
But the "genre" of game over hentai games was not really big back then.
And yes, I believe we can actually call this a genre.
Ever since 2013, more and more of these game over hentai themed games appeared on the market.
Nowadays it is a well established genre with great titles like Blazing Angel Mistletear and so many other games I can't possibly list half of them.
At any rate, I am knowledgeable on this subject, I love these kind of games to the point that I create games of this genre myself.
And as a creator of such games, I can exactly tell you "why" I create these games.
What my thoughts and motivations are behind it, as well as what my intentions are.
Bear in mind though, that author/creator intention, and player intention, usually have the tendency to go two different ways!
And I am in no way responsible for how people "use" the games I make.
I can only tell you what I, personally, intended for this to be.
So let's hop right into that.
Are Game Over Hentai games objectively flawed?
The simple answer is: No, they are not.
And you don't have to fix something if it's not broken.
They are good as they are, but if you dislike them that's also perfectly fine.
It is a matter of taste, it is subjective what you like or dislike, and other people don't necessarily agree with you there.
If you dislike them, your opinion is absolutely valid, just don't call it "objectively flawed" when it is actually a subjective matter.
Objectively flawed implies that basically everyone can agree on the matter.
Except that's not the case here, so in conclusion, it is subjective, since people exist who actually love the genre and see no problem with it at all.
And there are lots of people who love it, otherwise there wouldn't be so many games of this genre, and otherwise they wouldn't sell like crazy.
I hope this makes sense?
To understand this better, let me explain why I maintain my stance and what my personal reasoning behind it is, I can't speak for every developer out there of course, I know some developers have the same reasons as I do, but not everyone has the same goal, so take the following as my personal reasoning for making these games.
If the game design isn't flawed... what is then?
Now, first of all it's important to understand that the hentai in the game over hentai games I make is not meant as a "reward" at all.
It is a narrative choice, it tells the story of what happens to the player character(s) after their failure, after their defeat.
It is meant to explore the route many SFW games do not explore (well, they are SFW!).
You may have played a couple SFW games were enemies throw around dirty lines, taunting the main character and hinting or outright saying what they will do if they get their hands on the protagonist.
However, once you face the Game Over screen, that's all you get.
So I was asking myself:
What happens afterwards?
Can the protagonist escape?
Is this their end?
What's going on?
What is their fate?
Especially when it is hinted at that they are not killed, I do ask myself all these questions.
And since this is a fictional setting, I want to explore the narrative behind this in a "safe" manner, as this is not real after all.
To be clear on this, I do not wish to experience any more horrible things than I already did in my real life myself, nor do I wish anything like this onto others.
I merely do have a curiosity of wanting to explore these routes in a fictional setting were if it goes horribly wrong, my real life isn't affected by it, after all, it is purely fictional.
Exploring the possibility of the protagonist possibly escaping to fight another day excites me, I am all about the struggle of trying my hardest to turn it around, or in a worst case scenario, getting a bad end due to the inability of turning the tables despite giving my all.
Since it is fictional, I can simply push the reset button and try again if I get a bad end, doing my best to avoid another failure and trying my best to win this time.
I do not like to lose on purpose, yes, I like taking risks in games, but I dislike losing on purpose, as that's not exciting in the slightest to me.
When I play a SFW game or also during DnD (Dungeons and Dragons), I love consequences.
At times I'd risk stuff, which I normally wouldn't do in real life, and if it goes bad, I do want to explore that route, even in a non lewd way.
I do enjoy the freedom of exploring "failure" due to my actions in the safe environment of a fictional setting, where if I fail, I do not die or (getting back into NSFW/hentai) becoming someone's sex slave for a life time.
As you can see, to me this is in no way a reward.
It is just showing the consequences of ones failure, a wrong decision, taking on an opponent too strong, or in general screwing up in a crucial moment.
To me this is a purely narrative choice.
Now I do understand that some people have a different viewpoint on this.
That they lose on purpose (which I do not do, I actually try my best to win all the time), and that they want to see the hentai.
And that too, is perfectly viable.
It is not what I intended it to be.
But who am I to dictate someone how to play a game?
If they enjoy it, it is a viable way to play it.
If that is what they want to do, they are free to do it.
After all, this too is a matter of taste, and different people like different things.
Other examples of matters of taste can be seen in other places regularly.
I did in fact recently stumble upon people who enjoy FPS (first person shooter) games, calling RTS (real time strategy) games as "boring" and basically flawed, wishing for a game to be an FPS instead of an RTS "because it is better" instead, and showing no understanding for people who love the genre of RTS games.
(See comments under a trailer video for "Iron Harvest")
But just because someone doesn't like a genre, doesn't mean that it's flawed.
It simply is just not made for them.
And it doesn't have to be.
This can be extended to eggplants and brussels sprouts, they are not "objectively flawed" because some people dislike them.
Disliking them is fair, but saying everyone should dislike them is taking it a bit far.
There are tons of people who actually like them and eat them.
And the same holds true for hentai games, including game over themed hentai games.
A lot of people who say that Game Over Hentai games are objectively flawed, are the ones that dislike the genre.
But there are people, a lot of people, who actually enjoy this genre of hentai games.
Otherwise there wouldn't be so many of these games and people wouldn't buy them like crazy.
These people who genuinely enjoy Game Over Hentai games do not see the genre itself as objectively flawed.
Again, there can be good games and bad games in a genre, but this doesn't make the entire genre and the idea and concept behind it flawed, but that's a different topic, so let's put that aside.
Conclusion:
The genre of Game Over Hentai games is not flawed, so nothing needs to be fixed.
Of course people are free to dislike the genre if it is not to their liking, same as they are free to dislike everything else, like food or other people's opinions.
Granted, you probably need to be a bit of a masochist to enjoy these kind of games, but that is not a bad thing.
Everyone is an individual and everyone enjoys different things, please be mindful of that.
Likes and dislikes are usually a highly subjective matter, at least in this case it's clearly subjective.
And at the end of the day, it all lays in the eye of the beholder.
I may add that Game Over Hentai games were never intended to be "for everyone".
So if you dislike them, that's fair, they are simply not for you and that is fine.
Just keep in mind that because you dislike something, doesn't mean it is inherently flawed and everyone is disliking it as well.
Also keep in mind, that to some of us developers, the reasons for Game Over Hentai isn't a "game design aspect", but rather a narrative choice.
It clearly can't be compared to traditional game design, in the same sense that horror games don't go along the lines of traditional game design themselves, as someone once pointed out to me.
P.S:
Comments below this post are disabled as I rarely check them.
But if you want to have a constructive discussion with me about this topic or about other topics, feel free to join our discord!
I'm active on it regularly and try to respond to as many questions as possible.
https://discord.gg/DB3F9jN
Sincerely,
Wolfenstahl of Projekt Wolfenstahl