Game Review: Hentai Tales Vol. 2

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch

I'm not sure why I keep subjecting myself to these games, but I am once again reviewing one of 17studio's Hentai games. I previously reviewed Hentai Project and Hentai Tales Vol. 1, and I made a promise to myself that I would not touch another one of these games after playing the latter. So tell me why I jumped at the opportunity to review its sequel, Hentai Tales Vol. 2: Hitomi and Sea Trip? (Which will be referred to as Hentai Tales 2 from here on out.) I honestly don't know what drove me to this decision, but here we are. No point thinking dwelling on possible bad choices, I guess it's time to dive into another of "those" games, and a sequel to one that I didn't think was worth anyone's time no less. This is going to be fun...

It's our homie Hitomi!

Hitomi is not your goth gf.

I'm not sure if this is truly meant to be a sequel to Hentai Tales 1, but it does follow Hitomi once again. Hitomi barely has a character, but the story is told from her point of view. This time around Hitomi takes to the high seas in search of adventure. Well, she's actually just searching for adventure in general and happens to find herself at sea by chance. Apparently all this adventuring nonsense is a bit too thin a story though, as the first handful of puzzles are literally Hitomi trying on different outfits. Once that's out the way, she heads to a nearby coastal town and meets a captain by the name of James in a bar that is frequented by seaman. (See what I did there?) After trying his "Sea Wind" she joins his crew. Hilarity ensues when she drops a barrel and is forced to clean the deck in very little clothes. I say "hilarity", but this content is what we're all here for right? They then land on an island and find more than a few surprises, not the least of which is one that rushes us towards the ending. That's all I really want to say since the story is so short I've already given away half of it in my short description. Part of me wants to say something like "No one is playing these games for the plot!", but considering how little else these games have to offer, surely that has to be some of the draw.

These landscape ones are a bit harder.

This puzzle was a bit intense.

Gameplay is the same as the other Hentai games from 17studio, and that means you'll be completing a bunch of slide puzzles. Similar to the first Hentai Tales game, this one has you pick a piece and replace it with a different one within the puzzle. This means that there is no actual sliding going on, but I still think that description describes what's going on here best. I had all the same problems here that I had with the first game. The puzzles that focus on the characters are usually far too easy, while the landscape puzzles are usually far more difficult due to figuring out which mostly blank tile goes where. I actually think there are more generic setting puzzles this time around, but a lot of them were simple enough that I was only "stuck" two or three times. "Stuck" being qualified since trial and error will get you out of most puzzles quickly anyway.

Hentai Tales 2 is quite the overachiever, and actually adds in a something new to mildly annoy players. For reasons I can't understand, most of the tiles don't properly align with the background of the images. It's as if they cut up the pictures and then moved everything to the right or left a little bit to make things just a tad more confusing. I can only assume that this was intentional as I have no idea how they could've screwed up something this simple otherwise. It's not like any of these issues make the game hard or anything, it just adds a few more minutes to a few of the already very short puzzles. Besides that, there isn't a whole much more to say beyond the puzzles feeling a bit harder this time around. Oh, and the very first puzzle shuffled in such a way that I won atomically. I don't think I've ever seen that happen in these games before, and it glitched out the graphics until the next puzzle took over.

"Our girls" huh?

They look like a couple here.

Graphics come in the form of a few dozen static images, half of them you can find in this review. I actually don't want to show too many of them as the game is so short that I could easily spoil everything with a few too many screens. Going back to the art a bit, I don't want to accuse these games of using AI art, but it really looks like they're using AI art. Given the scale and pricing of these games, it wouldn't surprise me. That said, I did enjoy the artwork a bit more in this one over the first Hentai Tales game, and James was a more interesting side character than anything the first game offered. Music is just a step above simply existing, but at least I didn't hate the single short looping track the game had. There's no voice acting, but the gasps and whatever that take the place of it are back once again. I'd say that the presentation this time around seems a bit worse since the spacing of the font is off most of the time, and there still isn't a gallery for the completed images, but there's actual movement on the title screen that took me by surprise. Man... I've really set that bar low having I?

I'm too scared to ask what "Sea Wind" is...

What even is this face she's making?

I'm not sure if I'm getting good at these games, or if this one is even shorter than usual. I said this about the first game, but I once again forgot that the 30 boxes in the menu when you start the game are not chapters, but the actual number of puzzles you get. I beat the entire game in maybe 45 minutes, and that was taking a bunch of screenshots, getting stuck on the backgrounds of a couple puzzles, and having to take a break or two because the general ridiculousness of everything going on got a bit overwhelming. There's really no reason to go back to this one once you beat it, but I will say that the story was JUST interesting enough that I replayed a couple chapters just to get some clarity on a few plot points. Oh, and this one has an ending so abrupt and (dare I say) shocking that I couldn't help but nod to myself and admit that this one wasn't all that bad. Seeing as I didn't like the first Hentai Tales game, I guess it could only go up from there.

Indeed they can be.

This is what we're all here for right?

This is the third Hentai game I've reviewed and I have the same thing to say as I did for the first two: This is barely a game, and it has only the barest of content, but it's also only $3.99. That's a nice low price, but it also goes on sale frequently and is just silly enough that I didn't actually feel like my time with it is a complete waste. That said, I've recently played other games for a similar price point, and I can't help but feel that the Hentai games are starting to feel like they're priced too high, even at four dollars. I don't know though, I might regret saying this later, but I do give this a soft recommendation if you have the money to spare and want a silly game. If you're a Hentai completionist you probably already got this game on your wish list, everyone else can grab it if you want some random lols. If you actually want a GOOD game though, you might as well look elsewhere. I guess that closes out another Hentai review....

You know what? I hate to say it, but I really hope that a Hentai Tales Vol. 3 is on its way, and that I get to review it...

Check Out Hentai Tales Vol. 2 on The Nintendo Switch:

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Story: B-
Gameplay: D
Graphics: C-
Music/Sound: D
Value: B-

Overall: C

Pros:
+ I can't believe I'm saying this, but the story in this one actually wasn't too bad.
+ There were a couple puzzles that were challenging, but in a good way.
+ Actually seems to be an improvement over the first game in some ways.
+ Its cheap price make it an easy grab if only for the lols.

+/- All your switch friends will see this game in your history.

Cons:
- I really don't know if this series uses AI art, but I can't really stand behind it if it does.
- Generally speaking, the sound design is barely there at all.
- Some puzzles are hard simply due to the fact that the art itself doesn't lend itself well to these types of puzzles.
- There is barely even a game here, and you can complete it 100% in well under an hour.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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This is a twist though...

#Hentai_Tales_Vol2