Sakura Succubus Review – Meet the Luckiest Man Alive

You can’t look through Gamuzumi’s hefty game collection without immediately bumping into one or more entries in the long-running Sakura Succubus saga. It’s the sub-series that really headlines the Sakura visual novel games, showcasing what the cheeky collection of titillating stories are really all about. And of course, it’s all about those sexy anime girls, and you don’t get much sexier than a succubus.

Introduction

Sakura Succubus is the first episode in the long-running visual novel series of the same name, which currently stands at nine episodes at the time of writing. It is the longest running series in the ‘Sakura’ brand pretty anime girl games. The game was developed by Winged Cloud and published by ecchi visual novel specialist Gamuzumi, arriving on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 as a cross-buy title on 22nd April, 2021.

The game includes a very easy platinum trophy and a mostly kinetic story. There are a handful of dialogue options, however none will change the outcome of the story. The narrative is notably more adult than other Sakura games, however the game’s original hentai content has been removed for the console release, though a fair amount of fan-service remains.

Story

The story tells the tale of Hiroki, a struggling photographer who is one day tasked with photographing Japan’s top pop idol, the cute but angsty Ayu, only to fail to win her over. Fortunately, Marina, a successful, flirtatious businesswoman who Hiroki meets while drowning his sorrows at a local bar, is able to get him a second chance with Ayu, who was just playing ‘hard to get’.

After a sexy night together with Marina, Hiroki meets another beauty the following day during the work commute, coming face-to-face with the ditzy, promiscuous social media star Cosmos. Later, Marina also reveals a surprising secret about herself, Ayu, and Cosmos, a secret which Hiroki will have to accept if he wants to keep these three beauties in his life.

Soon enough, Hiroki finds himself at the mercy of these three beautiful women who are quickly falling for him. They’re all rich, famous, and stunningly beautiful, and they should be utterly unattainable, but for some reason, they’re insatiably attracted to Hiroki. Hiroki might just be the luckiest man alive.

Progression

As is usual for Winged Cloud games, Sakura Succubus utilises a single-button interface to move the text forward, with the occasional narrative choice to consider. Tapping the Cross button will move the text on to the next line or paragraph, while tapping L1 allows you to rewind to the last line. Pressing the Square button will let the text auto-play, while R1 acts as a fast-forward feature, allowing you to jump ahead or skip through the game entirely if you wish. Text display speed can be adjusted from the main menu.

The game doubles as one of those notoriously easy-to-platinum games. You can skip all dialogue text entirely, flashing through text instantly to get your platinum trophy in as little as two minutes. Despite a few dialogue choices, it is a largely linear story and so every trophy will unlock during a single playthrough. For a genuine playthrough, you can expect a little over an hour of content. Dialogue choices have no effect on the story, so feel free to pick any options you like.

Graphics/Sound

Sakura Succubus features some of Winged Cloud’s best artwork to date. Characters are bright, colourful, and expressive from scene to scene. As per usual for ecchi-themed developer Winged Cloud, focus is placed on the female cast of characters, with the featured ladies always being unapologetically gorgeous. Characters aren’t animated and will only move or gesture as their sprites are regenerated after each line of dialogue advances, though this is very frequent.

Sadly, there are no independent blinking or lip-syncing attempts, however this isn’t too crucial since characters aren’t voiced anyway. This is a lower-budget visual novel, and so it’s fully text-based. Fortunately, there is a charming soundtrack throughout to accompany the brilliantly detailed backdrop images and sexy anime girls.

Conclusion

As one of Gamuzumi’s earliest yet most popular titles, Sakura Succubus is often regarded as Winged Cloud’s headline game, and also one that’s met with high standards. When compared with previous release Legends of Talia: Arcadia, we’re instantly struck with one unexpected difference. Bizarrely, the biggest difference between the two is the price-point, despite both games having similar presentation and playtimes.

Sakura Succubus is more than three times the price of Legends of Talia: Arcadia, so it’s well worth waiting for a sale if you’re interested, and maybe snagging a few of the games in one go. It’s hard to say the price hike is really justified since there isn’t anything in the game that we haven’t seen in cheaper titles. Sakura Succubus also feels heavily censored, with sex scenes actually referenced in the story yet all are edited out entirely, along with even partial nudity.

The story’s iconic twist is a decent if entirely predictable reveal. The game’s promotional artwork and title should be a dead giveaway really. Still, I was keen to see where it was all going until the cliffhanger ending kicks in and encourages you to buy the equally overpriced episode 2. Episodic games are fine in theory, but these chapters are going to need a much better price-point. Sexy anime girls and some funny, cheeky dialogue aren’t quite enough to make this one a good investment.