Thank you Idea Factory for sending us this game to review!

Monsters and humans used to live peacefully until recently. Io’s town is one of the only remaining ones that has not succumbed to the hostility of monster girls. The village elder has talked with Io’s parents and they are sending him off to figure out what is going on with the world and to fix it before he is welcome back. Thankfully, he has his childhood friend, a monster girl named Lilia, by his side. She is the only girl he can talk to, as he is shy around females in fear of them discovering his impure thoughts and desires.

In town, Io can stop at the shop to buy healing potions, status removers, presents, and power-ups for his party members. Io doesn’t do any fighting, but he can store up magic and strengthen the attacks of the girls as well as use items on their behalf. Be sure to stock up on door crystals, which allow you to leave the dungeons at any time. Since save spots are rare, I recommend exiting to save after adding a new monster girl to your party/collection. I have lost multiple hours of progress with game crashes and lockups despite the recent 1.0.0.8 patch.

The first dungeon you get to explore is a mushroom forest. Some of the mushrooms in the background look like a little bit more than mushrooms if you know what I’m saying. Like other dungeon crawlers, the map starts off blank and it will only get filled in as you traverse it. Expect to get jumped and attacked by groups of monsters every few steps along the way. The monsters are rather interesting in design as well. There’s a UFO one that has a breast shaped top and another monster is covered in inflated condoms.

One of the first characters to join Io and Lilia’s party is a pink “seal” named Otton. He is kind enough to prevent a fight with a corrupted monster girl and offers to tag along as he hopes to acquire panties along the way. Otton is quite the pervert and is the embodiment of male genitalia in many ways. While battling female monsters his libido meter will rise as the monster girl’s clothing is removed piece by piece. If the clothing is not removed fast enough he will get angry and will start attacking. Once filled, Otton will spew out coins and the rubbing mini-game will begin. To win over a monster girl you have to find their weak spots and fill up their pleasure meter before time runs out. Some of the spots to rub are tame like their ears or their hands. Most of the time you’ll have to interact with more intimate areas though. If you struggle to find the right spots Otton will get frustrated and will go limp.

If you fail to win over a monster girl they’ll reappear on the map and you can try again. There are helpful guides online which will tell you the right places to rub. Up to five monster girls can be in your party at any time and any extras will be sent to the inn where they can slowly earn some experience. Girls in your party get experience and intimacy with Io.

Besides fighting alongside Io, girls can become more intimate with him through presents, story sequences, or through the rubbing mini-game which requires bump points to perform on them. There is a bumping scratch mode that doesn’t require points to play, but you won’t increase intimacy afterwards. If you touch the right way you can trigger a nude mode which will show the girls sans clothes but they’ll have strategically placed hearts. Since many of the outfits are skimpy regardless, I fail to see the point of this feature.

Once a couple of the intimacy hearts are filled in, the girls will unleash their full power to Io and will have the option to change their outfits. Many of the replacement outfits are string bikinis. Each of the girls can have a pet monster which can heal them or attack enemies in battle. If you give a girl a monster and some clothing (usually panties) they can lay an egg which can produce some unique items and building materials. With the building materials you can upgrade the girls’ rooms so they can earn more experience and intimacy points per gift. If all of the intimacy hearts are filled in, Io may get propositioned by the girl to have his way with her. While most of the girls are attracted to Io, one of them joins the party because of the attractive girls already in it.

Besides the blatant sexual overtones, there is some mild language and blaspheming in this game.  I’m not the target audience so this title didn’t appeal to me on many levels.  As a dungeon crawler it’s alright but I’m currently playing Operation Babel: New Tokyo Legacy, which is better in every aspect.  The story in Moero Chronicles is serviceable, but not memorable.  

One praise I will give this game is the excellent voice acting and battle music. The music got stuck in my head outside of the game. Sadly, there isn’t a soundtrack available for this title, but there is an artwork/wallpaper DLC available if you enjoy the eye candy.

Initially I played this game using the keyboard and the mouse. While the mouse is easier for the rubbing mini-game, they keyboard controls are unresponsive and moving requires pushing the keys several times to take effect. In the rare cases it is responsive in the game’s dialogue, there is no option to back track. I accidentally triggered a skip option and couldn’t figure out how to go back or undo it. The back to title and quit menu options are a bit unintuitive too. I mostly played using an Xbox One controller which was better for navigating, though the unresponsiveness was still a problem as I had to press the buttons several times to advance the dialogue or move in general. The twin joysticks are serviceable, but not ideal for the rubbing mini-game. The Vita’s touch screen is probably the best way to play the rubbing mini-game but it’s not available in the West.

Compared to the clunky controls, the stability issue is far more infuriating. The dungeons consist of several levels with enemies that get stronger in each one. Until you explore every nook and cranny, you won’t know where the save spots are. You have no way of saving your progress outside of exiting the dungeon to save in town. You’ll still need to come back to the dungeon and start it over from the beginning, but at least it will be mapped out the second time around. Save spots only appear every two or three levels and a lot can happen in between them. I have lost progress of collecting multiple monster girls by this game crashing to the desktop or having it just stop responding altogether.

Due to the stability issues, bad controls, and lackluster gameplay I can’t recommend Moero Chronicles to anyone who is looking for anything more than soft porn. There’s plenty of reasons why Christians shouldn’t play this game, but I’m struggling to find a reason why anyone should play it in the first place. In the end, Moero Chronicles’ gameplay is as shallow as its target audience.