RPGM - A Struggle with Sin [v0.5.8.0b] [Chyos]

Honestly? I was going to put a 4/5 as 5 is a "perfect" score and no game is without it's flaws. But it's been years since I've been so enamored with a game.

Story
The game has an interesting premise and has a lot of plots, sub-plots, personal stories, and implications of greater story beats to come. The setting despite having witches, orcs, goblins, etc is actually pretty well grounded. The war which is happening has smaller more reasonable impact on the people who live.

Characters
The characters are great. To start, they're actually characters. There's routines that most characters engage with each day which provides life to the town. The most compelling thing is how they're written. There are personal tragedies that weigh from the past, current issues to be resolved, worries about the future, and all sorts of things that make up interesting motivations that influence their behavior. Not everybody starts as the MC's friend and working through that actually takes effort on the players part. It's well done.

Rarely has there been a time that I've met a character and haven't been interested in seeing how their personal story takes shape afterwards.

Corruption
Easily one of my top 3. Corruption in this game follows the flavor of their being various stages and the various stages have changes in a lot of the dialogue. Entire events play out completely differently depending on the corruption of the characters involved. It's also a slow-burn to get from point A to point C so you have time to appreciate the changes

But, what I like the most is the flavor that this games corruption takes. Characters aren't so much as being brainwashed and molded as they are finding liberation and self-confidence.

Gameplay
It has most of the aspects of a simulation game. You do a large amount of different tasks for your character to earn a living while doing a large amount of other tasks to deepen your relationship with others.

Both my biggest praise and one of my few demerits are in the combat system. The combat system uses the system of weakpoints and by attacking with the right attribute you'll break their guard and make them vulnerable to an attack. If you've played Octopath you're familiar. It's a good system for any game and is good here as well. The main issue is that there aren't a lot of tools you can use to approach combat. Party member skill selection is VERY limited and the fights can take awhile. As a result, you usually end up chipping an enemy to death in a fight you can't possibly lose over a duration of 5+ turns.

The groundwork for additional skills and interactions are already there, so this will undoubtedly improve in the future.

Content
This game is incredibly robust with it's sex scenes. There's a lot of them. So many of them that it threatens to spoil me from any game I play in the future. There's tons of characters, positions, different flavors of pillow talk, the entire gauntlet of foreplay, and multiple angles on top of that. The animations aren't particularly smooth but the sheer eroticism wins out and isn't diminished at all for the majority of the scenes.

NTR
Alright, partially the reason I missed out on this terrific game for so long was in part due to the tags alone. Most games that have NTR (optional) have obvious blackhole sized content gaps. This one does not. There is a toggle that flat out disables it and you never feel like you're missing something due to the way the game is written. No mysterious absent time skips or other stichjobs. If you don't want it to happen, it doesn't happen, and you're not missing anything.

Summary
All in all, I really like this game. This is probably one of the few games I've played that led me to immediately support the creator. I'm interested to see where the game goes. Easily one of the 'must-plays' on this website.

91 hours and 26 minutes. That's how long it took me to finish all content except for the Natasha Corruption route as of version 0.5.8.0b. I rarely spend so much time on a single game period let alone a porn game. That alone should tell you how engaging the game for those who will like it.

That qualifier is not a minor thing though, because as much time as I've spent on this I can recognise that it's not for everyone. First, you know the term 'porn with plot'? Well this is 'game with porn'. Anyone who wants to have a quick fap can go elsewhere right now. This is a old school RPG game with all the pros and cons that entails. The only other really similar game I can think of right now is Peasant's Quest.

Second, the graphics/porn is honestly fine, neither too terrible nor very great. The graphics may take some getting used to but it does the job. What elevates it to above average into good is the writing. The writing, what little there is shows the personality of each women and there's a clear sense of progression in terms of both affection and corruption for the women making it satisfying to see the progress.

Having said that, the MAJOR gripe I have with the game is the grind. I mean, sure it makes sense that leveling up and earning money takes time. Hell, I've over grinded so much I'm now at max level 100 with more gold than probably the baron at what seems to be only a third to halfway through the game. What gets on my nerves is the grind for corruption and sometimes points. Some characters have it better than others like Helena who once you figure out her corruption method automatically have their corruption go up though these are sadly in the minority. Others, like Maui had me skipping days in frustration just to painstakingly progress her affection and corruption. Granted it's not like it's strictly neccessary to max out affection or corruption and it makes some sense as lore wise I also wouldn't want turbo sluts after only a couple of days but is giving someone a drink 2 times a day really asking for that much?

In conclusion, if you are looking for a game with CONTENT in capital letters and can stomach grinding like nobody's business at times try the game out. If you're here purely for the porn and don't care about gameplay, maybe look elsewhere.

One of the best games I've played, length, story, mechanics all well done for the genre. Even if it's not done it's still more feature complete than most games in this space. The graphics could use updating but they're sufficient. A+

Having played a fair number of RPGM games on this site, this one is definitely one of, if not the best ones. In terms of gameplay quality, it's a classic, but surprisingly deep RPGM game. Semi-recent update added different strengths and weaknesses to armor types and enemies, and since each character can equip multiple weapons, you get rewarded with stuns and extra damage for discovering an enemies weakness and focusing on it, which makes the actual combat surprisingly fun. In terms of the actual scenes, they're incredible. Just about every scene is very high in quality, repeatable at any time, most have 2-4 positions, and by holding spacebar you can increase the speed, meaning you actually have about 4 different speeds to play the animations at. Also, just about every female character in the game has scenes and interesting quests to do to unlock them, (most) of the quests aren't really boring or anything either. Surprisingly good worldbuilding for a porn game, stories have a lot of variety, and overall a top quality game on this site.

I really enjoyed this game. I've had it bookmarked for a while and was just putting off playing it, waiting for it to be finished. But I decided I would play it anyway. The game has a ridiculous amount of content for each girl, the scenes are good, and the story was interesting enough to keep me playing. Combat was okay; in the late game, it can feel very repetitive.

Game is very good. That game is good combination of porn scenes and grinding. Combat style is also very good. You can play that game like normal games and also if you want to enjoy sexual content you can also enjoy that. Everyone should try that game. Thank you dev for good work.

This game has much potential to become best rpg adult games,
If you just give your time to enhance game, like upgrading the house by choosing different house, also add option of upgrading the furniture, furniture now looks ugly like adding more ambient stuff ect, also add option of making new dress and buy different from shop ect, also add more interaction with animals pets more also you got option of choosing pets that can be in your house or outside, also make your own farm ect, like online rpg games in totally game superb and very good just need to improve it by adding many options.

im going to keep it short as possible since most of the problems of this game already explained by the others, and i may change my rating in the futre
(-) should you play this game in the current state and invest your time in it? no absolutely not
(-) what if you are just curious? yes you can but don't expect any finished story inside, absolutely nothing is finished because everything quite "half assed"
(-)TBH i've spend around 85 hours-ish in version 5.7.7-5.7.8 damn it can be quite fun to play but sometimes hideous and way too grindy with little reward
(-)"gated" content...what i mean is that gameplay content it's locked behind characters, unless you grind (e.g) emily
you can't build/improve your house unless you grind emily route..
and i don't wanna to do it why?, cuz shes lookin like grandma not a freakin milf, who want to bang that fossil? i get it if chyos liking GILF but don't push your shtty fetish to US! tbf there's one actual good milf but i wont spoiled it here, no it's not claire
and god the witch is the most hideous of them all
(-)corruption mechanics, it does not equally works as NTR in this game, just a word from me, even if you 100% wanna to avoid NTR and decide to turn it off, don't turn it off cuz it will turned off corruption (afaik correct me if im wrong) and pull you away from actual good scene, even ntr in this game is "mild" compared to japanese games
(-)Barebones inventory in everything, there's not even a sorting system or button, you have to scroll thorough all of it, it's annoying as hell
(-) Bugs, some of them are quite serious and ruins your route, like lyvia route, i slay brigands too early without talking to her and it stuck whenever i sit on the campfire, mira too, if i haven't talk to her after the prologue and goes to lucious first and proceed to steal "something" (already have the ability to read from mira in 2nd ch) from the witch, you are going to get stuck. tbh last one is quite rare and i can't reproduce the bug anymore...not that im going to bother again and again
(-)why the background has to be dimmed so much even at daylight? it's waaay too dark i have to crank my brightness, and when i alt tab i got FLASHBANGED on my dekstop ffs
(-) don't read the walkthrough it's just wrong or oudated most of the time

the list goes on and on, i love this game this one of the best H-game with sprinkle of realism out there without a doubt, fight me for it, if this goes on steam i would buy it period. buuuut..if i have to expect and wait another 5 years for it to be finished? NO, just big NO, come on guys it's been 5 YEARS
boy do i hate crowdfunding games it give devs reason to slooowly dripping content to their addicted followers, i just hope chyos isn't one of them because...some of them made and short content but and turn into very good game, or worse turn into massive disaster like Hel**s (can't spoil name f95 policies)

What can I say a fun game that lets you decide good and evil. I love this game and have for a long time. I was always worried it was going to fall into that long I need 6 months to a year for updates to milk us members. This has never once happened and this game is a gem with great repeatable content and a log to show how many times you have completed your business. The story, characters, variety, and humor are all enjoyable aspects. Main decisions also give a high replay value.

only thing I cannot wait to do is kick the barons arse and throw him in the street while his former wife leaves him for me lol.

V0.5.7.0c

I kept from playing this game for more than two years... and WOW!!!

Don't even know where to start...

The quest log is detailed enough to keep you on track, without wandering what to do or where to get it.
The story is well driven and quite inmersive.
The H part can be very appealing.
Combat is correct, and spares the player of tedious encounters with very low lvl mobs when MC lvl is much higher.
Crafting is a plus; and I find the development of talents as they are being used a very good idea.

I really expect those unfinished questlines to be ready, because this tittle has improved too much to be ignored.

Very good job.

Excellent rpg. Not only a solid rpg, but also the best adult game to play. You have options and its not catered to only one audience. This game is for everybody. What ever your preference is this game has it! Amazing job Chyos! Best adult game period

Legendary game....nothing comes close
The game changes according to your choices, the characters have life and are realistic..... it's just too good...I almost enjoy it too much, can't wait for it to be completed...please support the devs patron if you can....he deserves it for creating this wonderful piece of art

Amazing game with good art and characters that grow with the story. Very similar to peasant's quest and I cannot wait to see the final product.

The character progression feels natural and it is one of the few games that uses pregnancy properly rather than just having an ending CG.

Great game! one of the best H-RPGM out here!

While it's not my favorite engine for adult games, in my opinión, is a game with well-written stories and dialogs, a lot of quests, u can craft, hunt, upgrade houses at some point and u can even harvest crops and vegetables. Theres a night and day cycle. The NPCs do there routine in it.

The game gives you a choice, whether you like non-NTR or NTR. The game also gives you more options for each route.

Scenes are animated and most have different positions and at least 2 angles for each. U can get more positions if u raise some stats for the girls.

And there are plenty of scenes in this game.

Quests are detailed and fun.

In my opinion is not a grindy game, it is part of the quests and gameplay, and it makes it engaging.

One of my favorites, 5 stars due to the quality of the world made.

Great work!

A game with a lot of potential, which is being wasted by too many repetetive tasks. There are plents of girls that you need to get the affection up, which can only be done once daily. So in order to get girl A to 10 affection (which isn't the end, just the start of first actions!) I have to repeat the same tasks on 10 individual days.

Sleeping and everything takes up a long of time. So most of the time you'll be grinding for hours just to unlock a little scene, and these aren't the best quality wise. The animations are low FPS, the text box is in the view ( you can't turn it off) and the worst thing is, that each time the MC cums, he makes a disgusting noise that sounds like someone is puking and shitting in the same time while letting out a little burp.

Maybe the dev recorded that with his mic.. I don't know. But you gotta hear that each time you cum in the end of a sex scene, which destroys the feeling.

Also, you always lack money to progress with many quests and you can hardly earn new money, because all monsters are so strong that you go game over and over again, and then they rob your little money too. You can't buy new gear or improve existing ones, and working in the village only increases affection with people, apparently you work for free all day long..

And last but not least, sometimes how to progress with quests is unclear. A game should NEVER require any external walkthrough to function.

Literally peak rpgm game. I usually prefer VN or Renpy
But this game made me change my opinion on rpgm games..firstly this game has many things to offer. I really love the story and of course the route of every fml characters are impressive.. as for fetish this game has lots of it.. I usually prefer corruption and netori games and don't like netorare very much and this game has plenty of it , of course netorare is avoidable..the art is great and there are huge amount of content avaliable. overall I can say this Is the God of rpgm. games out there..

A Struggle with Sin is one of the best H-RPGM games, with well-written stories and dialogs. I even dare say there is no other game like this, and it is not just a game you come into just to bust one out. The game gives you a choice, whether you like non-NTR or NTR. The game also gives you more options for each route (well, a few minor changes).There are a lot more nice things I can tell, but I let you play the game and find out for yourself, and well, the game also has flaws like any other game. Chyos is only one man with a few little helpers, so some of his ideas come out so short that some parts of the story/quest line feel unsatisfying, but he tries to make them as best as possible.
So I rate:
story/dialog 4.5/5
gameplay4/5
sense 4.5/5

I ignored this game till 0.5.6.0d release because first its an RPGM game and second it has the tags "monster girl" and "futa/trans".
In nearly all RPGM games u play on a "generic" map with strange looking avatars of the MC/people (looks like Kerbals sometimes) and than u have the scenes (story or lewd) in more or less good grafic. Its not very immersive this way. The "monster girl" are often strange looking "things" and the "futa/trans" content is often ridiculous stupid shit imho.

I've seen the game again on the update page and though: "Give it a try: It has nearly 5 stars from 100+ reviews, at least one preview pics looks interestingand and it has the "NTR" tag.
The scene was easy to find because (praise the Dev) they have "real" names and not the cryptic names they normal apear.

So my journey begun...and it was awsome.

This is a game that deserve the tag game.
It has vibes from late 90s-early 2000s RPG games.
U have alot of quests, u can craft, hunt, upgrade houses at some point and u can even harvest crops and vegetables. Theres a night and day cycle. The NPCs do there routine in it.
The combat is turnbased and its nether good or bad.

The immersion is fantastic. When the game change from 2d gameworld to 3d story(lewd) scene u stay in. There is no change of the graficstyle like in other games. Its fit perfect together.

There are a lot of girls and there is someone for every taste.
Young, Milf, Gilf, monster girls. Slim, chubby, big breasts, small breasts. Imho they have all there own charm, even the monster girls.
The Gilf has a face to fear and 2-3 girls have for me a bit to big breasts but all in all its great. There is a lot of variation, not like in other games where u see one u have seen all.
And as a big plus there is pubic hair.

When u corrupt a girl she get more and more into dirty talk.

Scenes are animated and most have different positions and at least 2 angles for each. U can get more positions if u raise some stats for the girls.
And there are plenty of scenes in this game. Some are hotter than other but its depend on the taste. The most scenes are one on one, a few threesome (MFF and MMF) and sadly only a tiny amount of cunt vs cunt scenes and they are only a opener for a threesome.
For me the speed is perfect. Not the 1Hz romantic shit, there is action. But u have the choice to change the speed in most scenes. Some girls react to it with a short sentence.
On top, in some positions when u let the scene running the girl orgasm. (space bar is ur friend for a speed up)
(Personal opinion: The Dev is a connoisseur of hot scenes because scenes have often a missionary position which is my kink. Thank u )

Choices matter in this game. Go this way or that way. The quests and story evolves with the choices. Some matters more some matters less. The storytelling is really good. There is no verbal diarrhoea, the convos are short and have all infos u need. U can follow the story and have fun reading it without the need of skipping the text because its yackety-yak.
Read WT. See Advise.

This brings me to the flaws of the game.

Its a bit inconsequent in what happens in the world.
e.g.:
At some point a girl talk to a person and after she talks 3 times u cant revert what happens. (If ur a whimp and see what shes doing u even get blind and deaf for one day or rage quit the game) She does it "timebased". No matter if u there or not.
On the other hand there are quest where the girl does only the thing when u activated the "special" scene.

Choices matter? Yeah but storywise. Atm u can do all stuff with a girl only convos change. No matter what way u go.

Bugs?
I dont encountered gamebreaking bugs.
2 times i could trigger a scene before the scene happens storywise and one time my HUD disappeared but could restored with the "wait" shortcut. And one time a name displayed as n[13].
But all in all ... no bugs.
(I didnt edit variables on saves or so.)

"But it has the hattred "NTR" tag! Is it awfull?" *shiver*
Dont worry its all avoidable. And to be honest. Atm there is no real NTR in this game. Nobody wants to steal "ur girl" they only want to get in there pants. So call it sharing is caring or what ever. Call it voyeurism because u can watch 'em. And they only do it when u allow it.
Sometimes the sharing feels like its there because it must in there.
Then skip it and go on.

Conclusion:

This is a game at the top of the food chain.
Massive content. Hot content.
Its not a quick game, u must sink hours in it to reveal all content. Personaly I had spend more time as for some other AAA games. But its worth.

Advise:

Start the game with "NTR" and "Cheats" on. Why?
U cant enable cheats after start afaik.
But later u be grateful to use the "recovery" cheat.
And "NTR" on because there are two side storys that are so hilarious to miss with "NTR" off.
Use the WT, because there are choises that can alter ur playthrough in a way u dont wanna happen.

These are my impressions with v 0.5.6.0d if I don't agree with your opinion you can see it's a good game.

One of the best games with the most amount of content, as well as consistent updates. An original art style instead of those same characters you see in every other game. Speaking of every other game, every other game of this level requires 6+ months between updates.

This is a great game with A LOT of potential, seriously it feels like an old school RPG but with some decent 3D animated art.

The RPG part is still being developed and needs some care, but end of the line care, the RPG is there and it's solid as enemies respawn every 3 days and you can level up, loot, sell, buy, hunt, craft...

The story is looking good, the sheer amount of girls and their stories and how some of them overlap, really nice stuff to be fair.

Sound is RPGM basic, some medieval tunes but it does its job.

Graphics are ok, the animated 3D scenes are quite decent, you can tell some girls who got early models in early stage of development don't look as good as girl who were introduced later... and also how late parts of a same character look better because they were added more recently as opposed to 4 years ago, but it doesn't look bad or steals from the fun.

So yeah this could potentially become a gem, if you had some sort of radiant bandit hunt quests, or caravan protection, or even trade routes ala Warband this could be perfect

EDIT:

As of [v0.5.5.0a HotFix] I poured 62 hours and I got close to 90% of the content I still need to get the Mira "Fighting Demons" quests and I'm level 60 because I poured a lot of time hunting enemies that respawn for the experience so I can say... game has content.