VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Record of Asturion War Redux [v1.063] [Harold]

I came to this game expecting a generic 18+ VN, and ended up spending hours enjoying a well-written and grounded story (with sexy times added). Most games on this site that try to do deep plot end up failing. Record of Asturion War Redux manages to make complex themes work without making it cringey or preachy. And it's because complex themes work well with SIMPLE execution.
I hope that the maker focuses on enhancing what's already good for their next game, instead of trying to do something super ambitious. Because this was a wonderful find.

Ok Im giving this game a 5 out of 5, but with many caveats.

The game is one of those really ambitious projects, one that changed from developer and from platform and that is not an easy feat, so try lo be a little bit lenient about some quality and bug problems here and there.
The game is divided in two parts. The first one is pure story, without any sort of X content and you can look as some sort of ‘game of thrones’ universe original by the author, the story is pretty good compared to almost any tittle on this site, but you are not here for the story and if you are not interested you can skip it or give it a quick glance to understand the second part.

The second part is the real action and to be honest can be a little bit repetitive, with too many characters and aged art is not perfect, but is pretty creative in developing the corruption genre and that is something only seen in very few games.

Overall if you are into corruption games this is a most, I may recommend the use of ‘Universal Ren'Py Mod’ if you are having problems with the combat. You can also go the path of directly unlocking the gallery but in a corruption, I believe there is no joke in doing that.

Good concept poorly executed most of the corruption scenes are the same just with a girl with different color hair and name. And it just wasnt done very well as corruption and brainwashing happens over time through trauma and intense mental stimulation over a period of time using different techniques. I really hope this dev makes another game in the future though and puts more thought on how to execute corruption. The animations are ok but I think it would have been better if it was less female characters so they can be more focused on and have more scenes.

It frustrates me to give this game only 3 stars. I still have mixed feelings about it.

At the beginning, the game clearly notifies players that Part 1 is just story and build-up for Part 2, where the corruption and sex happens. Immediately, I was excited for Part 2. Part 1, not so much, but I decided not to skip Part 1, expecting it would make Part 2 more rewarding. This is my impression of the game throughout Part 1:
- First few chapters : Not bad, smooth start.
- Next few chapters : When's Part 2 starting? It's taking a while.
- About 12 chapters in : Holy shit the story is MASSIVE. The world, the characters, the development of events...and this is "just" Part 1?!
- Even more chapters : Story is SO GOOD. Who cares about sex and corruption? Give me more plot!
- End of Part 1 : That was an epic journey...oh right Part 2! I can't believe Part 2 is finally happening! I'm ready for what might be the best corruption VN currently on F95.

And now, here's my impression of the game throughout Part 2:
- DISAPPOINTMENT
- DENIAL
- THE HARSH REALIZATION THAT PART 2 WILL NEVER BE HALF AS GOOD AS PART 1

You see, Part 1 had dynamic. Yes, it is a linear kinetic novel, but that's from the player's perspective, not the main character's perspective. Ups and downs, retreats and advances, different factions, encounters, choices, situations, and so on.

Part 2? See woman -> Successfully catch woman -> Successfully brainwash woman -> Repeat. Sure there are "attempts" to add flavor by having some of the brainwashed infiltrate, but it doesn't stray away from the 'brainwash = solution' formula. So much effort was put into giving characters some depth in Part 1, even by adding side stories in between, but all that depth evaporates at the hands of the Part 2's MC. I would argue that corruption is never "shown" but rather is"told" - Part 2's MC uses his 'clever' words and logic while someone is strapped and voila, they are corrupted. Then does it at least have good sex? Most corruption scenes are reused. Most scenes after corruption are so short they aren't really scenes but more like notifications of 'look how they turned out to be.'

So uh...yeah. If you liked Last of Us I and liked Last of Us II even more, then I recommend you give this game a try.

V1.062

Top tier Corruption game with gripping story and great story telling.
I really liked the 2 Act's where in the first you see Marek's struggle and in the latter act you see how the MC just corrupts and destroys all Marek struggled to build.

A huge plethora of characters and story lines and lore and Back grounds for each girls.

Progressive story line with continuity, I really enjoyed the Act 1 as much as I did Act 2.

A great slow burn game and worth playing however long it takes. Combat and other things are quite easy too, no scenes are easy to miss.

A must recommended game for sure.

11/10 MASTA PIECE

This game has quickly cemented itself as one of my favorite corruption games. It's not incredibly deep, but especially as a first effort, this is a standout achievement. Big credit to Tjord for the original concept and to harold for actually bringing it to the finish line.

In terms of story, it is a basic standard war corruption plot. You play as the good guys in part 1 and play as the corrupting bad guy in part 2. The sizeable part 1 lets you get to know the characters and most are elevated beyond simple tropes, although the characters are still relatively basic. I would've liked some more setbacks in part 2 as it really feels like everything goes the protag's way, but it was still a serviceable story.

In terms of corruption, this is where the game shines in my opinion. The actual method of corruption is pretty basic, but seeing how each of the many heroines turns after becoming corrupted is amazing. There are many, many girls, and while some obviously get the spotlight more than others, there should be at least one that you will get attached to. The breadth of different personalities and designs is a big positive, as it never feels too stale or repetitive. My personal favorites were characters like Sofia, Constance, Marie, and Orlaith, who pretend to be their uncorrupted selves in order to spy on or sabotage the good side.

The other standout piece of the game for me is the attention to detail. There is post-mission dialogue for most every character in the duty roster after every mission, and while this seems small it goes a long way towards endearing you to the characters and making them feel like a cohesive army instead of random people grouped together. There's also optional corruptions, with separate scenes, one branching storyline, and one entire battle locked behind different combinations of corruptions. This helps the replay value and lets you see a different side of some characters.

The combat was basic but serviceable. I really enjoy how each battle is basically a mini puzzle - once you know how the enemy works, it's up to you to find the proper combination of skills to counter them. A few battles were more RNG heavy than I would like, but with liberal saving it's not that big of an issue.

The only bugs I encountered were in combat, with some status symbols staying on the text window even after the battle was over. Also, sometimes the battle would refuse to end even if I was defeated and I had to reload a previous save, although losing in part 2 basically just means reloading anyway. Finally, the script could use a little proofreading for spelling and grammar mistakes, although it wasn't bad enough to be terribly distracting.

All in all, I really enjoyed this game, will be replaying sections of it often, and look forward to the next game by this developer.

Finally completed this game on both routes.
All what I expected I got in this title. This is a story about honor, humanity and pure love on the war... Heh, got ya. Of course this is a story about injustice, betrayal and corruption.

The game is very story-driven, so if you want to feel the full expirience from the corruption factor of the story, I would recommend you to play both parts of the game, even though the first part doesn't contain any fap material at all.

Fans of corruption fetish will find here a good plot, a lot of scenes and a big diversity of characters. Tjord and Harold gives us enough time to get to know the world of Asturion and each character better just to lull the player's vigilance and pervert everything beyond recognition in an instant.

Warning: some of the topics raised in this story may seem very provocative. If you are a sensitive person, you will probably feel bad for some of characters. I can't recommend this game for people who are depressed, and even more so for those who have recently experienced a breakup or betrayal from a close person.

As far as first efforts this was very well done. I will admit that I've never played the original version of Part 1 but I think the developer has done a pretty decent job of trying to work around the fact that the original game was made in the style of fire emblem type games. Its a bit long winded for the lack of sex based content but I think Part 2 is enhanced by laying out the characters first.

Part 2 is quite the treat. With a little extra polish I think the combat could be pretty decent. It was nice and simple which works to its favor. I think in terms of tying it all together it would be nice if you see the shift in fighting style from Part 1 to Part 2 but otherwise I like that you do get to actively use your slaves to enact your vision.

Speaking of using your slaves, while I would probably save that the massive amount of them means its hard to go in depth with most of them, I think the developer has done a pretty good job of combating the problem that a lot of these types of games with 10+ girls have. Even if it's for convenience, I like that the other slaves stay relevant to the overall plot by being deployed elsewhere. It does make it somewhat easier to understand why some are limited to a few appearances.

The content of the writing is quite good. While naturally porn logic seeps through, I think the developer has done a good job of setting up why most of the slaves would fall to the protagonist's manipulations. While a few of the more peripheral characters do get kind of the same treatment for the most part it's all pretty clever. I would say a problem that most of the games in the corrupt 10+ girls to take over the world genre have is that at a certain point protagonist's victory becomes guaranteed since the deck is stacked so far against the hero's. I do like that even though the plot seemed like it was sniffing around Marek finding a way to reverse the process, they didn't go for any purification. My only complaint with the writing is that it could use some proofreading(it's certainly not so bad that it's illegible).

As for the roster of girls, while you move through them pretty quickly the models are all attractively made and the writing makes them suitably slutty post corruption. I know the tanned and heavily made up look is not for everyone but it's my jam so I'm glad it was so heavily used. It was a little jarring that some scenes were just stills while others were animated but I'm guessing that they made using different Illusion studio programs. I commend the developer for including so many scenes that involve multiple girls since it would probably be impossible to get multiple 1 on 1 scenes for every girl and the interaction can be pretty amusing. Personally I prefer a smaller roster of girls given more focus but you get a lot of bang for your buck here.

The game can be a bit buggy but what game isn't and the developer does seem to be active in trying to fix it so kudos for that. I would say gameplay wise the only major demerit I would have for this game is the mini-game with Tabitha which I think the rules of are not made very clear in the game (I know the developer released a guide but I think the game should probably be more clear natively).

I got a lot of mileage out of this game and I think the developer made a smart choice of trying to bring an unfinished project to the finish line to road test his chops. I also appreciate that it was released completed (a personal problem I try to wait but usually give in) as you can get the full impact of the corruption in one flowing story. I'm glad to see another person competently working in the corruption space and I hope to see more in the future.

Well, I did like it.

The art is ok...ish and the mind control is somewhat uniform and absolute. The H scenes are varied but a little hit and miss. It isn't formulaic like so many other games. Unlike other reviewers I found the writing actually decent even though it is stereotypical at times.

There is a certain depth to it and I enjoyed the campaign jargon. Act 1 basically introduces all characters and there is A LOT of them. Maybe too many. In Act 2 you basically capture and corrupt them all. Simple story, simple art... yet, I did enjoy reading through it.

If mind control is something you enjoy, you'll like it. But note that the build up is basically half the game, so bring some extra time.

This is a really great game, particularly the original stuff. The corruption is all handled well, I think it could have risked getting boring by the end, but there has clearly been an attempt to keep them varied and interesting, and the multiple endings are appreciated.

The combat I actually found pretty good, it was fun using all the mechanics, and I appreciate how frequent the fights are in part 2. The system of needing to win the fights in a certain way to get an additional slave was really engaging, and I could have used even more of that.

The main issue I that I think this version of the game has is the first part. It is just quite long and boring, without many battles or choices (or nsfw content) to keep the player invested. This is obviously because it is adapted from the previous version which was not necessarily designed to be read as a visual novel like this one, and while I applaud the obvious work that went in to adapting part 1 to make the game a contained experience, but it didn't quite work for me.

However, the work part 1 does to set-up the characters that the player will be corrupting in the second part is critical to getting the most out of the game.

For people thinking of downloading and playing this, and wanting the full experience, I would recommend downloading the previous version of the game by Tjord and playing just the first part in that version. The pacing and everything in the first part is just a lot better in that version, and it is genuinely quite a fun srpg/Fire Emblem-style game.

That is not to detract from this game, which as I said earlier is really good, particularly the original parts.

Game is good, decent enough story, if you like tjord other stuff then this redux is up your alley.

Only giving 4 stars because of some minor "issues"
-Corruption is kind've instant not that satisfying
-Could use more standing poses, some characters just change facial expressions and hold the same pose all game
Part 2 > Part 1
If u want some lore play part 1 if u just wanna fap go to part 2
Pretty good for a first outing, I didnt find any game breaking bugs while playing.

I'm giving it 2 stars for effort as it's clearly a game with a ton of effort but alas;

-poor game mechanics. They bug out and even if it wasn't buggy the fights are randomized so remember to save before every fight.

-edgy writing. This is admittedly more opinionated BUT it's so bad that it really can't not be mentioned. The #1 threat to the heroes is a self-insert overweight guy with a stutter that says "Eeeek!" every time another character does something slightly rude or dominating towards him. Of course, underneath is a super talent guy with a massive cock. It's just lame and forces readers into identifying with the next-door 40yo neighbor that lives in grandma's basement.

-Poor writing. Can't tell you the amount of "wow this character is smart because they said the obvious thing that makes everyone else look so dumb." Yes it makes that character... 'smarter'.... but it cheapens the intelligence of literally every other character and the reader too. That's the more serious example but you'll see many more just an hour into the game.

-um elves turn black when they do bad things? UHH
-side note: The good guys are all white. To be fair the bad guys are also mostly white but... yeah. Not a great combo there writer.
-extra side note I just remembered while typing: um when the girls are corrupted they also turn a few shades darker skin wise, again, UHHHHH


If you're 17 and hate your parents, yeah, this shit gonna rock. I know 17 year old me woulda loved it. But for the rest of us I'd recommend a solid skip.