“Cloaked in the dark clouds of a necromancer’s curse, the once-prosperous town of Aquablum has fallen into ruin. A lone swordsman appears. His name is Icarus. Questing valiantly in Aquablum against girl-like opponents with lewd tactics, Icarus could be the town’s liberator, or its worst scourge. Why has he come here…?”
Phantom Knight is gaming circle MASURAO’s newest title available now at DLSite. Known for their series of interactive erotic games, MASURAO continues the trend of weaving the elements of hentai and medieval fantasy together in this fun dungeon-crawling RPG.
Graphics
Like many RPGs, the road is long and perilous for our hero as he encounters heinous fiends on his quest. Phantom Knight has enemies aplenty from the fodder such as slimes and orcs, to the sexy temptresses who are the target of Icarus’ mighty blade!
The graphics are rather impressive. This title blends 2D character sprites with a realistic 3D background in a way that keeps them from conflicting with each other. Seeing how this game tends to reskin a few monsters as you progress through the story, MASURAO’s main focus appears to be the character designs for the bosses. This fact doesn’t take away from the game’s playability because it gives you the feeling like you’ve earned an audience with the boss after all that fighting. Each of them are attractive in their own way and appeal to the numerous fetishes that exist in a fantasy series—witches, elves, succubi, this game has the ingredients to make playing worth your while!
As for the game’s UI, it’s pretty simplistic. There’s the obvious HP and MP while the lower right corner houses the menu that contains Icarus’ items and skills. The menu is easy to navigate, but the only drawback is that it is intrusive and takes up the whole screen every time you need to use a skill or item.
Sex
Sex is actually an integral part of this game. It’s not just for servicing the players, it’s a means of survival. Icarus’ erotic skills function as debuffs against Phantom Knight’s strong bosses. Whether it’s used to lower their defenses or attack power, you’ll need every advantage to turn the tide against your opponents.
The interaction between these villainesses is what makes this game fun. A lot of them will come across as haughty at first, seeking to make Icarus their next victim, but that bravado fades in the face of his deft hands. This game captures the expression of their malicious intent fading as they succumb to lust from his touch.
Using Icarus’ sex skills are easy to use with a click of a mouse. You can guide his hands over their erogenous zones to raise their orgasm points and lower their stats. You can even make them climax in mid battle! The real fun begins when you defeat the boss to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Each boss is shot in a different position, varying from missionary to doggy style and much more. This keeps the sex scenes between them fresh instead of recycling the same animation with different faces.
If Phantom Knight was made without the adult content, I probably wouldn’t buy it. Facing hordes of minions before getting to the boss with no proper reward tends to get tedious. That being said, the hentai touch scenes are this game’s selling point.
Sound
The music in this game is incredibly catchy. Complete with an epic title screen theme to fire you up before you embark on your first quest or a mellow background theme as you exchange dialogue with NPCs. The music helps set the tone.
This RPG has excellent voice acting and dialogue. I love the well-written humor between Icarus and the NPCs. I also find the dirty talk from bosses to be incredibly enticing. The only voice I have a complaint about is the character Nim. Her dialogue is just fine, it’s her moans and squeals that I find a bit grating on the ears. Other than that, the voices were really good.
Conversely, the sexual sound effects are repetitive. MASURAO uses the same squelching sounds for every touch and fuck. It detracts from the experience only slightly, but the talented voice overs help compensate for this flaw.
Control and Gameplay
As I’ve mentioned before, Phantom Knight is a cinch to play. There’s no QWERTY movement or hotkeys. You can perform everything with your mouse. Attack, defense, even movement. The entire game is in first person with no camera panning, so it eases the struggle keeping the camera centered.
After playing this myself, the part I enjoyed the most is the progressive challenge with each quest. I quickly became aware that this is not a game I could just simply breeze through. It was a rather humbling experience that paid homage to its RPG elements. Thankfully this game allows you to replay quests you’ve already completed to farm gold and materials to upgrade your gear. Just like an old-school RPG! The added bonus is that you get to engage in the “boss fights” again if you happen to have a favorite. This feature gives this game a higher replay value!
Conclusion
Before I draw this review to a close, there are a few more things I would like to address before you buy this product.
- There are legal lolis in this game. One mage and one monster girl. They’re either the same age as Icarus or older, but according to hentai logic, they’re still lolis. Once you defeat these two bosses, you have the option of skipping the H-scene with them after making them climax once.
- If you leave the game running after powering down your PC, a glitch will occur that creates duplicate bosses. The boss you face is the one that moves, but the HP gauge is also glitchy. The game still plays as normal so keep fighting until she’s naked.
- Since this game is from Japan, it’s a little censored, but the mosaics aren’t completely intrusive.
Despite all this, Phantom Knight offers a one of a kind RPG experience that puts power and perversion at your fingertips. If you’re looking for a game that triggers your adventuring nostalgia and your arousal, then this is the game for you!