Joyful Stick: Melty’s Quest
Good day, and welcome back to Joyful Stick. Miss the last entry? You can read it here. Today, we’re going to be reviewing Melty’s Quest and what makes role-playing games engaging.
Pretty Pretty Princess Simulator
Melty’s Quest is a role playing game by Remitary Games, which stars the titular character Melty as she attempts to re-take her kingdom from a hideously evil monster empire. The game focuses on teratophilia as the centerpiece, with the “plot” merely serving to accommodate all the ways to get there. Melty herself is a ganguro airhead with a heart of gold, with little left to the imagination whenever her character is on screen. The game is actually quite short-you can get a playthrough in under six hours. If you have ever played any kind of RPG maker title, it’s engine and system will be immediately familiar. There’s six possible endings dependant upon player choices, dialogue options and how active your sex life is.
I state all of the above not as an insult, but to set expectations. Melty’s Quest is an incredibly laid back, relaxing title with bouncy, warm art that feels like home. Above all, the game wants you to enjoy yourself. It accomplishes this mechanically through the usual means (grinding, XP and more) alongside another system, your “Slut Level”. No matter how you ultimately choose to play Melty’s Quest, you’re still advancing regardless.
I find it pertinent, as Melty’s Quest is extremely high on the Steam store page. There’s a lot of eyes on this title, which makes reviewing it almost a moot point. However, with this review I’d like to focus on Melty’s Quest in a different way. Rather than hold your hand explaining an easily graspable narrative, battle systems with the depth of a puddle or mention the wide array of fetishes the game touches?
I want to focus on what Melty’s Quest got right compared to the competition. What’s more, why-even with “porn games”-maturity and depth don’t arbitrarily equate to success.
Pretty In Pink
Pornography and erotica are a wild creative field. Like in other forms of expression, it’s subject to trends, radical shifts in audience demands and styles. Just over the last two decades, our medium has drastically changed both in how it’s consumed and by whom. Porn isn’t something hidden in a seedy store off the freeway anymore-it’s right there, in your palm. Always available, always catering to your particular tastes regardless of how niche they might be. On the production side of things, this has led to several deeply entrenched camps getting very, very loud.
On one hand, there’s people that view porn and adult content almost as an art form unto itself. Often these kinds of artists craft their works with an eye towards mainstream engagement and appeal. As such, their end products tend to be more “mature” and “adult” focused. I would go so far as to say they appeal specifically to a thirty-years-old plus crowd. While this doesn’t detract away from the entertainment aspect of what they make, there’s a marked tone of difference from what you find elsewhere in the market. This absolutely is a legitimate way to create art.
On the other end of things (and where I find myself) are creatives who lean towards “entertainment” first and foremost. Maybe the goal is to make you laugh and nut, or simply fill a gap you couldn’t get on the more “artsy” side of things. A fantastic example of this would be the various “parodies” of big-budget movies that inevitably get cranked out by major industry players. This also is a completely legitimate way to make adult “art”, with no less mainstream appeal for it.
Melty’s Quest, with it’s “bimbo” styled protagonist and trope leanings, falls very much into the latter category. It quite literally is a game you can play with one hand. Comparing this to the complexities of certain other titles, I’d say it falls somewhere between Snow Daze and Breeding Village. It’s absolutely goofy with a focus on tits and ass, but not so much that you might as well auto-scroll through dialogue. Rather, it uses the sex and nudity as a means of player engagement. Maybe you’re having to farm blow jobs to raise your slut level, or you’re letting the Halfling rebuilding your castle suck your tiddies for a discount. You’re here to fuck, but there’s an honest narrative related reason for it. If you’re not paying attention, you’re never going to make it to the ending.
Simply put, there’s never at any point the mechanics of being erotic trip up the game itself. You fuck with either an explicit or underlying purpose. Sex isn’t an arbitrary thing you have to do for XYZ mechanics related reason. A large part of the reason for this is a lack of consequences for failure. You can’t “lose” Melty’s Quest in any measurable way, save for raising the difficulty level of your playthrough. If Melty loses in battle, she gets fucked silly and exits the dungeon. Even then, you still gain some sort of experience from it and often crafting materials to boot.
Ironically enough, I personally equate it closer to Animal Crossing than anything else. Anyone can pick it up, play for ten minutes or ten hours and have a good time.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are titles like Corruption of Champions 2 and the much-more enjoyable Mirror. While erotic titles, the focus of both was their mechanics. These were erotic games, but also ones which required much, much more attention. In the case of CoC2, I was so hyper focused on grinding I had little time to “enjoy” the erotic parts of the title (not that I would have, but still). Mirror featured plenty of bare boobies, but masturbating to the art would have required looking away from a kinetic and ever changing play-board. While all three have their bright spots, Melty’s is the first time I’ve felt at liberty to play and “enjoy” a title on my terms.
This base argument of how much “erotica” versus “game” these kinds of titles feature far extends the reach of this series. Perhaps one day, I’ll sit down and cover it in full. In being aware of these differences of approach though, it creates a clear and obvious divide through the market. In a community where I personally firmly believe there’s room for all sorts of performers, artists, entertainers and creators? It’s an odd realization to have. I fault neither camp whatsoever. We’re fortunate, as consumers and creatives, to have that kind of liberty on the market. Yet, it’s a question I’m going to be asking myself from here on out every time I write a review.
Funny, to get all that from so simple a title.
Doing Hot Girl Shit
Melty’s Quest managed to not only get me, a bearish crumbmudgeon of an enby, to have fun-but managed to do so in a way that made me cum.
Several times.
I’m likely going to play through the title again, as there was a wealth of content I didn’t explore as I powered towards the ending I received. There’s one for remaining totally pure, which will likely happen on my next attempt.
Overall, Melty’s is an enjoyable title with plenty of big fat cock, boobs, laughs and more for everyone. It’s an easy title to enjoy, and at the price of $14, it won’t break the bank.
Enjoy saving the kingdom!
-j