Due to the fact that I’m still struggling through the gauntlet in Holy Knight Ricca, we’re going to move onto covering Closed Game as I marathoned and finished it yesterday. Rest assured, your Ricca review will be coming soon, so be patient. However, I’m sure several of you were looking forward to this one more anyway.
Introduction:
The latest of Sei Shoujo’s titles to be translated in the west, Closed Game features a setup not too dissimilar from the film Elysium. In the far future, Earth has been reduced to something of a desert wasteland, where some semblances of the modern world still remain. Up above the planet lies Caelum Urbs, a floating utopia where all acts of sex, violence and even childbirth are prohibited. However, two residents of Caelum Urbs (also known as “Heaveners”) have been holding a strange game for the entertainment of this “utopia” known as a Closed Game, where earthlings are transported onto a large floating island just below the city, where various locales and enemies exist that want to have their way with them – all for the enjoyment of the people, you see. The very fact that so many people tune into this show (which is the product of the mother daughter team of Michiko and her adopted daughter Celine) is proof positive that these heaveners might not be so heavenly after all.
While eating at a cafe, a missile is launched that causes our unfortunate hero Tougo along with his childhood friend, faux-bounty hunter and sorta sister Celicia as well as Sheriff George to be knocked unconscious and transported onto the playing field of the Closed Game. They wake up in a white room reminiscent of Euphoria, but things are far worse here than most of the things you’ve witnessed in that novel. Aside from the three characters I’ve mentioned, the skiddish Marielle, aloof Cocona and even Earth’s most celebrated singer Lacey Mallet also make an appearance, rounding out the full set of players for the game. In addition, all of their clothes have been removed to be replaced by some rather stylish threads that feel like they were inspired by space suits in a sci-fi film. Now that the pieces have been set, let us discuss some more technical aspects of the game before we get started.
Gameplay:
Closed Game is an ADV visual novel, so it features many interactive choices that determine the path of the story. There is only one set “Game Over” ending as well as around two or three “Bad Ends” except for the fact that some of the endings in general are just plain awful to begin with. Although this is a “Closed Game” so to speak, there is no actual gameplay to be had here aside from the usual choice selection mechanics. Closed Game lives and dies by it’s story and an obscene amount of hentai scenes.
Story:
A word of caution that I’m about to spoil each story plot including the true ending to the game here, so you might as well stop here if you haven’t played the game and don’t want to be spoiled. In my personal opinion, there’s no use in discussing this game if we can’t discuss these ending paths. They’re very important to factoring a final review for the game and will essentially make or break it. Without further ado, let us open and then close the curtain on the Closed Game.
We’ll begin with Celicia’s Route, which really rolls out the story. There’s little more to see after you’ve finished it, so if you’re first starting up Closed Game, there’s no place better than here to begin the adventure. The first stage of the game involves what looks like a city that had been annihilated by a nuclear attack. Not much is known about these ruins, but can be discerned that society did exist at one time here, which may have meant that this was the original Caelum Urbs before something happened which caused it to be destroyed. A bracelet system is also introduced which beeps faster and louder with the approach of an enemy or another player. It’s impossible to know which, so everyone has to be on guard. Unfortunately, one player in particular is caught off-guard when a two yard tall giant hornet appears with enormous claws (think of this as Celine’s pet Scyther) and slices a good man right in half – and by good men, I’m referring to George. He’s not only the sheriff, but he is the alpha male in this situation that everyone else relied on. George had the skill and talent necessary to change many of the scenarios that happen within this game, but just like Class Rep in Euphoria, he falls victim to the machinations of this game and ends up eliminated before he has a fighting chance. Immediately thereafter, his death is mourned and the stage is set for the hell that soon follows. His demise is important to the final part of the plot though, so definitely keep that in mind.
The first section of the game introduces the slime men, who I’ve got a lot of sympathy for. The reason for that is because these things die after they ejaculate. Though it may be true that this is their only purpose, they slowly evaporate after their poisonous seed is released and you just feel pity for them. Slime lives matter, as it were. As we continue on the Celicia route, we’ll soon find her getting filed in every orifice with green Nickelodeon looking slime that of course causes her to lose control of her bladder and bowels. After this, she finds that she can’t move her body due to the slime man’s paralyzing poison. With that, the gimps that the party previously ran from (two males and one female) happen upon the situation and begin what feels like a never-ending act of rape. Be aware that eighty percent of the sex in this game is non-consensual and comes at the behest of various monsters. So if you don’t want to read about that, skip this review now. It only gets more insane from here. Celine appears through holographic projections to monitor the game as she pleasures herself with various devices. I’ll leave that for you to discover, but it would appear that she really gets off on seeing her sister get raped by these gimps and their never-ending appetite for sex. They do little more than grunt as they pound into her various orifices, filling her with enough semen to impregnate an entire sorority house full of women. The gimp’s semen actually counteracts the slime man’s poison, so this catch 22 is what allows her to complete the first stage of the game and reach the safe zone.
Remember, the object of Closed Game is to reach the safe zone in each area before sundown. Failure to do so will result in the entire stage being purged as it heads downwards to earth. The silly thing about this however, is that the Closed Game does so well in terms of viewership that Celine and Michiko wind up telling the players where the safe zone is so that the game can continue for another day. Can’t upset the fans, after all.
After being transported back to the holding area for the game’s players, we have a choice on whether or not to check on certain characters prior to the aftermath of the game. Each choice here has a great effect on the path of the story, including “stay here” which has it’s own unique route. As we’re playing Celicia’s route to start, a conversation involving Tougo and Celicia reveals that she is in fact having trauma responses to the sexual torment she faced during the game and forms a sexual trauma bond with Tougo. Although the circumstances surrounding this bond are not ideal, it is my favorite scene in the game because it is one of the very few scenes in this medium where I’ve seen an experience closer to real sex – namely the fact that two people don’t always know what to do when it comes to this sort of thing and there’s a great degree of nerves and anxiety surrounding performance. Celicia had never had sex before in her life and was very confused. She actually performed fellatio using a bit too much of her teeth and Tougo certainly felt that. But she was inexperienced and didn’t know how to properly perform this act. In this modern world of porn at one’s fingertips that may not be a problem with women today, but inexperience was quite common in my day and this kind of brought me back to the days when people weren’t trying to be porn stars when it came to the act. After the sex, of course Celine was watching and this led to a growing increase in Celicia’s anger towards her. Celicia calls her every name in the book and the more she gets violated, the angrier she becomes. It even gets to the point where Celine gets thoroughly involved, but we’ll get more into that later. This is the prime story path after all, so that’s why it’s important to fully detail.
During the second round, our players find themselves in some sort of large amusement park. Upon walking around the place in search of the safe zone, they find that none of the wires seem to go anywhere. As large and inviting as this place looks, it seems like it may have been a set constructed especially for the game. Before any of the rough stuff can even begin though, the part decide to take what feels like an hour or more deciding on how they’re go about searching the place. As a matter of fact, the part take so much time discussing which way they’re going to go that Celine herself pops up on the monitor and asks them if they’re ever going to fucking go, because they’re boring her and all of the Heaveners watching in Caelum Urbs. Oof! Finally, with Celine’s help a few choices are offered and the one we’re going with is Celicia’s of course. After a discussion regarding all of the horrible things that Celicia did to her sister Celine in the past, (which explains the sisterly hatred) a group of giant, hulking pig men with tentacle penises (yes, you heard that right, there’s literally a bunch of tentacles hanging from their loins) approach Celicia and have their way with her as they oink loudly in orgasm. What’s more, is that this isn’t over yet, as the most horrible situation I have seen any man put in thus far in this medium occurs – another pig man approaches Tougo with it’s super strength and begins to mount Tougo in the rear as he is used as a human dildo of sorts inside of Celicia. So when the pig man thrusts into Tougo’s ass, his penis thrusts into Celicia. It’s like a human game controller for a really sick game. I was quite horrified by that scene as anyone can tell you who watched the live video of it. I still haven’t quite recovered. Finally, after all the madness caused by the pig men, Celine appears via hologram to tell the players that the safe zone is in an area with a clown’s face for the entrance.
Returning to the holding room, more antics ensue. Celine actually has the balls (so to speak) to approach the room in person where Celicia has been sitting with Tougo prior. She then challenges her sister to a competition regarding fellatio, which as we know, Celicia is pretty bad at to begin with. Celine however, is not. That doesn’t stop her from enacting another one of the game’s craziest sex scenes, which is gun play with a live weapon. While Celine has Celicia tied to the wall with a mysterious device, she proceeds to fuck Tougo with a gun pointed directly at his head. This one was rough and is still rough for me. The gun even fires a few times, which sends Tougo into shock. At one point the gun is pointed into Tougo’s mouth which has him sweating bullets, hoping that when Celine orgasms, she won’t accidentally pull the trigger in the process. Finally, this madness also ends as Celine gives Tougo the electronic key to unlock Celicia and walks away.
The third stage of the game takes place in a forest that feels untouched by time. It’s a primordial forest with the freshest air and water that you could possibly imagine. It’s too large to even think about guessing where the safe zone is. However, this brings up a conversation that perhaps the safe zone doesn’t actually exist until Michiko and Celine are ready to produce it. That certainly makes sense and you’ll hear more about this later as we continue to discuss the routes. Eventually, our friend the hornet takes Celicia and decides to have it’s way with her as it fills her body with eggs and flies off, never to be seen again. Tougo madly searches for Celicia at this point who again runs into Celine in the flesh. This time she asks to be fucked once again and will not take no for an answer. Not only will she never reveal the location where Celicia had been taken, but she’ll shoot Tougo as well. After all, her gun stopped Celicia from beating her face in the night prior to this encounter and she demonstrates shortly afterwards, that she’s a much better shot than her sister. I chalk that up to Caelum Urbs body enhancements. By this, I mean that she literally shoots Celicia down from the four points that she’s been tied to by the insect’s webbing. Celine doesn’t miss once, which would have greatly aggravated her sister had she been conscious enough to witness it. In any case, the safe zone is revealed as a cavern from which the hornet and Celine both stepped out of, so this ends the third stage.
There is little to talk about right before the finale and so we’ll move right on to it. The final stage of the game takes place in what looks like a mausoleum of sorts. Essentially a giant crypt. As Tougo wrestles with the notion that they might just kill all the players, this foreboding area doesn’t make him feel any less comforted. This area is rather small and however, so it isn’t long before Tougo and the rest of the players happen upon a hall with three doors. Each heroine route contains a different monster surprise, so be sure to check them all out, as some monsters only appear once in these doors that do not appear in the rest of the game. For Celicia, the monster is a giant worm, which swallows her whole and then proceeds to pleasure her inside it’s mouth with tentacles. Tougo eventually saves her, leading to the final choice in any game path – the door on the right or the door on the left. In Celicia’s route, the door on the left leads to a bad end scene where she is raped by pigmen for what seems like an eternity before she and Tougo are both executed. Note that going through this door on any other character route leads to instant death and the game’s only “Game Over” screen.
However, going through the right door always signals the end of the Closed Game. Now there’s some odd translation errors here as in some paths Michiko and Celine state that they will send all of the other players home safely, while in this one and a few others they state that there is no use worrying about them and that they have already purged the stage, killing them all. So which one is it? Do they make it or not? Someone really should clean up those inconsistencies. At the end of Closed Game, the winner is not only allowed to become a Heavener and live in Caelum Urbs as an immortal, but they are also allowed one wish that Caelum Urbs must grant to them as a reward for their victory.
In any case, Celicia’s wish ends in a duel where she finally challenges Celine in order to get out her pent up aggression. It is a classic duel in which Celicia is even given her old weapons. However, this ends in tragedy as Tougo is shot and presumably killed, while Celicia agrees to becoming Celine’s pet as long as they can use the technology to bring him back. Now, what is interesting here is in the epilogue, where Celicia has been forced to do a bevy of things that include tentacles. Before she is tricked into thinking that a gimp could be Tougo (which very well might be the case considering later ending revelations) it is hinted that “he is with mother” so Michiko is obviously doing something with the body that we’re never told about. Perhaps it is similar to what she does to him near the end of her route and in the true ending. We’re never told. Alright, now with the base routes out of the way, it will be much easier to explain the others in order to point out their differences and revelations.
Marielle’s Route is next, but she skips the slime monster scene just so that it can be strangely revisited later in the final stage. She still has to deal with the gimps, pig men and the hornet. As far as her story points are concerned, she is a woman who was dreadfully ill and in a hospital bed. She is an immune disorder that she has to take medicine for, but doesn’t have it with her. That being said, the Closed Game must have been extra difficult for her. The story progresses as normal until her ending scene, where she wishes to be healed – and in one of the game’s few good endings, she is. She and Tougo actually live together in the heavenly city after that, where a beautiful CG showcases the city at night and a reinvigorated Marielle that now loves to experiment with different medicines on Tougo. One of which increases his member to such a size where the outline can be visible from her stomach. This is a fetish of mine, so I’m glad they included it in such a happy ending. However, she also might be pregnant, which is a no-no on Caelum Urbs, so the both of them might just be sent back down to earth anyway. But, at least she’s healed and I do not think judging from what I know of the true end, that the Hwould be that cruel to her that they would take it back, nor could they. The nanomachines seem rather permanent and we’ll discuss that later.
The next was Celine’s Route, where I basically learned nothing. Seriously, unless you have a hard-on for Celine (she is cute, by the way) then I wouldn’t bother paying too much attention to it. The ending results in the opposite of Celicia’s path, where she is shot (I told you Celine was a better shot than Celicia) instead of Tougo. Tougo this time accepts the role of being Celine’s sex slave in order to save Celicia using the Heavener technology. It doesn’t consist of much, she just wants to be drugged while Tougo rapes her. I don’t think I got much out of it.
Michiko’s Route followed and it did have some rather starting revelations. The first is that Michiko cannot hold in her bowels because she shits a lot, much to my absolute disgust; especially when one scene involves sex after Tougo’s face has been shit on. No, it doesn’t just slide off either. It sits there and it smells. Michiko just poops all over the place and I’ve never seen such a high degree of scat in any visual novel up to this point. Although Celine poops a bit too, she has nothing on the ten pound turds that Michiko releases throughout the game. It becomes a bit disgusting after awhile, I must admit. However, we do learn some things about Heavener society that are important. As I noted earlier, Caelum Urbs banned sex, violence, childbirth and even masturbation according to some character paths, but it is confusingly blurry on that end. Additionally, we’ve learned that it is currently the trend for all Heavener males to remove their penises and testicles, which is no problem because they can always just add them back on later and customize them at that. In fact, we learn that Heaveners can change their shape to look like pretty much like any kind of person or thing they want, which goes to show how advanced the technology is. What’s more is that they carry nanomachines in their bloodstream that serve a variety of functions and by all intents and purposes should be transmissible through other types of bodily fluids. However, Sei Shoujo wanted to give us a throwback to Bible Black and instead shows us a blood oath between Michiko and Tougo where she bites her lip until it bleeds and then kisses him so that the blood enters his bloodstream and makes him a slave to her, whom he calls, “his Mistress.” This is very important to remember for the endgame, so hold onto this as well as George’s death, as they’ll both be referenced again later. In any case, we learn about the weird bugs that Caelum Urbs has engineered being used for pleasure in this case and it’s as interesting as it is bizarre. Finally, she announces to Tougo that his body needs to be molded into something else and he becomes the one odd thing that we encountered on this path that was different than all the others – the female gimp with the horse cock futa. Yep, she turns him into one of those gimps and he notes that his personality is slowly being erased, as the horror of the realization that all of these gimps were once human like him, slowly dawns on him. Michiko calls the gimps into the room as she states, “Gimps, you know what you’re here to do! Rape the players!” and that’s about the end of it. We learn a lot, but there’s quite a bit of shit to get through in retrospect. However, this path also contains the game’s only futa scene for fans of that fetish, so you may want to stick with Maggot Baits and the “Welcome To Monkey House” path for obscene amounts of that.
Lacey’s Route follows and though the path itself is rather boring, it has one of the game’s better endings and a special song during the credits. It should be noted that you can fuck this one up, so be careful. For most of Lacey’s path, she faces the same sorts of things – the slime monster, the gimps, the pig men and the hornet, but she gets a special surprise monster that is only available on her path, the lizards! The lizard scene is none too special, but I’ll admit I enjoyed their hissing. The voice actors really put their all into these monsters and credit must be given where it’s due for that. For the most part, Celine and Michiko basically joke with her about how well she’ll sing while having her throat raped (which Lacey cries, “Well, then I”ll have nothing left!” as we learn about her story of an orphan girl having grown up in poverty) but in the end it is all in good fun on their part and she gets over it in time. Her singing as I stated, is just as good as Tougo remembers it. Also, her soft sex scenes are hot – very hot. Tougo loves this woman, she is his idol dream girl. It is later explained that Lacey was raised by a woman who was also a well known singer, Cindy Mallet. In addition, Lacey explains that through means of a human connection she had to Caelum Urbs, she was allowed to participate in this game so that she could become a Heavener and sing for them. It’s her dream, what she’s always wanted – violating her body was just part of attaining that dream and she was willing to handle any sort of torment that came her way. Upon reaching her ending path, she is given the choice to be a star and sing in Caelum Urbs or to know what happened to Cindy. Inquiring about Cindy gives you the bad ending, where it is discovered that she did become a star in Caelum Urbs, though her popularity waned and she was later found out to be a spy delivering information from Caelum Urbs to earth. After this, she’s made into a music box, which is what happened to the woman taking care of her. Cindy Mallet may have disappeared from her life without a trace to become a star, but she was in the end turned into a sex toy for the Verxina family. Also, Tougo acts like he’d been hit in the head with this route. Either that, or he became a gimp and only parts of his memory still remain. Again, we’re never told. There is a good ending here though, which happens if you agree to sing in Caelum Urbs. Yes, Tougo goes back home to Earth where he fixes up cars and speaks with Celicia every now and again, but things are different, not just because of the events of the game, but with the death of George. After a while, a letter is addressed to him from Caelum Urbs, where he’s invited to come to a concert event along with Celicia (who declines out of jealousy) where she’ll be singing. She approaches Tougo and says that she wants to seem backstage after the show. The credits roll as a beautiful song plays in the background, presumably during Lacey’s concert, which ends with a backstage meeting in which she clears all her makeup off the dresser in a hurry and then spreads open her legs. Yes, this is definitely illegal, but when you’re a big name superstar, people tend to look the other way. She does fear she may get pregnant which would result in exile, but it’s worth it to her and she enjoys every minute of it. This is the idol ending where Tougo gets to make love to the woman of his dreams.
Now we get to Cocona’s Route. For the most part, Cocona’s route doesn’t hold anything special – however, as we move closer to the end, she starts slipping a few tidbits of information that leads to an outright explosion at the end and one of the game’s best endings. She still faces the slime man, gimps, pig men and hornet, but there are some interesting changes here that I found to be very entertaining to say the very least. First of all, she asks a weird question – “Do the residents of Caelum Urbs realize they’re in chains?” and other profound observations. Secondly, during the third game an astonishing feat is witnessed by Tougo when in fact, Cocona is able to defeat the giant hornet by herself. Yes, to the point where it’s dead carcass is laying on the ground. Yes, by hand. Simply put, by now it’s apparent that she’s had some kind of special training. This finally concludes when she walks into Tougo’s holding room, pulls the sheet over the both of them and tells him to pretend their having sex, while she shockingly reveals that she’s actually a spy for Earth’s resistance force and that she needs Tougo’s help to assemble an old circuit that connects to Caelum Urbs’ main database from a panel in Michiko’s room, somehow. He takes a look at the circuit and is able to repair it easily, which she then hides. During the fourth stage, her door isn’t filled with a giant spider (which I thought was going to happen in this one, but it doesn’t) and instead we’re reduced to a measly room full of tentacles. Just covered in pink tentacles that have their way with her. Boring. In any case, Tougo asks Michiko to save Cocona, which he then finds on the ground of the tentacle room – where all those tentacles just evaporated somehow. Anyway, he picks her up and she whispers in his ear to pretend she’s unconscious. After walking through the door on the right and completing the game, She tells Tougo to stall for time. So he first asks for his old clothes back, which he gets – same with Cocona. Then he asks the Verxina family to allow him another day to think about his wish. They oblige and he sleeps in his holding room, Meanwhile, Cocona gets up in the middle of the knight dressed like some kind of hero and runs to Michiko’s room where she inserts the panel. Great, this will allow all of the technology of Caelum Urbs to be available to Earth through that mainframe. In my opinion, it’s the best ending – well, almost. The next day, Tougo simply wishes to go back to Earth along with Cocona and the story moves forward a bit until we notice she is now pregnant and there’s an H-Scene in his shop. However, in the stupidest twist imaginable, Celicia gets upset, finds out that he’s been having sex with this woman behind her back and had gotten her pregnant, which sounds like an odd thing to be mad at considering the fact that they’re not even dating – and then she shoots and kills them both, which ends the route. Yep. That’s how Izumi Banya chose to end what is essentially the best route in the game. It’s just plain bad writing. I get the “shock” factor, but considering the fact that there are good endings for Tougo in the game, it seems rather odd to have what would be the ideal best situation for the character end in tragedy. It’s not hip, edgy, nor cool – it’s just bad writing. As shock as Closed Game can be at times, we are definitely aware of endings that are hardly shocking and this just felt like a bad decision. Tougo deserved this victory.
The True Ending Route in the game is no better. Putting it rather bluntly, the final route path is made up of a mixture of previous decisions that of course begins with one decision you didn’t make in the beginning. This decision led to an inquiry about Caelum Urbs technology, but little more. For the latter half of the route, it follows the scat-filled Michiko path. Yes, hardly what any of us wanted to see again, but there’s a method to this madness. Some of you may be wondering, “If Caelum Urbs is a perfect society where all sex, violence, childbirth and even masturbation are banned, then how is the Verxina family allowed to run this game in the first place?” Well, the answer to that question may surprise you. Just after Tougo is made Michiko’s slave, (remember how I told you to keep this in mind?) an announcement comes over the speaker at the Verxina residence. It’s from the Ethics Officer Of Caelum Urbs. Micihiko of course defends her actions by stating that because she allowed monsters to rape the players, it was applicable to Caelum Urbs standards. However, there is ONE thing she did wrong – DEATH. The Ethics Officer not only questions Michiko about George’s death during the game, she also is given video evidence from a defector who is able to prove that yes, the giant hornet monster did slice George apart and kill him. That is illegal by Caelum Urbs standards, so Michiko and Celine will now be exiled back to Earth. Celine of course cries when hearing this because she claims that she doesn’t want to go back to a life of poverty where she has to struggle again, but Michiko tells her to calm down as they can have sex and get pregnant over there, plus they’re immortal and beautiful, so they can have sex with as many men as they want. Whatever. In any case, Tougo is transported back to Earth where the absence of George still hits both he and Celicia pretty hard. He inquires to her about the location of Michiko, a woman that she considers to be “a shit stain on the face of humanity.” Nevertheless, she tells him that both Celine and Michiko live in a giant mansion and they have a relatively good life anyway, because of who they are. They’re considered “Fallen Angels” at this point and have notoriety now because of it. But as soon as the words “My mistress” come out of Tougo’s mouth, Celicia once again gets angry and shoots him dead. Again. This was already a poor way to end a route, but so help him, Izumi Banya loved it so much that he’d use it twice out of what I’d call laziness in plot development. After that, we are shown a scene where Celine and Michiko are now both pregnant and having massive orgies on a bed with fine silk sheets. Near the end of the orgy, Michiko’s water breaks and a man can’t get his dick out of her vagina. After Michiko shouts, “No baby, stay in there!” it is obvious that she may have died from childbirth, which may not have been a thing that Heavener technology could fix or would for that matter; considering that childbirth was illegal there in the first place. With a baby’s cry, the story ends. What a load of bullshit!
Graphics:
Without a doubt, Closed Game sports some of the finest visuals in an Empress title yet. CG’S are heavily detailed and feature quite a degree of variation. There are also many different facial expressions and poses for the sprites, which can be utilized for fun inside the game’s sprite viewer, which is unlocked after completing any of the game’s routes. Admittedly, some of the scenes work for me and others don’t. I generally feel that the more simplistic art of Starless and Dominance work a bit better – Closed Game just feels a bit too flashy in the art department. Don’t get me wrong, there was definitely a great deal of love put into several of these pieces, in particular I enjoyed the suspension works quite a bit – but they didn’t leave the same kind of mark on me that earlier games did. Closed Game is one of those kinds of pieces where the art might look better from a graphical perspective, but something still feels a bit off. Even so, there are still some rather striking pieces here and there and they are presented with the variety of unique angles that Sei Shoujo is known for. I also took issue with some of the poses as a few of them just felt kind of flat.
That being said, we do have to talk about monster designs as well here. The gimps looked the part, with the female gimps definitely causing me to question their nature up until the big reveal. The slime monsters and that art in general was just plain great, I also like that Sei got to draw a human looking slime man, even though it did look kind of Pokemon-ish. Speaking of Pokemon, everyone jokes about the giant hornet which is “Celicia’s Scyther” and yes, it does look like a cross between many different types of insects, which looks horrifyingly frightening and becomes even more so when you see the several sex scenes where it is involved. The pig men also look the part, but I still don’t get why they have those spikey protuberances. I do like the fact that their collars say “Pig Man” on them, which you’ll notice if you look closely. The tentacles are also pretty well done, whether it be the pink tentacle dicks on the Pig Men or the cool blue tentacles that Celicia experiences in her epilogue, tentacle design is as good as it should be. We also briefly get to see the lizards, which look like a sort of dinosaur here (which make sense because dinosaurs were in fact giant lizards). Not enough time was put into them, which makes the room of tentacles feel weak in comparison. However, both the worm and it’s insides felt accurate – it was essentially a giant tremor.
Sound:
The sound and music are both standouts in the world of Closed Game – not only are all of the lines and moans delivered with conviction, (Celine stands out notably well for being the hot-headed woman that she is) but the music in general is great. There is a rather bizarre selection of tunes here ranging from bluesy guitar atmospheres to pulse pounding industrial rock (think KMDFM), but even soft piano pieces appear here as well as one synth piece in particular that is meant to feel romantic, but has a more modern tone to it. Like a nineties porn theme with an electronic touch. It’s very soothing and it works well for the game’s softer sex scenes. The more aggressive sex scenes are backed with equally aggressive tunes which seem to not only fit, but raise one’s adrenaline rather heavily. However, there is one special part of Closed Game’s sound department that separates it from many other visual novels and that would be in the monster noises. Seriously, hat’s off to all of these great voice actors who had to play the role of the slime man (BlubBlubBlub) the pig men (Ooooink!) the wheezing of the gimps inside their suits, the hornet (Bzzzzzz!) and our bonus monsters like the worm (which screams loudly) as well as my lizard friends WHICH DID NOT GET ENOUGH EXPOSURE (I seriously enjoyed hissing along with them) and I think that’s about it. Closed Game didn’t really have enough monsters and I think several of them were overused. At least some thought was put into the monster voices though, which I can respect.
Hentai/Adult Content:
I’ve already explained much of this in the story description, but it must be known that first and foremost, the game contains a lot of scat. More scat than I have seen in any visual novel prior. Every single heroine path contains at least one scat scene, with Michiko containing the most – an unhealthy amount of it, with no filter either. Urination is also common in the novel, but happens in much of Sei Shoujo’s work, so that’s nothing unusual. The scenes are in some cases extremely long, especially when they involve monster rape. Also keep in mind that there are dozens of them. You’ll experience more hentai content in Closed Game than plot development, which might be a pro for some of you and a con to others. It is very much a nukige game with just enough of the storyline laid out within the first non-sexual hour of play to illustrate the setting. However, after that first rape scene with the slime men, the scenes start coming and they rarely cease. After several plays you already know what to expect, aside from the fact that some bonus scenes with Michiko and Celine take place sometimes in the middle of other scenes where masturbation devices are utilized. Tentacle rape, suspension rape and even a Euphoria reminiscent ass to mouth tube that only appeals in the epilogue of Celine’s Route are all utilized. Monster rape is of course the name of the game here and various players found the uncomfortable. In particular, I felt that the insect rape was a bit much for me. That being said, several sensual sex scenes are utilized here and those are done almost with a vanilla element. Yes, despite all of the monster rape, soft music and vanilla sex does happen in the game quite a bit more than you would expect. Every heroine has her own unique set of sensual sex scenes, which are for the most part consensual and I think some players might appreciate that aspect of it as well. In the sense that the girls actually come onto the guy, rather than the other way around. Although I’ve found modern zoomer “consent culture” to be rather silly and taken to ridiculous proportions in the real world, modern eroge fans may like the fact that not all of the human encounters here are particularly rape. While Closed Game does have high amounts of rape, particularly of the monster variety, (and I’d shit myself if something like those pig men asked for consent first or the hornet, how does that work?) I think you’ll be quite surprised to see how many scenes don’t end up that way.
Conclusion:
I’ll admit that in the beginning I was one of the people very excited to see this one getting a release – however, I was unaware of Sleepless and was hoping we would get at least Great Deceiver as well, since these would have gone well with Jast’s Starless, which still sells very well on their website and should only sell more copies as it gets ported to other platforms, like GOG in some weird stroke of fate. However, I don’t think this was the one we needed. Despite how much I wanted to see it, many eroge fans admit that they weren’t all that interested in it. It is one of the few games where most of the scenes are performed by monsters and I don’t think that Sei Shoujo fans in the west who mainly champion Bible Black, Discipline and Starless were ready for something like it. That’s also why it only retains a score of 6.60 on VNDB, which places it as decent at best. It perplexes me greatly, knowing the popularity of Starless in the west that we didn’t get Great Deceiver and Sleepless here instead. I know for a fact that Starless sequel that actually scored better according to VNDB than the original game and was at one time the top selling title on DLSite Japan would have done gangbusters over here as well. From reading various comments, it’s noted that some of this was just “too over the top” for some players and they would have rather more human interactions been involved, which of course would have been offered by the smash-hit, Sleepless. Furthermore, Great Deceiver was stupidly easy to translate due to it’s length and the original fan translator responsible for the partial of Dominance admitted that he’d already been halfway through Great Deceiver back in 2018, but was hearing that it was going to come to the west, so he stopped translation. If it took a fan (not just any fan by the way, this guy did quick checks for some notable games on MangaGamer) just a month or so to halfway translate Great Deceiver, it would have taken a professional no time at all. Also, I hear that Sleepless is a bit shorter, but seems to work well with Great Deceiver, which even uses music from Starless and would have brought fans right back into their nostalgia. Honestly, it just strikes me as kind of odd that this is the one Empress suggested, regardless of the fan support and notoriety of Starless worldwide. Again, a collector’s pack with Great Deceiver and the Mistress Mamiya dakimakura (which goes for around two-hundred and fifty dollars by itself in Japan) would have been an excellent package and I do believe it would have made waves on Jast.
The problem with Closed Game is that while it is an interesting enough mixture of science fiction and monster rape, several fans don’t seem to be all that happy with it and I personally feel that the plot fell apart towards the end, the true end was a disaster and Izumi Banya needs to personally slow the fuck down and take his time with these scripts. If you’ll note, Potential Ability, Closed Game and Fraternite all came out around the same time, which means he was writing those scripts as well as other scripts for various other nukige games and there’s no way that you can tell me as a writer that he didn’t experience some level of burnout. What’s more, is he seems to have worked through that burnout, which is why many of these plots are underdeveloped, like I have been told Sadistic Blood is. Maybe when he was younger and could hammer out MinDead Blood and Gore Screaming Show, he was a hit – but this one, well… it’s just shit. I feel the same about Euphoria, even though he only did the second part of the Rinne path there. That’s why I’m glad that Sei Shoujo decided to pen Sleepless himself and judging from not only the amount of sales it made, but the player score – it was a much better decision. I also don’t think Sei Shoujo was going to let anyone else handle his baby. Yes, most people know him for Bible Black, but that’s just not his magnum opus. I’d definitely say that Starless is and Sleepless only managed to one-up that according to all the praise I’ve heard for it.
Now here comes the hard part. In order for us to ever see the good games like Sleepless come over to the west, Jast announced that sales of Closed Game must be sufficient. Though it’s extremely hard for me to recommend buying a game, let alone a two-hundred dollar collector’s version of a game that is just not up to par. It’s a shame because the physical copies are boxed in real metal cases and come with all kinds of goodies, but it doesn’t take one long to see that people just aren’t crazy about this game. There’s no way I can recommend people buy it unless they love monster rape, because that’s the draw here. While it is unique, I think Jast needs to remember that most people came to Sei Shoujo from human on human sexual interactions in the lieu of Bible Black and Starless, rather than monster titles which are popular with small, niche communities at best. These small niche communities are usually not interested in this kind of content and are oddly enough, extremely politically correct. Many of them are also more into the furrie fandom as monsters seem to be crawling into that community. Rape of course, would not be something in their wheelhouse. So it’s just a bad decision all around and unfortunately, it may cost us ever seeing a copy of Sleepless in the west, which I know the fans want – or something older like Lewdness or Dominance.
I’m sorry, Empress – but this one just isn’t going to make bank in the same way that other games did. Maybe remastering or remaking Bible Black might help, but there’s no guarantee we’d ever get that. Unless Fakku or Johren (the latter is most likely, all things considered) initiate a partnership, that is. At this rate, I think I’d even settle for a censored version of Sleepless on Johren and as much as I don’t want to spend my money there, it’s really the only hope we might have at this point. I’d tell you to buy Closed Game just to support Empress and Jast, but there is no realm of the imagination where I think the sales will ever be good enough with this title to justify further games from the developer being published by Jast. Closed Game is just sub-par and even not well respected in Japan. If you want more proof of that, check Empress’s daki selection and you’ll find that more Japanese want daki’s of characters from Starless, Lewdness and Sleepless among a few others and you’d be hard-pressed to find much Japanese merchandise for Closed Game at all. There was an in-progress figurine of Celicia, but I’m not sure if it ever got completed. (Edit: It Did – Pic Below) Even so, I’d hate to buy that and be reminded of her plot device, which in essence ruined the whole damn game for me.
In Starless, I know that Mistress Mamiya is sadistic and she lops off Sawatari’s penis in one of the game’s many endings, dubbed “The Worst End.” But I EXPECT that from her. However, I would have never expected a girl like Celicia to do what she did and it doesn’t honestly make sense. In all the times that Tougo and Celicia have talked, this never came up?
He never bothered to tell her, “Hey, Celicia, I just want you to know that Michiko did a creepy blood oath up there and she gave me her blood, which resulted in all these nanomachines running through my body. It has me brainwashed into being her slave and I need you to work with me on this. Let’s think of it as a sickness – she made me sick, and there’s no earth technology that can heal me. So when I start to think about her and I start acting crazy, I need you to work with me. Remember, I didn’t do this – I’m sick. That horrible woman did this to me and I’m stuck with it now for the rest of my life.”
This is how that conversation should have gone and surely would have, because Tougo was nothing if not a logical man. Having walked through his shoes as long as I have, I noticed that he often thought, considered and pondered situations. Tougo rarely charged in all guns blazing, and knowing this information and trusting in Celicia as much as he did, there is no reason in my mind where he wouldn’t have thought to discuss it with her. After all, they did have deep, romantic and emotional sex on the true end path. There was a bond there. When two people share a romantic bond like that, especially considering as long as they’ve known each other, the whole “hey, some crazy lady put brainwashing nanomachines in my body through her blood” kinda conversation would’ve more than likely come up. Not only would it have come up, it would have come up immediately after Celicia noticed that Tougo had been acting strange. That’s part of a woman’s intuition after all, to notice when a man is acting strange. This is just a result of bad writing on Banya’s part, probably due to rushing to get ten scripts done in a year or whatever his deadline was. There were definitely some corners cut here and it causes the plot to once again fall apart through analysis. In closing, I can’t say that I recommend Closed Game and would only suggest those with a massive monster rape boner to pick it up. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only place where it truly delivers.
(Final Edit: As of right now, Closed Game is actually selling slightly more than Starless, so that might be a good sign after all.)
BUY: