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Came for the waifus, stayed for the gameplay (and also came)

I came for the amazing animation in the trailer and the busty shinobi, but I stayed for the entertaining roguelike gameplay with deck building.

Half-Demon Shinobi is an entertaining game for adults with roguelike and deck-building gameplay elements. In it, you follow the story of Manari, a quiet ninja exorcist, as she hunts down Ayakashis and their leader, who took away her basic emotions such as anger, lust, and wisdom to make her the perfect vessel for the reincarnation of the Demon King.

The story of this title focuses mainly on Manari, the exorcist ninja, and the protagonist/player Miyakoji Agu, who, although he seems to be an ordinary human being at first glance, is actually an "immortal", a very powerful being for the Ayakashis/Demons, since when they "consume" him, either by literally eating him or absorbing his semen through sex, they acquire a huge increase in power. This same characteristic of the protagonist is the one that the heroine, Manari, uses to gain more strength, since she is half demon, being the recipient of the demon king, she can receive this "buff" when having sexual encounters with the protagonist.
Due to this need of the heroine to have the protagonist close to her, and the fact that by tradition he has to marry the first woman he has sex with. So they are forced to travel together in search of the materializations of Manari's emotions (lust, hatred and wisdom) that have turned into demons and she has to defeat them so that she can be a normal girl and they can also avoid the resurrection of the demon king.
The introduction of this title has a great narrative weight, as you can see, but since the game focuses more on the gameplay and the sexual content, the narrative loses its importance and we only see short scenes where the protagonist and Manari get along better, plus some revelations where the leader of the Ayakashis gradually reveals his plan.
Nevertheless, it is clear that only the introduction of the game is worth reading, and the rest of the story, with the exception of the ending, is better not to pay much attention to.

This game follows a system of progression by chapters, with a total of 4 different, where in the first 3 you face one of the incarnations of Manari's emotions and in the last one the leader who planned all this.
Each of these chapters is a "run", as a game is called in the roguelike genre. In each run you will have to explore a city where there will be a variety of events where you will have to fight enemies with cards, but there will also be events that reward you with special items, with healing or even some with shops where you can buy cards or special items with the money you get from defeating enemies. To complete each chapter you have to complete 30 events, which can be of any type (sometimes you can choose up to 3 different ones that define your "path"), in intervals of 10 you will face mini-bosses and when you reach 30 you will face the demon that stole one of Manari's emotions.
One of the most interesting aspects of this title is the combat system, which although it takes from other games with deckbuilding theme like Slay the Spire, has something that makes it unique, which is a system of 5 random orbs that change every round and depending on their combination are the cards you can use. This is because the cards you get have different requirements, such as orbs of a certain element (fire, water, lightning, earth or poison), or a certain number of pairs of orbs that share an element. The more difficult it is to meet the requirement, the greater the card's effect, so it is important to balance risk and reward when you building the deck.
This game can get complicated for those who are not familiar with the genre or if you play the chapters in hard mode, although it does include a "level up" mechanic where after progressing during a run, Manari will permanently gain experience, so when you start a new chapter/run you will have advantages such as increased initial gold, increased health, etc. This makes it easier to overcome new challenges.

This title contains a total of 24 uncensored animated sex scenes. The quality is frankly good, the art is quite detailed, has a very attractive character design and at no time can you see any deformities. The animations are fluid, no amputated limbs are shown (a floating penis fυcking the heroine) and the physicality of the girls' breasts is highly erotic.
As for the content present in the scenes, one could say that there are three types. One would be where the protagonist and Manari have sex, where everything tends to be more vanilla, with only vaginal sex in different positions. The second is where the protagonist has sex with the demon girls, in this there are fetishes like humiliation, bondage, and restraints come into play, and the last one is when Manari is raped by the enemies (or through a special item), what happens after she is defeated in battle, where it is possible to see tentacles, humanoid monsters, uncensored sex, ganbang, use of sex toys, etc.
This title has a gallery of scenes in the main menu, although you can only see those you have already seen during your game, since there is no option to unlock them from the beginning, plus some of them require you to finish chapters in the highest difficulty, so it can be complicated for some players.

This game certainly has a strong start, showing you a fully animated trailer where the heroine and the antagonists look great, plus the story seems to be very important. But unfortunately, as you progress, you notice that there are no more of those wonderful animations that you saw in the beginning and that the story is left aside pretty soon.
Nevertheless, I find the gameplay of this title extremely interesting, with the possibility of building different types of archetypes of decks, plus the random factor of the orbs helps to partially balance the difficulty, making it harder for you to make an unbeatable deck that will overcome encounters without problems.
The sexual content is also quite enjoyable, with very professional art and voice acting, as well as erotica that is sure to awaken the beast sleeping in your pants. Although it's really nothing we haven't already seen in other Mango Party installments, such as Princess Kaiju, Take Me to the Dungeon, etc.
I recommend Half-Demon Shinobi mainly to deckbuilding/roguelike lovers who prefer to finish the game to see all the sexual content at once later, as it has very little nsfw content during combat (only destruction of clothes when taking damage) and isn't designed to be played strictly one-handed, if you know what I mean.

This is game of the year, no doubt. it's a shame games like these are not nominated for the GOTY show.

Pros:
Everything
Cons:
You gotta lock in

Hey, this is not the new Taimanin series... Never mind, these girls are more my type

Good game as i expected from the demo
Art look very good

initial review

fun gameplay (card system)

pretty easy to play, not hard

impressive h scenes

based.

Impeccable gameplay, and top tier seggs scenes. 10/10

I can't believe this game is available at such a low price... you have to buy it.
The animations at H-Scenes are some of the best I've seen in 2024, and as a deck-building game, it's immensely replayable.
The fun lies in how each game session leads to a different deck depending on the cards and items you acquire. It’s just too much fun!