Kuroinu Chapter 3 – Tester’s Corner Vol. 1

Today’s Tester’s Corner for Kuroinu Chapter 3 is brought to you by Aki!

When I saw that MangaGamer was looking for beta testers, I jumped on the case, ready to take on whatever they threw at me. So hi, I’m Aki, a new beta tester on the scene. The game ended up being Kuroinu Chapter 3, the third installment in a series of hardcore nukige. Oh boy.

Kuroinu was an adventure, to say the least. I’m also not exactly part of its demographic. To set you up (in case you haven’t played the first two chapters), the premise is this: Vult, a sadistic man with a penchant for sexual torture, conquers several fortresses in the land and creates the “Cuntry,” a nation where all women are permanently at the behest of any and all men. It’s a feminist nightmare. I couldn’t get mad or uptight about it, though. The fucking Cuntry. It’s such a fantastic, inevitable localization that I can only offer my finest tip of the hat to the translation and editing team.

Here’s what’s wild about it, though: for a game about robbing women of their agency, raping, and ruining them, it has oddly good character-building. I anticipated something heartless and simple, handing us anime stereotypes and letting the player abuse them to their heart’s content, but Kuroinu is not that. Kuroinu gives you women with personalities, histories, and drives. And then it lets you abuse them. Here, case in point, Maia:

She is 100% MY TYPE.

Of course, the point of the game is to ruin this woman, but that didn’t change the fact that I loved her character. She’s defiant and headstrong and, hell, even when being forced to have sex with a creepy dude, she still retains some of her dignity in a way that makes her H-scenes bearable to someone like me. And if you’re into this sort of thing, then it’s all the better. Kuroinu just did what I didn’t expect going in, and that was making its characters sympathetic. In fact, I sort of still don’t get it. Why would you want to senselessly fuck the life out of a girl you feel for? Maybe that’s part of the appeal. Whatever floats your scrote!

That is Kuroinu in a nutshell: it gives you lovely, poorly-dressed women and you get to tear them apart (in more ways than one). You will learn about her before you rape her. I can’t even begin to tell you how emotional I got over Olga and Chloe in Chapter 1. I was attached to them! I rooted for them! That was my mistake. Because this game is about devastating these ladies. But hey, if the whole “ruining the women’s lives” thing sounds good? This game is for you. If not, then I’m not sure what you’re doing here. Look into A Kiss for the Petals or something.

Now, I say “poorly-dressed” with the utmost fondness. The designs are so gleefully, purposely absurd that I couldn’t help loving them unironically. I mean, seriously. Check out Kaguya, the Anal Eastern Priestess and star of Chapter 2:

Kaguya’s words were equivalent to that of a God’s; her tolerance for extreme, perpetual wedgies also most likely a divine gift.

Or Claudia, Married Holy Knight, star of Chapter 1:

The Seventh Fortress values its knights, and the most important parts of them: the shoulders. Hang them tits out but you gotta protect those shoulders. It’s no wonder they were conquered, really.

My favourite character, the canonically Butch Chick, also dresses hilariously inappropriately. One false move and a titty could go rogue. Then again, that applies to everyone in this game.

Maia must be physically stronger than Kaguya, since she tolerates a leather wedgie at all times.

And, oh man, this game goes places. There’s one scene (hereon referred to as “That Scene”) that’s, like, 700 lines too long and every moment is excruciating. But if you’re into that? Then hell fucking yeah, this game rules. That Scene actually involves a character I thought I’d despise, the token loli, a halfling girl named Lulu. Here’s her design:

Yes, her voice sounds exactly like you’re imagining it would.

I thought I would hate this tiny piece of shit. I wanted to hate her, actually. That would have made watching her suffer easier. But I couldn’t! I couldn’t. She’s actually somewhat badass, believe it or not. I mean, she’s toting a giant axe in that image so it’s probably not hard to imagine, but she still retains her attitude even when her strength is taken from her. Also, those tufts of fluffy hair hanging out below her hat and above her curls? Those are ears. They are cute and I am weak.

This game gives you the opportunity to rape and ravage the kingdom of a reborn Goddess (though whether or not she’s actually the holy figure reincarnate is up for debate. I’m sure there’s a place where you can engage in discussion over the the complex implications of Kuroinu canon), which is a pretty damn big power trip if you want that. You can also rob a badass mercenary woman of her last shreds of dignity, all the while watching her break down over her complicated, Stockholm syndrome-like feelings toward Vult, the main character. You have the option of defiling the halfling in a number of inventive ways, too. The world is your oyster!

Kuroinu has a surprising amount of plot for a nukige, but each chapter is still standalone, so you can hop right in with Chapter 3 if the girls tickle your fancy. Ready yourself for some sick humiliation and creative suffering and you’re good to go.

maia best girl btw

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2 Comments

  1. “It’s a feminist nightmare.” “…for a game about robbing women of their agency…”

    These two things at the start of this post pointed out to me exactly what this post would sound like, and I was not wrong. Seems kinda weird that a hardcore fantasy rape game with some of the most extreme fetishes would have a beta tester that even thinks about it in regards to feminism or cares anything about these fictional characters being robbed of “their agency”… Glad they enjoyed it overall, but you’d think they’d kinda have preferences for beta testers so they don’t send out something of the completely wrong genre to a tester =P

    Also, NO scene with Luu-Luu can be too long. All her scenes, regardless of how long one could make them, would never be long enough. There is just so much that can be done with that spunky halfling, there’s not enough time in the world to explore it all.

    Now just to wait hopefully for a “complete collection” physical release… *hint hint, Manga Gamer!*

    • GYAHAHAHA, this was posted quite a while ago, but Aki here. And I wanted to say on MG’s behalf that they /do/ choose testers according to their tastes! I just was so eager to jump on board with the MangaGamer team that I said “I’LL DO IT” without knowing just what was ahead of me. What was ahead of me was Kuroinu, and while it did make me suffer, it made me a stronger person… LOL

      I’m so glad to see that you enjoyed it. For the record, I wasn’t actually trying to play it from a feminist POV — I mean, it’s a raunchy eroge. You gotta put aside political shit for that. I’m just happy to know that this game brought ya some joy, even if the Lulu scenes were a tad too short for ya. I hope MG can bring you some more good stuff in the future!

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