Desire - Spiral of Perversion Review

After finishing YU-NO, I found out that both its writer, Kenno Yukihiro, and main composer, Ryu Umemoto, collaborated on three other visual novels before creating YU-NO: Desire, Xenon, and Eve: Burst Error. Xenon never had a western release, perhaps due to its very short length and lack of success in Japan, but Desire and Eve: Burst Error did. I decided to play Desire first, simply because it was made first. 

An original aspect of Desire's story structure is that it is split into three routes which each feature a different protagonist. The first route stars Albert Macdgul (no idea why there's no vowel in between the d and the g), a journalist who visits an island research facility called Desire to write a story on the island's research that has been concealed from the public until now. The second route follows Makoto Izumi, the chief technician of Desire and Al's girlfriend. The protagonist of the third route is not revealed until you have completed the first two routes.

Al's route starts off nicely as it takes place on a mysterious and isolated island and has several characters for Al to meet and secrets for him to uncover. Much of Al's route serves to introduce the setting, characters, and story to the reader. Most of the route is slowly paced but is still interesting as it reveals several mysteries for the player to ponder on, such as why Kazumi came to Desire, where Tina came from, and why Martina is so focused on her research. Later in the route, the story picks up its pace as Al finds himself in the middle of an internal power struggle within the Grandchester Foundation, discovers people who have been murdered by an unknown killer, and experiences the results of Martina's research. There are a couple of plot holes that are left over by the end of the route, but most of these are answered by the following two routes. I found Al's route to be an enjoyable and thrilling ride. The main problem with the route is that Al finds himself entangled in relationships with several women who work on Desire. These sub-plots in which Al learns about the problems of these women are a bothersome distraction which did not contribute to the main plot very much. They would have been more worthwhile if they revealed more about the mysteries of Desire or if they featured more interesting characters. 

A bird's eye view of Desire

Makoto's route covers the same timeline that was presented in Al's route. The setting, characters, and major plot events are also the same as in Al's route. What is different with this route is that Makoto is the protagonist and the story is presented from her point of view. Thus, you are able to view a different side of the story and obtain more details about plot events that allow them to make more sense. Unfortunately, only about half of the route spends time on delivering these details. The other half of the route is filled with sex scenes that depict the twisted relationship between Makoto and Kyle. By the end of the route, Kyle plays a significant part in the plot and helps Makoto with problems that she encounters on Desire, but for the vast majority of the route his role is to be Makoto's sadistic master who transforms her into a slut for the audience's enjoyment. In addition, there are two other women who have sex with Makoto and ramp up the game's raunchiness. I was desperately wishing for these sex scenes to end so the game could continue with giving more information on Makoto's side of the story. Usually, I compare sex scenes to comic relief whose purpose is to relieve the tension that the audience has accumulated from serious or tragic elements in the story. However, this routes's sex scenes are poorly placed in the story, ruin the pacing of the plot, and make the characters unlikeable. I only received moderate enjoyment from Makoto's route.

The game tries to convince you that women will eventually fall in love with you if you rape them enough times.

The final route presents the story from yet another character's perspective and fills in plot holes from Al's route that Makoto's route could not cover. This route contrasts with the other two routes in that it is presented like a kinetic visual novel with no gameplay or sex scenes. This benefitted the game by giving you the last few crucial plot details that were necessary in order to comprehend the game's story without having to deal with sex scenes that detract from the story or gameplay that would have given an unnecessary surplus of detail on the setting and characters that you were already familiar with. 

Upon completing the final route, you unlock the game's ending. After watching it, I felt like I was still lost on the finer details of the game's plot, but I was incredibly satisfied with how the game concluded Al's and Tina's stories. I thought that the ending combined with the final route wrapped up the game's story nicely.

The characters in Desire mainly act as vehicles for the plot and are not very interesting, except for Al and Martina. Al's jokes and antics are often amusing and he is usually kind and caring, while Martina is cold and logical yet has a deep understanding of human emotions and love. Romance between characters is rushed and character development is minimal due to the shortness of each route. 

What secrets does Martina keep hidden within herself?

The gameplay in Al's and Makoto's routes is menu-driven like most older visual novels. I've already discussed the pros and cons of this gameplay style in my previous review. As mentioned earlier, it is good that this gameplay was cut from the final route because the game had already given enough details on the setting and characters in the first two routes.

Desire has stellar visual design. The characters and environments are detailed well, there are enough CGs to accompany each scene, there are character portraits at the left of the dialogue boxes which show the facial expression of the character who is currently speaking, and there is even a plethora of short animated cutscenes.

This game has a superb soundtrack. It has variety, tracks that match several different moods, and most of the tracks can be listened to multiple times outside of the game. There are sound effects at appropriate points in the story and good voice acting for all of the characters except for the protagonists of the first two routes.

The erotic content in this game greatly lessens the enjoyment of Makoto's route, as stated previously, and also reduces the enjoyment in Al's route by making Al less likeable due to him cheating on his girlfriend.

One of Al's many sexcapades on Desire.

Desire may suffer from boring sub-plots which focus on uninteresting characters and from excessive and poorly implemented sexual content, however, it is a solid game with a good sci-fi mystery plot and ending, great visual and sound design, and a terrific soundtrack. 

Score: 7/10

Visit VNDB for more info on the game.