Gameplay

Lust Grimm is a JRPG created in RPG Maker VXace. The player controls Magruth, and can explore a 2D world, talk to people and interact with objects.

World Map
The world map consists of a series of interconnected 2D maps, populated by a wide range of NPCs. Japanese text appears above the heads of important NPCs and above entrances to important buildings, as shown in the image to the right.

Treasure chests can be found throughout the world. These come in a range of different colours. In ascending order of rarity, these are: brown, red, blue, green and silver. The rarer colours of chests also contain more valuable loot. A few of the red chests are actually Mimics in disguise, and attempting to open them instead draws the player into an inescapable battle. The contents of green chests refill whenever the player sleeps in their bed in the Starting House. Silver chests cannot be opened by default, requiring the player to consume one Silver Key to open them. Enemies are represented on the map by generic succubus sprites and normally roam around randomly. Each has a number above its head, ranging from 1 to 4. Higher numbers indicate that an enemy is more powerful than average for the area and/or is higher in level than the player (should this be the case). Enemies are invisible from a distance and gradually become visible as the distance from them to the player decrease. When the player gets close to an enemy, they will be alerted (shown by an exclamation mark above their head) and pursue the player in an attempt to make contact and initiate battle. The player will get a free turn at the start of battle if they contact an enemy's back; the opposite occurs if the enemy does this to the player. Bosses are represented by their own unique sprite, which differs from that of normal enemies by having dark skin, white hair, red clothing, and purple horns and tail. They also do not move and do not have a number above their heads. Battle is initiated when the player attempts to talk to a boss.

Menu
The menu can be accessed at any time from the world map. At the top left of the main menu screen are the options "Items", "Skills", "Equipment", "Status", "Achievements", "Options" and "End Game" (from top to bottom). At the top right of the screen is an summary of Magruth's status, showing Race (Human), Level, Dependence value, current and maximum Energy, and current and maximum Stamina. At the bottom right of the screen is the player's Lust value and amount of Muni (the game's currency). The "Items" menu displays the player's inventory. It is further split into four categories, which are (from left to right): "Items", "Books", "Accessories" and "Key Items". "Items" is the largest category, containing consumable items such as Sedatives (which can be used from this menu) and enemy drops such as Succubus Hearts. "Books" displays all Books (the weapon type used by the player) obtained. "Accessories" displays all Accessories (equipment that boosts defensive stats) obtained. "Key Items" displays items that are important to the plot or to certain sidequests. The "Skills" menu displays the skills that the player has learned. Here the player can view the costs and descriptions of the skills. The menu is split into the categories of "Hand Skill", "Mouth Skill" and "Special". The Special skills "Deep Breath" and "Meditate" can be used in this menu to restore Magruth's Energy. The "Equipment" menu is used to view and change Magruth's equipment. On the left are Magruth's stats while on the right is his current equipment. Above the latter are three options: "Change Equipment" (naturally used to change equipment), "Automatic Selection" (automatically chooses equipment that results in the maximum stats) and "Remove All" (unequips all equipment). When "Change Equipment" is used, selecting a given piece of equipment will cause the list of stats on the left to display any changes that would occur from equipping it: red numbers indicate an increase in a stat and blue numbers indicate a decrease in a stat.

The "Status" menu shows Magruth's Race, Level, current and maximum Energy, current and Maximum Stamina, current EXP and EXP needed to reach the next level, stats and current equipment. There are six stats: Technique (affects damage dealt by Hand skills), Endurance (affects damage received from Hand skills), Dexterity (affects damage dealt by Mouth skills), Spirit (affects damage received from Mouth skills), Speed (determines turn order) and Luck (affects chance-based events like item drops).

The "Achievements" menu shows all the Achievements obtained by the player, in the order that they were obtained, along with the date and time they were obtained. The "Options" menu allow the player to change aspects of gameplay. From top to bottom, these are: Auto Dash (can be toggled on or off), "Cursor Storage" (can be enabled, disabled, or reset each turn), "Window Color" (split into the three components of red, green and blue; each can have a value from 0 to 255), "Window Transparency" (can have a value from 0 to 255), "BGM Volume" (background music volume, can have a value from 0 to 100) and "SE Volume" (sound effects volume, can have a value form 0 to 100). The "End Game" menu has three options, "Back to Title Screen" (end game and returns to title screen), "Close Book" (ends game and closes game window) and "Cancel" (returns to main menu screen).

Battle
All battles in Lust Grimm are one-on-one duels between Magruth and a single enemy (some enemies are in fact two individuals, such as Cow Girl Sisters, but these function as one enemy). Battle is turn-based: the player chooses and performs an action, then the enemy performs their action. The basic mechanics are similar to other turn-based role-playing games, but with different names that reflect the sexual nature of combat in the setting.

The player has three meters. Energy (shown by an orange bar), represents how much Magruth can endure before reaching orgasm (functioning like "Health" or "HP" in other games). It is depleted as the player takes damage, and replenished by using skills, items or walking around on the world map. Stamina (shown by a blue bar) is analogous to "Mana" or "MP" in other games and is consumed by using most skills. It is replenished by using certain skills or items. Tension (shown by a green bar), increases as the player deals or receives damage and is consumed by special skills. Enemies also have an Energy meter, shown in the lower half of their sprite, but not Stamina or Tension.

The three basic options in battle are "Fight", "Escape" and "Log". Selecting "Fight" brings up another menu which is used for actually fighting the enemy. "Escape" causes Magruth to try and escape the enemy, though this is not certain to succeed. "Log" brings up a log of all text in the battle. The menu accessed by choosing "Fight" contains the options "Normal Caress", "Hand Skill", "Mouth Skill", "Special", "Endure" and "Item". "Normal Caress" is analogous to "Attack" in other games, doing minor damage to the enemy but not consuming any Stamina or Tension (in fact, it replenishes both). "Hand Skill" and "Mouth Skill" bring up submenus containing sexual techniques using the hands and mouth, respectively. "Special" comprises a list of skills, many of which require Tension to use. "Endure" causes Magruth to attempt to endure the pleasure being inflicted by the enemy, reducing damage received for one turn. "Item" allows the player to use a consumable item.

Damage follows a system of elements, like other games, but again with a sexual theme. The player and enemies use two different but overlapping sets of elements. Player attacks can have the elements of Breast, Butt, Mouth, Vagina and Tentacle. Enemy attacks can have the elements of Breast, Butt, Mouth, Hand, Foot and Vagina. Some attacks possess multiple elements or are non-elemental. Most enemies are weak to one or more elements (receiving additional damage from these) and/or resistant to one or more elements (receiving less or sometimes zero damage from these). The player has access to a set of skills that temporarily boost their resistance to one element. An important battle mechanic are holds, which represent the enemy physically restraining Magruth in some manner. These greatly reduce the damage dealt by the player, prevent certain skills being used (resulting in them being greyed out in the menu) and grant the enemy access to new attacks. Holds are represented by the English word "Hold" appearing in the top left of the screen (accompanied by interlinked male and female symbols) and a change in the enemy's sprite. To escape from a hold, the player must use Struggle (a Special skill only accessible during a hold). Notably, the player cannot put enemies in holds, despite having access to the "Embrace" skill (which has a name and description similar to the skills used by enemies that trigger holds); this is likely due to one of the game's fetishes being femdom.

When enemies are reduced to half of their maximum Energy, they strip, changing their sprite and increasing the damage they deal and receive (and sometimes gaining new attacks). The player can do the same with the "Undress" skill, regardless of their current Energy level.

When the player reduces an enemy's Energy to 0, they win. They obtain experience (potentially leading to an increase in Level), Muni, and sometimes items dropped by the enemy.

When the player's Energy is reduced to 0, they lose. They are then given the option of viewing a scene in which the victorious enemy rapes Magruth. Regardless of what choice is made, this is followed by waking up back at the Starting House with Energy and Stamina fully restored. The player will now have a memory of losing to that enemy. In subsequent fights, that enemy type will have a permanent positive effect, while the player will randomly be inflicted by a negative status (though this will only last a few turns). Should the player lose again, the resulting scene will have slightly different text.

Lust and Dependence
Lust and Dependence are two different ways in which the game represents Magruth slowly giving in to the temptations of the succubi. Lust increases more easily, while Dependence is more difficult to decrease.

Lust is a percentage it increases when the player is attacked, attempts but fails to break out of a hold, flees a battle, steps in Suspicious Liquid, uses certain items or experience certain sexual events. The higher the Lust value, the more damage the player receives and the more difficult it is for them to break out of a hold or escape battle. Enemies often have attacks that are only used when Lust is above a certain threshold. At 100% Lust, it becomes completely impossible to escape holds. Lust can be decreased by using certain items, using the services of a Memory Mage or losing to any enemy (the latter two reduce it to 0%).

Dependence ranges from 0 to 100. It only increases when the player loses to an enemy. Dependence can only be decreased in three ways: by using a Memory Mage (only removes one point), using a Grimm Potion in a specific location, or allowing it to reach 100 (which causes it to return to 0). Unlike Lust, Dependence has no negative effects until it reaches 100, though the player will receive warnings as it exceeds certain thresholds. Once Dependence reaches 100, the player will be transported to a strange otherwordly location and attacked by succubi, resulting in a unique rape scene and the game's Dead End. Contrary to what the name may suggest, this is not a Game Over; the player will respawn at the Starting House, but with their Level reset to 1.