Succubus in Wonderland

Succubus in Wonderland (不思議の国のサキュバス Fushiginokuni no sakyubasu) is an eroge released by developer 62studio on April 21, 2020. It follows Reto, a human boy who falls down a well and ends up in a strange world full of succubi. It has a sequel, Carroll in Wonderland, though the events of this game are not considered canon.

The game can be bought from DLsite (RJ number RJ278424). A translation patch of the game is available here.

Story
Reto is the son of two animal researchers who are well-respected by their village. His parents leave one morning to study animals. Afterwards, Reto spots a talking white rabbit who complains about being late and runs off. He leaves the village and encounters the rabbit again, who leads him towards a well. Reto examines the well and falls in.

Reto ends up in front of a mysterious castle. A succubus gatekeeper approaches and tries to seduce him, only for another succubus, Lewis (daughter of the Queen of Hearts, the ruler of the succubi), to come to Reto's aid. After they defeat the succubus together, Lewis says she'll help Reto return to his world. The two of them set off from the castle. Meanwhile, a masked blue-haired succubus watches from the castle gate.

Later, while going through Stray Coast, Lewis asks Reto about how he came here, and says that the rabbit he met might be March Hare. They then meet the enigmatic Cheshire Cat, who tells them about Hearts Day: a day when the Queen will drain many other succubi to death in order to increase her own power, though this was formerly a simple holiday that was celebrated by releasing balloons.

Throughout their journey, Reto and Lewis occasionally encounter other strange individuals: Alice, another human who ended up in this world; a series of talking birds named Lorina; and the Hatter, a profit-minded succubus who runs numerous shops around the world. The Lorinas are notable in that, if they are given certain codes (in order: 9666, 6669, 6609, 6910), they will tell the story of a certain human girl.

Eventually, the pair arrive at Atuchu Cave, in which three succubus attack Lewis and Reto falls through a pitfall. Reto encounters the masked succubus, who introduces herself as Lewis' sister Carroll and says the other succubi are currently training Lewis. She attacks him, but gives Reto a handicap to allow him to "win". She warns Reto that Lewis is merely using him and then leaves. Reto runs back to Lewis and the three succubi leave, but not before they've drained a lot of Lewis' power. Reto has to bring Lewis back to a previous village for treatment, after which they continue their journey.

Reto and Lewis eventually meet the March Hare, but it turns out that she wasn't the one who brought Reto to Wonderland. As they leave the Hare's house, the Hatter (here for a tea party) asks Lewis what she plans on doing about Hearts Day. Lewis says she can't fight her mother and this is why she accompanies Reto, then tries to cover up her slip of the tongue. They leave the house.

In Zendegee Forest, they meet Carroll again. Carroll reveals that Lewis is simply raising up Reto to feed on his power, and is lying about helping him return home. Lewis admits this was her original plan but she now only wants to help him. Carroll attacks but is defeated by the combined efforts of Reto and Lewis. The succubus sisters get into an argument over what to do regarding their mother, and Carroll storms off. Shortly afterwards, the pair encounter Cheshire Cat again, who claims she's betting on whether the two sisters or the Queen of Hearts win.

While passing through Papilio Plain, they meet Cheshire Cat again. She attacks and, after being defeated, thanks them for the entertainment. She says that the curse on the Queen of Hearts can be broken by stirring up her emotions, but this must be done soon before the Queen's magic increases on Hearts Day.

Later, in Proof Undersea Tunnel, Lewis is kidnapped by slimes. Shortly after, Reto is surrounded by slimes but is saved by Carroll. Carroll admits that she changed her mind after hearing Lewis' words in their last encounter. They defeat the Slime Queen (who was responsible for the slimes' organized attacks) and rescue Lewis. Carroll says she now wants to work with Lewis to break their mother's curse, and reveals that she's also run away from home.

Finally, the trio return to the castle and confront the Queen of Hearts. The Queen offers to reduce Carroll's punishment if she betrays the other two. Carroll pretends to accept this offer, but instead hits the Queen with a spell that harms only the evil. Enraged, the Queen summons her soldiers, but the Hatter and Cheshire Cat appear, the former using a treasure to paralyze all the soldiers. The Queen suddenly groans and, with her original personality, warns her daughters to run. She teleports them all away. The Hatter notes how the curse was briefly broken by the Queen feeling strong emotions. The trio confront her again and begin fighting. The Queen has incredible power that makes her seemingly invincible, but Carroll and Lewis appeal to her original self, causing her power to gradually fade. She tries to convince Reto to leave as the succubus sisters will inevitably betray and kill him, offering to spare only him if he agrees, but Reto refuses. Finally, the Queen is defeated and Carroll uses her spell again, breaking the curse.

Back to her original personality, the Queen thanks them and says she'll make amends for everything she's done. Lewis asks the Queen to help Reto return to his world, and the Queen gives him a key that, when used with a magical monument on the castle roof, will open a one-way path back home. The three succubi say goodbye to him, though add flirtatiously that he can always come back to them. Reto uses the key and disappears. The Queen then tells her daughters to prepare balloons as they'll make this a Hearts Day that everyone will remember.

The credits roll, showing the succubi celebrating Hearts Day by releasing balloons. Among other scenes, Alice and Lorina look at the scenery from a hill, and the Cheshire Cat tells you (the player) that there's more interesting things to come.

Back in the human world, Reto finds that the well has become a simple hole in the ground. His parents approach and, from their reactions, it seems that little time has passed. They go home. Then next day, Reto visits the site of the former well and encounters the White Rabbit, the same rabbit he'd encountered at the very beginning. The White Rabbit says it plans to curse the queen again, that it was responsible for destroying the well, tells Reto to forget about the succubi, and disappears. Afterwards, Reto can go to a well in his village and return to Wonderland from this.

In darkness, a mysterious voice addresses Alice and talks about destroying everything.

Reto reappears next to a surprised Lewis. He explains what just happened and Lewis deduces that the White Rabbit will return to the castle to curse the Queen again. She says Reto doesn't need to risk himself any more, but Reto insists on helping. They hurry back to the castle and confront the White Rabbit in a room. The White Rabbit talks cryptically about the sins against Alice and this story soon coming to an end, then attacks. When defeated, she tells them to enjoy this peace while it lasts, but she'll finish it in the future. She suddenly changes to a different personality, one unaware of the situation. Carroll arrives and explains that the White Rabbit was herself a pawn of someone from a different world, though that someone won't be able to act again for some time as they'll need time to recover their power. The succubus sisters decide to continue investigating this matter.

Once again, there's a mysterious voice in darkness, who mentions Alice and Lorina's names, and talks about revenge. In versions of the game prior to 2.0, this is the end of the story.

If the game version is 2.0 or later, and Reto has completed the above events and recruited Alice, then Reto will encounter the Queen of Hearts after stepping out of the Mel Village house. The Queen explains that there is a suspicious power coming from north of Papilio Plain, which is probably coming from the one who was controlling White Rabbit. This area was previously blocked off by a rockslide, but the Queen has now had her army clear the path. She warns them not to recklessly rush off after the mastermind, then returns to the castle.

While passing through Hyperion Mountain Road, Reto and the others may come across a strange hut. If they go inside, Alice will remain outside. The hut contains books that mention the Librarian of Space-Time, someone who had sold her soul to the devil. Also in the hut is a picture of three sisters, one of whom appears to be Alice.

After passing through several more areas, they arrive at Gene Labyrinth. In the depths of this area is a stone monument with a strange message, one that mentions a key, the real world and four memories in a book written by the sister of the message's author. This causes Alice to mention that she has a sister named Edith. Further in the labyrinth is a Lorina blocking the path. If talked to repeatedly, this Lorina says the locations of the previous four Lorinas and then something called "Edith.txt" (a special file in the game folder). If the four Lorinas have been given the right codes and the hut in Hyperion Mountain Road was entered, then this Lorina will be weakened and, after a short conversation, Alice will decide to take care of it. The path will now be open.

Eventually, they come to a mysterious woman who is the one responsible for the previous events. She is the Librarian of Space-Time and used to be Alice's older sister Lorina, though she has now rejected that identity. She attacks. After being defeated, her magic begins leaking from her body and Carroll notes that she will soon die. Lewis asks if there's a way to save her (wanting her to pay for her crimes), but the Librarian says there is none. Reto and the succubus sisters leave, but Alice asks to stay behind.

Alice brings out the Lorina and explains how she sometimes felt painful memories while with one of them, and the Librarian deduces that the Lorinas are the key to her own memories. The two human sisters apologise to each other. The Librarian says that she is about to die and that Alice should go home and forget everything, but Alice refuses.

The scene changes to the roof of the castle, with Alice having just tried and failed to return home. It also turns out that Lorina (the person) has survived, due to her consciousness being transferred into the bird Lorina, though she is currently unable to speak. Alice decides to stay in this world, since her original reason for wanting to return (to apologize to her sister) is now irrelevant. The Queen of Hearts announces a party to celebrate the return to peace, and they all set off.

Finally, a mysterious voice (possible 62-chan) says that "they" should be able to return, thanks Reto for his help, and then says that she'll meet "you" somewhere else.

The game also has a genocide route. This is begun by the player finding a strange NPC in a seemingly glitched area of Mel Forest, who then disappears. Later, the player can find a similar area in Proof Undersea Tunnel where there seems to be a hole in the world, with another NPC who disappears. If the player has gathered all of the playing cards (key items associated with the succubi of Wonderland), then examining this hole again causes Alice to say that the cards of this world are similar to pages in a story and can only be seen by humans, then someone takes over Alice's body and warns Reto to leave for his own good. If Reto then decides to discard the cards, the colours of the cards disappear. To complete the genocide route, the player must save this file and then begin a new game and choose the name "アリス" ("Alice" in Japanese). This causes a mysterious person to speak to Reto, saying that she's been waiting. The game then begins except with a strange tint to the world, error messages popping up frequently and White Rabbit not appearing. When Reto falls through the well, he will now find a ruined version of Wonderland with holes in the world itself. Heading towards Wonder Castle will cause a strange voice to say that this place is outside the story and beg Reto to close the game. If the player continues, they can find an old woman who says that the player has taken Alice's name before her soul could establish in this world, that Alice made a deal with a devil to find her sister and this world is born from the story she wrote, that Alice and Lorina will never appear in this world again, that she (the speaker) is their younger sister, and once again warns the player to close the game. The old woman then disappears. Beyond is an NPC who congratulates the player and then causes a fake ending screen, after which the screen turns black. Moving around will bring the player to a white room with Demon. She gives more exposition, thanks the player again and offers to reward them, giving a choice to surrender to her or quit the game. The former causes Demon to shrink Reto and rape him, then the game returns to the title screen, which is now altered to show "不思議の国＿破損ファイル" (Wonderland_Corrupted File) highlighted in red.

Gameplay
For more detail, see the Gameplay article.

In general, the gameplay is similar to that of previous games. The player controls one character, Reto, and can move around a 2D map to interact with people and objects. Enemies on the map will pursue the player and battle is initiated on contact. Battle is turn-based and revolves around making the enemy orgasm before they do the same to you.

The new gameplay features include:
 * A party system: the player can now recruit succubi as allies. They can have one ally at a time, who will fight alongside Reto in battle and follow them around on the map. They can change their current ally at any Cheshire Crystal. It is also possible to choose to travel alone, causing the gameplay to be similar to that of previous games.
 * Touch challenges: these are special events through which the player can recruit succubi. In a touch challenge, the succubus is shown on the screen and the player must click a certain number of spots on their body (the exact number varies depending on the succubus). If a player clicks on any other spot, the succubus will attack them. Touch challenges require the player to fulfill certain requirements before attempting them, and one of these requirements is usually to defeat a succubus in battle at least once.
 * The main character earns experience much more easily than in previous games, and much more easily than do his succubus allies. He gains experience from many non-battle actions such as: talking to an NPC for the first time; examining an object for the first time; fishing; and opening treasure chests.
 * Associated with the above point, the player can allow their current succubus ally to drain their experience, in order to level up said ally.
 * Treasures not in chests (denoted by sparkling spots on the map) will respawn when the player leaves an area, but their positions are now randomised.
 * The addition of Cheshire Crystals, large crystals scattered throughout the game world that heal the party, and allow the player to change their party or give levels to an ally.
 * There are no longer any save points on the map, unlike most previous games (but similar to Lust Memory). The player can only save in the menu. However, the healing function of save points has been transferred to Cheshire Crystals.
 * There is no longer a Lust meter, nor is there a Tension meter in battle. Instead, there is a Reason meter, which appears in place of the Tension meter and has a similar concept to Lust. Reason is depleted by enemy attacks, by the player falling for the temptations of succubi, and by using certain items. The lower the Tension meter, the more damage a character takes. Additionally, if an ally's Reason reaches 0, they will become uncontrollable and start attacking Reto.
 * All succubi, allies and enemies, are associated with one of the four playing card suits. Each suit has an advantage against another suit while being vulnerable to a third suit, in the order: hearts (♥) beats diamonds (♦) beats clubs (♧) beats spades (♠) beats hearts. The main character is not associated with any suit.
 * In battle, enemy attacks will sometimes be followed by a Push Action: a quick time event in which the player must press one or more arrow keys (following a sequence shown on the screen) within a time limit. If they succeed in the QTE, nothing further happens. If they press a wrong key or run out of time, the enemy does more damage and (in some cases) initiates a Hold on the player.

Guides

 * Walkthrough: http://think-game.com/archives/40506826.html
 * Information on enemy stats, recruitment, cooking recipes, medals etc.: http://think-game.com/archives/40499106.html
 * Ver2.00 information: http://think-game.com/archives/40499106.html
 * Wiki article with translated information from the previous links: Succubus in Wonderland Guide

Trivia

 * Succubus in Wonderland is based on the popular novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, commonly referred to simply as "Alice in Wonderland". Many of its characters are based on characters in the novel, and two major characters, Lewis and Carroll, are named for the novel's author Lewis Carroll.