Following in the footsteps of Iris Action (Oiran Ichimi’s action platformer nukige, which was released in 2012), Torenia Action is the doujin circle’s upcoming successor to its first hentai outing, looking to bring back the same rapacious goodness of the original title, while also taking the gameplay in an interesting new direction. Unlike the linear level-by-level progression of the first game, the demo of Torenia Action focuses more on giving the player a large central area to explore, with diverging paths and exploration being added to the mix.

New to the Action series is the inclusion of RPG and level-up mechanics.

To those who played Iris Action, this game’s protagonist may seem familiar. The character you control is, indeed, the malicious dominatrix who tries to betray you in stage 3 of the original game: Torenia. Whether the story is a prequel detailing a time where she was more innocent, or a chronicle following her downfall, is unknown. Unlike her young adversary Iris, Torenia fights using elemental magic that she equips on each hand; one hand is used for quick attacks, and the other is used for charge attacks that produce different effects depending on the element you have equipped. She is also notably less acrobatic than Iris, as she is unable to pull off many of the tricks that were at Iris’s disposal in the previous game, but she does utilize a magical dash move that can be used to avoid enemies.

The demo only offers a handful of areas, and only two types of enemies to “experiment” with. As of this writing, there are only two game-over scenes to find in the demo, with each one varying depending on the state of Torenia’s clothing upon death. Fully voiced, these scenes take place some time after Torenia drops to her knees in defeat, showing you the dismal fate awaiting the poor heroine. Losing to a gaggle of slugs will feature a scene of Torenia on the floor and covered in mucous. Falling victim to a mosquito will lead to a scene showing a group of them draining her corpse (the nude variant has one of the mosquitoes raping her in the process). Collecting these CG scenes, and every variant thereof will probably be the central focus of the full product, much like it was for Iris Action. Unlike its previous iteration, however, Torenia Action also features an RPG system, with the character leveling up through the use of experience points. Once leveled, players may put Bonus Points into the stats of their choice, including health, mana, vitality, and several others.

The game over scenes remain just as high quality as they were in the first game.

What little music the game offers in the demo paints a hopeful picture for how it will be handled in the final product. Unlike Iris Action, which featured strangely cutesy music contrasting awkwardly with unsettlingly creepy tunes, Torenia Action has a much more focused theme in regards to music; The music is consistently dark and ominous, whether the player is leaping over some living vines or getting raped by a gaggle of bugs, so the jarring dissonance of the Iris Action seems to have been effectively eliminated.

Unfortunately, the in-game visuals are about as awkward as they were in the first game, with 3D models being superimposed over 2D backgrounds with inconsistent lighting between them. Thankfully, Torenia Action affords the player a much wider range of view, so there is less risk of out-of-sight hazards unfairly clipping you without warning. Overall, the demo felt much less frustrating to play than its predecessor, which is a very welcome change to what’s come before.

The ends that await Torenia range from soft to grisly.

If you’re interested in giving Torenia Action a shot, click this link for a direct download of the demo. If you’re interested in learning about the game that began the series, click here for a review of Iris Action.