Gay Harem

Gay men, as I understand it, tend to have a lot of sex. And if they don’t, they sure do seem to think about it a lot, maybe even more than there hetero counterparts.

Not to say that I’m not judging that as being a bad thing – obviously, I think, discuss, and promote almost all things sex on a daily.

With all of this sexually charged aura coming out of “The Community,” it is interesting to see how this is expressed creatively.

Yeah, I know there are streaming shows, music videos, and torrents of porn about gay subculture, but on this site, we focus on interactive entertainment. So, I’ve been putting together reviews for all of the video games featuring explicit guy-on-guy intercourse.

When I first started doing my research, one of those which kept being mentioned was Gay Harem. So, I finally decided to pull it up on my browser, give it a playthrough, and tell you all that I thought about it.

This Game Has Been Around for a Minute

If you haven’t been paying attention, indie game devs have been popping up all over the world from the traditional gaming centers like Canada and Europe to even obscure locales like Kenya. Most of these have been heavy on violence and reinvention of conventional genres.

As with all things, everything that the porn industry doesn’t drive forward (like handheld cameras and high-speed internet), it quickly follows with gusto. This means that within the last decade, the number of adult video games has exploded like a wanker giving out after edging for six hours.

Of course, virtually all of these games have not and never will be carried by gaming stores, let alone big-box retailers. But thank the smut gods for a free internet; it’s easy with a quick search to find these virtual experiences.

Thanks to me and my site, finding these games is even easier. Gay Harem, for example, has been around since 2017 and, despite how simple it seems like at first, it’s ever-deepening plot and play mechanics have earned it a considerable following online.

To give you some context, this game has about 2,500 followers and likes on Facebook and thousands more on Twitter. On both of these profiles, you’ll see fresh updates and plenty of community engagement.

But you guys don’t care about the social scene; let’s delve into the details of what makes this a fabulous and fap-worthy game.

On It’s Face There Isn’t Too Much of a Story, But…

At first, it seems like this is just a click-through text adventure set in a world of nearly or always naked men in an elite academy. However, within just a few minutes, you’ll find that both the gameplay and the story open up quite a bit.

You play from the perspective of a bespectacled nerdy-type who finds himself in an erotic fantasy within a high fantasy world involving battles with monsters, harem recruitment, Japanese-inspired video games, and of course, lots and lots of sexual adventures.

In this world of free love, the basic idea is to become the next big harem master, while conquering some overly aggressive homosexual douche bags who want to spoil everyone’s fun.

Initially, the story flows well though I have read about several complaints about players getting at specific points. The most common mission of frustration is the Admittance of the Dead portion. Good news, though, as you can probably get person-to-person help on the GH Facebook group. Or you could look up the wiki Harem-Battle.club.

To sum up the interaction between characters and the story, everything is damn entertaining once you get into and not slow compared to others in this genre.

The way the dialogue is written and even spelled isn’t always so hot, but virtually every location, instruction text, and the sentiment are perfectly understandable.

The Basics of Interacting Are Super Easy to Grasp

Balancing your main character’s energy, money management, and character romancing are the primary mechanics to master. Just about everything costs money from cleaning products to outfits and sex toys – and they can be pricey. However, as you expand your harem and gain their loyalty, they refresh the coffers by paying you money.

What’s the catch, you ask? You have to satisfy them sexually.

As you engage in new encounters (most of them sexual), you gain more EXP, which levels up your character. Aa with traditional RPGs, the higher your level, the more manageable specific tasks become, and the more stages, harem mates, and other elements you can unlock.

The battle system is a little complex by comparison, but the basics involve having your harem members play to their sexual strengths. The basic stats include sexual charm, know-how, and how ‘hardcore’ they are, which differs between participants.

Their measurements in these areas reflect how well they perform certain sexual positions and how the judges grade them. For example, those with high charm do 69ing well, and those in the know-ho are better at exotic positions like Indian Headstand and Suspended Congress.

Unsurprisingly, hardcore characters are proficient at doggy style and fisting, but for some reason also missionary positions!

Anyway, as you continue to battle in PvP or PvE tournies, you and your characters gain EXP, and they will have greater levels of affection for you.

The Illustrations Are Excellent and Clearly Inspired

This game severely lacks animations – and by that, I mean, there are none!

However, it is positively packed with hundreds, if not thousands of slides, all of them captioned, which feature a variety of guys in every scene. As with most games in this genre, most of the dudes are of the musclebound, big-dicked type, though there is a decent mixture.

Besides the geeky, brunette top you play as (who also can do the Super Saiyan transformation), there are original looking green-haired haired guys, ginger submissive, and a white-haired villain with dildos attached to his digits.

And that is no bullshit, look it up.

Furthermore, while they deviate enough from the original design, you’ll see plenty of parodied characters. Examples include guys who look a helluva lot like FFVII’s Sephiroth, Link from The Legend of Zelda, and even a fitter version of Mario.

When It Comes to Background Music, Yay; But the Sound Effects, Nay

The musical score is alright for a game like this. The main theme is a bouncy tune, which uses classical instruments with a few synthesizer notes and blends well with most scenes.

However, I can’t help but think that the score comes off as slightly refined elevator music. There is more to the soundtrack, which involves some decent guitar riffs, which are clearly J-pop inspired. Still, this game’s music doesn’t exactly have the punch to make it memorable.

So yeah, the tunes to get old after a while. As with other games that have a subpar OST, I tend to click open a new tab to YouTube some music.

Then there are the sound effects. Honestly, there’s not much to say other than the fact that they are generally bland when it comes to interacting with most of the game. There’s not even grunting or groaning dubbed into the sex sequences!

As For the Mobile Version – It’s Aight

It wouldn’t be a complete review without mentioning how this game runs on handheld gizmos.

First, yes, there is a mobile version that is compatible with major operating systems, i.e. Android and Apple iOS. Second, it looks like all aspects of the game are presented, and everything renders just fine.

Third, I have not experienced any technical issues with a few kinda-sorta exceptions. Depending on the mobile machine you are using, even when using the landscape format, not all of the displays will fit on the screen.

It seems to correct itself at points, but sometimes the game is a hair slow. Lastly, the music does not play automatically, which to me is weird.

There Are Some Weird Quirks

I’m not sure what some game developers have against Samsung, but it looks like those users are out of luck if they want to enjoy this game on the go. This is even stranger to me when you consider you can play Gay Harem on machines using Ubuntu thanks to a mod available on Lustris.net.

It is a minor thing, but I think it is strange that the buttons tend to be a little on the small side. This isn’t a functional problem on the desktop version, though I find it to be aesthetically off-putting. Depending on the size of your screen, mobile users may or may not have a problem.

It’s also a little ironic given how big all of the character’s dicks are.

Here Are My Final Thoughts and Feelings

Besides the quirks, I’ve pointed out and the improvements to the mobile version, I’ve got a few other adjustments I’d make. The character design is fantastic, but I would definitely add more animations to the explicit sequences.

To repeat, the initial learning curve is hardly steep but does get a little bit more complex over time. The same is true for the plot and, with a few frustrating hurdles, shouldn’t be too difficult to get through.

As a nice addition, players also get some sweet discounts on other gay erotic related services such as being able to watch Broke Straight Boys, Naked Sword, and Falcon Studios porn using in-game gold.

Speaking of bonuses like so many browser-based games, there are unique campaigns being added all of the time. In fact, as of the publication of this review, the Path of Attraction Heatwave DLC has been released and is free for registered players.

It does kind of suck that after the tutorial, you’ll have to pay to unlock the full range of experiences. That said, if you really like click-adventure meets role-playing meets explicit yaoi fantasies, I think it’s worth it.

While the genre ain’t for me, I think Gay Harem does get my promotional blessing and give it four hands out of five.