Written by Otaku Apologist
Huniepop is the debut game by Huniepot. Released in January 19th, 2015. Download on Nutaku for $9.99. Uncensored genitals. Full English female voice acting. For Windows PC, Mac, and Linux. This review is based on the Mangagamer digital edition.
You play as a normal, shy young man. You can also play as a socially awkward lesbian, like I did. Switching genders only changes which pronoun the girls refer to you as. It’s a nice little touch.
The story begins as you meet an undercover pickup coach fairy in a bar, and your approach on her is so miserable, she decides to coach you into a sex machine.
Voice acting is fully English. Most actresses have pleasant voices and their performances are solid enough. Only Audrey Belrose’s voice was annoying to me (she shouts). The voices can be disabled from the options menu.
Each character in Huniepop is a recognizable archtype: Cheerleader, teacher, flight attendant, young mother, yoga instructor, porn star, etc. No character is a stereotype, there’s complexity to each of them. For example, Tiffany the cheerleader is a hard-working college student that prefers exclusive relationships. The fairy is a shameless whore. The girls have varied, strong personalities, and their dialog is realistic, right down to swearing.
The gameplay consists of conversations and a strategic puzzle game. Success in conversations awards you with “Hunie”, a currency you spend to upgrade your personal traits, ie. your flirting skill. You can also push drinks on the girls, to buff up your Hunie gain in conversations.
Some backgrounds, like the waterpark, are 3D modeled. It creates a contrast with the hand drawn sprites. Most backgrounds look like photographs which have been painted on. It seems like a shortcut by the creators. I didn’t find it detracting, but it’s a matter of taste. The soundtrack has a wide variety of instrumental songs. Each dating location has a unique, cheerful tune.
Customizing the girls’ looks is a nice feature. Each girl has four hairstyles and four outfits. The only sad part is the lack of lewd costumes. Personally, I dressed my harem into a bikini squad.
Each successful date rewards you with a sexy picture, remember to check your cellphone “Huniebee”!
For health reasons, I actively avoid long gaming sessions these days, but with Huniepop, I got sucked in for hours each session. There’s always another date to go to, traits to upgrade, gifts to buy, new pictures from the girls. It’s not porn, but the lively interactions and atmosphere are good enough to get off on. I had a blast playing Huniepop.
You can download Huniepop at Nutaku, or Mangagamer.
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Hentai
1 comment
Two years in and we’re so close to HuniePop 2, and it still bothers me how Audrey the megabitch manages to top character polls (insofar as much as the game has them). Her personality is intentionally abrasive. Her voice is grating to match. About the only redeeming qualities she has is 4chan-based Anon/Audrey fanfiction and Kyu mentioning that Audrey loses her virginity to you in a throwaway remark when unlocking Alpha Mode that might as well not exist.
Lola’s consistent poor scores make no sense to me either. She’s a chococlate beauty with an afro, coffee addiction, does baking soft porn, likes traveling and is voiced pleasantly enough. Somehow that is considered as having little to no personality, in a cast of characters that are mostly ticking gimmick tropes like schoolgirl, teacher, MILF, prude, etc. But nah, the overall nice girl whose lowest point is being uppity about customer service is treated as meaningless, even more than the Guide Dang It! catgirl whose entire gimmick is cat quizzes and being chronologically young enough to make you look over your shoulder every so often in case there’s a SWAT team or FBI camera behind you.
There are times when I like to think Ryan Koontz just included Lola in the HuniePop II roster of girls just to spite the haters. Removing Aiko was a bit sad though…