Video Game Review: Sakura Succubus 2

Sakura Succubus 2

Developer: Winged Cloud

Genre: Romance, Fantasy

Platform: Nintendo Switch

The first game in the Sakura Succubus series was released on Switch earlier this year and now the second and third installments are also out – no one can complain about the Sakura series being short on content, that’s for sure! In this sequel, we return to average joe and photographer, Hiroki, as he continues to navigate the complicated relationships between his three succubi partners and ends up meeting a few more along the way! There’s fun, humour, and some actual furthering of the main plot and worldbuilding in this game which, despite the more relaxed nature of the game feel like it’s building towards something.

Sakura Succubus 2 directly carries on from the end of the first game, with Hiroki taking a break away at a countryside inn… along with the three succubi: businesswoman, Marina, tsundere idol, Ayu, and internet influencer, Cosmos. We left the last game on a cliff-hanger of sorts as he encountered a mysterious dark-haired woman in the gardens who bore a striking resemblance to his former girlfriend and we thankfully go right back to this at the start of the new game. We’re introduced to a famous actress, Hifumi, straight away who adds an element of mystery to the game – she’s very mysterious initially and even when we learn more of her story, it still feels like she’s hiding things. She’s a very different character type from the other succubi and I found her both interesting and… a little creepy at times. She so easily could have twisted the game into a more horror narrative I felt, but thus far at least things remained the familiar rom-com vibe we’ve seen so far in the first game. The other new girl was young tennis star, Hazel Williams, who Hiroki is asked to photograph for his job – she’s very likable and sociable but does ultimately feel a little shallow compared to the amount of time spent on Hifumi earlier on. I can see her being a fan favourite, however, given her cheerful personality and rather… interesting habit of not wearing underwear.

The returning characters are fleshed out a little more too with a few new scenes,  but ultimately they feel a little shafted to one side in favour of the newer cast entries. I don’t recall Ayu having any solo scenes at all and she was almost always just seen bickering with the others (which as Ayu was always my least favourite of the harem, was something I wasn’t overly upset about it). Cosmos had a cute scene with Hiroki which furthered their relationship a little, as did Marina but mostly the original trio of girls take a backseat here. Indeed, much of the focus when around them seems to be faced squarely on the new girl, Hifumi, or on Hiroki himself. Despite all the attention, Hiroki has a bit of an imposter complex about it all and a lot of his interactions with the others make a point of him stating how little self-worth he has. It’s a little sad really, and sweet to see Cosmos and Marina encouraging him, motivating him to continue on – once again for a game famous for all the more lewd scenes, the actual relationships are often very sweet in nature.

Speaking of the lewd scenes, there are still more of those in abundance and multiple CGs that show off the girls’ best… assets (sake bottle, anyone? If you know, you know…). For the Switch port at least any actual sexual content has been removed, and we have a tasteful ‘fade to black’, for any scenes which presumably see our protagonist actually sleeping with the girls. I personally preferred that and it made the interactions between them more the focal point here, rather than what they got up to under the covers – there certainly wasn’t much in the way of plot missing without them so it didn’t feel like a big loss. The other production values are still rather basic, as in the first game and it does suffer from having a few repeated CGs here and there in different scenes. I also clocked a few typos here and there which felt a bit lazy. I will mention however that Hazel’s music theme was absolutely perfect for her and really felt like it had been lifted right from a sports anime, which was a nice touch. As with the first game, we end on a scene that hints as to where the next game will go and it seems that we’ll be introduced to a very interesting and important character in the third installment, which feels very ‘end-game’ in nature.

As with the first game, the harem nature of the game does make it feel like you never really pick any of the girls, in particular, to follow a route down. What few choices you do make, does influence the amount of time you spend with a girl and their story progression but ultimately, whether you want to or not, as Hiroki you end up dating all of the girls. It’s good for those people that really want to know the girls but also does rely heavily on the fact that you’ll like all the girls – for me, thankfully, I liked the two new additions of Hifumi and Hazel as opposite to each other as they were, and I was very glad to see a lot less of Ayu in this sequel. So, with the third installment also released, will we finally get a resolution to the story of Hiroki? Will he end up picking just one girl to be his partner in the end, and perhaps the real question here, Will they let him?

Did you miss our review of the original Sakura Succubus? Check out our review here.