Developer: Male Doll Adventures
Publisher: EastAsiaSoft
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch (2)
Tested on: Switch 2
Doll Defenders – Review
Earlier this year, one of our fellow reviewers took a look at Baradroid, a gay visual novel brought to the Switch by EastAsiaSoft. Based on that review, it would appear that said reviewer wasn’t aware of the existence of the so-called Male Doll Multiverse. Admittedly, we weren’t either, but the arrival of Doll Defenders on Switch, also courtesy of EastAsiaSoft, led us into the Male Doll rabbit hole. It turns out that Baradroid, which is part of this specific Multiverse, was only the beginning…
Story
In order to fully understand (and perhaps appreciate) what Doll Defenders sets out to do, we first need to contextualize the Male Doll Multiverse. Created by Brazilian drag queen Victoria Invicta, the Male Doll Multiverse is pretty much the gay equivalent of the Touhou Project. There are over 20 games from different studios set in this Multiverse, with characters from different titles making guest appearances throughout. Unsurprisingly, games set in the Multiverse are LGBTQ+-oriented, with many of them including NSFW scenes. It’s worth noting that any R-rated content has been cut from the Switch version of Doll Defenders, but the PC version features very explicit content. Put a pin in that, as we’ll get back to it later in the review.
As for Doll Defenders itself, the game’s premise is set up by who we assume is supposedly Victoria Invicta themself, as the floating avatar in the opening scene resembles the general logo of the Male Doll Multiverse. Invicta immediately tells us that the story isn’t going to be important, and in fairness, it isn’t. Doll Defenders is an isekai and sees you wake up in a medieval fantasy world in the form of Marshmallow, perhaps the most basic, blandest protagonist we’ve ever played as. Marshmallow’s task is to defend golden statues of the king (or should that be queen, given that they also resemble Invicita) from waves of incoming monsters. That’s about it, at least for the console version of the game, because any dialogue or interaction with the Male Dolls is non-existent here.
Graphics
On its own, the pixel art in Doll Defenders is decent, if a little generic. Marshmallow himself is just a featureless little white dude, but there are plenty of creative fantasy monster designs to keep things visually interesting. That said, the game doesn’t really use its Male Doll Multiverse setting, apart from the statue designs, the “collectible” Male Doll sprites (that don’t affect gameplay, more on that later), and the rainbow flag that is at the end of each level. Strip those away, and you’re left with a stereotypical fantasy world, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the sprites were pulled from different sources rather than custom-designed for the game. Performance is decent enough, but that is probably more because of how lightweight the game is in the first place.
Sound
The visual design of Doll Defender may already have felt generic, but the game’s soundscape is perhaps blander than Marshmallow himself. We didn’t expect the game to go full Girlypop, but what’s present here doesn’t fit with either the Male Doll Multiverse or the medieval fantasy setting. There’s no voice acting present, and sound effects are functional but also as basic as it gets.
Gameplay
The official blurb for Doll Defenders describes the game as an ‘action tower defense’ game, but that is painfully misleading, as you’re not setting up any defenses at all. Instead, this is a twin-stick action game where you fight off waves of enemies on your own. We feel that even the game’s key art is a bait-and-switch, as we figured that you’d at least team up with the titular Doll Defenders; alas, this isn’t the case here. The gameplay doesn’t really evolve either: you find yourself on a small map with one or more golden statues in the center, and five waves of enemies will move towards the nearest statue and try to destroy it. You must prevent them from doing so by slaying them. Killing enemies rewards you with gold, which you can use to get different weapons from the shop.
There are three distinct areas, comprising five levels each. While there is visual variety when it comes to the enemies Marshmallow encounters, each area has the same mechanical variants. Slimes (forest), crabs (beach), and zombies (castle) will all make a beeline towards the statue, for example, whereas Elf archers, mermen, and sorcerers use ranged attacks. Most enemies are easy enough to deal with, but the most powerful category, comprising tree monsters, sand castles, and possessed armour, has awkward hit boxes and is invulnerable while attacking. At the end of each of the game’s three areas is a boss. Beat every boss, and you win the game. That’s it. As dull and repetitive as the gameplay gets, it’s at least simple enough and works exactly as it should, with decent enough twin stick controls.
This brings us to the Male Doll content, which is arguably Doll Defenders’ raison d’etre, but which has been all but removed here. In certain levels, you’ll see one of the Male Dolls sitting in a cage, waiting for you to free them. This isn’t something that requires actual interaction. Simply clear the level, and you’ll free the hero and add them to your encyclopedia, where you can see which game they originate from… and that’s it. There’s not even so much as a “thank you” line of dialogue. From what we found online, the Male Dolls are supposed to get one H-scene each and a shared one with the boss in each world. We’ll be the first ones to admit that we’re not Doll Defenders’ target audience, but even we feel short-changed by this lack of content, as simply removing the gay content from a gay game makes the whole endeavor seem pointless.
The pointlessness of Doll Defenders’ console release is further emphasized by the game’s pricing. €4.99 may not be a lot, but the complete version of the game is available with an RRP of €3.99 on Steam. Not only that, but there are far better actual tower defense games available on the Switch in that same price range. Doll Defenders is functional, but it isn’t a very good game in the first place, so if you’re going to commit to this entry in the Male Doll Multiverse, you may as well commit to the full, uncensored experience, right?
Conclusion
We’re left wondering what the point of Doll Defenders’ console release is. It’s as if someone made a simple, generic fantasy game, then tried to retroactively fit it into the Male Doll Multiverse in order to draw attention from the LGBTQ+ community, and then stripped most of that content away again. What’s left is a painfully bland and generic gameplay experience that feels devoid of an identity. The audience that it wants to cater towards will want the specific content that’s been removed and the potential audience that said content was removed for, won’t find anything worth their time and money here.
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