Developer: Hentai Room
Publisher: EastAsiaSoft
Platform: Switch, PC
Tested on: Switch
Giant Wishes – Review
Publisher EastAsiaSoft’s library on the Switch eShop is fairly diverse, ranging from ports of relatively obscure JRPGs like Mugen Souls to the notorious Pretty Girls series, which comprises classic tabletop games with a lewd twist. However, the publisher is by far best known for pushing the limits as to what is acceptable on the platform. Whether it’s Seven Pirates H’s fan service or the boob-filled puzzles of Neko Secret Room, the publisher definitely isn’t afraid to put risqué content on Nintendo’s hybrid handheld. Sex sells, after all. However, they may have pushed the envelope a bit too far with Giant Wishes, a visual novel from developer Hentai Room. Join us as we take a look at what can only be described as an outright porn game on the Switch.
Story
Protagonist Runi is a young girl who runs a flower shop in a village on the mountainside. She’s shunned by the villagers for her short stature, and intends to prove that size doesn’t matter when it comes to doing great deeds. Runi has heard rumors that a giantess has built a castle near the village. Said giantess, Lady Blerog, has asked the villagers for help to take care of her plants, but they rejected this request out of fear. Runi hopes that she can befriend Lady Blerog, as part of her plan to prove her worth. However, the young girl may have bit off more than she could chew.
What follows then is a branching story that centers around several fetishes, as our heroine struggles to gain the approval of Blerog as well as the villagers. Giant Wishes isn’t a very long visual novel. It’s easy to unlock all four endings in under an hour. There are only a handful of choices you can make, and the story seems intent on catering to its niche audience instead of fleshing out the characters. Add to this that the dialogue isn’t particularly well translated, and you’ve got something that is probably only palatable if you shut your brain off entirely. To give you an idea of what we mean, our first playthrough of Giant Wishes ended with Runi becoming a giantess herself and then, well, “mounting” a mountain. Another ending had Lady Blerog stuff our protagonist down her underwear. Giant Wishes is probably great if you’re into this kind of stuff. Still, for the majority of the public, your humble servant included, this novel will confuse rather than arouse or entertain.
Graphics
We should note that we have deliberately selected screenshots that don’t need an 18+ rating to watch, as Giant Wishes isn’t afraid to show sexual acts during its short runtime. Of note is that the key art (shown at the top) shows a less explicit outfit for Runi than her actual in-game one, with her shirt removed and her dungarees barely covering her breasts. It’s still “censored”, at least on the Switch version, in that clouds strategically cover specific naughty bits, but the breasts of the two female characters are still proudly on display, and we suspect the PC version bares everything. Now, if the game was aesthetically pleasing, something could have been said for this, but the character art is just poorly proportioned. The wonky faces aren’t consistent throughout the game either, resulting in visuals that feel uneven. We should also note that there aren’t any animations here, with everything consisting of still images instead. As a whole, Giant Wishes fails to impress visually.
Sound
The cheerful tunes that play during the story are probably the best aspect of Giant Wishes, and even then they become repetitive quickly and don’t always fit the atmosphere of the story. We suspect that the music was taken from a royalty-free library, without any original tunes included here. With no voice acting and stock sound effects, what’s left is a soundscape that does the bare minimum and hardly has had any effort put into it.
Gameplay
So far, we’ve covered the barebones effort put into the story, visuals, and audio, so it probably isn’t surprising that the same applies to the gameplay as well. Giant Wishes is a stock standard visual novel, offering basic features like skipping text you’ve previously read, a story log, and a gallery where you can ogle at any unlocked naughty artwork. The menu is a pain to navigate, as it feels unresponsive, the touch screen doesn’t work, and seeing which button you have selected is a pain as there is barely any color difference. Of course, given that Giant Wishes is a visual novel rather than an actual game, we weren’t expecting anything here, and apart from the awkward navigation, it does what it needs to do.
Priced at €4.99, Giant Wishes doesn’t exactly break the bank, but even if you’re into this sort of thing -which is absolutely a requirement at this point- you’ll probably feel ripped off once you realize that you’re getting less than a full hour’s worth of content here. It’s clear that EastAsiaSoft and developer Hentai Room (what’s in a name) are banking on the curiosity of horny teenage boys to make a quick buck. There is nothing of value or merit here, and the only reason we’re giving it such a high score -and even that is relative- is because we didn’t run into any game-breaking bugs. It’s functional at least.
Conclusion
There isn’t anything wrong with pure visual novels. In fact, we quite like them. However, the most important thing here is story content, and this is also why the medium exists in the first place. With poor writing and no reason for the story to exist other than seeing porn scenes with giantesses play out, Giant Wishes fails to deliver a compelling narrative. What you’re getting here simply doesn’t warrant a purchase, unless you happen to have a macrophilia fetish, and even then, we suspect there is much better content out there, though we won’t take responsibility for your browser history. Ultimately, Giant Wishes is a cynical and lazy cash grab. Don’t waste your money on this.
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