I ask myself this question every time: why do I keep buying Ketchup AjiNo Mayonnaise's works? There's this weird equilibrium of me disliking and liking their games. On one hand, the animations are decent, but on the other hand, the gameplay itself sucks. While Goblin Adventurer Hunting and the previous game, Succubus Alchemist have reduced levels of grind, the game is still as grindy as a standard Korean-developed MMORPG(Black Desert, Mabinogi, etc).

I couldn't decide whether to buy this on DLsite or here, so I settled for the Steam release instead, because I don't like Ketchup's works enough to double-dip on them compared to other circles(Hasoyua, ONEONE1, etc). Anyway, let's begin the review.

There's story? Well, there's implied story, but the game just throws you in. If you've played Goblin's Strike Back, the story is basically the same as that but simpler. If you haven't, the story is basically a goblin who is in debt and decides to capture adventurers for a brothel to earn money.

An even more simplified version of Succubus Alchemist, with most aspects removed besides just collecting adventurers.
The gameplay loop is simple, you just enter the field, grab resources in the entrance, then when you're ready, dive right in.
The gimmick in Goblin Adventurer Hunting this time is the 3-lane system for resources. You basically get to see most of the resources you can get as long as you don't need to light up the lane with torches, so just pick the lane you think you need the most. If you're looking for money, prioritize Bottle/Water lanes. If you want to beat the mid boss or brutalize livestock, pick weapon lanes. If you're trying to level up, pick magic crystal lanes, etc.

Don't try doing everything at once in one run until you have over 50 steps unlocked, it's generally unrealistic to do so while managing your stats and all that. Early game, you'll want to focus all your stats into ATK and MAT(and about 5-6 DEF), as you can use the MAT to get more EN(energy) from Magic Crystals, which will then allow you to get more ATK. You need 13 ATK minimum, but 23 optimally to get Gold Ingots and Mythril Ingots from the midboss room(or lower floors), which you'll need pretty early on for upgrades.

Literally stock-standard RPGmaker assets, barring the female character voices. There is nothing noteworthy here.
Also, these games still have the issue of the "AHE AHE AHE" and "AHI AHI AHI" being painfully repetitive.

Again, besides the female character images, everything else is stock-standard RPGmaker assets. There is nothing unique about this game's visuals.

However, the characters were drawn in a more "normal" size compared to the chibi-like variants from the previous games, which I very much appreciate.

While the initial amount of H content seems to be smaller than the previous games, there are multiple variants/animations for each character type, simply locked behind capturing more of them.

If you like restraints, non-con, and captivity, the stuff should be interesting to you.... unfortunately, you'll have to work pretty hard to get all of them, especially 50 of both Midbosses, and 10 of the Princess Knight.

If you're looking for a quick handy session, this isn't the right game to play unless you're satisfied by grabbling the first adventurer you see and just c00ming to that.

Still, I ask myself... why do I continue to purchase these games? Whether on DLsite or here on Steam, I can never really decide if I hate Ketchup AjiNo Mayonnaise's games or not. I genuinely did dislike Momo's Eternal Adventure, but the games beyond that were somewhat steady improvements.

When I talk about gameplay in H games, I don't mean Korean Grindfests-- I already play enough KRMMORPGs, I prefer playing H games like this to not think about them... but I digress.

Honestly? If you didn't like any of the previous entries from this circle/developer, I genuinely say to skip this one and never look back at this "series" of games. If you're like me and hope to see these games get less stupid with each passing iteration, buy it if it's on discount I guess, because this really isn't worth the full price.


I'll be generous and give this one a "recommended" only because i'm too stupid to realize that I should probably stop buying these games.

I'm going to let you know, most of this review is going to be my complaints about the game. But, it is good.
If you like the other games the dev has made. Honestly, check them out first, probably in order would be best.
because while there's been some innovation, not all of it has been good.

tl;dr - art is decent, upgrade system is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ to hell and back, but the gameplay makes up for it. Bring back the chibi art though! At least as a toggleable option

Before I get salty at anything, I'd like to talk about the art! Its why you're here after all (though the gameplay does have that addictive quality to it don't worry)
I've seen a lot of people praising the art in this game, and y'know, its decent art, as far as h-games go. Doesn't look like they used the drag tool on a png. But they had such cute and good chibi art before! They had a defined style, which fit with the gameplay and meshed in a way that actually made the game better. I appreciate them expanding out more and testing what works, but honestly, the chibi art was better. It just worked when it came to how the mechanics interact. And it meant that any minor incongruence was just an art style decision. How the art is now is... functional, but it isn't evocative or anything, and the animator clearly has a lot of learning to do.
That's enough about me talking art style. The art itself is decent, but its not why you'll be playing the game.

No, you'll be playing the game for the gameplay. Which... is pretty much identical to the first game, with the added benefit of being able to tell you won't be able to progress an area, and instead choosing a different one. I approve.
However. This game (and the first, because the first game is basically just this but older and with more content somehow) lives or dies off the between-run upgrade system
And in this case, a perfect storm of design choices means it dies with the upgrade system.
The upgrades can be considered in 5 different categories:
1) Utterly useless, you will get over 100 of the item within the first 5 screens, so spending resources to get more on screen 0 is irrelevant
2) mildly useful, sure having some gems on-hand is alright, why not.
3) Absolutely crucial, upgrading your stats is the main thing, after all
4) a utility, kinda? The selection+ upgrades fit here, because while they're nice, they're not by any means actually useful
5) Overpriced as hell, regen costs 100k and gems. why? For what purpose? Its barely useful

So, that's reasonable at first glance, right? Except that most of them scale identically in cost. Categories 1, 2, and 4 all start off costing just money, which makes sense. And then after 4 levels (in the case of 1 and 2. 4 starts here immediately.) they start costing gold bars, which are very difficult to acquire earlygame, when the upgrades would be useful. And presumably they scale up to costing green bars, and then gems.
Category 3 can carry the whole thing though, right? I get to dump all my money into having a high attack stat? Or magic? Nope! One purchase that costs a lot and then it costs gold... and then green... and then gems, but by the time it costs gems (level 5 of the stat by the way, when your average early-mid game run will have you with 20s across the board from in-run leveling) it costs the same 100k as the prohibitively expensive upgrades!

In short for the above, the upgrade system is *♥♥♥♥♥♥*. The only thing you should care about is the exploration tools, initial capture bottles, step count, and energy.

But, fortunately, the game itself is mostly the fun part, the gameplay, where you're going out and doing stuff, and all the annoying bits are behind you at base. You get to have fun and relax, and honestly? Its worth it.
Game's good. I found these flaws within the first hour and I didn't refund it, and oh *boy* do I refund a lot of games. Play it, you'll like it.

Fun game

I like Goblin Strikes Back. And this game so far looks to be much better. I will try to compare the 2 games, however I've only played less than 2 hours in this.

Fights are more engaging, battles spanning multiple turns with the option to defend, instead of 1 hit kill checking your offensive stat.

Animations! However there are way less girls, so I'll have to see the how good the scenes are. Currently really good.

The 3-lane system is weird. I get that making maps smaller makes for faster level progress, and according to the trailer there are huge maps like before as well, probably in the hardest layer. But sometimes when you just start a run, your luck forbids you from gaining any energy to level up, and it sucks. The last game was quite consistent in this front, maybe I haven't gotten used to this new change yet.
However this might be due to the shift in the approach to the game. You have less chances to level up, but you have way more resources to craft items with. Seeing item count reaching several hundreds, while dozens was too much before, I might need to rethink my strategies.

Only the brothel remains. Good riddance I suppose, the 2 other facilities in the first game pale in comparison to the brothel.

Fairy still best girl and still no scene (?)

I bought this game expecting a more... fleshed out version of one of their older games. While I can say it technically has more scenes (even though these scenes are just simple one-two panels of short animations with no text) there isn't really much to this game.
I was hoping that there would be a better story, or more diverse scenes, but instead it's just one of their older games, but worse.

As you may be able to tell from the hours played, I played it for a decent enough amount to see all the content.

Personally I enjoyed it, the gameplay loop is addictive BUT, the previous goblin game had better maps in my opinion.

Each one told a little story and had variety to them.

This one is much more streamlined which makes getting through it faster but as others have mentioned it feels lacking in some ways as a result. The story is as thin as a single piece of paper, the base building aspect is toned down from before too.

Not that it is all bad, I obviously recommend this game and overall prefer it because of the improvements.

So pros and cons.

- Maps are too simplified compared to previous titles.
- Less variety for the heroines compared to Goblin strike back.
- Some aspects of the base building that were removed were not so bad, the goblin squad raids for example.
- The plot. There basically isn't one.

+ The base in general is easier to deal with, GSB was kind of all over the place and some parts felt pointless or super unclear. Having only 2 things to invest in, your goblin or your ladies is better than having like a dozen.
+ The 'plot'. The actual scenes are way WAY better, previously you had simple animations in your base and none on the hunt. Now the scenes are better looking and better animated with several un-lockables which was nice.
+ Progression is smoother, clearer and easier to sink your teeth into.
+ The rogue like game play loop, with save points lets you run a set of floors and save mid way to continue later.

I am aware the devs got something real different on the way next but if they ever do another Goblin game I hope they would consider at least making the maps more varied and adding more girls again.

I'm impressed with the creators ability to make these games have unique and fun mechanics that aren't just copy and pasted assets. I'm also glad to see more bondage kinks in this one.

I have 2 main complaints however, the grind is a bit too much for the H-scenes in this game. Every girl should be reduced by 50 for each lvl. My second complaint is the lack "remember last input" I would love to be able to just spam 'enter' when I'm capturing girls in the dungeons.

A minor complaint is that the 'Hero' and Bosses models from the previous games weren't in this game which was disappointing. I wanted to see them get tied up!

I've purchased all your games and I'm satisfied with all of them. also I want more diverse updates and new games :)

It was hard trying to give this a yay or nay and it makes me with I could give a mixed review cause that's honestly how I feel about this. The art is good and kinky and game play is as addictive as usual but its also probably my biggest gripe about this game. Its a simple loop that you can get used to quick but unlike the other game its easier to no brain this game than before. get to BF2 and find adventurer path and keep going down it to power lvl. you can make a lot of money and a lot of EXP by doing so. it will be tough at first but once you do it becomes really easy. On the upgrade side its totally ****** you can upgrade your base states up to 5 only but even doing so is beyond an annoyance. the tool upgrades are still there from the last games but pretty much not that helpful. I felt as though the art took a bigger part of this game and has a shell of an actual game. you may say its just a porn game but its still a game. there is roughly 3 to 4 per character so there are a few so hooray for that. Although I have to admit i miss the chibi, it kinds felt better with the rest of the style.

just like the previous installments its all about the grind! it honestly is super fun though! great animations and little puzzles you need to figure out to progress and think what upgrades would benefit you for than others. i honestly played like 29 hours for my first play though cause i was busy buying all the upgrades before playing off the debt. that time could have been cut in half if i realized i could sell treasure for 100k but i didnt know about it until i completed my play though. honestly the only issue i have with the game is the lack of story. when you get into the game it basically says to pay off the debt and thats it. while in previous games there were cut scenes and a lot more story. all in all a great game though!