Edited: There used to be a review here about how gold gain was too low and the encounter rate was too high which led to you spending an inordinate amount of time doing random battles. Within sixteen hours they patched the game twice, fixing both of those issues and then a few others. This review is primarily going to be about the changes brought by the patches, because they are very good.

Game is good now. A lower number of encounters means not only that do you spend less real-life time battling, but you also are able to explore more of the dungeon per in-game day, allowing you to progress to higher enemy tiers for better loot more quickly. In my first pre-patch playthrough, I played for five hours and got to the middle of the third week and was stuck on the third floor boss. I started a whole new playthrough with a different (and objectively stronger) character and in three hours was now at roughly the same in-game time, but now had finished the third AND fourth floor entirely. I had hit a wall in terms of enemy difficulty and was going to do some grinding later, but when I quit the game another patch downloaded which adjusted EXP gain to be higher to compensate for the overall lower number of encounters. I was also MUCH farther ahead of the gold curve this time around. Previously, I had just about the right amount of gold for the weekly payments, whereas this time I was way ahead, but not in a way where the game was too easy. In fact, there's so many uses for gold that previously I had to totally ignore that now I'm able to mess with. Having more gold means I'm able to buy crafting materials and cooking ingredients, and buy stat upgrades, whereas before I was on a razor-thin budget. This additional gold also means I have more time to do the side-stuff like fishing, which has some pretty good rewards.

They also added a NG+ that gives you a bazillion gold to let you sort of just enjoy the side story stuff. Having played the Ninja this time around, as opposed to the Blue Mage previously, almost all of the player character's dialogue is different, and a fair amount of NPC dialogue toward the MC is different. I watched the opening Warrior scene as well, which had its own CG that no other character had, so in that sense the character playthroughs are wildly different. The overall structure is the same, but certain character dynamics are (I assume) exclusive to certain characters, which leads me to assume that certain "romance" routes are character-specific as well. My Blue Mage was offered to work at the general store, which never happened to my Ninja. Conversely, the Ninja and Lucifer have a very different relationship than Lucifer and my Blue Mage, and the Ninja has lots of scenes with Lily that aren't in the Blue Mage route. This game was clearly made with the intention for you to play it multiple times, the additional characters aren't just a little extra spice for repeat playthroughs. I'm honestly not far enough in the game to have a really solid knowledge of how the dating sim elements play out, but now that the gameplay has been massively improved, it seems much more manageable to see this game through to the end.

First a WARNING: The store page description is somewhat misleading when it goes to the actual content on offer. This game is extremely light on story, especially past the introductory sequences, and there is only a single, very minimalistic romance arc for each of the playable classes (and all of those arcs pretty much play out by themselves, without much input on player's part). Also, saying that every playable character has her own story is a bit of a stretch - they have their own personality and pieces of unique dialogue, but as much as I've seen so far, there're very few differences in how the story plays out, outside of the already mentioned, tiny romance arcs.

Having that out of the way, the game itself is quite a pleasant, even if not particularly deep experience. The dungeon-crawling mechanics are solid, with a good sense of progression and customisation - some late-game items are definitely unbalanced, but generally, there's a good number of viable team compositions and tactics, with active and passive skills bound to both each character and some equipable items.

The dungeon levels are all similar in structure and offer little visual variety, but contain fairly cool environmental puzzles and decently scaled challenges. There's also a cool risk-reward system involved, as the fewer team members you have in the dungeon, the bigger the rewards will be (and as all characters level alongside the protagonist, there's really no downsides to going with fewer teammates, or even solo), but every lost fight or escape will cost you resources. The experience flowed very nicely for me until the last optional boss - there's a giant jump in difficulty between her and everything up to that point, and beating her might require a few hours of repetitive grind. This "endgame" part was probably my biggest issue with the whole experience.

Some early reviews mentioned the weekly payments (money given to Lucifer as a repayment for your resurrection) as something preventing you from enjoying the story - you had to rush to the dungeon every day, getting as much gold as possible in order to not get a game over, without much space for travelling and side activities, which also take away precious time. Everything felt extremely tense, quite similar to Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale which Serment directly references (and which would be fine if the title also didn't promise a VN-style story, experiencing which requires exploring the map and occasionally taking your time). The game was heavily rebalanced since then, making it that if you play half-competently, the gold should never be a problem - also, even after the final payment, you're free to explore the game and look for the missed interactions, which are dependent on your progress and current team composition.

What definitely has to be complimented is the visual side of the game, especially the character art. Everything is really cute and a joy to look at. The writing is also quite solid - while the story is simplistic and essentially very short, it's simply fun to read.

The whole experience definitely has a lot of charm to it and I quite liked the 10+ hours I've spent with it. Still, it's also minimalistic enough that I'm not sure if it's worth the full asking price. It might be most worth it when bought on sale, but in general, I recommend giving it a chance, if dungeon crawlers and cute anime girls are your thing.

-------------------------

PS If you're interested in other quality Western VNs, check out my curator page.

I've always been a fan of JRPGs, especially Dungeon Crawlers, to be explicit. However, it didn't happen often that I stumble across one, and thus, I was especially thrilled when I found out about Serment - Contract with a Devil that doesn't only happen to be a Dungeon Crawler but also contains plenty of adorable girls. As if it wasn't already enough, this game even added yuri elements that made the whole experience even better for me. I honestly wasn't sure how the story was going to turn out since Dungeon Crawlers usually tend to require a lot of grinding, so the story isn't the main part about it, yet I found the light-hearted scenes matched very well regardless.

The story in Serment - Contract with a Devil is quite simple. One day, the protagonist wakes up after dying. You see, she sold her soul to the devil Lucifer but the special thing here is that a huge sum of money is required here to pay back for the revival. So technically, she didn't sell her soul although it means that she still somehow needs to earn a lot of money. However, when she meets Lucifer, it turns out the devil is a cute little girl who even has the nickname "Lucy" and, therefore, doesn't look evil in any way. Along with Lucy, the protagonist happens to meet Maria, a fairy, who is luckily helping her out.

You see, there are a lot more cute girls the player will meet during the story and exploration. With many girls, it's given that each of them does have their own personality. The good thing here is that there are events spread around the map that show their player more insight into certain girls, although most of the events are meant to be rather comedic. During these special scenes, CGs are getting unlocked as well. Luckily, it's possible to recruit the girls for your party when certain quests are fulfilled which can be found in dungeons. I especially took a liking to Lucy and I never realized that this could be a cute nickname to Lucifer although it totally makes sense, now that I've read it before.

A special feature here is that there are four different protagonists the player can choose in the beginning. Each character has their own story and different CGs as well and owns different traits, equipment, and difficulties. That means that each chosen character has a different playing-style although the party members later, as well as dungeons, are staying the same no matter what character the player chooses. Regardless, this feature motivates their players to replay the game multiple times so not everything is the exact same.

There is a bedroom for the player to either rest for the rest of the day or go to the kitchen to take care of some cooking. With different items, the player can cook different food that comes in handy during exploration since it does have effects like filling up HP. Other than that, it's possible to visit the town as well to either buy items, hang around and do some fun activities such as fishing or visit certain places for events. When an event is available, it's labeled on the location and in this game, the player just has to press on a location to visit it, so they're not physically walking around here. From the map, it's possible to enter the dungeon as well.

First of all, before joining the dungeon, the player has to go to the summon place first to ask the other girls to join their party. This has the intention that not every girl is available at any time, however, I found it pretty annoying that I had to ask each of them every single day once again whether they had time to join my party. It's possible to visit the dungeon alone as well, however, that is definitely more difficult. In total, the player can take two other party members with them that have different skills. When losing a fight or fleeing from one, the player loses gold as a penalty.

The tricky thing here is that the player has to pay gold weekly which increases each week. Managing the money isn't the only thing here since there is also a time limit. With each action, time passes and the only way to get money is through the dungeon. Thus, I spend a lot of time in the dungeon. The issue I had here is that when it gets late or when the protagonist gets too tired, she suddenly forces the player to stop exploring the dungeon. Whilst I find that a time limit does add to the challenge, I often felt bummed when I was forced to stop during inconvenient situations, for instance, when I almost got done exploring a certain area.

Despite my nervousness, there are a lot of interesting features here that made the dungeon exploration very interesting to me. There are keys spread through the floor that can be used for locked doors, however, with a special tool in the dungeon, it's possible to recharge the key although that means that unlocked doors are getting reverted as well. To add some spice, some fields let the player only move to a certain side which can be moved as well with a special tool that can be found in the dungeon. These features forced me to think outside of the box to reach the next floor and explore it.

Graphic-wise, Serment - Contract with a Devil looks stunning. There are beautiful CGs implemented in this game, however, I found that the player's sprite looked inconsistent and didn't match with the other sprites. This didn't apply to all chosen characters and luckily, they all still look gorgeous in the CGs at least. Additionally, I even liked the style of the monsters that the player can meet during exploration. Some do look very cute while others seem quite fearful or odd. There was a lot of variety between the enemies that never made me look forward to the next floor since enemies from the same one are often the same.

Serment - Contract with a Devil is an enjoyable JRPG with light-hearted moments and a lot of cute girls. Sadly, there are only light-yuri elements available in the game although I spend most of my time in dungeons anyway. Sure, I wasn't a fan of the time-limit, however, I still found that it added some challenge to the gameplay. Overall, Serment - Contract with a Devil implemented a lot of features that made the experience during exploring a dungeon even better and forces its player to think outside of the box. That being said, if you adore cute anime girls and Dungeon Crawlers, Serment - Contract with a Devil will very likely appeal to you.

I wanted some light game that I can do "mindlessly" and yuri. This game fit the criteria.

Pros:
- The developers have been really good at responding since the game is out. That's always set the right tone in my opinion.
- As mentioned above chill light game (it's nice to take a break from adrenaline pumping game)
- Not the typical male yuri content with main focus to show naked girls with nothing else (Thank goodness!). I see ppl asking this on Discussion board. Seriously, if you want that there is plenty out there already/including in actual real life.
- NO annoying music! No need to mute for me...

Cons:
As far as VN goes this one is between average and a little bit over. It's not terrible (there is far worse garbage out there) but nothing shine either. That being said, I'm not certain if the full price justify the game yet (I got it with 20% off). The store page boast that you can choose from different main character and they each have unique story. I'm on 2nd playthrough with a completely different main character. I enjoy the different dialogue so far but uncertain how truly different the story will be.

I believe this is the Devs 1st attempt? If you guys made another yuri vn I'll be sure to check it out.

Updated: 2/4/19
Confirmed that choosing different character changes the main story. Quest remain similar though. I wish this was different. It would actually fit the whole "Lucy keep reviving humans".
My 1st playthrough was the Easy Mode/Warrior and the 2nd was the Normal Mode/Magician. You can tell the character difference between the 1st and the 2nd. I personally love the Magician character, I like being the warrior too but the magician is more fun to me. Though I Iike the 1st ending better cuz of certain character <3<3<3

That being said, I'm less critical on the price. Some ppl may not agree with me considering there is repetitions but they did give you options to have certain item and starting money with New Game +. Helped me breeze through the grind. Onto 3rd playthrough...

My character, whom I named Kaede (as always), wakes up in the complete darkness and has no idea how she got here. A female voice that comes seemingly out of nowhere tells Kaede that she has died, but there is still a chance to save her. It turns out that even the Devil needs money, and she is ready to not only save Kaede from death, but also terminate the contract if she pays a hefty sum of gold. Now any sane person should get suspicious and have some second thoughts as the whole deal sounds fishy as hell. However, Kaede has no problems with it at all and accepts the generous offer.

Several moments later Kaede wakes up in a pool with some magical water that helped to revive her. Lucifer, or just Lucy for short, meets her in person – and what a cute Lord of Darkness do we have here! Not only lovely, but also kind-hearted, Lucy allows Kaede to stay in the demon world (to be precise, it is one of the contract’s requirements). She also summons her maid Maria to help our naïve magician collect money. Maria introduces Kaede to the whole town, which is, surprisingly, not set on fire, gloomy, bloody or –insert some bad word here-, but instead is just green and stunningly beautiful. Even the dark dungeon is not scary at all and is a home for some really cute monsters (just look at the monkey!).

This is how this story starts. Kaede will have to do her best to collect a lot of money, but she will never be alone – a bunch of cute girls is always by her side. Suspicious? Nah, this is Sparta…ekhm…the Demon World!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1642619726


Let me start with the thing I really liked. The artwork, to be precise. Oh, this one is gorgeous! The backgrounds and CGs are just stunningly beautiful - very colorful, with lots of details, and they are hand-drawn, which is the best part. Characters are also very neat and you will not mistake one girl for another. Chibis are just adorable! The last but not least, all monsters are very cute. I almost felt guilty killing them. Almost.

I am neutral as far as the story is concerned, but let me be honest here: I think my attitude is subjective in some ways. Maybe it was not a good idea to start playing it right after I have just completed Common Route in Chaos;Child –this fascinating story raised so many feelings that the one in Serment felt somewhat bland. I am instinctively waiting for a sudden plot twist and just cannot accept the fact that the everybody is so kind. There must be some utter motive, I tell you!

On the other hand, the store page clearly states that “despite the dark sounding premise, the majority of Serment will be light-hearted slice of life events (more commonly known as cute girls doing cute things).” If you are looking specifically for this kind of game, then yes, each and every word is true. Serment has a really cute and bubbly story, which will be perfect for people looking for some joyful entertainment with no drama.

Speaking about cute girls, there is more than enough. Lucy is very beautiful (I totally love her lavender hair and sparkling eyes), and her personality ranges from thoughtful intelligence to some tsundere motives. The shop owner is also very charming…at least while you are in her shop. However, if you leave without buying anything, this lady will put you on her special list…with all related consequences. Another notable girl is Iris, the heir of the Dragon Clan. She is a bit dum-dum at times, but also has a pure heart. And, of course, there is also my favorite bunny girl who happens to be the bar owner. And many, many others. All in all, we have a standard set of characters that, nevertheless, is good enough to find your favorite waifu easily.

The music is good, too; but I wish there was a greater variety of tracks in the dungeon – after all, I have to spend a lot of time there.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1643697144


My main issue is the first playthrough. I do love visual novels and romantic stories (not into yuri ones, though), but I am not a big fan of dungeon crawlers. Serment feels really tedious at times. To start with, each week you have to collect enough money for Lucy, or you will see the ultimate End Game. This puts a lot of pressure on your funds and makes you visit the dungeon more often than not. It would not be such a problem if you did not have to miss events in the town; but you will if you want to have enough money for just anything, starting from food and equipment and ending with upgrading your stats. Battles in dungeons cannot be avoided – except for running away and losing some part of your hard-earned funds. You will have to battle a lot, and if you do not like this part of the gameplay, you can become bored quite fast.

However, this is the problem of the first playthrough only while you are just learning about the game. Recently the developers have introduced an update that allows you to start New Game+ after you complete the story at least once. The sweet thing is that you will have one million gold from the very beginning, so there will be no need to spend so much time in the dungeon. And you will have enough time for dating and running around the town. Yay!

One of the reviews also mentioned that this game lacks any signs on the map that would show you that there is an event in this or that place. And I absolutely agree with this comment! Even the long-winded battles would not be so annoying if I just knew which place to go after them to see some new scene – and this would greatly benefit the dating part of the game. Another solution would be reducing the number of battles in the dungeon, but this is a bit tricky – after all, you will lose experience points and gold. A guide that could explain where to find each character and, most importantly, when, is also not a bad idea.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1642659716


To cut a long story short, I will just say that I like the game, but I also want to see some new features that would put more emphasis on the dating part. So far, I have been spending a lot of time in dungeons and have not seen that many story scenes except for the standard ones and some special events. If you are not looking for romance and just enjoy battles and dungeon exploration, then Serment - Contract with a Devil will bring you a lot of fun. If you want a story-driven game with dating, then you might get a bit disappointed or tired until you finally get to the sweet New Game+ with its abundance of gold.

I should also mention that the developers are working on all these problems – they have already introduced several updates that brought some much needed rewards and gameplay improvements. This is a very good sign that shows that this game will become even better in the future and that our reviews and opinions actually make the difference.

My personal recommendation will be to give Serment - Contract with a Devil a chance even if you are not into dungeon crawlers because this game has a lot of potential.

Better than I expected.

It's certainly a straightforward dungeon crawler-meets-VN, but it's written with more care than you'd expect and there is detail where you least expect it.

I am fairly convinced it uses some form of RPG Maker, which makes the dungeons all the more impressive.

If moe blobs are not your thing, I would move along, but if you want a quick dungeon romp here and there (and you've exhausted your other venues) then Serment is a good diversion.

Update to review:
The devs fixed game balance and technical issues very fast.
The game now is well playable and also have New Game + mode for you to unlock story of other game characters without dungeon crawling. You have 1 mil gold for that.

I've completed all four stories and really enjoyed the game.

===
This is my first review on Steam.
Serment encouraged me to write it.
I've noticed there are very few reviews right now and there are mentioned some balance and technical issues. Hope the devs will fix them soon.
But I'd like to thank developers for this cute game I've waited for a loooong time. It's been postponed and now it's finally released.
I think the game is nice and I like it's story and light humour.
Great work! Thanks!

Amazing game, I haven't finished it yet, but the story is still amazing. You have 4 characters to choose from. And from what I take the character you choose decides the girl you get with. I think!! There is no nudity in the game, so that is labeled wrong in the tags. It's a cute dungeon crawler with a nice yuri love story tied into the real story.

The concept sounds more interesting than this ended up being. The art is really pretty? And the dungeon crawler aspect is most of everything. If you're hoping for much of a story you'll be disappointed, though maybe not if what you actually wanted was a lite dungeon crawler with pretty art.

I'm not going to rate it down cause it's not bad for what it is, but it might not be what you're wanting or expecting.

I encountered several bugs - one gave me an error message repeatedly whenever certain conditions were met but I was able to advance the game by hitting 'ignore,' one sidequest never had the next scenes trigger, and one day the game stopped responding when I hit letter keys, so beating the final form of the repeating boss made it impossible for me to exit the dungeon.

A cute game, and it's still being worked on, but I'd wait a little more time to purchase it so hopefully more bugs will be worked out.