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An intriguing visual novel by the team at Otomate, Tengoku Struggle Strayside follows the story of Rin, a Hell Guardian tasked with capturing a group of rogues who have escaped from the very depths of hell itself. By her side are four cunning prisoners, sworn to help and protect Rin by any means necessary. But who are these prisoners and can they be trusted? It is up to Rin, the daughter of King Enma, to win them over and uncover the evil plot that threatens to consume the people of the Human Realm.

Tengoku Struggle does a hell of a lot of things right, and that’s before the story has even begun. The presentation here is superb, featuring a kickass soundtrack and beautiful graphics that paint the world in a tapestry of brilliant colours. The characters are dynamic and the designs explode off the screen, easily capturing your attention.

These charming men are, of course, the love interests of the story, and it’s easy to see why. From the hair to the clothes, the accessories and those expressions, it’s clear that a lot of time and effort has gone into making these characters pop.

Before we even get a chance to meet these dashing gentlemen, they have unique qualities and characteristics easily deciphered from a quick glimpse at their unique designs. Rin is always ready, whip in hand, fierce and fiery, Jack is talented, cunning and mysterious, and Goemon is angsty yet calm and collected, perhaps the most romantic of the bunch, and for good reason. The visual storytelling is key here, a lot of detail can be gleaned from a simple look, which is a crucial thing to get right when the creators want you to fall for their characters.

Similarly, Tengoku Struggle does well with the technical aspects too. The menus are clean and easy to navigate, with all the options you could ever need and more. There are galleries to view the artwork and memories that unlock more information about the characters. In addition, it’s easy to replay and unlock all the storylines once you’re ready to continue. This coupled with great voice-acting and a stylised art direction should mean that Tengoku Struggle has all the ingredients for a deep and memorable experience.

And yet, it falls flat at the first hurdle. You can have all the fancy presentation you want, great designs and catchy music, but it’s all in vain if the story doesn’t hook you. Before we even get to the character story selection, there are 8 chapters of introduction, that honestly felt like a slog to get through. There’s so much setup about Hell’s different layers and aspects, the mechanics of it all, and the main character riddled with indecision. It weighs the first act down.

There are no choices here either, which arguably is one of the most important things about a good visual novel, the ability to influence the story, for better or worse. And even when we get to the point where a decision is presented, it’s simply a ‘Happy’ or ‘Bad’ option with nothing in between. There’s no grey area here, no depth, just black-and-white choices, where picking a single wrong option will often jeopardise the whole arc playthrough.

Moreover, it’s very difficult to fall for the main love interests when the overwhelming feeling you get from them is pure misogyny and utter hatred for women. I understand they came from Hell, and ultimately from another time, but still it’s hard to get past the fact that they threatened to rape the protagonist right at the outset. It’s just really jarring, even with the fairly flimsy context of it all. Furthermore, you better get used to the out-of-nowhere overly sexual remarks, because there’s a lot more of that to come. Done well with a bit of thought, this kind of dialogue can work, but here it just feels like teenage edgy writing, annoying and immersion-breaking. 

And if you wanted a justified reaction from Rin, well don’t bother putting your headphones on, because she doesn’t even have a voice. This, I find to be a very bizarre decision when all the other main cast members are fully voiced. It makes the protagonist feel empty and ineffective when the world around her is flamboyant and over-the-top. They even went as far as to animate Rin’s mouth, and yet nothing comes out. It makes it very hard for Rin to find her place as the strong independent heroine of Tengoku Struggle. 

All things considered, Tengoku Struggle comes across as an interesting yet convoluted story, bloated with excessive worldbuilding and endless banter which can often feel out of place due to the heavy topics that are presented. Villains are plentiful, and yet the story often takes a backseat, leaving us confused and ultimately uninterested when these evil characters don’t get enough screentime and motivation.

If you want to discover everything that this game has to offer, prepare to sit through some particularly ‘draggy’ sections that’ll have your finger hovering over the skip-all button. This may set you back 50-60 hours depending on how fast you can read. Generally, I’m a fan of visual novels, but this one defeated me. A mix, I believe, of slow pace, bad writing and unnecessary sexual and misogynistic language that just made me groan. For some people, I’m sure that’ll be right up their alley, but personally, Tengoku Struggle really struggled to elicit any joy from me at all.