Sugar's Delight Review

Title: Sugar's Delight
Release date: 2011-12-03
Developer: Neko-Soft
Publisher: Neko-Soft

The cake is not a lie!

It's an OELVN. It's a nukige. It's yuri. If you wonder how those components can blend together, even though they never did before, read on.

The number of original English language VNs is like a vast ocean. The number of good such VNs is infinitely smaller. The number of VNs with erotic content can be counted on the fingers of both hands (well, OK, toes might come to use too). The number of good erotic OELVNs is zilch... Or at least has been until Neko-Soft delivered us a yuri nukige that is so obviously inspired by the Sono Hanabira series. But we don't mind as we are too busy cheering them.

The game needs more chibifications.

What we notice immediately upon firing the game, is the art. Usually what we get in occidental VN releases makes Ryuukishi07th's efforts look like high art and even if that is not always true, inspiring graphics are hard to come by. Up until now, the best art was seen in "Winter Wolves" and "Sakevisual" releases. I'm happy to say, that the artist of "Sugar's Delight" outdid anything seen in the western scene and that such graphics wouldn't be out of place in a commercial Japanese release.

Considering this is a nukige, it would be kind of silly on my part to expect a deep plot. Ichigo is a daughter of rich parents that do not take kindly to her desire to be a baker. The thing is that Ichi-chan has a seriously sweet tooth. She leaves her parents and goes off into the wide world on a search for sweets and pastries. In her search she comes upon a bakery owned by kind and beautiful Chocoa that hires her and lets her stay in her house. If that sounds like a fairy tale, it almost is. Chocoa and Ichigo immediately feel an undeniable attraction to each other and soon proceed to gently screw each other into a blissful oblivion. Das ende. Surely, Brothers Grimm missed an opportunity, when they didn't include some yuri in their stories ;-)

The best Valentine's cake.

There are only two characters in total in this story (not counting one grumpy customer that we see for maybe ten lines). Chocoa (whose real name we never find out) is a kind and very capable baker, whose pastries are liked by everyone. She has been running the store by herself until Ichi came by. Chocoa is kind of mischievous and is the one to seduce Ichigo in the first place. Ichigo is a bit younger and more reserved, but once tasting the forbidden fruit, quickly learns to love Chocoa and her ministrations.

I mentioned SonoHana series (though I admit only having played the first part of them) before and surely there are some similarities both in the art style and the sex scenes themselves. Sex scenes are really hot and varied in presentation, but they all have one thing in common - they are very sweet... literally. Various pastries and candy are used to sweeten sexual ministrations and a certain scene with a cake is unforgettable. A biologist in me mumbles that if those girls would have done what they did, they would be happily visiting a hospital with a nice yeast infection. A pervert in me silences the biologist and the scenes get a glowing pass. Seriously, it's sometimes hard to find so well executed scenes in a Japanese eroge, finding them in an occidental release is simply a miracle on par with Reality Marble. What's more, you get all of that for free.

I believe "T-the cake" deserves to become a meme.

The soundtrack is nothing exceptional and will be forgotten once you finish the game. On the other hand, I'm very happy that the game was not voiced, as I simply do not believe there are talented enough people in the fandom not to ruin this VN with cheesy pronunciation of lines.

If I have one complaint about the game, it's the length. "Sugar's Delight" is just too damn short and ends in an hour or so. Another small quibble is the scene in the shower. The text would indicate that Chocoa is in a sitting position, while Ichi is eating her out, but CG clearly depicts them both lying on the floor. Also, near the end during Ichi's inner monologue her name appears as if she is speaking aloud, when in fact that isn't true.

I work in a bakery and I'm the assistant manager in it. That's me. Pretty impressive, right? I think so too. I couldn't be more happier. My life... is sweet.
-Ichigo

This is a very well done western nukige with yuri theme. Despite it's short length it inspired in me a desire to play all the SonoHana games, something that I will do sooner or later. Kudos for the creators. With some money and sufficient time they might create some more noteworthy novels. Now I have to get away from the screen in order to staunch the exsanguination from my nasal cavities :-D
P.S. Wasn't "Neko-Soft" a group that promised us "Lililicious". I wonder what happened with that project...

Links of Interest

Visual Novel Database
Official site (Windows and Android)
Official site for Japanese translation
Lemma Soft thread
Artist's Deviantart page

Final Verdict: 75%