The Triumphant Return of Diabolos is a turn-based RPG with a gameplay focus on planning. A big part of the game is allocating “skill points”, which determine nearly all functionality of your party. That includes what they can or can’t equip, and all but the most basic options in combat. Otherwise, combat, exploration and quests aren’t far removed from a typical RPG. Most of the game is fighting your way from objective to objective, with optional backtracking to fulfill side quests and collect improved gear.

Section One: Balancing

Playing through the game on “Normal”, I was only challenged when I completed optional content out of order. I spent most of the game holding the “Enter” key to automate combat. Players interested in prolonging gameplay or more strategic combat will benefit from the adjustable difficulty setting. There is little risk in bumping up the difficulty level or completing content out of order; If your party is defeated in battle, you may either choose to reload a previous save or retry the battle without penalty.

All enemies and player characters have one or more weaknesses to specific forms of damage. To overcome difficult foes, you’re encouraged to equip your party to exploit them. On the flip side, it’s important to protect your allies from their respective weaknesses. For example, Ciel is weak to fire damage. When facing foes that use fire-based attacks, it’s not bad idea to equip “accessories” that reduce fire damage. Alternatively, you can swap her for a teammate less susceptible to fire damage.

Exploration

Explorable areas are maze-like, justifying the mini-map displayed at the top-left screen. Some players may enjoy exploring dead-ends, but I grew increasingly frustrated wasting my time for inexpensive loot. Backtracking isn’t necessary, but it’s encouraged. Most explorable areas have optional bosses, loot or even “sub dungeons” that can’t be accessed until later in the game.

Most transactions in The Triumphant Return of Diabolos are handled by the “Riem Company”, a world-wide network of stores catered to adventurers. Simply visiting any of their locations unlocks “Contracts”, or optional boss encounters. The Riem Company also provides color-coded “keys” for opening special colored chests throughout the game. Keys are awarded upon spending sizable thresholds of money within the Company. Chances are, players will encounter colored chests long before acquiring the appropriate keys — thereby requiring backtracking to collect their rewards.

All explorable areas are home to one or more “materials”, collected from slain monsters or “gathering points”. Materials are used for upgrading gear and crafting otherwise pricy consumable items. Gathering points reset every chapter, encouraging players to revisit them. Materials can also be purchased from the Reim Company and hidden merchants, but they come with steep price.

While visiting towns, chatting with allies or townsfolk may grant side quests for powerful weapons. Every playable character has one legendary weapon that may only be equipped by them. Legendary weapons have awesome power, offering unique perks in addition to exceptional stats. Naturally, these weapons are tied to difficult bosses and dungeons — intended to be revisited when your party has progressed in the story.

Chapter Three: Sexual Content (4/5★)

The Triumphant Return of Diabolos does not have any gameplay mechanics based on sexual content. Rather, sex-scenes are strictly reserved for story content and optional “what if” scenarios (upon losing to select enemies). I don’t know for certain how many sex-scenes are in the game, but I estimate twenty-eight. My estimation is based on how many CGs I counted after decrypting and pilfering through the game files.

Most sexual content is focused on rape and submission (but there are some consensual scenes in the game.) Virgin breaking is a prominent theme, with most female characters bleeding during their first encounter with the protagonist. The artwork is high quality, top-notch even. Sex-scenes are comprised of dialogue and a single CG with variations. I found them to be too short for my tastes, but they get the point across.

Chapter Four: Story (3/5★)

Long ago, humanity was ruled by a tyrant — the Demon King, who leveraged humanity’s collective discourse to rule the world. Eighteen years ago, “humanity fought against the Demon Lord and won.” To prevent the Demon King from rising again, the Cedis Empire intends to unite humanity through military conquest, and exterminate non-human races.

Rein’s life is turned upside down when he is abducted by Mia, eternal servant of the Demon Lord. He trained all of his life as an Imperial Knight, “heart of Cedis’s [sic] military” — but as “the son of Diabolos, the Demon Lord”, he must suddenly switch sides.

But “Rein doesn’t wish to rule the world. He wants to protect the weak from the strong.”

To reverse the expansion of the Cedis, he must convince the majority of the Four Generals to withdraw their forces. But surprise surprise, none of them are keen to joining the son of Diabolos. . . not without a fight to “see who’s right”.

Section One: Character Development

Character development is paper thin. It only takes Rein a few minutes to be convinced that he is in fact, the new Demon King. He doesn’t seemed all too shocked about the revelation either. The women in the story are unbothered by rape and soon infatuated with the main protagonist — no effort, no exploration their individuality. They’re just plates for serving sex-scenes and padding the number of quests in the game.

Chapter Five: Sound (3/5★)

Section I: Soundtrack

The music doesn’t have any pop, but it’s sufficient. It’s a selection of fantasy tracks that suit the setting and genre. Each area has one track that plays which on repeat, which is fine — but the music doesn’t always have a smooth loop. A few missions had me bothered with repetitive music, resulting in me taking off my headphones while playing them.

Section II: Sound Effects

The sound effect played while navigating menus are a little annoying. In The Triumphant Return of Diabolos, you will spend a lot of time navigating menus; whether you’re spending skill points or performing regular inventory management, the you’re going to be hearing the interface more than anything else in this game.

Section III: Voice Acting

There is no voice acting in this game.

Chapter Six: Visuals (3/5★)

Section I: User Interface

From the “Options” menu, players may adjust a wide variety of audio, visual, and gameplay preferences. Additionally, keyboard and gamepad controls may be remapped from this menu. It’s great to see such a thorough user-configuration menu in an RPGMaker game! It’s worth noting The Triumphant Return of Diabolos can be played and navigated with mouse-only. The pause-menu seems to be specifically designed with mouse controls in mind; the icon-based navigation is ideal for clicking about.

Regarding appearance, the user-interface falls short. I was disturbed by the low quality icons used in the pause-menu. The icons used in the “Skill Tree screen” were difficult to interpret. Most of the time, I had to hover over entries to verify their usage.

Section Two: Graphics

The graphics are inconsistent. Environmental, icon and enemy sprites appear to be premade — that’s fine, but it’s also why The Triumphant Return of Diabolos isn’t very distinguished from other games made using the same engine. A few of the background elements appear to edited photos, detracting from the overall art direction. Not everybody has a character sprite, but most important faces — including male characters — are represented in a colorful anime style.

It’s a shame Col wasn’t the main protagonist, he’s **way hotter** than Rein. . .

Chapter Seven: Verdict (3.5/5★)

The Triumphant Return of Diabolos is a competent RPG with lots of exploration and optional backtracking. Even after completing the game, I had a list of side content to continue after. However, if you’re looking for a reliable fap, this is not your game. During my playthrough, I only encountered thirteen sex-scenes. Granted, I didn’t purposely lose any battles — but even then I would have still encountered less than two sex-scenes per hour. If you do purchase this game, I recommend choosing a higher difficulty setting than “Normal”; you will find the motivation to backtrack and engage side quests in the face of higher stakes combat.

Epilogue: Recommendations

Gameplay

Add a “new game plus” for subsequent playthroughs. After completing the game, I found my party was too over-leveled to expect any sort of challenge from existing content. I would have loved the option to repeat the game with equal or greater level foes.

Reduce the number of time Dragon of Depths uses his “Roar” attack in row. I spent most of the fight watching the game play itself as he repeatedly stun locked my party.

Reward players for revisiting the Hairung Cave. I was shocked to see no hidden dialogue or loot after revisiting this place during the final chapters of the game.

Sexual Content

I don’t have any recommendations regarding sexual content.

Story

Give Rein’s past a bigger role in the story. Before becoming the Demon Lord, it’s established that he is training as a member of Cedis military. His knowledge of Cedis tactics and training should have played a bigger role in the story.

Improve upon character development. Rein should feel more conflicted about being the son of the most tyrannical being in existence — and so should his companions. Additionally, they shouldn’t be so trusting the following day after they are literally raped.