I first heard about this game in mid September of 2019. The Game Grumps channel was doing a play-through but I simply wasn’t very interested in investing time to watch. That is until my buddy, known as “Dick Boots” informed me how well the series was going for The Grumps and said he would be into trying Pantsu Hunter for our channel. So, I packed the mission to find this undergarment game away in my head until opportunity had a chance to knock. In this case, opportunity showed up on my doorstep complete with a review code. Of course, when any perfect panty opportunity willingly and eagerly approaches you, it is best to grab it by its frilly lace and go for the ride it takes you on. The game itself is a straight up story based, choose your own adventure, point and click, deadly puzzles adventure.
The story is one of the most overblown and yet most essential parts to the game. Take the prologue for instance. You learn a little about the characters backstory but the ‘protagonist’ just rambles long winded hot air, with certain bits of odd details between the lines. You learn about why he feels the need to find the perfect panty, because it will lead to real love of course!
When you hit the first story you will finally get to interact with one of the girls. She has a story of her own, her VCR is broken and wants you to help her fix it so she can watch anime. Simple, right? Sure, it would be simple except making one wrong move in the story can you lead you straight down the path of certain doom. Seriously, I died from sitting on a tiny chair at one point. Police determined I fell off the chair and died on the spot.
This brings me to the game play. Here is what you will be doing for the majority of the game. Trying to figure out what kills you and what doesn’t. If an action doesn’t do you in, then how will it lead you to get that next pair of panties? In the case of this particular girl she has 7 pairs of panties to be found. Spoiler Alert, to obtain the last pair of them on level one you must fix her VCR. You should have found a screwdriver by this point. She will leave the room for a minute to get her laundry, leaving a timer bar counting down at the top of the screen. During this time you turn the screw in the right combination or you will have to start the game all over. This is the frustrating part. Not only do you have to do about 30 point and click moves to get back to this point but then you are again on a timer without any hints on how to solve the puzzle. This and the rest of the game just becomes a process of elimination. It’s not without merit, as it's rewarding when you finally do figure out what to do and are usually rewarded with a dose of humor, even in death.
The graphics are done in a modern anime style and the setting lives up to its “Back to the 90’s” subtitles. There are some fun details; the CRT TV and VCR, the clothing styles, and the posters on the wall combined with a sepia like filter just adds to the feeling of looking back in time.
You have a few sound options in the game, such as, activating the girls speech and selecting if you want music on or off. You aren’t dealing with Jill Valentine acting from the original Resident Evil here, it’s a little better than that, but not by much.The music is just kind of there, not doing anything for me.
If you were to ask me if the game has replay value I would have to reply with a big, fat, definitive, “well, kind of”... By this I mean the whole game in its style is about replaying it until you figure out each and every possible outcome. For level 1 alone there are 18 different endings you can achieve, most of them you will have to screw up somehow to ever see. However, I would think once you complete every objective it will be the last time you play this game. Which is fine for a budget title like this. A few hours of entertainment for a few bucks.
All in all, I think while the game is particularly frustrating, it is balanced out with its odd premise and humor. As you get deeper and deeper in the story things start to go off the rails and if you have a good sense of humor you'll get some enjoyment out of the twists the story takes. If you are into panty collecting, text based, time loop, puzzle adventures this game might be for you.
To see the game in action check out the video below!