REVIEW : Pantsu Hunter: Back to the 90s (PS5)
This game is about Kenji Kojima, who values women’s bodies and the beauty of their belongings, “underwear”. This is a weird narrative and can be unpleasant to most, and it is obvious for the most part that it is creepy because the whole gameplay revolves around befriending girls and stealing their underwear. He talks obsessively about them, and he believes that a woman’s underwear can tell you about more than any conversation ever can.
The plot starts with Kenji Kojima leaving his village for university and shifting to a city. He then runs errands to make ends meet and starts talking to strangers. So this is where the game begins. You are put into four different situations where you will meet a different woman in each situation. Then you will take them on dates, watch movies together or do any recreational activity, and your main mission is to steal the woman’s panties respectively and then try to get to know the woman and impress them. You need to get into the house somehow. However, it’s not easy to find those panties. You are expected to solve the woman’s problems and help them. The parties don’t give a lot of information and don’t comply with the narrative.
The order in which you do things and your choice decides where you go in the game and the number of panties you will collect. The nostalgic theme of the 90s can be seen in the scenes and the aesthetics. The narrative falls short of the woman’s actual life. The dialogue delivery is full of humor, and the journey is adventurous and different every time.
There is no denial, but the idea and logic behind the game are hideous and do not stand as something I enjoyed. Even the clues found in the underwear weren’t a great help, but cutscenes help you. If the girl likes you, then she will wink at you, and you will score a reward in the form of underwear. The plot doesn’t share anything of much value and can be a disappointment. The character is not pleasant, and his attributes and logic are unlikeable. Also, the game is not nicely explained, and there is a lot of pointless clicking over things and figuring everything out on your own. Since things are supposed to be done in a certain order to get the underwear, you have to keep re-starting the game again and again and remembering the order so that you don’t do things in the wrong way ahead, which is tiresome.
Some things happen for no reason and kill the character, which is annoying. The first chapter comprises the problem of fixing the VCR of the woman, and you will be given three panties that are not that difficult to find. This game doesn’t seem to have a lot of planning. The game’s design is not overwhelming, and there seems to be no vision behind this.
