I got stuck in the youtube rabbit hole where a video of the gameplay surfaced in my feed, and it was interesting enough for me to look it up, but I had no idea it was an adult game from the video.
I have played plenty of adult games, so that didn’t scare me off. In fact, I think the leading reason I enjoyed the game so much is specifically because it was an adult game, but not because of the adult content. There are very few detailed guides or videos about the mechanics that you can easily find, which means a lot of the gameplay will be all about you discovering and feeling out the mechanics personally, and I find that to be thrilling.
A bit apples to oranges, but what got me hooked on LonaRPG is the similar feeling I get from playing monster hunter. Every single weapon in monster hunter feels like playing a different game. Not only did this game give me that similar feeling, but it did so with barely any equipment. It’s not like you have 50 different armor sets where each peice can be heavily customized for every style of gameplay. With just a trait system and a very small pool of equipment, many of which are not readily accessible at the start, you get a similar feeling of freedom in gameplay.
The greatest barrier for me was the controls and learning many mechanics. Once things fell into place the game just clicked and I felt like I was discovering something new everytime I launched the game. Whether it was a quest, unknown feature or service, new equipment, unseen creature behavior, or a different way to use existing tools. As an example, I explored most of the world on foot before figuring out there was a fast travel system. I had beaten the game and NG+ a few times before I found out about rental horses, which act as limitless temporary mobile storage units, and make it significantly more efficient to farm drops in monster caves without the need to return to town.
Even now after over 100 hours and 20+ clears I still don't feel entirely comfortable wielding magic. The Ex hotbar, the gear swapping, the many different ways to leverage status effects, stealth with varying degrees of efficacy tied to trait/SCU placement and the enemy you are dealing with, the impact of various pairings of traits, even the use of sex as a tool for combat and pregnancy for NG+ both of which are more than surface level actions, survival and resource management components, and some quirky mechanics and characters gives players a completely unique experience. It is incredibly varied despite being fairly compact.
The developer has access to an untapped creative space, because they can tell stories that cover topics that would be too dark or gritty for non-adult games, and they’ve embraced that. While I wouldn’t say any of the stories are outstanding, and in plenty of ways they are disjointed, but it doesn’t stop you from wanting to see how they can play out, especially since many of them have branching possibilities.
It’s not perfect of course, and I would certainly love to see more activities, characters, groups or organizations, quests, and explorable land, and it feels like that has been the general direction of the game every update. So I will continue returning to try out each update. I also recognize the challenge that additional equipment poses to redraw a lot of art for existing events, and I’m not convinced that adding more equipment would be nearly as fun or balanced.
Edit* I should also add that I am a linux gamer, and the developers explicitly supporting linux really tickles my fancy. It's not exactly related to the game, but it's absolutely one more reason I would support their efforts.