Archive for February 2026
The Pillagers Of Raillore Review – Two Lives Divided By Disaster
Genre – Medieval Fantasy, Action, Superpowers Play Time – 20 hours Developer - 3rdEye MangaGamer(18+) VNDB
Stealing Your Future
The
technological marvels and achievements of the modern world have faded, its cities now lie in ruins and humanity has return to living in
medieval conditions. The existence of various kinds of superpowers
called Dunamis have shaped this new world and the ruins of the past
are pillaged for anything of value. In this world two young men
living vastly different lives find themselves swept up in the tides
of change and must utilise their unique powers to navigate these
choppy waters. Raillore jumps between the perspectives of these two
protagonists and it is through their eyes the player will witness
this vibrant world with its own social problems. There is a strong
theming around acceptance of others and the damaging effects of
discrimination which helps add texture to even minor characters.
The cast surrounding the two protagonists are endearing and form
entertaining dynamics to further push the groups character arcs and
solidify the side of the world they occupy. When it comes to the
supernatural battles 3rdEye continue to be one of the best at
capturing the intensity and momentum of combat in a visual novel
form. However, there are a number of quite large issues with Raillore
from the protagonist’s stories being detached from one another to
its intrusive sexuality. Are these problems the death blow to this
imaginative world? Let’s steal someone’s power and find out.
Divided Down The Middle – Narrative and Themes
Front
and centre of Raillore’s narrative presentation are the twin
stories of its two protagonists, Reno and Graydric, and their
individual journeys form the solid core around which everything
rotates. Their joint trauma steaming from a catastrophe which
occurred during their childhood leads them down vastly different
paths. Reno ends up as part of the Regulatory Corps while Graydric
sinks into the underbelly of society. Their isolated stories give
them the space to explore these two characters as they unpick the
damage that has warped them. For Reno, he must face this
unwillingness to live without the orders of others while Graydric has
to learn to love himself again after all he has done and accept the
affection others have for him. Neither are initially willing to do so
and their attempts to run away from it even as it catches up to them
gives them strong arcs which feel earned while justifying their long
length. These contrasting looks at the same world allow for a more
nuanced presentation of the various problems it faces and the state
of humanity beyond the walls of Raillore. It frames the characters’
actions within this clashing of circumstances and this helps justify why
their beliefs have ended up the way they are and create a baseline
level of sympathy towards the suffering they undergo. The unveiling
of this world is also slow so there is always something new for the
player to experience even in the later parts which supports
the narrative idea of this as an expansive place filled with all
types of people. Showing these different groups gives the game room
to push its core theme about acceptance and the dangers of
discrimination through both its world and its characters. The
existence of Errors and the use of the threat they supposedly pose as a
justification for terrible treatment is the main way this theme
influences the cast since some become Errors and have to grapple with
this reality. Most of the first half of the game is focused around
this conflict over the existence of Errors and it utilises this time
well to create an emotionally resonant argument against this
discrimination while still making people’s lingering fears feel
somewhat justified. This theming around discrimination is hardly
revolutionary and plays out much as one would expect for it, but its
sincerity and how it is tied into the narrative stakes and character
arcs lend it a memorable quality and a good remainder as to why this
theme is so timeless.
 |
| Acceptance is core to Raillore's theming |
Cracks
start to show when it comes to the transitions between these two
protagonist’s POVs and the way the game handles the points where
their stories intersect. These transition are not smooth in the
slightest with one character’s story coming to a sudden and
juddering halt to swap to the other protagonist so they can have
their turn. It is also unwilling to go back in time and show events
from the other POV and instead continues from the present just
swapping character, but the result is large chunks of time from each
protagonist’s story just being missing and the game have to rapidly
catch the player up to speed. As you can imagine every time this
happens there is a sizeable period where there is confusion about what is going and it draws the player out of
the experience as they have spend time adjusting to the new
information. Another strange choice which plays into this disconnect
is the lack of any pause given where the player is encourage to view
the side episodes which unlock at regular intervals. Instead the game
just continues on and it would not be surprising if the player
completely forgot about them and just barrelled straight onwards
since that is what it encourages them to do. This is a shame since
these episodes do a lot of work for the side characters if viewed
during the sections they are unlocked. Then there is the issue of the
divide between the first and second halves of the story. The problems
around the Errors discrimination have begun to be resolved and the
major players of the narrative have all been put to rest with a
vaguely hopeful future ahead of them. This appears to be a perfect
point to end the game since everything the player was invested in has
met some kind of resolution, but then the game plays a second opening
and just continues onwards. No big twist occurs, no shift in our
understanding to justify a new conflict, it just keeps going.
Eventually, it does create a new solid threat and build on the characters’
arcs, but for a long period there is a jarring sense that the game
should already be over since its main theme and narrative push have
been put to rest. There is even a big fight at the end of the first
half which feels climatic enough to be the final battle since it is
against someone the characters have a meaningful connect to. These
sources of friction in the experience of playing Raillore make it
very bumpy and impede the player’s ability to invest themselves
into the experience.
Yet
there is a more fundamental issue with Raillore’s narrative in the
form of narrative event happening for the sake of the plot rather
than being driven by the characters. A majority of the time when
something important or dramatic happens it is done solely to push the plot rather than being caused by character action or the
consequences of it. In the first half of the game this is not as
present an issue since it can rely on the novelty of the world and
growing escalation of stakes work to conceal this plot centric
attitude. However, in the second half a lot of events and actions
just happen to make for a dramatic moment only to never be brought up
again or otherwise just swept under the rug in favour of the shiny
new twist or battle it has put in front of the player. Without going
into too much detail for the sake of spoilers, there are a series of
plot twists towards the end of the game which almost appear to come
out of nowhere and be disconnected from everything else, all for the
sake of having a final superpowered fight which feel out of place
against the otherwise human and emotional story before this point.
 |
| This pair have great chemistry when they actually get to talk properly |
Another
more minor issue is the way it handles its erotic scenes and how they
feel slapped into the main plot out of obligation. They all begin out
of nowhere, one moment everything is normal and then suddenly
everything is erotic. It is odd to say the least since the
justifications for them are weak at best and almost all of them are not
mentioned ever again once the deed is done. Then there is the
non-consensual undertone to all of the main story scenes on the part
of the male characters. Reno cannot give consent since he is
incapable of saying no to anything people ask of him so it becomes
very uncomfortable when the women who know this fact proceed to
engage in erotic activities with him as they exercise this control.
While Graydric is a normal person and can consent, he somehow ends up
with even more non-consensual scenes, one of which even has him being
tied up while he was unconscious. These are never directly presented
as non-consensual since the game does not seem to care enough to
consider the context or content of them. Yet it is not a great time
for the player to be thrust suddenly into something so awkward to
witness.
Interlocking Lives – Characters
Surrounding
each protagonist is a separate ensemble of characters and while some
do cross over between the pair, the majority stick to their lanes. As
such they are highly focused on being connected to their
protagonist’s story and intertwined with the themes of their side. The character arcs of these groups also tend to mirror
their protagonist's own by taking their core ideas and tackling them from a
different angle. Reno and Tilt both have to grapple with what it
means to choose a path for themselves. While Reno must escape an
unwillingness to do so, Tilt has to confront the truth that the
choices she been making have not adhered to the ideals she thought
they held. Having such a dynamics spread of character conflicts which
push in the same direction allows for the cast to clash and support
each other in an organic manner and sells them as a cohesive and
caring group. It also makes playing as each protagonist feel distinct
since the cast they interact with is so vastly different in feel
to see interact and displays the variety of people
who live in Raillore. This is all extremely important since the game
relies heavily on its character moments to fill the space between
major plot beats and this down time is frequent enough to the point
weak characterisation could have severely undermined the whole
experience. Banter between these characters is entertaining since
they are more than willing to push back against their protagonist and
the emotional tension of the arcs keeps it feeling fresh.
 |
| Ollstatt is perhaps the only good antagonist |
By
far the weakest group of characters are the villains who range from
comically evil to poorly developed. They seem to solely exit for the
sake of introducing conflict rather than having justifiable reason
for their actions. Flat is the simplest way of expressing this lack of substance, they
lack any sense of existing beyond their presence on screen which
stand out in stark contrast to the main cast’s strong identities.
This is a massive issue because the second half of the game is
primarily driven forward through their actions so this absence of
proper characterisation gets pushed in the player’s face. The
weakness of these characters can be seen through one of the recurring
antagonist’s Ellikate who is Graydric primarily opposition. Outside
of being generally sadistic and obsessed with Graydric, there is
nothing to his character and he pops up whenever the plot needs
something evil to happen in order to motivate the cast. His
connection with Graydric is weak at best and is only loosely expanded
upon throughout the entire game so their final confrontation feels
unearned and an emotionally hollow. This is not helped by the fact
the game has to stop the finale briefly so he and Graydric can have
their final fight since he has nothing to do with the main plot at
this point. Unfortunately this acting in the service of introducing
conflict is not solely confined to villains as some of the main cast
will act completely nonsensically in order to create drama. The
character who suffers the most from these twists is Rurunia. She has a plot
twist late in the game which is designed to recontextualise her
actions but actually just makes her look stupid since her plan is so
contrived and relied on a lot of things going right for it to work.
This also leads to her wildly jumping around what role in the
narrative she occupies depending on what the plot needs from her at
that moment and is a symptom of the poor executed nature of the
finale. No other main cast member has it quite as bad as Rurunia, but
many do have moments of stupidity which feel similarly
detached from what would be reasonable for them.
Jumping Into The Action – Visual, Audio And Technical
It
should come as no surprise that the action scenes in a game focused
around big action set pieces are extremely well put together. There
is an extensive use of movement through all aspects of the visual
presentation in order to communicate a battle’s impact and position
of each participant. This is achieved through a clever use of cuts
between images, moving the camera around and a rapid swapping of
character sprites. Cutting between images is used as a means to show
the position of the currently speaking or acting character and often
changes mid sentence to match their continued momentum within the
fight. Meanwhile the camera is zooming and out while shifting around
to match what the protagonist is looking at or show how much they are
being knocked about. What draws all of this together is the wide
variety of character portraits Raillore has specifically for these
action scenes which show the cast in action poses perfect for using
in a lot of different contexts. The soundtrack does an excellent job
at selling the tension and energy needed for these scenes to work and
it immediately tells the player exactly what is about to go down.
Having a generally vibrate fantasy aesthetic to the visuals also
reinforces this energy and pushes the potentially lethal nature of
these conflicts as the magical powers shoot off in all directions.
3rdEye’s expertise really shines here and everything they have
learned from their previous titles has been refined into a smooth and
engaging dramatic clash.
 |
| It is very clear from one look what her outfit aims to present |
If
there is one aspect which brings the visuals down it is the game’s
failure to understand when it is appropriate to display its ‘sexy’
parts. In particular the shoving of panty shots into the face of the
player during actions scenes where they receive a face full of
underwear when they should be focused on the tension and danger of
the situation. These are sudden flashes rather than a prolonged
exposure but the damage they do to the intended feel of an action
scene cannot be overstated. It creates a weird whiplash between male
and female battles with the former being complete consistent in tone
while the later can feel like watching a strip tease. This leads into
how aggressively sexy some of the character’s outfits can be. The
majority are of the mild variety such as Fi and Tilt with the
customary chest hole which is silly look, but well within
what is expected of an eroge and it is easy to put aside. However,
there are character’s like Easla Eilain who the game treats like a
sex object at times. Her outfit barely constitutes clothing with
how much skin it shows and the impossible way it is held together. If
it where only this then it would barely be worth noting but what
makes this uncomfortable is the way everyone ogles her and her sexiness is a constant thought in Greydric’s mind over any
thoughts about her as a person. She does not use this attractiveness
as a weapon or even seem aware of it and it is only through a male
gaze that she is considered this way so making her a victim of it
rather than it empowering her. What makes this worse is the fact she
is a main character in Greydric’s story so is constantly on screen
and regularly subject to this treatment by the game and it is detracts
from her strong personal arc. Coupled with the previously mentioned
sudden erotic scenes, it is clear Raillore has no idea how to handle
its status as an eroge and flails around desperately trying to met
its obligations to the genre.
Conclusion
Creating
a compelling superpower action narrative in a visual novel is no
small feat and the creativity 3rdEye put into Raillore cannot be
overstated. The strong focus on a pair of protagonists allows for
emotional moments to naturally arise around which the combat can take
place and helps give it a greater punch. Clever use of movement and a
larger pool of character sprites provides a reliable sense of what is
happening on screen and where each character is in relation to one
another while also offering quite a spectacle. Surrounding each
protagonist are a cast of characters who’s struggles give context
to the conflicts and invest the player in the outcome so they are on
the edge of their seats at every clash of blades. This is not a game
without issues from its uncomfortable relationship with its sexual
content to the messy way characters serve the plot and these do drag
down the experience in a distracting manner. This brings us to the
elephant in the room, 3rdEye has released another game called Sorcery
Jokers which is extremely similar to Raillore in terms of the plot
structure, overall tone and content and it does not suffer from
the major problems of Raillore. While it does have issues of its own,
they are relatively minor compared to Raillore’s to the point at
which it would be a struggle to recommend Raillore when Sorcery
Jokers is just a better version of it. Raillore is more for a player
who has already finished Sorcery Jokers and wants more of the same
but does not mind the drop in quality.
Verdict –
Dynamic action is supported by a duel protagonist set up to
create a heart pumping and high stakes fantasy narrative. Yet its
many flaws and the existence of a better version of the experience in
Sorcery Jokers make it difficult to recommend.
Pros-
+
Engaging stories for each protagonist with strong arcs and an interesting world to back it up and justify their actions.
+
Lovable cast surrounding each protagonist who have their own stories
and reasons to grow and change.
+
Excellent action scenes which use a smart mix of movement and asset
positioning to great effect while being backed up by a suitably
dramatic soundtrack.
Cons-
-
The duel protagonist structure results in the narrative constantly
starting and stopping due to the disconnected nature of the two
character’s stories.
-
At the end of the first half there is a perfectly good ending point,
but the game just continues on despite all narrative momentum having
come to a stop.
-
Villains are weak and exist just to have something for the cast to
battle.
-
Cast serve the plot rather than themselves and perform all kinds of
nonsensical and contrived actions as a result.
-
Does not understand how to appropriately use its sexual element
leading to distracting panty shots in serious battles and jarring
erotic scenes starting out of nowhere.
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