(18+) REVIEW: Trap Shrine


Title	Trap Shrine
Developer	No Strike
Publisher	Eroge Japan
Release Date	March 29th, 2019
Genre	Visual Novel, Comedy
Platform	PC via Steam
Age Rating	All Ages or 18+ with patch
Official Website

Disclaimer: I am fully aware the word trap can be used as a slur against transgender people. In context here that is not the case at all. The developers and publishers meant no ill will towards the LBGTQ community and, if anything, this visual novel drives home that you should love whomever you want regardless of their gender.

An Eroge with traps is something I’ve never experienced. When Trap Shrine appeared on the Steam store, I was a bit curious to see what it was all about. The story was a humorous one about a priest that runs a shrine where all of the maidens have to be traps! At first I wasn’t going to look at this one since I don’t like buying Visual Novels off Steam due to their crazy rules around the genre, but I was given the game as a gift from a friend so I decided to take it on. Let’s see if my first foray into magical world of traps was a fun one.

The story follows a young man named Masato. He is the priest of a shrine that his father left. His childhood friend and self-proclaimed older sister, Endou Mishiro, is the head shrine maiden here. Mishiro has always been by his side, through thick and thin. Mishiro very much wants to marry Masato and be with him forever, but Masato has an aversion to marrying a trap at first. Everyone there is quite OK with him marrying Mishiro. In fact, everyone else at the shrine fully expected it. Masato however is worried about having an offspring to which Mishiro assures there are instances of traps getting pregnant! After an argument Masato convinces Hinowa, the shrine mascot and errand boy to the Gods, to help him unlock the secrets of God sealed in the mountain. This is supposed to be the Goddess of Marriage, so he is sure she will find him the perfect waifu. Things do not go exactly as planned. He does in fact wake up the beautiful fox Goddess of Marriage, Yui, but it turns out this Goddess was a trap as well. Yui immediately wants to make Masato her husband and even lays in bed with him the first night. Mishiro is not going to let a filthy sow take his man, and thus hilarity ensues.

Since this title is pretty short I don’t want to get into too many specifics, but this is one crazy romp from beginning to end. All of the characters are well written and their personalities really shine through. Yui is that great Onii-sama trap that will properly steal your heart in a second from cuteness or magic, whichever comes first. Mishiro is the very lovable childhood friend, I was rooting for him from the start actually, but you better watch out, there’s a bit of a Yandere in this one! Hinowa is also very cute and adds even more comic relief to the story. There are some heartfelt moments here and I was left with a good heartwarming feeling at the end of this.

The writing for the most part is good, but you will notice a few things the could’ve been ironed out a bit better. I noticed a few grammar issues, but nothing major. Quite frankly, for a $9.99 price tag the quality here was better than I expected. I’ve seen far worse from bigger publishers that sold their games at a higher price. There is a free 18+ patch that you can find links to in the forums on Steam.

The artwork here is really solid. The character sprites are nicely detailed with lots of expressions to convey the craziness of scenes taking place. All of the character designs are great. I mean, aren’t Mishiro and Yui two of the cutest traps ever? Yui even has a fluffy tail, that has to be worth bonus points! There aren’t a lot of CGs outside of the Eroge content. The Eroge CGs still have mosaics, which is a big bummer. I don’t think this is a huge deal, but I much prefer Eroge without them.

While there is nothing that really stands out about the soundtrack, it does fit the game rather well. It has that mystical Asian sound on many tracks, but they are very lighthearted for the most part. There are a couple of more somber tracks for those romantic and heartfelt moments in the game. You can purchase the OST on Steam for an additional $4.99. This includes the full opening song, so that’s not a bad deal at all.

At the end of the day, Trap Shrine was a very enjoyable visual novel. This is a kinetic visual novel, which means there are no story choices or branching paths, but that doesn’t take away from it in the least. You get around 5 hours of trap goodness here for a price point that I feel is very fair for this package. The writing has a few rough spots, but they don’t ruin the experience by any means. If traps are your jam, I highly recommend you check this one out, I think you’ll find it very much to your liking. Or if you’re just curious like I was, there are far worse things you can spend $9.99 on in the Steam store.