This is fifth of fifteen essays contained within the fourth issue of the Adult Analysis Anthology, a collection of longform writing that seeks to expand the breadth of critical discourse around adult games and adult game culture. If you’d like to support the creation of more high-quality writing about adult games the full anthology is available for purchase on Itch! Anthology logo by Pillow!
Written By: Hunter M
Content warning: The games discussed in this article feature frequent non-consensual themes, such as harassment, threats, violence, and rape.
In the game Slash Cucumber XXX!! (second installment of the Lizzy series), there’s a moment early on where the player is flagged to see a Bad End scene. A girl is tied up, being raped by two boys. A fairly standard sight in this sort of game! You’re on a colorful, cartoony adventure, and the cutesy aesthetics set you up for the gutpunch of seeing some intense sexual violence. How horrifying! But there’s an unusual wrinkle here: The boys are flirting with each other while they do it. They’re making each other giggle, and teasing each other for the funny faces they make while having sex. This Bad End moment is surprising, and humiliating, but it’s not framed as a horror scene. It’s a silly gangrape.
That’s the weird difference the Lizzy games have, compared to other porn games with dark themes but cute aesthetics (your Degrees Of Lewdity, your LonaRPG). Other games use a facade of cuteness, to then let it slip and expose the darkness underneath. In the Lizzy series, the cuteness and the joy and the darkness insistently coexist.
Roksim (FurAffinity, Inkbunny, Tumblr, Itchio, Bluesky, Twitter , Newgrounds) is an artist and game developer I’m a pretty big fan of (I even contributed to the latest Community Art Collab!), and his Lizzy series is some games I’ve been trying to put over with everyone I know for years now. As soon as I saw the Fourdult Fournalysis Fournthology was announced, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to tell even more people about them.
But, showcasing an entire series of games in one short essay? I can’t just do that on my own! So, I figured… why not ask Roksim for help?
HUNTER M: “Wanna give a quick intro?”
ROKSIM: “I am Roksim, an artist, animator and game developer! I looove drawing and exploring my own dreams through art, and animation, too, and I love exploring NSFW stuff and doing crazy things that feel to me forbiddingly amazing!!”
“Forbiddingly amazing” is an apt way of putting it! Roksim draws and animates a lot of scenarios that contrast goofy, squishy cartoon characters with an equally squishy cartoony approach to things like bullying, harassment, and rape. A flippancy towards sexual violence is not a rarity in the world of adult video games, but I would argue that Roksim sets his pieces apart. And it’s all in the commitment to the bit.
Roksim’s works simply Do Not Blink. You as the audience are free to respond to them as you will, come to any shocking realization about tonal dissonance and horror that you may, but the art staunchly refuses to lean into it. Isn’t that almost more unnerving than the outwardly dark tone of more hardcore art? Disorienting, at least! Even a far more brutally violent h-game still gives us an “out” by flagging The Scary of its scenarios. It offers the audience that emotional distance via an aesthetic of disgust, and sexual excitement through a miserable atmosphere. Instead, Roksim’s art is relentlessly Silly. His works are challenging, because they refuse to overtly repulse you.
Well… Depending on who “you” are, exactly. I suppose there are audiences feeling a certain kind of repulsion from the surface-level aesthetics of these games.
Roksim’s artistic sensibilities scream “childishness”, evoking the kinds of amateur early-digital pictures you might find users posting to a Warrior Cats fan forum in the mid-2000s (A sick little part of my brain wants to say they have Humongous Entertainment swag). But the expertise underneath gets betrayed by a lot of bouncy animation, and the intentionality with which the visuals are used. Loud, saturated color palettes, and frantic, scratchy linework, which only grow more intense and unfocused whenever characters become too emotional or too horny, like the visuals themselves are getting too excited about what’s happening to keep composed. And then the character designs: Most characters Roksim depicts are rendered in simplistic, blobby shapes (very ambiguous taxa) that are easy to read and animate, a collection of silly little plushie-adjacent cartoon blorbos.
Therefore, when those blorbos start committing heinous acts of sexual violence on each other, there’s room for the vibes to stay seated. This is a world where a person being battered into submission might take the form of a Cartoon Fight Cloud, or where being nonconsensually sodomized might come with a “BONK!” sound effect. These critters do not behave like normal human people, and they certainly don’t treat touchy subjects with the same care. Why would they? They’re all basically incapable of legitimately “hurting” each other. When the whole world is made of cushion padding, the characters have no need to take responsibility for their actions. Roksim’s works implement themes of age regression into their very aesthetic foundations. Deeply Autistic Artwork (/pos /pos /pos).
HM: “The Lizzy games take a very flippant approach to characters being in peril. Do you feel that the squishy blorbo aesthetic you use gives the story more wiggle room to do that while staying lighthearted?”
ROK: “Yes, totally!! I feel like for me, there are 2 types of non-con – the silly kind where someone gets romped on and called a loser, and the sad kind where there’s focus on panic and desperation and misery […] I try to lean towards the first one because I think touching on the feelings involved in being ‘dominated’ is exciting for me! I feel like silly noncon is very fit for depravity and ‘breaking norms’ without that being ‘bad person’ stuff. […] The intent is coming from a ‘pure’, healthy mind, not one carrying hate or harm or disdain. It’s more care-free in that sense.”
Some people might find it challenging to vibe with that!
Folks, look: I’m not gonna spend much time summarizing. These games are all free to play, and You Are Going To Play Them either before or after reading this article. Just remember to respect the content warnings, and have fun.
First in the series is Elizabeth Slay!! (and its remaster!), a very charming little shooter-platformer, where we introduce our hero Lizzy (a half-kobold-half-vampire-half-witch) and her scheme to steal tomatoes from some Veggiefolk, the Stompos. This entry features no porn, but it establishes something I value a lot in smut: The world feels like it exists as more than a vehicle for sex.
The sequel, Slash Cucumber XXX!!, is where the iconic horniness of the series really presents itself. Lizzy’s been transformed into one of the Stompos from her last adventure, and must journey through treacherous Spiko Veggiefolk territory to try and undo her curse, while practically every NPC she meets wants her to know how hot they think she is now. Taking the form of a brawling-focused action platformer, it makes it clear that Roksim is eager to experiment with genre.
The third game, Lizzy Eats A Tree!!, has Lizzy going undercover into a big awesome treehouse, in order to investigate a group of suspected terrorists (they’re planning a prank on the upcoming cookout). Using more of an adventure/visual novel format, the game focuses on light puzzles and dialogue choices, with deeper relationships to each of the characters. Save the Bad Ending for last, because it goes soooo much harder than you’d expect! <3
Get familiar with that Bad Ending, because a spin-off called What If The Bad Ending Was CANON!! is nearly finished development, and I am so freaking excited. Apparently it’s going to be about Lizzy dealing with her new “friends” in a bunch of dating micro-games. The plot will also set up her next big adventure, Lizzy Owned By The Prince!!, which looks like it’s going to have tactics-RPG game mechanics?? As well as platformer brawling, and a whole new kingdom to explore! It looks ambitious , and I don’t know what Roksim is cooking with all this, but I love it.
Phew thank goodness we survived the summary section. Now, let’s stop dancing around the most important part here, folks: I find these games Really Fucking Hot. When I think about Roksim’s Lizzy games, I literally start huffing and puffing. Why is that? Let’s take a look at what Lizzy represents.
Lizzy is an adorable protagonist. She has the spunk of any given video game hero, able to physically resist any threats, but she’s constantly fumbling her way through social situations. In Slash Cucumber XXX!!, it creates a sense of powerlessness in the player, who can help Lizzy whack enemies and dodge spikes, but (almost) never gets the chance to maneuver around an awkward chat with a horny goon. It’s a devious setup! The way Lizzy is thrust into the role of an intruder, it means that she has to interact with people in a situation where she has no social power, and the NPCs love to take advantage of that.
HM: “Even though there isn’t a lot of direct sex/violence, there’s a big focus on NPCs pushing Lizzy’s boundaries (especially in SCXXX). Was that intended, creating a sense of tension via harassment that only gets cut occasionally? Any thoughts on depicting that pressure over direct sexual assault?”
ROK: “Yes, it is intended! I wanted to show a contrast between a reserved basically-asexual Elizabeth focused on her adventure and the world around her, and the Spikos she meets who are also very much in tune with the world around them and love life but also would like to own Elizabeth’s rump […] I felt that it’s right that they make her feel uncomfortable and weird and ogle her openly even if they’re just chatting about like, trees and rivers, it feels like powerful energy that I enjoy showing! […] Most of the harassment Elizabeth endures in SCXXX is contextual to her basically casually ‘invading’ a rival tribe territory.”
This tension does fully boil over in the sequel, Lizzy Eats A Tree!!, where staying composed under sexual harassment becomes mechanically recognized with a little bubble shooter mini-game. The player takes a more internalized role as Lizzy’s willpower, and is invited to directly help her stay focused, intentionally sabotage her, or even just try, only to fail, because it’s surprisingly hard!
HM: “In Lizzy Eats a Tree!!, Lizzy gets into way more direct assault scenes with the NPCs who harass her. When designing the game, did that change happen because the player had a more direct mechanical role in the matter, with the shooter minigame?”
ROK: “The change actually happened because I wanted to put way more focus on deeper interpersonal relationships! This is in contrast with Slash Cucumber XXX!!, where there are a LOT of NPCs, but most of them just have 2 lines. The minigame itself was designed with accordance to that vision, not the other way around. I wanted the fighting to be absent, as well, so that Elizabeth has to fight her foes verbally, not physically. This feels more personal to me, and also, more risky for our hero!”
It is risky! All of Lizzy’s adventures have her surrounded by an atmosphere of risk, which she navigates with an almost dopey haplessness, because her goal is worth the risk. Lizzy shows a willingness to pursue a bad idea with bravery, and the tension of taking those risks gradually becomes something she embraces. Something that becomes thrilling and rewarding in its own right!
Playing through these games, and speaking directly with Roksim, I’m left with a certain, challenging impression: These violent subjects are not being invoked for the sake of shock and drama. Likewise, they aren’t here for the sake of ironic, flippant cruelty. The art isn’t doing this to upset anybody, nor is it trying to respectfully represent real experiences. It tackles these subjects with only a sense of carefree joy. And that’s simply audacious! Artistically irresponsible! You can’t just do that! But then, it does!
I think what excites me sexually about these works is the same thing that excites me about them artistically. When I play Roksim’s games, I feel like I’m being handed a new way of looking at something. Too often am I, as an artist, paralyzed by my own sense of taste. Too often am I, as a dominant woman, paralyzed by my sense of responsibility. Too often am I, as an autistic transgender woman, paralyzed by worrying about how I’m perceived. The Lizzy games are a reassurance that this sort of art can work! Some people might not see the significance, but Roksim’s works have been truly inspiring to me. A non-zero degree of influence on my efforts to become a creepier, more off-putting person, which has genuinely only had positive effects on my social and artistic pursuits!
HM: “Part of this essay asserts that what you’re doing with the tone and subject matter in your art is surprisingly unique. Care to prove my thesis wrong and recommend some other artists/game devs you think are doing similar work to yours, or directly inspired your art?”
ROK: “I do enjoy artists like SuperiorFox, Sunibee, your-bud-crud, Syuro – I think those guys are awesome!!”
Reading through AAA, I can’t help but see two trends in sentiment emerge: “I wish I could find more games that aren’t just Yucky Gay Rape stories!”, and “I wish I could find more games that are Yucky Gay Rape stories!”. Tragically, I do not have any Enlightened Centrist position to take here. I really do wish I could find more games, more art in general, doing what Roksim is doing! Eschewing the instinct to walk on eggshells around these topics, jumping fully into the ballpit, and having the audacity to act with joy in the process. Who is going to be the next person to look at this art and realize “Oh! I can just Do That!”?
Hunter is a transgender woman working freelance/commission drawing comics and sexy cartoons. She has too many special-interest-adjacent opinions on pornography and kink and video games, as is probably obvious by now. Come to her house and pay all her rent and she’ll cook you a big plate of steamy hot gnocchi with nut-free pesto sauce. You can find her at @HunterMSmut on Twitter and @huntermsmut.bsky.social on Bluesky.
Subscribe to the RSS feed