Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation

Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation is a sports gacha game for Microsoft Windows developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo. The game was released in Japan on November 15, 2017 via DMM Games and later on Southeast Asia via Steam on April 10, 2019, and Johren on June 15, 2021.

Gameplay

Unlike previous games in the Dead or Alive Xtreme series, on Venus Vacation the player does not directly control the characters during beach volleyball matches. Instead, the game adopts a turn-based strategy system in which the player can issue commands during time outs to prioritize attacking/spiking (labeled POW in-game) or defensive play (labeled TEC in-game), substitute players to conserve their stamina, and choose which opponent to target.

New events and gacha banners are introduced weekly as part of in-game festivals. Through these banners the player can obtain swimsuits called trendy suits which highly boost the character stats during the corresponding event. Each festival has beach volleyball matches divided in difficulty levels ranging from E to SSS+ difficulty. The higher the level cleared, the higher the rewards obtained. These rewards may contain premium currency and tickets to use on the game's gacha and consumable items to gift to the characters to raise their exp. As characters level up, new character episodes and gravure-themed cutscenes are unlocked.

Venus Vacation has an extensive photo mode in which the player can make the characters pose in different parts of the Venus Island including the beach, bar, onsen, and the player's private room. The latter can be decorated by the player with different motifs.

Characters

Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation released with 10 playable characters, nine originating from Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 and Misaki, a new character created exclusively for Venus Vacation. Players starting the game for the first time must select two initial girls: one from the original Xtreme 3 roster and another from the same pool of characters plus Misaki. Over time, new characters that can be unlocked via gacha, have been added with the following release dates:

Development

Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation was announced at Tokyo Game Show 2016 as PC-exclusive game. A year later during Tokyo Game Show 2017, Koei Tecmo revealed the first details about the game's gameplay and monetization. On September 2017, the inclusion of a new original character called Misaki was announced and a trailer was released showcasing the ten characters available at launch along with more gameplay details.

In an interview with Siliconera, the current director Yasunori Sakuda commented that the reason Venus Vacation added so many new characters was due to the difficulty in reintroducing previous characters due to their existing relationships in the mainline Dead or Alive games. For Sakuda, it was much easier to make characters from scratch whose stories had a deeper focus with the player.

Release

Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation was released in Japan on November 15, 2017. A Steam version, available only on Southeast Asian countries entered open beta on March 28, 2019. This version supports English, Korean, and Chinese languages and was released on April 10, 2019. A cloud version was released on April 23, 2019 through DMM Games. A second Steam version was released on August 19, 2020, connected to the original DMM Games version. A second international version was released on July 1, 2021 through the gaming platform Johren.

Due to its later release date, the international version of the game runs a year behind in content compared to the Japanese server. To make up for this content disparity, the international version would have occasional exclusive swimsuits and events created by the international development team that would come later to DMM. Reika, the 30th character to be added to the game, was the first character designed by the international team. To avoid upsetting Japanese players due to a delayed character release, she was released simultaneously on both versions.

Since release, Venus Vacation has had several collaborations with other series by Koei Tecmo, games by third parties, manga series, and more. The game has also received merchandising since its inception.

Reception

Due to the game's limited release, it did not receive enough reviews in the West to score at review aggregator Metacritic. Andrew Duncan from GameGrin gave the Steam release a 4.5/10, praising the game's graphics but criticizing its long loading times, repetitive gameplay and music. Matt Sainsbury from Digitally Downloaded acknowledged the game's controversial aspects but nonetheless praised its aesthetic, presentation, and relaxing gameplay.

Despite not officially releasing in the West, Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation has been a success for Koei Tecmo as the game has had its most profitable year 4 years after the game's launch.

Controversies

On June 2018, a feature was added to the game that allowed players to pull character's clothes. Motherboard called the feature a harassment simulator.

On January 2021, Koei Tecmo reported to the Kanagawa prefectural police that a person was selling compilations of in-game footage using a nude patch through auction sites. The company said they will file a civil suit and seek reparations for misuse of their intellectual property.

Notes

References

External links

• Official website (in English)
• Official website (in Japanese)

1. Dead or Alive Xtreme 3
2. Dead or Alive 6
3. Characters of the Dead or Alive series
4. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
5. Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
6. Dead or Alive (franchise)
7. Dead or Alive Paradise
8. Luna (name)
9. Team Ninja
10. Saori Ōnishi
11. Dead or Alive 5
12. Dead or Alive 4
13. Kaede Hondo
14. Reika
15. DOA: Dead or Alive
16. Dead or Alive 3
17. Élise
18. Nanami
19. Dead or Alive 2
20. Straw Millionaire