A Damned Good (First) Time: Sex positivity in Cute Demon Crashers!

CONTENT WARNING for mildly NSFW screenshots and discussions of sex. 

Cute Demon Crashers! is an adults-only, sexually explicit visual novel created by Sugar Script, an original English visual novel creative team. Both the writing and gameplay of Cute Demon Crashers embody the core principles of sex positivity, with each route exemplifying different aspects, making for a uniquely positive player experience.

Sex positivity is the view that sex between any consenting parties, regardless of appearance, gender identity, or other factors, should be a positive shared experience without shame. Consent cannot coaxed or pressured out of a person in any way, such as pleading or peer pressure, and can be revoked at any time. Depicting sexuality as fluid and sex as an acceptable, enjoyable act not only restricted to cishet couples can be a part of sex positivity as well.

Sex positivity isn’t limited to sexual predilections, a person’s appearance, or their level of experience with sex; these are just examples that challenge the expectations of sexual content in various mediums. Cute Demon Crashers follows these principles to the letter, offering four potential romantic interests for the player to choose from and exploring different aspects of relationships and sexuality in each route.

After wishing for a sexual experience, the player-character is visited by three incubi (Akki, Kael, and Orias) and a succubus (Mirari), who offer to fulfill her wish. With the game’s focus on sex positivity and consent, the player-character receives time to bond with each potential lover through brief scenes that reveal their personalities and interests to the player. After three scenes, the player may choose which of the four she wants to lose her virginity to. She may also decide she’s not mature enough for sex and choose to abstain.

The ability to abstain demonstrates sex positivity because the player is not forced into a choice which would rob them of consent during gameplay. This plays into the aspect of sex positivity that a person can revoke consent at any point and, thus, that choosing to abstain from sex is well within a person’s rights. If the player absolutely had to choose a sexual partner, then the consent given is questionable. Consent can be reflected in abstinence.

Like with most dating visual novels, each choice influences which unique scenario the player experiences. All four possible partners assure the player that they want the experience to be enjoyable, and listen to feedback and reactions. The choices provided include multiple suggestions of sexual acts to choose from and replies to suggestions. Every sexual encounter has a STOP button in the corner that makes the character back off immediately.

Each character has their own distinct approach to the relationship. Akki has shades of social ineptitude and tends to get overexcited. Like the player character, he’s a virgin and enjoys video games, which helps them bond. Seeing how much they have in common, the player and Akki’s friendship deepens. This lays the foundation for their sexual scenario.

Akki is personally embarrassed about being a virgin, but the other characters never shame him for it. If the player chooses to have sex with Akki, the other three demons speculate that Akki and the player-character’s friendship will make the experience pleasant for both of them.

Since Akki is a virgin himself, unsure of what to do, the options give the player a greater feeling of control over what happens. Each route includes choices and suggestions, but with Akki in particular, the sense of sexual experimentation embodies sex positivity. With consent established when the player initiates contact and reaffirmed by making suggestions during sex, the act becomes a positive and welcoming encounter between two inexperienced people.

Mirari is a cheerful, playful succubus who enjoys playing tabletop games and gardening. She created the portal the demons use to visit the player-character, making her instrumental in the game’s story. She and the player chat and relax together while they play tabletop games in the garden. These scenes allow the player-character to become more comfortable with the idea of a same-sex friend becoming a lover, building up to a sexual encounter.

Throughout her scenario, Mirari is happy and tender. She supports the player with compliments and a chipper attitude. She works on making the player feel completely comfortable and relaxed, despite the experience gap between the two of them and despite the player-character feeling she’s not as attractive as Mirari.

Mirari is reassuring throughout their sexual scenario, including about the player character’s appearance, which helps the player-character feel more at ease. Mirari’s compliments and encouragements help make the experience enjoyable. When the player-character feels reassured, she ceases worrying and instead enjoys the experience.

Mirari is an example of subverting sexual expectations. She’s a succubus that is happy to oblige the player-character’s request to have an enjoyable first time. Her exact sexual orientation is not discussed via the game itself, but it’s clear she falls somewhere on the queer spectrum. She willingly engages in sexual activities with another woman and is comfortable and happy doing so.

Kael, level-headed, orderly, and understanding, cleans, cooks and acts as the mediator among the other demons. His route kicks off with him doing the housework the player-character has been neglecting. While he does this, he and the player chat about personal topics, like what stresses them out or what family means to them. As she gets to know him, the player feels less anxious about being with him in an intimate setting, should she select him.

Like Mirari, Kael’s encounter is filled with affection and acceptance. The dialogue exchanged during his sexual encounter includes him accepting the player’s body and appearance as-is and being supportive, and the player doing the same for him. This creates a positive atmosphere and deepens their rapport. He focuses on what his partner wants and makes certain his actions are pleasurable.

By contrast, the posh, intellectual Orias can seem cold and distant with his emotional indifference to others, but he does open up to the player-character during and after their interactions. What makes his route distinctive is its focus on kink.

In his first scene, he explains his interest in BDSM. He continues to share his interests in the following encounters, and the player-character becomes noticeably more comfortable with him and his sexual predilections. The gradual introduction to his fetish can give the player-character the courage to choose Orias knowing that her first sexual experience may not be what she initially expected.

The depiction of BDSM in Cute Demon Crashers is particularly notable considering the visual novel’s focus on consent. Orias reflects the true nature of the often-misunderstood kink and lifestyle as a responsible, safety-oriented dom.

He uses a safe word, which the player-character can use to communicate discomfort or duress, and frequently checks in on her comfort level, illustrating the principles of “safe, sane, and consensual” central to healthy BDSM sex. The power differential between Orias and the player is solely in the roles they play while enjoying their sexual experience together.

Many romance and erotica writers ignore the principles of sex positivity and consent or consider it boring; and in pornography, regardless of its medium, consent is almost always implied, not explicitly given. However, explicit consent can be used to create sensual, passionate love scenes by contributing to the enjoyment of all parties involved.

With a myriad of erotic games in existence—many of them featuring questionable consent or sexual assault—Cute Demon Crashers features various sex-positive themes with affirmative consent in each of the game’s possible routes. With consent playing a key role in the story and being revocable at any point during sexual encounters, the visual novel helps educate the players via the story’s progress. And the more people who see healthier depictions of relationships and sex in various mediums of fiction, the more likely this is to become the cultural norm both in fiction and real life.