| Platforms: | PC-8800 series, PC-9800 series, X68000 series, FM Towns series, Microsoft Windows |
| Developer: | AliceSoft |
| Publisher: | AliceSoft |
| Genre: | Role-playing game |
| Spinoffs: | Brutal King Rance |
| First Release Version: | Rance – The Quest For Hikari – |
| First Release Date: | 15 July 1989 |
| Latest Release Version: | Rance X – Showdown – |
| Latest Release Date: | 23 February 2018 |
Rance is an eroge role-playing video-game series created, developed, and published by AliceSoft.[1] It is the longest-running erotic video game series in history, with nearly 30 years between the first game and the conclusion of the series. The first installment, Rance: The Quest for Hikari, was released in 1989, while the last main-series game, Rance X: Showdown, was released in 2018.[2]
The Rance series follows the titular character, Rance, as he saves a number of kingdoms, defeats demon invaders, and causes mischief in the in-game world, known as "The Continent". He has appeared in most of the main series games as the playable character, accompanied by his loyal slave, Sill Plain. The main series has ten main games, with two spin-offs following the event of Rance IV, the original canon concluding with Kichikuou Rance (Brutal King Rance). In addition, the first three games, Rance: The Quest for Hikari, Rance II: The Rebellious Maidens, and Rance III: The Fall of Leazas were remade in the late 2000s and early 2010s, to better fit into the main canon.
Rance, a mercenary with the Keith Guild, accepts a mission to find and rescue the daughter of a rich family. Rance travels to the kingdom of Leazas and investigates the castle town, while Sill investigates at the all-girls Paris Academy, where the kidnapped girl attended school. The first game made under the AliceSoft brand, it was released on the PC-8800 and PC-9800 series of computers, as well as the Sharp X68000, the MSX 2 and 2+, the FM TOWNS, and the PC88VA. A Windows 95–03 version of the game was released in the late 1990s, about eight years after the first game was released.
Rance 01: Quest for Hikari, released for Windows in 2013, has the same setting as Rance: The Quest for Hikari, and replaces the latter in the main canon. The game features an improved gameplay system, and introduces more new content compared to Rance 02, the remake of Rance II. The game was officially released in English by MangaGamer in 2020, bundled with Rance 02: The Rebellious Maidens.
The city of Kathtom, a member of the Free City Zone, is suddenly entombed underground by the Four Mages who were tasked to guard the town by Ragishss Cryhausen, the city's former guardian. Rance sets out with Sill to defeat them, but soon learns that their minds were corrupted by the power of the rings that they wield. Rance sets out to prevent them from receiving the magic power the rings grant. It was released in 1990 on the same computer systems as the first Rance game was.
A graphical remake of Rance II: The Rebellious Maidens, released for Windows in 2009. It was the genesis for the other early Rance series re-releases. It did not contain as much new content as the next two re-releases, Rance 01: The Quest for Hikari and Rance 03: The Fall of Leazas. The latter released Kai version includes the completely rewritten script to better fit the main canon.[3] The game was officially released in English by MangaGamer in 2020, bundled with Rance 01: The Quest for Hikari.
Leazas, a kingdom ruled by Queen Lia Parapara Leazas, is invaded by the warring empire of Helman, to the west. Fiends, nigh-invulnerable monsters who drank the blood of the Archfiend, are believed to be the cause of the attack, and to solve that problem, Rance sets out to find Chaos the Darksword, a weapon capable of breaking the Fiends' invincibility field. It was released in 1991 on the PC-9800 series of computers, along with Sharp X68000 and the FM TOWNS; an early Windows release, similar to those that the first two Rance games received, was also released.
A complete reimagining of Rance III: The Fall of Leazas, released for Windows in 2015. The graphics are renewed, while the story is changed to better fit into the main canon. It is the most advanced of the early Rance re-releases.
This game directly follows the events of Rance III. Rance, having defeated the Fiends of Helman and saved Leazas, is teleported to Ylapu, a giant floating island above Leazas. There, Rance must find a way to escape from the island, but is hindered by agents of Helman who are attempting to revive and control the Wargod Upsilon, an ancient weapon created by the Holy Magic Sect. It was released in 1993 for the PC-9800 series and the FM TOWNS.
Rance accepts a quest to stop a horde of underground monsters from attacking the Happiness Pharmaceutical building, where Ibeprofun, a healing medicine, is produced. They discover that the perpetrators are the Angel Army. Rance captures and interrogates one of their commanders, which begins the next game, Rance 4.2 ~ Angel Army ~.
In a continuance of the previous game, Rance 4.1 ~ Save the Medicine Plant! ~, Rance chases down the remainder of the Angel Army, while himself being chased after by an assassination group and three "Rare Gal-Monsters", a class of unique enemies that he had previously encountered in Rance IV: The Legacy of the Sect. The two games were released in 1995 for the PC-9800 series, with a separate on-disc version.
The game was intended to a "What if..." conclusion of the Rance series for if AliceSoft were to go under before the series was to be completed, but its great popularity allowed the company to continue its production of games. Rance, bored of his normal life, gathers a group of outlaw bandits and takes over some towns in southern Helman. The imperial army quickly puts down Rance's rebellion and take Sill captive, but he escapes to Leazas, where he marries the country's queen to become a tyrant "brutal king", commanding his own army to seek his revenge on Helman. Large opposition forces arise tried to remove the tyrant ruler from power; yet, Rance continues his trials to re-assert his power as the King of Leazas, retrieve Sill from Helman control, and take over the world. Rance, in fulfilling his general role as an epic hero, saves The Continent from destruction by a greater evil. Released in 1996, it is the first grand strategy game in the Rance series, and was the basis for Sengoku Rance and other non-Rance titles by AliceSoft with similar gameplay. It was also the first AliceSoft game released primarily for Windows and all other Rance games would follow.
A soft reboot of the Rance series, released in 2002 after a 6-year hiatus following Brutal King Rance. Rance 5D: The Lonely Girl is based on a unique roulette system, where the role-playing elements are determined by randomization. In the game, Rance is traveling through the Continent, when he and Sill stumble upon Genbu Castle, a castle leading to another dimension. They must then escape the dimension, along with a new ally, Rizna Lanfbitt of Zeth. The game was officially released in English by MangaGamer in 2016, bundled with Rance VI: The Collapse of Zeth.
Rance, continuing his trials from Rance 5D: The Lonely Girl, travels to Zeth, a kingdom to the south-west of Leazas. He offends Radon, a high governmental official, and is sent to a slave camp. Sill, despite having previously been sold to Rance from the Zethan slave trade, is treated very kindly. While within the slave camp, Rance joins the resistance group "Ice Flame", which seeks to change the inequality of Zethan society, in which non-magic users are treated as second-class citizens. Rance VI: The Collapse of Zeth, released in 2004, is one of the most well-received installments in the Rance series, primarily due to its borrowing of story elements from the non-canon Brutal King Rance. The game was officially translated by MangaGamer in 2016, bundled with Rance 5D: The Lonely Girl.
Rance sets out for Nippon, an island archipelago to the east of the Continent, which is modeled after the Warring-States Period of Japanese history. The original English translation of this game, that of Yandere Translations, gave the Rance series, and AliceSoft in general, a noticeable presence in the western world. Sengoku Rance, also known as Rance VII, was one of AliceSoft's best-selling titles of all time. In the game, Rance, having been entrusted by an ill Oda Nobunaga to command the Oda clan in his place, seeks to take over Nippon and have sex with as many beautiful Nipponese women as he can. The game was released in Japan in 2006, and an official English translation by MangaGamer was released in 2019.
Also known as Rance VIII, it directly follows the events of Sengoku Rance. Rance returns to the Continent to seek a cure for the curse that was placed on Sill by the Archfiend. While attempting to convince the Queen of Pencilcow, a kingdom to the west of Leazas, to cure Sill, he offends her, and she places a curse on him that he must become much stronger to overcome. He then journeys around the Continent, seeking a cure for both himself and for Sill. This installment focuses more on the individual stories of its various characters than on continuing the greater storyline of the series itself. The game was released in 2011, and an official English translation by MangaGamer was released in 2021.
An expansion of Rance Quest, this game follows Rance as he quests around the Continent to break the curse incurred upon himself in the previous game. The game focuses on the addition of sundry quests, through which Rance can adventure, ostensibly to cure his curse, although primarily in practice to assuage the effects of the curse. The expansion includes an alternate ending that segues into Rance IX, and was directly implemented into the official English release, without needing to be purchased separately.
The government of Helman has fallen into the hands of Stessel Romanov, who corrupts the country and plans to take over the entirety of the Continent. A revolutionary force gathers, seeking to replace the former emperor to the throne, and they solicit the aid of Rance, who agrees, having heard of a magical item in Helman's treasury that can remove Sill's curse. The Prime Minister, Stessel, has been planning this, and his actions have been seen earlier in the Rance series; he pushed for the war between Helman and Leazas in the events of Rance III: The Fall of Leazas. The game was released in 2014, and localized by MangaGamer in 2023.
The conclusion of the Rance series, it was released on 23 February 2018.[2] The war amongst the Fiends of the Monster Realm has ended, and they now invade the human realm, to their east. Rance leads the combined forces of all humanity to battle the attacking Fiends.[4] It is known to have the largest video game script ever written.[5] An official English translation by MangaGamer is in progress, though a release date has not yet been confirmed.
A hentai OVA based upon the series, Rance: Sabaku no Guardian, was released on December 25, 1993. It was not directly related to the events of any game in the series. It consisted of two episodes.
A second original video animation series, Rance 01: Hikari wo Motomete The Animation, was an adaptation of the re-release of the first game, Rance 01: The Quest for Hikari, and was released from December 26, 2014 to June 24, 2016. Consisting of four episodes, the OVA was directed by Takashi Nishikawa and animated by studio Seven and Pink Pineapple.[6]
Rifujin na Magonote, the author of Mushoku Tensei, said that the novel series was inspired by Rance series, among other inspirations.[7]