#visual novel review

[ebonysplendor]

Do you have a review of The Kid At The Back?

O_O;

Pfft...of course I do! What? You thought I just had it downloaded and in my "Play Later" stash for the past 2 - 3 months with the full intention of playing it and writing a review, just for it to never happen? Of course not~! Just to prove it to you, I will insert the entire thing right here, no links needed! And no, it's not because I didn't have it written until now, so don't think that! ANYWAYS.

TL;DR: I'm not worried about if this man is at the back. My question and only concern is can he hit it from the back?

Game Link: https://fantasia-kittcat.itch.io/the-kid-at-the-back-demo

Notable Features: Yandere LI, Custom Pronouns, Self-Insert (first and last name), Two LIs, 1+ Hour Long Demo Spiciness: 2/5 or 5/5 -- It depends on which version you get. If you get the regular degular free version, it'll be more innocent with some flirtiness here and there. If you pay for the NSFW version, it'll be way more sinful and the way that the Gods intended it to be. LI Red Flags: 4/5 -- Breaking-and-entering, possessive, drugged us, lack of consent; the usual stuff, but I can fix him

Wanna know more? Pfft, not if you aren't in the 18+ club you don't. Yes, that's even with nothing explicit popping off in the demo. So go on, get away. Oh? You're at least 18? Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's get into it!

...Okay, so I may or may not have completely lied about having this review written, but I mean, so what?! I'm making the review now, aren't I?! Cut a girl some slack!

Lol actually, all jokes aside, this gave me the push that I needed to go on and get it done. I've honestly been meaning to play this game for a hot minute now, but other things caught my immediate attention, and this kept getting pushed further and further back. All that matters now is that I've finally played it, I'm making the review, and we are here together as a squad.

Now, with that being said...

I find it extremely disrespectful that I waited so long to play this masterpiece; what was I thinking?

The story, so far, has me in an absolute chokehold, and I absolutely hate that it's only the demo because I want to know now. I am all over this story right now, and the dev is going all the way in with no remorse.

Not to mention, the LI -- or at least the one that I'm simping for, because there's two this time -- is just so damned good looking. What's even more attractive is that he doesn't play into the whole edge lord stereotype like some people we know. He's actually a pretty sweet guy so far! He has psycho tendencies, for sure, but a sweet guy overall!

Just as a side note, I have always had the weakest spot for a guy in alt/goth/emo/grunge -- all of that -- fashion. Like, the attraction that I have is ungodly, and I just...like, it's disrespectful how attractive I find them. Now, I want you to imagine our yandere LI...but with tattoos. When I tell you that I'd be ruined?!

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch.

When I say ready to submit?! When I say ready to turn into the absolute best baby girl?

*Ahem*

Okay, now that I've got my degeneracy out a little bit, I'm going to start giving you a summary of the game so that you can be as absolutely geeked -- and in love with this man -- as much as I am. The game is really good, and like I said, the story is damned interesting thus far. Anyways, I'm going to stop yapping so I can start telling you about the game. Like always, I am going to tell you as much about the game as possible without ruining the game itself. That being said, let's finally get into it.

So boom.

Literature class is over, and we're getting our anime protagonist on. We're dramatically looking out the window thinking about how it's going to rain, and how it was super unfortunate that we hadn't brought an umbrella. ... Damn.

...Okay, well anyways! Now that we've had our main character complex solidified, we get up, and one of the members of the squad inquire about lunch before another one comes up behind them. Now, we aren't too worried about them anymore because we're looking at him.

Jericho "Crowe" Ichabod.

Classroom representative, close friend, and an absolute snack. While he has an anime antagonist aesthetic to him, he has the vibe of the supporting character and love interest of the anime protag, ya feel me? Like, we are feeling this man.

After we're done thinking about how much we simp over this man on the low, we respectfully reject the offer to go to lunch and instead hit the library, anticipating that addictive smell of books and coffee. Besides, we've got a paper to work on, so why not? We get our stuff, and we head in that direction.

Now, everyone knows about having unassigned assigned spaces, right? You know that whole thing when you get so used to sitting in a particular seat, or having a certain parking spot, or always studying in a particular room, so you just always gravitate towards it and kind've make this unsaid claim on it? Well, we have an unassigned assigned seat by this window in the library, and some bitch took it right as we were going towards it. How are we supposed to feed into our main character syndrome, if we don't have the window seat?

Whatever though. We're lowkey pissy about it, but we decided to let the kid have their moment. Everyone deserves their own episode, ya feel? We go find another seat.

Since this is the library and all, we start browsing the shelves to find a book for a little leisure reading. Was this the initial choice? No, but we weren't really trying to involuntarily focus on the fact that we got stuck sitting around all the gossiping "peaked-in-high-school" students. Shout out to that bitch who took our seat earlier. Your mom's a hoe, and I hope someone punches you in the face. Either that or you get in a knife fight. Either is good, just don't sit in my damned unassigned assigned seat anymore.

It gets worse though, because we can't even look for a book in peace. There's this loud ass thud from the book shelf right next to us, and whoever knocked into it hit it hard enough that some of the books almost came off the shelf. Of course, we've got to investigate the cause of this, so we try to catch a peek through a gap on the bookshelf and...it's honestly typical.

Remember when I told you about the "peaked-in-high-school" students? Well, we found another set on the other side of the bookshelf. These two students were harassing this other student for, what sounds like, no apparent reason. The situation escalates pretty quickly before one of the bullies absolutely knocks that other student's shit in. We just kind've wince because, damn that's tough...but, meh, it's not our business. The other bully then proceeds to pull out a pocket knife. Well, damn, I guess it's our business...

We jump in.

Lol don't get it twisted, though. We didn't do much, but we did do enough to get them to go away, which mattered more than anything because this guy was definitely about to end up in a hospital bed.

We help this poor, unfortunate soul up, and...gah damn, he's tall. Lol imagine my 5'2.5 -- 5'3 on a good day -- self helping this 6ft tall man up. Sheeeeeeeeesh. He should've curb stomped their asses, because he's gotta be rocking at least a size 14 shoe.

Anyways, I guess he kind've said "fuck us" though, because we were like "Nurse's office?" and he was like "Nah" and just straight dipped out after that. No "thank you", no nothin', and-- wait.

THIS BITCH WAS THE ONE SITTING IN OUR UNASSIGNED ASSIGNED SEAT. We know this, because he went and got his stuff from over there and then bolted out of the library! Well, that explained the punch to the face and the pocket knife. Honestly? Good look, universe.

Okay, okay, okay, enough jokes; let's get on with the rest of the story (kinda because avoiding huge spoilers).

We leave the library, too, after some more time goes by, and guess who's in our next class...

The bitch that stole our seat The guy from the library. Huh...never noticed him before this point, but that's probably because he sits at the very back of the room.

He must've noticed us, too, though, because when we make eye contact, he get's all flustered in the face and looks away.

Now, admittedly, after that encounter in the library, we're kind've curious about this kid, and, again, it's dope how the universe works sometimes because, for this class, we need a partner, and wouldn't you know it?

We don't have a partner, he doesn't have a partner, so we do as the Gods intended and pair up.

Contrary to how he looks, he actually isn't the tsundere of our cast.

He -- his name is Solivan Brugmansia, by the way; he likes to be called sunny Sol -- is actually a pretty okay dude!

He's not that stereotypical emo boy edgelord or that arrogant hard ass that thinks the people around him are idiots. He's actually pretty nice and legit doesn't mind our company; he's even open to seeing us outside of class just to casually hang out and talk. He's also pretty -- very, extremely... -- damned attractive, if you don't mind me throwing that in. Something else that I wanna throw in is that -- you remember when I mentioned that he rushed out without saying "thank you"? -- he said "thank you" and really appreciated us jumping in to help him.

Pretty grateful that he didn't make it to the knife fight portion of our threat. I would've never made that threat if I knew he was going to be this sweet of a guy.

Anyways, class gets out, we exchange numbers, and make mentions of hanging out in the future before parting ways for the day. We get back home, text some of our friends and the new bae, and eventually go to sleep for the next day to roll around.

As mentioned, the next day rolls around, and we're with the squad making lunch plans. While this is going on, we find new bae in the crowd of students in the hallway. Naturally, we call him over, but in hindsight, this was not the brightest idea. We didn't really account for the fact that OG bae and new bae were going to catch a bad vibe from each other.

And boi, did they catch a bad vibe. More accurately, they caught a "you're competition" vibe.

At this point they're sizing each other up, and it's like, please don't do that, because I'll take you both...then again, I am leaning more towards one than the other.

But it might get bad depending on whoever we pick, and we've definitely got to pick.

I have got to give the fattest shout out to whoever sent that anon message in, because they've pushed me to stand on business and play this game, and it was so worth it.

Honestly, where do I even start with this? The art style, the bae, the plot -- dear Gods the plot. I am so invested in this story! You'll understand once you play it for yourself, but it's like...what is going on?! What is going on behind closed doors? Why are things starting to get not so black and white? Like, I am extremely suspicious of the things that are going on in this game. Like, the dev(s) didn't have to go in on the art style and the story like that. Speaking of the art style...

Y'all know that I have a thing for the way that games look, and baby, I am in love. I love this whole "comic book" vibe that this game has going on. Like, I just love the shadows behind the characters and their designs and how they're written and just -- I honestly can't give you a clear depiction of how much I love the art style or exactly what about it I love, but I love it. I just love the style of this game, how it looks, and how it flows.

Anyways, I think this game is definitely worth it, and shit, based on what I managed to dig up and research, those $5 to unlock the sin is worth it. Not even because the CGs or the scenes that were made exclusively for the degenerates were revolutionary or anything, but because I really feel that this is going to be a great damned visual novel once it's complete, and it is so deserving of that monetary support. The amount of work that has already gone into this game in its demo stage is impressive, and I am super excited to see what else is in store. Like, I'm really trying to see what day 3 is about at this point, and I'm trying to get to the part where Sol starts clapping these cheeks. I will do a lot more than just research the NSFW scenes, I'm going to drop some cash to experience that firsthand. BRING ON THE OTHER 5 DAYS. MY BODY IS READY FOR IT!

But seriously, when is Sol going to start hitting it from the back...? And no, I ain't scratching it out this time! Y'all know what it is at this point! You know full well that I am a degenerate.

Lol okay, anyways, all jokes aside, that's it from me.

Like I said, I'm really excited for this full game to drop, and I will gladly spend the money for it whenever that time comes. That being said, I definitely recommend it. If you want the NSFW version, you do have to spend a minimum of $5 to unlock it; however, if you're low on cash, you're still able to play, but it'll be the SFW version -- both are really good either way, so don't let that deter you.

I'll go ahead and put a link for it right here so that you can head on over and get in on this amazingness. As I always like to remind people to do, once you get to the dev's page, leave them that ever warm "Yo, this shit is fire..." to give them some verbal validation, and if you're feeling really fancy, drop some financial validation, too. Either way, definitely play this game because it is good and so worth the (minimum) hour of playthrough.

Welp, that's all from me, friends! As always, please remember to drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!

The Kid at the Back (DEMO)

[fromthedragonsdesk]

On Visual Novels and Catharsis

I never had a high opinion of Visual Novels. In my mind, they always seemed to boil down to the most basic wish fulfillment tripe that we'd collectively assign to the isekai genre these days, I'd wager. To me it was a waste of time or energy trying to interact with them (as an aside, I'm well aware that the Phoenix Wright series is arguably a visual novel, but I missed that boat by not having DS-era device). Even today, with a glance over most of games tagged 'visual novel' on Steam, you'll see what could be generously described as fetish pornography. So, seeing all this, I reinforced my belief that visual novels were for people who wanted some plot with their porn, and never thought much of it.

To my surprise, Steam insisted on recommending visual novels to me. I usually just tossed them aside from the recommendation queue, until I got two recommended almost back-to-back: Mice Tea and Changeling Tale.

Mice Tea had generally positive reviews, and many of them cited that the game's writing and characterization were generally humorous and appealing. So, given that it was on sale during the Steam Winter Sale, I figured it was worth a shot. Then, after basically binging on the game for 20 hours, I walked away thinking that I might have misjudged the genre on some levels.

I wouldn't say I was entirely surprised by Mice Tea - the reviews did it justice in terms of you, as the reader, wanting to root for the main cast to succeed. Most of the conflict didn't necessarily arise from an outside force, but rather internalized conflicts and the struggle to essentially be honest with yourself and those around you, risking vulnerability, essentially. At its core, I still felt like it was wish fulfillment to a significant degree, but the implausibilities were generally smoothed over enough to allow for suspension of disbelief to ride along with the story. And yeah, there... was a fair amount of catering to various fetishes and such worked in, but all in a fairly world-consistent sort-of perspective? At its core, the story was light, cheerful with moments of self-reflection and introspection, and wrapped up in a generally nice bow all in the end.

But what Mice Tea ended up doing for me, personally, was allowing me to lower my defenses during a particularly stressful point in my life, staying present in my mind when I then read over the reviews and such for Changeling Tale. I brushed off the emotion reviews, thinking that they were likely being dramatic.

I could not have been more wrong.

While set in a backdrop of old Scottish fantasy, I continually found myself impressed at how grounded Changeling Tale managed to make itself felt. I believe this is because the main character / player character of Changeling Tale (hereafter referred to as "Malcolm") is primarily reacting to the supernatural events occurring around him, rather than necessarily driving them by his own volition. Malcolm is thrust into a world that he already feels disconnected from due to his service in the military, and it cracks further open as fae magic begins seeping into the world around him.

That said, no one in the backwater town in which Malcolm has returned to handles the public appearance of fae magic particularly well, much less the three parallel storylines available to the reader between Jessie, Marion, and Grace. If anything, the most unreasonable reactions come from the player themselves, in how flippant or otherwise easygoing they handle changes happening to the people around them. That said, many decisions have a snowballing / weighted effect that can change plot directions far later on than one might expect, leading to fallings-out with friends and family, or worse.

But then something strange happened to me, as a reader, while working my way through these split storylines. Core messages seemed to stick out to me, interwoven among the stories. But they cut me straight to the core as a person; after finishing all 3 major storylines I was left shaking and bleary-eyed, wishing events could have turned out differently, desperately trying to reject the messages that had been suggested despite knowing deep-down that they were right.

"Be the best you that you can be."

"Encourage people to chase their dreams, but make sure you're pursuing your dream too."

"Sometimes peoples' dreams are irreconcilable with one another. That doesn't mean the love is gone, it just means that it isn't fair to either person."

"The size of the dream does not diminish its value; the holder of the dream determines its value."

(I intentionally omitted the storyline associations I would make)

When I held all of these thoughts together, an emotional dam burst in my heart. For years I never considered myself as having dreams or goals. For years I felt kind of confused and wondering if what I was doing mattered, or had worth. But somehow, a visual novel about fae shenanigans that dances alongside a transformation kink broadsides me with the realization that I AM where I want to be, doing what I am doing. I have a family who l love and loves me back. I am not pursuing a dream; rather, I am cultivating and maintaining a dream I have already attained. I am doing what is important to me and my family, and even if I'm not changing the world around me and leaving a name in the history books, I know that I am here and directly affecting the lives of those around me, and I'm not sure what more I could want for at this very moment.

And for the first time in quite a while, I feel content and satisfied.

[the-otome-freak]

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly Review!!

This is my first ever official, extensive otome review!! I hope y'all enjoy, I went through so many ups and downs with this game. I hope this review inspires more people to get the game, or maybe even helps people realize it might not be for them! I also attempted to keep it as spoiler-free as possible, but there are parts that might dive into spoiler territory. I made sure to mention it, if so! Enjoy~ . . . .

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly is a visual novel developed by Otomate and published by Idea Factory in 2015, available on the PS Vita and Steam. It’s an extremely dark, gothic story with very heavy themes and romance akin to Shakespearian tragedy. When I first picked up this game, I had been previously warned about the angst it contained but nothing prepared me for what I was about to experience. This game contains themes of death, guilt, regret, grief, trauma, isolation, and more. The last time I cried so much consuming a piece of media was when I watched Les Misérables for the first time when I was 15, so that says a lot. POTBB has an iffy system, but this is easily overshadowed by the incredible storyline, jaw dropping art, compelling cast, and beautiful soundtrack.  

Before we get into plot points and character routes, I’d like to talk about POTBB’s system. It’s a typical visual novel at first glance, which means mostly just clicking in order to read the text and watching the events unfold. The features that set it apart however were quite interesting- and frankly quite frustrating as well. This includes its combat system and its flowchart.

POTBB has a combat system that pops up a couple times throughout the story while you’re fighting monsters. The instructions for the combat system were very vague and confusing, especially since I played on PC where the button configurations aren’t clarified in the “Options” menu, so it was a lot of trial and error. It instructs you to shoot your gun, but not how (on PC). I had to figure out on my own that I had to use the left and right click of my mouse to shoot/lock onto targets, so the first couple of plays I was very confused and frustrated. The object of the game is to shoot as many butterflies as possible in the allotted time while also getting a good score, which is achieved by getting combos. Playing the game earns you points. Another problem is that it’s quite glitchy and hard to lock onto the butterflies properly to shoot them, but with practice you can improve (with the sacrifice of a couple of hand cramps). 

The other unique thing about POTBB’s system is its flowchart, which is useful because it allows you to jump to any point in the story you’ve already unlocked, but it can be very frustrating sometimes. You’re required to use the flowchart in order to access the “Side Stories,” aka extra content you slowly unlock as you play. To access the flowchart, you have to go to the menu. The game doesn’t notify you when you’ve unlocked a Side Story, so you just have to remember to check the flowchart every once in a while to see if any have unlocked. And even if a Side Story is “unlocked”, you still have to spend your points you earned in the minigame to actually view the content. Certain character routes, endings, and choices can’t be unlocked unless you’ve viewed these Side Stories. I actually got stuck a few times during my playthrough because I didn’t realize some of the Side Stories were unlocked, and you need to read them to progress. I found that the process of scrolling through the flowchart in the middle of the story often took away from the immersion, but it wasn’t awful. 

On a positive note, I have to talk about POTBB’s art, which was created by Satoru Yuiga. Yuiga has an expressive, sort of water-color art style that adds to the spiritual and mystic elements of the game. I actually didn’t like the style at first; I thought some of the character sprites looked strange, but I quickly got used to it and was soon blown away. The CGs were gorgeous and added so much life to the characters. The facial expressions were so vivid, they displayed perfect depictions of terror, shock, love… I felt every emotion through the art. I’m looking forward to playing more of Yuiga’s games just because of her art. (Images below are promotional CGs)

Now, let's talk plot! (I summarize the Common Route in this section, so feel free to skip if you consider that spoilers!) The story and characters are the best thing about this game, in my opinion. You play as a girl named Beniyuri who has just woken up in a strange mansion with no memory of her past or even herself. You see the world through Beni’s eyes as she traverses the mansion and tries to figure out what’s going on and why she’s there. The mansion is dark, gothic, and scary. Its halls seem endless, every window and door is locked, and mysterious butterflies can be seen practically everywhere. And just when things seem their darkest, Beni hears the loud roar of a beast. Two large lion-like creatures appear and attempt to attack her. Imagine if a Minotaur had a lion’s head; that’s what they look like. She thinks she’s a goner, but suddenly she’s saved by a mysterious man with dark hair and purple eyes. They hide from the monsters together, and Beni learns that this man also doesn’t have any memories. They team up and explore, eventually coming across 3 other men in the mansion who also have amnesia. The four of them find a large hall within the mansion to make their ‘base’ where they’ll be safe from the monsters. They realize that they all have phones on them, and though there isn’t any service, each of them has received one message. “Collect the shards. Complete the kaleidoscope.” They’re in this mansion for a reason, and clearly someone is pulling the strings.

I can’t go into too much detail about the individual routes because the amount of plot twists and spoilers in this game are insane. I will describe each guy and a summary of what their route meant for me and how it made me feel. Some of the routes were phenomenal in their story writing and character development, others not so much. 

The first route recommended is a man named Kagiha, the 2nd person that Beni meets in the mansion, and I have complex feelings about his route. He’s a tall, soft spoken, polite man with light brown hair and green eyes. He’s very kindhearted and treats Beni with a lot of care, cheering her up when she’s depressed about their situation. Kagiha was my favorite in the beginning simply due to how kind he was. All of them were in a very depressing situation with no memories and barely any hope, so his kindness was a sort of light in that darkness. I was very excited for his route and to learn his backstory. It turns out, his route is a branch of the “Best Ending” of the game, so you get to learn the truth about almost everything as you play through his route. I certainly wasn’t expecting this. I had been warned in the past about POTBB’s bittersweet endings, but I really wasn’t prepared like I thought I was. Due to Kagiha’s circumstances (that I can’t go into detail about), his route has two endings, and neither of them are “happy” in regard to his relationship with Beni. The “Best Ending” of the game does indeed end on a happy note, but they don’t end up happy together (again due to circumstances I can’t talk about without spoiling). The “Kagiha Ending” of the game does have them end up together romantically, but with very bittersweet conditions that’s more depressing than the alternative, in my opinion. I was very upset and I cried at both endings, regretting that I loved Kagiha so much because neither ending let him and Beni be truly happy together. But even though I was upset, I have to admit that the “Best Ending” was written phenomenally and deals with the concept of death, grieving, acceptance, and change in a beautiful way. The themes in this game are very heavy but discuss them in a beautiful, important way that really gets your brain going. I sat in silence for a while after the “Best Ending” just… thinking. 

After that emotional wreck, I was ready for a happy ending or at least some more closure. Hikage’s route is recommended after Kagiha, which surprised me a bit. Based off of the cover art and his introduction, he seemed to be the “poster boy.” Hikage is the first man Beni meets in the mansion, the man who saved her from the monsters. I can barely describe his route without getting into spoilers, but it was intense. I didn’t like Hikage at first because he had this misogynistic mindset and constantly scolded Beni for being “weak, just like all women” and yelled at her for “slowing them down.” I wasn’t excited for his route because obviously it meant Beni would get more of this treatment, but I was honestly surprised at what his route had in store. There’s a major plot twist within the route and you come to understand why Hikage has this mindset, and that it doesn’t come from a place of misogyny, but rather trauma. The ending to his route shocked me so much and I bawled my eyes out. It definitely ends on a bittersweet note as well, but the very last scene offers some sort of closure (though not enough, in my opinion.) I overall liked his route plot-wise and thought it was also very thought provoking, tackling themes of abuse, death, mental instability, and despair. Romantically it was okay, but I felt like it took a side-seat to the plot which can either be good or bad, depending on how much you value romance and/or get attached to the characters. Without spoiling, I can tell you that Hikage is written in a way where it makes sense that romance isn’t the focus. Thankfully I wasn’t attached to Hikage as much as Kagiha, but I still cried a river anyway…

You’d think after two routes with horrifically bittersweet endings that the whole game will probably be this way, but surprisingly, the third route in POTBB filled my heart with joy. This route centered around Yamato, who’s a short-tempered, sporty guy with ice-blue hair. He has a bit of a foul mouth, often yelling or getting angry at their situation, but never in an irrational way. Yamato actually ended up being my favorite character overall. He has an unexpected soft side and his romance with Beni was the most realistic among the cast. I also felt his route was quite tragic, despite having the happiest romantic ending in the game. Yamato and Beni’s relationship is really complex, and they actually bond over grief and guilt. Both of them harbor so much guilt in their hearts and it shackles the both of them to their pasts, but by grieving together and finding strength in one another, they’re able to push each other to move on and grow. I really enjoyed this route in a moral sense. It teaches you that it’s okay to grieve and that people grieve at different paces, and sometimes it’s okay to bond over said grief. Healing and forgiveness take time, and having someone else there to heal with you can make you both stronger. The themes in his route were so beautiful and even watching his bonds with other members of the cast grow were incredible too. He has the happiest romantic ending in the game as well, which just added to how good it was. Interestingly enough, Yamato’s route also helped me come to terms with the bittersweetness of the previous routes. I was finally able to accept the circumstances and reasonings behind the depressing endings, allowing me to appreciate the game more as a whole.  

After Yamato’s romantic end, I was excited to finish the rest of the game. I prayed that this next route had a happy ending as well, and that Yamato wasn’t just an exception. I began to pursue Monshiro, who’s a mysterious man who wears a fox mask that Beni has spotted wandering the mansion sometimes. I didn’t know what to expect from him during the first bit of the game because he’s sort of absent until the end of the common route. I was pleasantly surprised, though! I learned more and more about him as I played, even in the other routes, and he’s wonderful. He’s adorable, loving, and incredibly sweet. His route tackles themes of isolation and loneliness, with Monshiro being severely traumatized due to being alone in the mansion for several years. He’s very clingy with Beni and values their relationship more than anything, his main fear being him getting left alone again. His ending was quite happy as well, but their romantic development and deep connection never really got the ending it deserved. Their bond was almost as strong as her bond with Yamato, but I feel like in the end they didn’t get to express that to each other properly. It also felt quite short to me, I wish I could have gotten more content with them that wasn’t plot-related and just focused on their bond and how much they care for each other. Overall, I enjoyed it because Monshiro is so loveable, but the ending just left me unsatisfied and begging for more.  

Now, the last route was a doozy. I’d like to clarify before I begin that this is all, of course, my opinion and perspective, so don’t let this discourage you from trying the game or loving this character! I will get into minor spoilers as well here, just because it’s hard to explain my feelings without talking about what happened. The last route I played was Karasuba, who is… not the best. I can confidently say I hate him, and his route didn’t really change that for me. He has bright yellow hair and yellow eyes, so his design was already creepy to me from the start, but his personality is much worse. At first glance he seems like a funny, happy-go-lucky class clown type, but his real personality is much more twisted. He flirts with Beni so intensely to the point of sexual harassment, but then backs off and laughs, pretending it was “just a joke.” Now this is already bad enough, but he’s just incredibly rude to everyone around him as well. He demeans Beni constantly for being “naive” and “cowardly,” all with a smile on his face as he pretends he’s saying it “for her own good.” He also constantly insults the other characters, starting fights with them whenever he can and giggling about it when it’s over. The whole “reason” behind why he acts like this is because he was bullied when he was a child. He projects his insecurities onto others and thus becomes the bully he hated so much when he was younger. He does later apologize for this at the end of his route, but I felt like one sorry just wasn’t enough to atone for the way he treated everyone? He sexually harasses Beni until she starts crying at one point, then backs away and claims it was “just a joke to teach her a lesson at how dangerous men can be.” He’s just awful and I don’t think he develops very much, even in his good ending despite his apology. His bad ending was even worse, which involved him brainwashing and manipulating Beni to be with him. I know some people who enjoyed his route and while I do respect that, it’s just hard for me to understand how someone would enjoy a character like him. I do think he’s interesting because he has deep flaws and trauma and instead of growing from it, he let them taint him and he ended up becoming the very thing he hated. So, he is interesting, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good love interest for Beni or even a good character in general. If I’d have to state one major flaw about this game, it’s Karasuba’s existence and his lack of character development or redemption.

After the 5 character routes are over, you’d assume that’s the end. The game actually continues after this, though, with the “Summer Camp” ending that unlocks last. This was my favorite part of the game. It’s a “What-If” scenario where every single character gets their happy ending, and offers a lot of closure after the despair you experience in the character routes. It healed me and freshened my mind after the tragedy. It’s a wonderful inclusion and I actually cried tears of joy while playing it, due to how emotional it made me. 

Overall, Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly was an emotional rollercoaster that I will never forget. While yes it has its flaws, I don’t regret playing it. The topics covered, such as isolation, death, and guilt, were so heavy and intense; but they were also so meaningful and I feel like everyone should experience them. I feel my favorite theme was the deep dive into Survivor’s Guilt and how people process and deal with it differently. The mystery surrounding the mansion and their circumstances was also very interesting and the plot twists were well executed. The whole cast is so full of life and each of their bonds are extremely complex. Beniyuri is a wonderful main character and I found myself rooting for her and her happiness the entire time. I definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves tragedy and complex plots, but I probably wouldn’t recommend this game to someone who’d be uncomfortable with really dark themes like graphic death. This game definitely took a toll on my mental health for a few days, but also offered life lessons that I’ll no doubt remember and value for a very long time. 

Rating: 7/10!

[sixeyesun]

Goodbye Volcano High is a sincere little game with a sincerely crazy reception.

Quickly past the post of its release, three years after it was revealed at a Sony State of Play announcing PS5 exclusives, it promptly became easy pickings for ridicule across the gaming stratum.

I followed Goodbye Volcano High on and off ever since it caught my attention in 2020. I was able to play it upon its release and out of a sense of dissatisfaction with how the game has been critiqued on YouTube, I wanted to attempt a review of it that meets the game at its level.

In sum, I want to take an earnest look at the game, resist the temptation to take pot-shots, observe things it does well that other people may neglect to mention, and dress it down for its faults.

It's been a long time comin', but the time has come to enter Volcano High.

Follow Me On:

TWITTER: @sixeyesun

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[misscammiedawn]

Penlight Spoiler Reviews (Sayori Part 1)

Alright... Welcome to the Sayori segment of my spoiler reviews for Penlight. Sayori route was originally going to be one post but I had to split it in half due to Tumblr limitations.

Download Penlight (Pay what you like) from Itch.io here

My other Penlight reviews: Quick Review - Nozomi Routes - Sayori (Part 2 - Alter)

Turq's reviews: Hiroko Robot - Hiroko Tickling - Nozomi Zombie

So if I've learned anything about these posts it's that you gotta lead with a hook, so... Doll Route and "Alter" Route or Personality Play if you prefer.

I make no secret of the fact that these are my favorite paths in the game.

@spiralturquoise and I are still going back and forth on the route reviews and at present he has done reviews for Hiroko Tickle - Hiroko Robot and Nozomi Zombie and I know Sayori Doll is on his shortlist, so I'll yield a bit more space for him and be brief in my thoughts so I may devote more words to Alter path.

Because of course I have opinions on Alter path. They're glowing opinions, by the way. I mean playing through that route inspired me to write my recent blog entry on ethical personality play.

So-- let's begin.

The first choice in the game, as noted by my original short review, is essentially "are you going to be an ethical hypnotist" will you speak to the girl or just try to brainwash her. Villain and redemption paths are there for if you try to brainwash. Ethical hypnosis paths open if you try to speak.

From there you can either engage Nozomi in her hypnosis obsession or be a coward and miss your opportunity. With a missed opportunity you are given the option to go to other parts of the school.

In other words "go bug Sayori" or "go bug Hiroko"

We'll visit the pink haired gremlin on the next review.

Let's go see why my Penlight tag is "Sayori is best girl" instead...

Sayori is the smartest girl in school. She runs the study club and she gets about 3-5 hours of sleep per night.

In many of the routes she will appear as an observer of the shenanigans that are going on. She knows everyone's characters remarkably well (with one observation I find she is completely blind to, which I may mention during my Hiroko review) and her resentment for Kyou comes from the fact that she sees a focused and attentive person inside of Kyou but he is so self-pitying and uninterested in his future that he does not tap into his ability to succeed at things with focused effort.

For someone who is under pressure from two successful parents to get into medical school, she resents that someone close to her has the makings of brilliance and no drive to attain it.

But she also admires Kyou's potential for brilliance. She wants to coax it out of him. She just cannot reconcile the man she knows he can be with the person he actively chooses to be.

This is what makes the route work in my opinion. Sayori likes Kyou in theory but is so aggravated by him. Their connection is the most organic of any in the game because it would work without hypnosis. They actually have innate chemistry before the events of the game and this is highlighted by some of her actions in routes such as Redemption where she is one of only two people in the entire school (neither of whom had seen the penlight) who remain friends with Kyou after a significant incident.

But in the Doll/Alter pre-routes, Kyou goes to Study Club and meets with Sayori there. There he sees her knowledge and passion at play and recognizes that she is there purely to tutor other students.

She also falls asleep midway through the study session. She's that exhausted. After everyone else in the club has left Kyou sticks around and Sayori...

...sees right through him.

But he notes that he's worried about her lack of sleep (she admits she cannot get on a good sleep schedule because she will just sit up in bed stressing out and has trained herself to "make use" of time she'd be awake anyway) and, after hearing she intends to spend an hour before cram school napping in the study room, offers to help.

He mentions his hypnosis interest and Sayori does a number of things which amp her to the top of my Best Girl list.

1: She identifies why Kyou learned it instantly but decides that giving him shit about it would dissuade him.

2: She notes that helping her with sleep is not hobby hypnosis but therapy and should be performed by qualified professionals.

3: She refuses to engage with this until she has done some research on the topic and can provide informed consent that doesn't rely on being educated by someone who has an unknown motive.

The main three girls of the game come from different levels of trust and knowledge and I find it remarkable how the routes explore that. Nozomi knows the most about hypnosis and is wary enough of Kyou that she calls the shots for most of her routes. Sayori is learning about hypnosis as we go but is inclined to trust Kyou when his statements match her research. Hiroko knows nothing about hypnosis and all her information comes from Kyou, a person she actively hates.

I had described it to Turq as this "Sayori is the only route where it feels like two people on even footing explore hypnosis together". The foundation feels more stable in this scenario.

The next day after school Sayori has lost a couple further hours of sleep in study for hypnosis and agrees that it is safe and can be a good aid for her and so she is willing to give it a try.

Kyou pulls out his trusty penlight and...

Sayori reacts instantly to it.

Intensely.

Kyou gives her a suggestion that the moment her head hits the pillow at night she would fall into a deep and restful sleep.

And it works.

So well that Sayori doesn't wake up in the morning and is several hours late for school. Her perfect attendance record ruined forever.

She explains to Kyou that the moment she hit the pillow she just fell asleep. She didn't even think to set an alarm. It just happened and there was nothing that she could do to prevent it.

Kyou brushes her concerns aside. It was clear that her sleep schedule had been ruinous to her mental health and so her body was just taking the toll. But Sayori is freaked out because she is an over-controlled individual who is striving for medical school and with a single hypnosis session Kyou has invoked a change within her that undid years of self-conditioning.

And with that note we are left to choose between Doll route and Alter route.

I'll start with Doll for two reasons. One, Turquoise is going to say things a lot more eloquently than I could.

Two... this is the route map for Doll

THIS is the route map for Alter:

Even if personality play wasn't a huge topic of personal interest for me, there's just so much more to talk about with Alter.

With that having been said, here's my "I promise I'm trying to be swift" analysis of Doll.

DOLL ROUTE:

This route leans heavily on Sayori's self-advocacy. Kyou wants to start training for the culture festival and Sayori is coming at a base of mistrust from having been freaked out by the sleep suggestion. When Kyou asks to do the doll suggestion Sayori is very firm about what levels of touch she is willing to engage in (she also notes that the concept of "doll" is a malleable term and shouldn't be treated as a universal, something Zombie Route Kyou could have stood to consider).

Not that her mind going straight here could be foreshadowing or anything...

I have resisted labeling routes by their aesop. I think there's so much more to every route than the focus topic. But if NozoZombie is the Abreaction story then Doll is Boundaries and Alter is Lingering Programming.

With boundaries as a theme this route begins with Sayori refusing to let Kyou hypnotize her until she has enough information to consent and her being firm about what Kyou is and isn't able to do. Kyou says that hypnosis cannot make you do anything you don't agree to, but Sayori knows herself and knows her body and...

...she is terrified of the level of control she is surrendering to Kyou. So she refuses to allow him to have any more, even to deprogram her, until she has had time to think things through entirely. Her boundaries are firm and unlike the Nozomi Trance route where Kyou is being shut out by someone who treats him like a trance dispenser, Sayori and Kyou have an open conversation about consent and respect and Kyou has to live with the fact that this is Sayori's mind and he cannot subvert her will without breaking her clearly defined boundaries.

Which is why I like that this route boils down to "pick a good ending or a bad ending". We aren't given options to break Sayori's boundaries or consent because to do so would subvert the story being told. Even the bad/good ending choice is a matter of whether Kyou believes Sayori is being honest or projecting her insecurities. He never betrays her. Not in this route.

Note this isn't a case of "more story has not been written yet" there are many paths on the route tree which are grayed out as a manner of "wait until future updates" but there is only one option in this route and it is fully written.

Though Sayori is skeptical about the penlight and Kyou's hypnosis she is remarkably friendly towards him in this route in a way which she never appears to be with her friends. Sure she is snarky and has a dry wit but consider this CG from early in the doll route.

There is nothing hypnotic happening here. Sayori is just having fun. She enjoys being with Kyou. She's making fun of him for staying up too late in this scene, joking that Kyou is grumpy when he lacks sleep and that maybe he should consider turning in early.

See... as we will learn in the Alter route... Sayori actually does have a light and soft personality. She just doesn't have time for being frivolous and wasting time on friendship nor fun and games.

I'll talk about it in more depth in the Alter half but Sayori's personality shift in that route is treated so well because all the attributes that would make up her alter persona do exist within her, she just has different priorities and perspectives in her unaltered headspace.

I am spending a lot of this Doll route write-up talking about the other path, aren't I?

In parallel to the Nozo-Trance route, Kyou complains about how he is not getting what he wants from this deal (practice for the culture festival) and he accuses Sayori of being unfair in her boundaries. Unlike the Nozo-Trance route, however, Kyou is being unreasonable here. Sayori notes that she wishes to know more about the penlight and firmly refuses to commit to anything until she has reached a level of comfort.

I love her.

Kyou, falling into his worst habits of only caring about a thing while he can maintain his temporary fascination, starts to think of quitting hypnosis and focusing on tech but his (im)patience is rewarded when Sayori calls him after Hiroko's Sunday Tennis Tournament and tells him that she has no wish to go to karaoke and instead summons him to her home.

In which we get a little more on the level of boundaries, power difference and control that this route has to talk about.

Kyou offers to have Sayori at her home but she summons him to her house. She says she will help with the culture festival and put in the application but on her terms. She wants to create the script and she wants to ensure the application is prepared in accordance to her comfort.

...see, Nozomi is the class rep and must handle all applications for the culture festival and thus would learn there is a hypnosis event that will happen.

And Sayori knows Nozomi has a hypnosis fetish. And Sayori knows Kyou is interested in Nozomi.

So she manipulates the situation to lock Nozomi out of the proceedings because she does not trust either of them enough to do otherwise.

A lot of the trust and boundaries of this route isn't just Kyou having to earn Sayori's, it's about Sayori being able to trust herself and her situation enough to lower her guard. She is a rigid woman who believes she can control all the variables. She does not trust herself and that is explored in both routes.

Kyou and Sayori's time together is not so much about Sayori learning to trust Kyou but about Sayori trusting herself to let go and fall into another's hands.

At this point of the story she is not able to do that and she hurts people because of it.

What's worse is... well. I have to stop talking about the Alter route... but suffice to say it serves her purposes to exclude Nozomi in this path.

I wonder how much she will treat Nozomi in another timeline...

And so, at Sayori's house, she agrees to amp up the doll play from just being a arm catalepsy suggestion to feet and invites Kyou to touch her body to test it.

This isn't important but I should note this is one of the only Penlight induction sequences without a dedicated CG.

Turq once said he enjoyed how Angela DeMille treated sitting down as rising action within the context of a hypnosis scene and I feel the absence of a CG is notable, albeit I cannot quite say why.

The leg catalepsy suggestion, brought about by the trigger "booksmart"

As with all penlight suggestions the trigger is so binding that she cannot stand up after Kyou activates it.

They have such fun rapport.

But this route is not a straight line. It's rising and falling in terms of the pairs exploration into hypnosis and with mock exams coming up Sayori wants to get back to study and is frustrated she's allowing herself to be distracted.

Another reason to highlight the choice not to give the player choices here. Kyou's frustration with waiting is never met with an option to force Sayori into further play. He will always yield to her requests.

He is once again rewarded for his patience by Sayori dragging him to the student council office where Student Council President Akiko, a former friend of Sayori's, takes the application for the cultural festival herself.

Akiko is an oddity within the game. I look forward to discussing her route.

Sayori bombs the mock exams and freaks out, returning to Kyou's house and explaining that she was so distracted by how wonderful hypnosis feels and how she wants to stop what they are doing, deprogram. She wants to stop falling asleep the moment she hits a pillow, she wants to stop exploring this frivolity.

The pair fight. Leaving nothing held back. Kyou accusing Sayori of being terrified that she may have fun for once in her life and Sayori stripping down Kyou's character from years of watching him.

My headcanon is that Sayori has a crush on Kyou and I treat this headcanon as fact.

It is at the height of the argument with Sayori and Kyou both having said things that they regret that you can select your ending:

So my praise to the endings of Doll Route is that they inform one another.

Kyou's hypnotic patter has been programming anyone who he aims the penlight at. Including innate suggestions that hypnosis feels wonderful.

She has become addicted to that wonderful feeling and Kyou can realize that if they have a conversation or he could say "Book smart" and remove her ability to argue with him. Because no matter how careful and well planned Sayori was, her lack of trust in having Kyou go in and remove programming such as the sleep and "book smart" suggestions did leave her vulnerable to lingering programming.

Lingering programming... we should talk more about that later...

In the bad ending if Kyou bullies her into admitting how much she desires hypnosis she will cry and talk about how much she enjoys the wonderful feeling. Kyou is the only one who can make her feel wonderful.

Where in the good ending he realizes that the penlight is actually reprogramming her and maybe they should remove the programming and start again.

And so... they make a trade.

Sayori offers to perform Kyou's original doll suggestion, no caveats, no limitations beyond what is appropriate for the pair. She is willing to trust him to be a good man... and in exchange, Kyou can perform the hypnosis with her full trust.

Kyou even tailors the session, knowing how her mind works.

In the NozoDom "Reversal" route, I had mentioned how the deprogramming scene was the longest in the game and how it treated the trust and intimacy of Nozomi (arguably a better hypnotist than Kyou) taking her time and really earning the scene that we the audience got to experience from a first person perspective.

This is the most emotionally intimate scene because it's the payoff to an entire route of rapport building. This is the initial suggestion. This is what Kyou wanted at the start... and it's being given now and it's SO much more valuable for the journey between the request and the honoring of it.

Sayori's trust in Kyou is desperately intimate.

This is just romantic.

One of my girlfriends is not just into doll play. She's famous for doll play.

Treating someone as a treasured toy, brushing their hair, putting them in poses, treating them as pretty and letting them lean all their trust into the intimacy of your touch, letting themselves be posed and used and cared for...

Sayori is a being who needs to feel in control of her life. Even in matters such as the culture festival (we'll get there) she couldn't bare the flexible variable of Nozomi's involvement.

Her trusting Kyou like this is such a big deal and Kyou respecting her and treating her trust as a gift?

I don't have to imagine that as a romantic action. I feel it every single day with one of the humans on this planet I love the most. THIS is what hypnokink is. Power exchange, scene play, shenanigans. It's all fun and games but at the end of it hypnosis is built on a foundation of trust and a big part of that trust is learning to turn off and let someone else lead.

There's a difference between putting your body in the hands of someone else and putting your mind in them. Your identity. It's a malleable thing after all and not everyone on the planet is willing to be vulnerable, open or allow themselves to be altered by the effects of it.

So to find a person you can give and take that trust? It's romantic beyond my ability to define.

The culture festival is a one woman display of full body catalepsy spreading Sayori between two chairs. Nozomi and Akiko are invited to help run the show and it goes remarkably well.

Unfortunately after the event Nozomi is hurt that Sayori locked her out. Hurt and confused because she cannot even explain why it hurts without revealing her fetish and when explaining she cuts Sayori off and excuses herself.

This ending reveals a side to Sayori's behavior. She tries to control variables and is rigid in how she treats people. She refuses to be involved in any social engagement out of school hours (though she shows up to help Hiroko at her tennis tournament and any route that requires her assistance such as NozoZombie. She shows up for her friends but she does not hang out with anyone) and views all connections as temporary. She knows she'll move on from school and never see these people again, she considers her time valuable.

In talking to Akiko, a person she abandoned when student council became more time than reward, and Nozomi in the ending it is revealed how much this cost her in the end.

Sayori's kind of a bad friend.

The doll ending concludes in the study room with some mundane hypnosis.

The bad ending is where Kyou takes responsibility for a toy and makes all decisions for her. Both students crash and burn and Kyou finds himself burned out taking care of another human being, but she is just too reliant upon him and his penlight hypnosis and so he'll just have to do the thinking for both of them.

Another interesting thing about the bad ending is besides the "wonderful" note that you need context for the good ending for, the hypnosis show is stiff and not quite as successful in the bad ending route. Kyou's display of Sayori as a toy is met with more confusion and mild hostility than the display in the good ending.

...and so... let's switch rails and go back to that original choice.

What if Kyou said Make You Think You're Someone Else.

To be continued in Alter Route... (click for the second half)

[otomebunny]

[PC] Review - Holostars EN Original Visual Novel "Doppelgänger"

Here it is, my once a year review of a visual novel and of course Holostars had to be the main driving force for me to write up this review 😳 The brainworms go deep. Doppelgänger is an original visual novel created by the Holostars EN Team (basically the managers of the team got together to make this for the fans. Thank you mane-sans!) as a Halloween project for Holostars EN in 2023. The visual…

[lizzemea]

You and Me and Her: A Love Story When the time comes, who will YOU choose?

more thoughts and alt versions under the cut

It's hard to say much about this visual novel without giving massive spoilers, and even a little hard to enthusiastically recommend it- I know a number of my friends who may read this who would find You and Me And Her very repulsive I will not sugarcoat it. It's one hell of a ride with sections that can get very squicky, gross, and uncomfortable to read at times. On steam there exists a version of the game that's been censored to be more tame, but having played the directors cut 18+ uncensored version myself, much of the game's soul lies in those uncomfortable parts. And yet with all that- almost a year after I first played it, I still think about it and about aoi mukou and about miyuki sone and about the things the story touches on. The horror, the heartbreak, the intense twists and turns So I guess, if you've got a background in reading visual novels already, it might be worth a shot. It's unforgettable, that's for sure.

[suzuran777]

Review: Fanatica (CORE)

I recently played Fanatica, a BL visual novel published by CORE in 2004! For some reason I had never heard of this game before even though it's the same company that created Messiah, a game that was often talked about on BL forums like Aarinfantasy. I'm a big fan of Carnelian's art which was one of the main reasons I played the game, and it was recently announced that Carnelian is also working on another BL game!

Synopsis This story focuses on protagonist Arshile, who has no memory of his past and travels around Europe together with his only acquintance, Cartis. One day, they are unexpectedly invited to a cruise ship called the Fanatica. Soon after their arrival, a mysterious man approaches Arshile and asks him why he still hasn't remembered anything. "Could it be that you still haven't found anyone who truly loves you?" Throughout the story Arshile learns about his mysterious past, the sins that were committed in the past and his deep love for a certain man.

This game also got a PS2 remake in 2008 with almost all CGs and spritework re-drawn called ''Gin no Eclipse'' which also features a new character (Feilong), who's Liwen's brother. I also played this version, but I liked the original a lot more because they changed a lot and basically all BL elements were removed, not just the 18+ content. So in this review, I'll only talk about the PC version.

First of all, the official website mentions that the protagonist of this game is Arshile, but his love interest Cartis plays a huge role in the story too and the dialogue often switches to his narrative. I have to say that CORE's games are a bit different than most other BL visual novels and usually, the main character only has two love interests who he can have a good ending with. Even though you can choose between these two, the game makes it quite clear that only one of these two characters is the 'true ending', I think those who played Messiah are familiar with this. In Fanatica the main pairing is Cartis/Arshile, though Arshile can get an ending together with Calme too.

Another thing I haven't seen often in newer visual novels is that the other characters can be paired up too. Souha/Liwen is one of the side pairings that have quite a lot of scenes together, although it is not the happiest 'romance' (if you can even call it that). Cartis and Souha also have an ending together, and in one of the other endings, you also get Souha/Arshile, Cartis/Liwen and Rodney/Calme. Even though the game doesn't call these endings ''bad'' ends, they definitely feel like bad ends.

Game mechanics Instead of choices, this game uses a completely different system I haven't seen before. There's a button in the corner of the screen which displays a butterfly icon, but when you click it, it transforms into a spider icon. During certain scenes, you need to change it to the spider icon, or else certain endings won't unlock. Also, sometimes the icon starts glowing, which gives you the opportunity to view flashbacks.

The protagonist has a split personality, the butterfly representing his current self and the spider representing his different personality (who has white hair and red eyes). Only white haired Arshile can end up together with Calme by the way, original Arshile only has a good ending together with Cartis.

Before I looked up a guide, I... completely missed that you can even view the flashbacks, so I had a bit of trouble unlocking the final ending. After that, I did quite enjoy this game! I liked slowly discovering what had happened in the past and the reason why some people on the cruise ship seemed hostile towards the main characters.

Also... the game sometimes breaks the fourth wall and the character who initially just seemed to be a mascot tells you which endings you still haven't unlocked yet. He also teases the player for getting an ending you already saw before lol.

Similar to Messiah, the game does have a status menu which shows what route you're on and how close you are to an ending, but because of the game's unique mechanics, knowing this information didn't really... help. Luckily it only has 6 different endings, but definitely use a guide if you want to play this!

So... In the final ending, the game hints that Liwen, Souha, and side character Arya will return in their next game, Torus Zero, which was unfortunately never released. I did find some magazine pictures in which both of them have different names, supposedly forgetting about their past lives in Fanatica and being reborn into the world of Torus Zero. However, instead of releasing Torus Zero, the company created Messiah next, which doesn't seem to have any connections to Fanatica.

To be honest I think that even without the lore of Torus Zero, most of the plot does get explained in Fanatica. The final ending also hints that the other characters somehow survived the incidents that happened on the ship and that they are still alive in the modern world, where Arshile and Cartis also live. The extra scenes in the remake (Gin no Eclipse) also support this theory.

The plot can sometimes get a little confusing because there are some pretty... strange fantasy elements, like half of the main characters being descendants of some kind of spider god (???), but despite that I still thought it was a pretty interesting visual novel to play. I liked the soundtrack and the cast was also good, featuring some well-knowns voice actors like Suwabe Junichi and Sugita Tomokazu (who voices Keisuke in Togainu no Chi).

After releasing Messiah's fandisc, the company stopped releasing new games and the website eventually stopped working too, so I'm glad to hear Carnelian is finally creating a new game in the year 2023. It has been a long time, but I'm curious to see how different it will be compared to their older BL visual novels.

[tiredgamergirl]

If you could bring someone back to life, what would you do? Would you do this no matter what takes or would you have any reservations?

There is so much one could say about Paranormasight, yet this is one of those titles that the least you know about its story the better. Written by Takanari Ishiyama, most famous for his long-running Japan-only series of visual novels known as Tantei Kibukawa Ryōsuke Jikentan (Detective Ryosuke Kibukawa Case Story), it is a gripping tale of mystery and horror that takes place in the 1980s Japan, in the town of Honjo in Sumida Ward of Tokyo. A series of urban legends that started back in the Edo period, famous to this day, actually have a dark secret underneath: each legend represents a horrifying curse, manifested in artifacts known as “cursed stones” bearing very specific conditions to activate and effects but all of them extremely lethal. These legends are seemly linked to a resurrection ritual that will activate once a certain number of soul dregs are reached, and the death of other curse bearers is actually more worthwhile than random passerby, making the chosen ones both the hunter and the hunted in this story.

A cleverly crafted game that makes full use of both the in-game narrative and the meta, every small detail is part of the story: from the chapter selection and even the save game feature, there is no extraneous feature or anything that overstays the game’s welcome. The cast of characters all have a reason to get involved with the curses and not relinquishing their goals. Despite the dire situation and rather scary overall plot, they are all full of life and bounce off each other very well, getting tense when appropriate and allowing the player to breathe and get involved with each of them. We are first introduced to Shogo Okiie, an everyman that works for a soap company and is introduced to the legends by his supernatural-loving friend Yoko. Then we have Harue Shigima and her tragic story, a housewife in the verge of despair after the death of her son with the help of Richter, a flamboyant private detective; Tetsuo Tsutsumi, a veteran detective and his eager partner Jun Erio that are investigating the mysterious deaths in Honjo; and Yakko Sakazaki, a high school student who refuses to believe that her classmate ended her own life and wants to uncover the truth with the help of a transfer student named Mio. Their stories meet in various points, sometimes you need to switch around the groups and bring them closer in the timeline in order to progress as the story unravels, bringing dreadful secrets both from the past and present, culminating in many high points and twists that invites to think about what happened.

The visuals are striking, evoking a retro feeling from late 70s and early 80 Japan. The character designer, Gen Kobayashi, is more known for his works in the World Ends With You series makes a very distinct impression in making everything looks grounded and yet stylized and memorable. The music by Hidenori Iwasaki is a show-stealer in itself, going from whimsical to terrifying in a heartbeat, all complimented by a VHS aesthetic that permeates the entire presentation.

With a strong narrative and presentation, Paranormasight is a title that will keep the player hooked until the very last ritual, leading to a satisfying conclusion in which most of the mysteries are wrapped up in a satisfying way, although some aspects might be bittersweet. A must play for fans of visual novels, mysteries and horror tales. You can find it for on Steam or on Nintendo Switch.

Tʀɪɢɢᴇʀ Wᴀʀɴɪɴɢs

Gore (gruesome deaths)

Jump scares ( two of them: one in Shogo’s story and one early during Yakko’s chapters)

Suicide (false, the victim didn’t commit suicide)

Violence against children (child murder)

Domestic violence (mentioned not shown)

Sexual violence against children (it is implied a teacher might have questionable intentions towards a student)

Mention of alcohol (nothing is ever shown)

Traffic accident (mentioned)

Trauma, depression

[jasmine-otome]

Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei Review ⚔️

"Fifteen years after the Heiji Rebellion, the Heike clan has reached the height of its power, while the Genji clan remains devastated by defeat. Hidden deep within the mountains of Kurama lives Shanao, the youngest surviving male heir to the Genji name. However, Shanao harbors a deep secret known by very few.

The youngest heir to the Genji name is no man.

Her adventure leads her to find new cherished relationships, as well as something deeper than the feud between the rivaling clans."

This review will contain marked spoilers, which will be indicated by red text stating "spoiler zone" and will be struck through. The spoiler zones' endings will be denoted by "end spoilers" in green text.

Genre: Historical / Action / Adventure / Romance

Rating: ESRB T

Developer & Publisher: Otomate & Red Entertainment + Idea Factory International

Where to Buy: Nintendo eShop, Amazon

When I first heard about Birushana, I was super excited about the enemies-to-lovers route. Unfortunately, I took a pretty long break from gaming right before it was released, so I only got the chance to play it recently. I’m a massive fan of historical fiction, and this was my first otome series taking place in historical Japan, so I had a lot to expect. I had exceptionally high expectations for Tomomori, and I can confidently say he met all of them :). The game took me a little under 45 hours to complete over the course of a month; however, it’d probably take a little less time if you use walkthroughs most of the time.

I really liked the art, and the music was a perfect addition to immerse you into the time period. I loved how they implemented faceless sprites for most of the extras and how each character had multiple costume changes. Birushana is slightly unconventional in terms of directing, which I absolutely loved. The developers truly took advantage of the ability to move around the character sprites, which definitely ramped up the action.

The fight scenes were action-packed and incredibly immersive, as the sprites were constantly moving to mimic the energy of an actual fight (think piofiore gunfights on steroids). The developers also made excellent use of the perspective and rear sprites of characters, as well, which I don’t see too much. Overall, the art, directing, and music amplified the game’s immersion and made it super visually appealing and entertaining. All in all, *chef’s kiss*. 9/10

*the gif might be a little lossy since I had to really trim it down*

Birushana pretty much checked off all the boxes for my favorite features. It has a heroine portrait, bold and outlined text (making it so much easier to read), a flowchart, a status page, a dictionary, a skip-to-choice button, love catch, and sprite animation. The only thing keeping the system from being a 10/10 is the fact that the game itself was pretty slow and sometimes laggy. It was especially prominent when it came to disengaging the skip feature. Sometimes, I’d have to press twice to disengage, which is incredibly annoying when I accidentally activated "skip all". I typically play games with the second-fastest text speed, but I had to switch to the fastest speed since it sometimes lags between lines.

Instead of simply having points for each love interest, there are measures for strength, knowledge, and kindness. Not going to lie, this made the game kind of hard. Instead of getting as many points with your target love interest as possible, you also have to balance the other three measures…otherwise, you’ll end up on a bad end or the wrong route. When it came to Noritsune, I kept either getting a bad end or ending up on Benkei’s route over and over again until I gave up and decided to use a walkthrough. Benkei’s route was also a struggle since I kept getting bad ends. I can’t even begin to remember how many tries it took before I resorted to a walkthrough. Thankfully, after those two routes, I figured out exactly how to land on the proper route, and my struggle was no more.

Coupled with the fabulous directing I mentioned above, the fact that the sprites were animated served to turn the game into a cinematic masterpiece! It really coupled well to play upon the game’s adventurous nature. I’m not too particular about voice acting, but I think it was pretty good. I was rlly happy to learn that Tomomori's VA voiced Korosensei in Assassination Classroom and also had roles in various other series I really like, such as I’m the Villainess, The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today, Horimiya, High Rise Invasion, Boruto, My Love Story, and about a billion other series. Idk that was a bit random lol. 9/10

Birushana takes place in the Heian era of Japan and revolves around two Samurai clans: the Heike and the Genji. In addition to taking place in a historical setting, the game revolves around the real-life Genpei War and various battles that occurred alongside it. In fact, many of the characters and love interests are based on actual historical figures (although the writers do take various liberties, obviously).

The common route is pretty short (I didn’t track how many hours), and it differs from typical otoge as there are common parts during the individual character routes. Additionally, due to keeping in line with history, the unique character routes tend to be a little repetitive in some aspects, which was a bit annoying at times. Still, once I learned that it actually happened, it made sense why the developers chose to do that. While I usually play whichever character I feel like first, I decided to follow the developer’s recommended route order, and I feel like it really enhanced the gameplay experience. The best way I can describe it is pretty much layers. Each route is pretty much juicier than the previous one and unveils more and more each time. It also plays a lot of dramatic irony. There’s a LOT to be uncovered by the story, so it really encourages you to develop various theories and whatnot regarding the characters. I loved the more subtle touch of fantasy, so it wasn’t overly dramatic but still played an important role.

As for the endings, each route has a “Happy End,” a “Tragic Love End,” “If Ends,” and a couple “Bad Ends”.

*** SLIGHT SPOILER ZONE ***

The tragic love ends were a bit like a lite version of Piofiore’s notorious tragic endings, but when it came to the happy endings, I wasn’t particularly satisfied. They felt more like normal endings than “happy” ones, but I guess it just boils down to keeping it realistic.

*** END SPOILERS ***

Something that I absolutely loved were the “If” endings. After completing each route except Noritsune’s, you’ll unlock an ending with one of four side characters earlier on in the route. As a lover of side characters, I was absolutely pumped when I realized it. Their stories apparently continue in the fandisc, which I hope IFI will announce soon. Shigehira was my favorite side character, and I was super happy once I realized that he wouldn’t be limited to an undatable. I really wished other games would employ that practice *cough cough* Dairoku *cough cough*. I think Birushana did a pretty good job of tying up any loose ends in terms of plotline. I had very few lingering questions, none of which were quite pressing or anything. Some elements felt a little band-aidy, but nothing that made me completely roll my eyes. 7/10

When I started the game, my rankings for love interests were Tomomori > Yoritomo > Noritsune > Shungen > Benkei. After I completed it, my rankings surprisingly didn’t change. I didn’t dislike any of the love interests (which is pretty rare for me), and I absolutely loved two of them. 7/10

*the game's route order*

Shanao/Yoshitsune Minamoto is the youngest heir of Genji, who has spent her life living as a boy in the Kurama temple and has been training all her life in hopes of one day standing up to the Heike. Throughout her life, the name of Genji, which she holds dear, has been weighing her down, pushing her towards combat when all she truly wants is to make the world a better place and live in peace. Birushana follows Shanao as she leaves the temple in Kyoto and embarks on a journey to defeat the Heike and achieve her dreams.

I really liked Shanao as a character and found her interesting throughout. She’s strong, resilient, and quick-witted; overall, she is a very admirable heroine. She takes a very active role in the story and isn’t just a damsel. She’s also extremely dedicated to her beliefs and gives her all to reach her dreams. I loved how her strength was showcased throughout and not subjugated once a love interest appeared. I’ve found that in many battle/action series, the FL starts out as some goddess of war, but once she meets the ML, her abilities are pretty much disregarded, and she just becomes the ML’s cheerleader (cough, SAO). Thankfully, Birushana strays away from this and keeps Shanao at the forefront. She’s pretty much one of those characters you can’t help but cheer on.

Noritsune Taira is the nephew of Kiyomori, the Heike’s leader, and the cousin of Shigehira and Tomomori. He’s a bit sheltered when it comes to the real world due to his upbringing, has a hostile attitude, and quite a competitive spirit. Like Shanao, although he feels pride in his clan, he also feels weighed down by it and begins to see her as a rival.

What got me really excited for Birushana initially was the existence of an enemies-to-lovers route, which happens to be Noritsune’s. While they never really seemed like enemies, they were definitely intense rivals. His route was pretty light compared to the following routes, but it was also an excellent way to start off the game. Something I really liked about it was the character dynamic between him and Shanao. He sees her as a rival to overcome and, in turn, is pushed to grow as a person and escape the shell of his family, learning what it’s like to be in the real world. Throughout his route, he pretty much matures from a sheltered, bratty, rich boy to someone who knows how to work hard, respect others, and is self-aware. They pretty much have that iconic battle shounen rivalry that pushes each other to do better despite being on opposing sides (kind of like Sasuke & Naruto) but with a romantic twist (speaking of Naruto, one thing that drew me to his character was the fact that he has the same pink hair and green eyes as my favorite character, Sakura).

One of the great things about Noritsune is that he never disregarded Shanao as a rival, even after finding out she was a woman, and didn’t even care too much for her gender in general. He always saw her as an equal and admired her strength.

*** LIGHT SPOILER ZONE ***

I really loved how they could set aside their differences in the middle of the route and pretty much just be together for some time. Seeing them fight together was so power-couple. It absolutely broke my heart when they were separated towards the end.

*** END SPOILERS ***

I will say that getting on his route was an absolute nightmare without knowing how the game works, but I think it was all worth it for him.

Benkei is an exiled monk on a journey to collect either 999 or 1000 swords from the Heike (I forgot ngl). He’s a bit of a gentle giant and somewhat of a himbo. He is also incredibly loyal to Shanao as her “first vassal” despite having a bit of a notorious background. He also happens to be the oldest love interest in the game at 30 years old. Something I found a bit funny is how much older he looks than Yoritomo despite being only a year apart.

Benkei was probably my least favorite LI, but I did like his character. I found his himbo-ness quite funny and liked his route a lot, but I couldn’t really bring myself to see him as a love interest. Benkei takes great pride in being her vassal, and the two develop somewhat of a father-daughter relationship, bonding due to their lack of parentage...which made it hard for me to see them as a couple.

*** LIGHT SPOILER ZONE ***

One of the things about Benkei’s route that’s a bit unconventional (but I’m not complaining at all about it) is the lack of Benkei himself. This route pretty much felt like a Shigehira & Tomomori ad and is what turned me into a diehard Shigehira fan and got me super pumped for Tomomori lol. Safe to say, I was pretty satisfied with some of the bad endings. The route delves into the mysteries of Shanao’s origin and serves as a starting point for unpacking the layers of the story. It also really exposes the fantasy element of the story.

I wasn’t a massive fan of the romance in this route, as it felt a bit underdeveloped. Benkei pretty much served as a shoulder to cry on. Still, I will admit he makes a phenomenal side/platonic character.

*** END SPOILERS ***

Benkei's unwaveringly dedicated to Shanao and will do whatever he can in hopes of making things easier on her, even if it comes at his own expense. Overall, I liked the route (mainly due to the villains, lol) and I like Benkei as a character. Still, the chemistry as lovers wasn’t really there, in my opinion (but it was good in a more platonic sense).

Shungen is the son of Shanao’s father’s retainer and has been raised alongside her in Kurama since birth. He’s pretty overprotective when it comes to Shanao and is the pair's brain, while Shanao is the brawn.

I’m not typically a fan of the childhood friend troupe since they usually tend to go sour; however, Shungen exceeded my expectations. While the romance itself wasn’t anything to write home about, I did really like him as a character. He’s a bit nerdy and likes to read a lot, which, looking back, doesn’t seem to be super common. He’s also a talented flute player, which was also a cool addition. He cares a lot for Shanao and profoundly values her due to their close relationship throughout their lives. As opposed to Noritsune, he was more overprotective. He doesn't let her breathe as much, but it kinda makes sense since she's constantly in extreme danger (given the war and all). He’s definitely one of the sweeter LIs and seems quite innocent, lol.

This route was a big one in terms of plot twists, building upon the revelations in previous routes. While playing, I attempted to predict what was going on over and over again and got pretty close. It also unveiled even more questions surrounding Shanao, so it keeps you on your toes.

*** MEDIUM SPOILER ZONE ***

My favorite part was probably when he played the flute for Shanao every day, which really tugged on my heartstrings. I laughed a bit at the thought of Shungen being called some player-inputted name, like idk Emily, once the big reveal came out. I liked how this route had a big focus on the emperor as opposed to simply the Heike as well. Something pretty interesting to see was Shungen’s little light-yandere streak, especially since he’s been portrayed as this sweet, intellectual character who doesn’t seem very threatening. The happy ending for this route was a bit surprising since I was scared I did something wrong, but overall, it turned out pretty well. I felt so bad for Shanao in this route, and I can’t even begin to imagine what she must have been feeling after learning the truth. Thankfully, it made Yoritomo’s route feel a lot less wrong.

*** END SPOILERS ***

This route hyped me up for Yoritomo’s route, so I was pretty eager to get through with Shungen’s, which might have limited my enjoyment a little bit. While Shungen was likable, I couldn’t care too much for their romance. This route really tugged on my heartstrings, and I liked Shanao and Shungen’s close relationship as friends. I think Shanao’s role was a bit toned down in this route and that there were a couple of conflicts that could have easily been solved via communication. But overall, it was a really great building block for the rest of the story and ramped up the dramatic irony in the following routes.

Yoritomo Minamoto is Shanao’s older half-brother who has been exiled in Izu for the past 16 or so years. I know what you’re thinking, but don’t worry, and just ignore it. He’s distant and closed off, and it takes some time for him to open up, but it makes sense given his background.

Having seen him throughout the previous routes, I was just itching to play this route. It’s full of angst, is pretty slow-burn, and really showcases the extent of Shanao’s dedication. She seemed a bit out of character for this route, but it made sense that it highlights how deeply she years for familial love. Being so far into the game, the route has a lot of spoilers, so I'll limit most of my commentary.

*** MEDIUM SPOILER ZONE ***

Growing up essentially as an orphan, Shanao's been longing for familial love for years, and upon meeting her only family, she can’t help but be dedicated even if it’s bad for her in the long run. Yoritomo starts off very stoic, but Shanao slowly chips away at his exterior, and they begin to open up to one another. It absolutely broke my heart when Shanao overheard Yoritomo discussing with Kagetoki and ran away. I liked both the happy and tragic endings a lot. The tragic one kinda reminded me of a blend of Dante and Nicola's, who happen to be my two favorite Piofiore characters.

*** END SPOILERS ***

I really, really loved Yoritomo’s character design (his might be my favorite), and his CGs were by far my favorite in the game. His closed-off nature really made me yearn for some scenes from his point of view since I really, really wanted to know what was going on in his head lol. Throughout the routes, I couldn’t really figure out if he was a good or bad character, but that just made it all the more entertaining. The romance felt a little fast, but overall, it was my second favorite route, and I really loved his character.

Tomomori Taira is Kiyomori’s (leader of the Heike) 4th son, Shigehira's brother, and Noritsune's cousin. He’s a highly talented militarist but tends to stay outside of battles unless he holds a personal interest within them. Right off the bat, he discovers Shanao’s secret and pretty much becomes weirdly obsessed with her, hopping on a quest to make her his…or to at least die by her hand.

Tomomori was the individual character I was most excited about both before and during the game, and I can safely say that he did not disappoint at all. Being the game's villain, he plays a much more prominent role than the other love interests in other routes and even takes the stage in some. Since he’s interested in her from the start, it’s almost like the whole game is building up on their relationship.

I absolutely loved the dynamic between Shanao and Tomomori: he’s all flirty while she pretty much can’t stand him (however, she does seem to hold some feelings towards him that she’d like to ignore). After seeing Shanao doing all the heavy lifting in the previous route, it was nice to see the roles being reversed. I finished this route the quickest simply because I was so obsessed with him. Coupled with several plotholes that don’t matter too much, his route connected everything revealed in previous routes and added even more, especially regarding the story’s fantasy side. Some things I predicted pretty well, but others came out of nowhere, so it was quite exhilarating to learn the whole story.

*** MEDIUM SPOILER ZONE ***

I really liked how Tomomori’s route seemed to take a break from the war setting and had the two of them travel together. It was one of my favorite parts of Noritsune’s, so I was delighted to see something like that again. I thought the whole hand-holding thing was absolutely adorable, and I was obsessed with everything about Tomomori. I thought the ghost story scene was hilarious and showcased some lighthearted moments between the two despite literally being in the midst of war. You can tell he cares for her by helping her control her powers, which almost connects them as so few people have the same ability. Their banter is excellent, and they just seem like a couple who complement each other perfectly.

Shanao exhibits much character growth by learning about Tomomori’s perspective on things and his real-life experiences after writing him off as some wealthy noble who’s never felt struggle. It showcases the hidden parts of Tomomori, and the fact that he doesn’t care too much about the fairings of his family holds a contrast to Shanao, who cares deeply about hers despite being barely exposed and integrated into it. The whole “I want to see her cry” thing reminded me of Claude from I’m the Villainess, who I also love, which was pretty nice.

When the two separated, I was literally dying for them to get back together omg. When I saw all the “one month” and “several months” later, I was dying inside and felt terrible for Tomomori. First, his dad dies right before him, and then his girl runs off to the enemy on the same night 😭.

The happy ending for this route was probably my favorite since it didn’t seem so…lackluster. The whole Tokuko thing felt a little band-aidy, but what can you do, I guess. He gets a bit cringe-ishly possessive, but it seemed like it meant to play on his funny side, so I didn’t take it too seriously.

*** END SPOILERS ***

Overall, Tomomori takes the cake. The entire game pretty much builds upon the tension between the two, and the route ties together all the prior revelations. Tomomori and Shanao had the best chemistry, in my opinion, and have a great dynamic between their personalities. He’s a little crazy, but in a good way. The route integrates comedy perfectly into the game's setting and takes on some surprising twists. Throughout the route, he develops from a bit of a weird, loving creep to a fleshed-out yet slightly clingy character. All I could possibly want now is another love interest like him, no one compares 😭.

To be honest, I didn’t care too much about the side characters except for Shigehira, Tomomori’s brother, who I absolutely loved. From the moment I saw him, I was lamenting over the fact that he wasn’t an LI, but once I learned that he was one in the fandisc, it was like the world had been saved. I really enjoyed Shigehira’s “If” ending since it showcases their dynamic. It reminded me a bit of Shanao and Noritsune’s relationship, since despite being rivals from opposing sides, they don’t really dislike each other and seem to care for one another in their own way. He’s a little bossy and cocky, but his time with Shanao helps him grow and mature a little bit. I’m really begging for an FD localization just for him because I need moreeeee.

I also really wish we saw more of the sibling dynamic between Tokuko, Shigehira, and Tomomori. Shigehira mentions the three of them playing together as children, but Tokuko seems very branched off from the beginning. She was pretty annoying from the start but a bit of a necessary evil and seemed to redeem herself somewhat.

Two “prominent” side characters were Tadanobu and Tsugunobu, vassals for Lord Hidehira in Oshu. Tadanobu’s the goofy and flirty one, while Tsugunobu’s the more soft-spoken and wise one. In my opinion, they didn’t add too much to the story that a random extra couldn't have…they were kinda just there for some occasional comic relief.

Takatsuna is Yoritomo’s young retainer and probably the game's youngest character. I didn’t care too much about him in the actual game, but I thoroughly enjoyed his “If” route. He seems pretty nice, but that’s it.

One character I wasn’t a fan of was Yasuhira, Lord Hidehira’s son. I’m not really sure why Yasuhira even got a sprite since he was pretty much irrelevant throughout the story. He only seemed to complain for a couple lines about Shanao, and that was the extent of his character. I wish his sprite was used by the emperor instead or something.

Overall, I liked Birushana quite a bit. While Tomomori and Yoritomo really took the spotlight, Benkei and Shungen were a bit lackluster, and Noritsune was kinda neutral. Something that really amped up my impression of the game was the insane directing. The developers exceeded my expectations with the action scenes, which were captivating and full of movement, which doesn’t seem too common in otome games. Everything is super animated, and the fight scenes are incredibly action-packed. The romance aspect varied by love interests, but for the most part, it was more subtle, with war and family ties being the main centers of conflict. My most significant criticism was probably the prevalence of unskippable repetition since each route seems to follow the same course, with some things changed in between. The game is excellent at slowly revealing information and building upon it, giving you just enough information to predict some parts but not enough to predict all aspects of it. To sum it up, a pretty good game. 8/10

*** HEAVY SPOILER ZONE ***

Does Shanao have a random dad, or was she reproduced asexually or something?

If Rengetsu looked like some monster creature, how come Kiyomori recognized Shanao as her?

How’d Tomomori know Rengetsu was Kiyomori’s sister if he hadn’t heard about her before?

Why’d poor Shigehira have to die in like every route 😭?

*** END SPOILERS ***

[chattercap]

Review of High School Lolita!

I just finished High School Lolita by @chimeriquement, and I have many thoughts!!

While I don't think that this is a game for everyone, since it deals with some pretty sensitive subject matter, I thought that the story dealt with its themes with a great deal of care and nuance. I highly recommend it if you have the time (it's pretty short, less than an hour total). While this is certainly not a feel-good story, I would say that it ends well in both of its endings.

You can play it here!

In High School Lolita, you play as Chloe, a high schooler who falls into a relationship with the young, handsome teacher (Matthieu) that saved her when she was being bullied.

Note that there are spoilers (and discussions of sensitive subject matter) from this point onward!

While the relationship is seemingly innocuous at first, it quickly turns romantic. While Matthieu is conflicted about being in a romantic relationship with his student, they both escalate the relationship, with tragic results.

Unlike the original Lolita, which focuses solely on the perspective of the adult (who I will say is the abuser), this version focuses solely on the perspective of the child (the victim). This perspective was very compelling; all too often I think that these stories of abuse are told from the perspective of the abuser or an outside party. Chloe's struggles are consistent and relatable, especially for young teens, and you can clearly see how her insecurities led her into an unhealthy relationship. She likes to please and talk with adults because it makes her feel grown up. She is unhealthily obsessed with her romantic fixations (at her birthday party, she only made wishes about her future with Matthieu, for example). She continually blames herself. This pattern of behavior is clear from the very first scene, where she didn't seek help when she was bullied because she didn't want to bother her family. Throughout her relationship with Matthieu, she blames herself for his woes, and she tries her best to change herself to please him. She doesn't blame him or anyone else, even when she should.

Matthieu is an interesting character. I think that the game does a good job of painting him as neither an angel nor a demon, but as a deeply troubled individual. He's young, handsome, sociable, and intelligent. He doesn't fit into the stereotype of a typical abuser at all. The game even questions why he is so desperate for a relationship with an underage student. He constantly berates himself for engaging in this relationship with Chloe, but at the same time he is the one to initiate almost all of the major moves: the confession, the kisses, etc. He constantly brings up her age, but at the same time he recites excuses as to why he's in love with her despite her youth. He assigns reading material about men obsessed with younger women and owns a copy of Lolita, even though he declares that he hates it. He is a tormented person who clearly hates his own proclivities, but at the same time there is a sense of egotism about the way that he behaves. He constantly self-flagellates himself in Chloe's presence, as if searching for some kind of approval for his behavior. This culminates in his death in both endings. I won't analyze such a tragic event, but in both cases, I wondered: why did he only do it after Chloe's arrival, in a way that would clearly traumatize her for life?

While it wasn't for very long, I do have some experience working as an adult with elementary and high schoolers. It can be very difficult to establish boundaries with students, especially if you're a relatively young adult. Students will ask all sorts of inappropriate questions/make tons of inappropriate requests. It is not uncommon at all for students to give love notes to the young teachers that they liked. It is absolutely the responsibility of the adult to establish those boundaries. Chloe is very active in the events of High School Lolita, but despite her advances towards Matthieu, she is not responsible; she is a child, and it was ultimately Matthieu's responsibility to reject her. The GUI is rendered as crayon-style doodles, with plenty of hearts and roses strewn all over. This really reflects Chloe's childish, rose-colored view of romance. When things turn dark, the GUI changes to reflect that, which is very immersive. I also liked the little animations strewn throughout. The stylized black and white backgrounds contrasted well with the vibrant characters and further lent to the idea that this is truly a rose-colored facade over a grim reality.

I did appreciate that, in both endings, the ultimate outcome is similar. In both, Matthieu kills himself, and we see Chloe as an adult as she processes the events of the game. I was expecting at least one to feature the romantic "happily ever after," but I was glad that this wasn't the case, as it makes it explicitly clear that the romance was never the happy ending. In both endings, Chloe is free from her abuser. While the experience affected her, she in the process of healing. I think ending the story in this way leaves the player on a good note while making the intent of the story undeniable.

All in all, High School Lolita is a very interesting VN with excellent, consistent character writing that touches on some relevant and important topics in a nuanced way.

[ebonysplendor]

Perfect Love Review 💖

TL;DR: Yeah, Milo is toxic and all, but growing up is realizing that, maybe I'M the problem. Maturing is realizing that it's not even a damn maybe; we're deadass the problem this time.

Game Link: https://c4game.itch.io/perfectlove

Notable Features: Sadistic MC, Gender options, LI turned Yandere, (8) Endings Tracker, Self-Insert Spiciness: 0/5 -- As far as I know, there's no spicy scenes, but I was so shook after my first playthrough, I just ran to make a review. That said though, this game is by no means wholesome LI MC Red Flags: 7/5 -- Sadistic, vindictive, manipulative, drugged someone, accessory to crimes, conspiracy to crimes, gaslighter, blackmailed someone, emotionally/mentally abusive, just..a lot of shit (and you thought Castiel was toxic)

Wanna know more? Well, let's get into it!

Fair warning, there may be way more grammar errors than normal because when I tell you that I played the first ending and ran to make a review, I mean that quite literally. That being exposed, just bear with me because this had very little proof reading because I was way too excited to tell you all about this game (without spoiling too much, of course) lol

What's up! Welcome back to another review!

Two things to start this off:

1. I know I already posted another review today, but I couldn't not write a review about this game and tell as many people that would listen to play it as soon as they could! 2. No, my friends, that was not a typo. It's not the LI we need to be concerned about; it's the MC. Yes, we're the problem this time around, and holy shit, please allow me to tell you about it! Or at least some of it, because I don't want to spoil too much.

As angry as this game made me, and as open and as wide as my mouth was during pretty much the entirety of this game, this has been the best damn visual novel I have come across to date! Yes, you read that correctly, and I will double down on it without hesitation; this is the best visual novel that I have ran across! Bitch, I would've paid money for this visual novel it was so good, and y'all know that I'm a cheap bitch! This was a $12.00 game (no, I still ain't over that! lol)! I would've gladly dropped that amount of money on this!

And I really hope I'm not exaggerating or overhyping it either, because I don't know which visual novels you guys have or haven't played, so let me clarify: For me, this is 1000/10 the best visual novel that I have read up to date. The pacing, the art style, the story its damn self, the fact that we're the problem this time around! Like, ugh, I could go on and on and on and on and on some more about this masterpiece of a game. I'm dead serious. I really believe that I could do an improvised one hour powerpoint presentation with absolutely zero prep time on how much of a chokehold this game has me in and STILL need an extra 30 minutes to an hour to really get my damned point across. It is that real for me. It is that serious.

All right, all right, all right, I'm gonna stop myself here because if I keep gushing, the intro is going to get way too long. That being said, it is officially time for me to write the synopsis. More than ever, I really mean this when I say, I'm going to tell you as much as possible without spoiling the game itself, and gods damn it, is it going to be difficult because, holy shit, the stuff that goes down?! I really want to tell you about it but fuck, if I do, then you might not play it yourself, and I can tell you right now, you have got to play this for yourself, and I highly recommend this game! Y'all are seriously missing out if you don't!

Okay, okay, I'm shutting up, because the intro's for real, for real getting too long and really redundant. Like, we get it, you love the game, start summarizing the damn thing! No worries, I hear y'all, and that's exactly what I'm about to do. Just a heads up, you're gonna need to buckle up for this one. Like, no, deadass. Buckle the hell up. I don't know what the hell kind of ride I'm about to take you guys on, but it's a damned wild one.

All right. Enough intro, enough talking. Let's finally get into it.

So, boom, and gods damn it, I mean, BOOM.

The game starts off with a little introducty-duction about how fucked up we are as a person. I'm not kidding about that. Basically, you know how we play these "dark romance" visual novels because the idea of someone being so unhealthily obsessed with you to the point of literally driving them bat shit crazy is something that just excites us for whatever reason? Yeah, we're like that in this game, except, we're literally delusional. Not the "quirky", cringey "aha, I'm so crazy~!", not delulu, like full on, needs to be admitted into the psychiatric floor of the hospital, delusional.

Anyways, we aspire to experience and permanently have that specific type of psycho crazy love, and damn it, we're going to have it, even if we have to go past just manifesting it and instead creating it ourselves, and I mean that quite literally. Let me explain.

See, at this point, there have been many failed attempts at getting this form of toxic love that we're after. At first, (or at least it's implied that) we tried to find it naturally, but it wasn't working out because, quite simply, it was never enough. I mean, sure, they cared about us, and sure, they would fight for us. Hell, they would easily do things for us if we asked, but they would always fall short because they wouldn't be willing to do anything and everything for us, let alone without us just being straight up about it and asking them to do so, and that, my friends, did not and will not fly.

Because we were tired of the constant failures and the constant disappointment, we decided to get on our boss shit and solve our problem instead of complaining about it. How do we solve it? By simply creating the love that we're after, and the first -- and most critical -- part of creating that love, is to find the right type of person. Someone who was a loner and an outcast. Someone that people ignored without so much as a second glance. Someone who allowed people to walk all over them and treat them any kind of way because they had no sense of self-worth. Someone desperate for affection, touch-starved even. Someone like...that new kid who recently transferred.

Milo Change. The perfect sap.

So, for totally non-selfish reasons, we play hero, and we step in to save the day. The bully -- his name's Ryan, by the by -- pretty much hightails it out of there once we intervene, and we're left with our suitor, and a suitor he'd better damn be because we didn't save his ass for nothing.

Milo gets off the ground, and he stumbles into us because he had gotten beat down pretty bad. True to expected nature, he apologizes, and starts rambling on about his friends for a little. He basically explains that, even though he knows that the people that he hangs around are really shitty, being new and not being used to the area makes him anxious to the point where he prefers their company over having no one and being alone. How coincidentally in perfect character he is...this is the one. Time to turn on the rizz.

When he asked why we jumped to his defense, we hit him with the ultimate "I was worried about you". This man's heart immediately gets to fluttering, and he's just making this too easy. It gets to a point where we make this "arrangement", so to speak. In exchange for giving him pointers on how to start standing up for himself, he has to date us. Of course, he jumps on this offer, because aside from him being the very type of spineless dweeb guy we're looking for, we knew that he had a serious crush on us. We know this because we had noticed that in passing and in the classes that we had together that he was always sneaking glances at us, so why not exploit that shoot our shot?

Anyways, we flawlessly sink the shot, and we get our date established. When we meet up, we decide to go to the batting cages, but it throws Milo off because they aren't the kind of batting cages that he was thinking of. Actually, quite frankly, it isn't really a batting cage but instead this really creepy room that has bats and is filled with mannequins.

Naturally, Milo starts asking questions, because now he's pretty uncomfortable with this whole thing, and it only gets worse when he sees us haul off and take a pretty ruthless swing at one of the dummies with a bat. At this point, Milo is holding one of the bats in his hands, and he's like "Nah, nah, I'm not into violence. Like, this is wild", but we reassure him that this isn't so much a reflection of character but a perfectly healthy way to get his anger out. He's still a little hesitant so we start planting thoughts giving him things to consider, and we're just like:

"Dude, are you not angry about the way that your so called 'friends' treated you? Did you actually like that they would use and abuse you when all you did was try to be nice? You did nothing wrong, and yet, they found it amusing to see you in pain. Do you really think you deserved to be treated like that...?" In short, we're just like "Getting your ass beat for the sake of friendship? Couldn't be me".

Milo stops for a second and really considered our words. After he really thought about it, he realized that he was and still is pissed about everything, and he goes in.

Like, really goes in to the point that the bat shattered and his hands started bleeding.

This scares the crap out of him because he didn't realize how much anger he had been holding in, but we find his performance desirable, not to mention severely attractive. Insert the Kronk meme because, my bois, it's all coming together.

We see the potential in Milo, and we're more than happy to help him reach that potential that we know he's capable of achieving. That being said, while he's trying to process what's going on, we just reassured him that we weren't scared of him and that it probably felt really good to finally get all that anger out. The tragic part is that Milo innocently agreed that it did.

We smile about the fact that he unknowingly took the bait, and we keep reeling him in. We tell Milo that we're really happy that he was able to get that anger out, because we understood that the world could be and is super cruel. While we're on the topic of the world being a really messed up place, we just idly bring up the concern of something happening to us and whether Milo'd protect us or not. Milo is once again thrown off because, yeah, the world is cruel, but why would we even picture a scenario like that? So, we explain that it's not necessarily that we wanted to think about it, but that because there's so much violence going on in the world, it was natural to think about.

That being said, we double down and tell him that he may have to protect us one day and fight back. We already know how Milo feels about violence, so we tell him to think of it more as self-defense and not so much as an excuse to be violent towards others for the sake of being violent. It was protection, really, for both himself and the people that he loves and "Milo...you'll protect me...right?"

And, once again, very innocently, he promises us that he will.

With that declaration, he became stronger. He upgraded from mannequins to glasses, plates, and whatever else in ramshackled houses to cars in abandoned lots. He even did classes that taught him how to fight, whether for self-defense, to protect others, or to simply hurt someone. He had become a bit more brash, and the "friends" that he had before started to back off because he was so different, but that was okay; that was what was best for him, and even more importantly, that was what we wanted.

Milo clung onto us. He knew that he was the only one that we could trust because our sweet Milo deserved the world, but the world didn't deserve him. He knew this because we told him exactly that, and why would we ever lie to him? We wouldn't, and because of that, Milo believes that we're the only one that he can trust -- as it should be.

Milo was slowly, but surely, starting to learn, but despite this improvement and despite this change...

...It still wasn't enough. Just the same as before.

Nah, nah, nah, I'm not telling you anymore, because it was hard enough withholding some of the details here. Know this though: this isn't even the halfway point let alone the thick of it, and this is one route out of eight that I just described to you. Yes, it gets damned wild, way beyond this.

FRICKIN FINALLY. I was about to explode trying to get to this part!

Guys, if it was not obvious, you guys have got to play this game! Like, I usually be like "Oh, if you want, and you have the time and feel like it, play this game" but nah, nah, nah, nah, NAH. This is not optional. You will seriously be missing out if you do not play this visual novel. Now admittedly, I got pissed at the MC because, shit, like, there's an option for self-insert, but I was so far detached from this character because this bitch is -- and Markiplier said it best -- fucking psycho crazy bonkers! Like, I saw certain stuff coming, but it's like, when it happened, it would be 10x worse than I thought it'd be.

Like, you honestly have no idea. The lil' synopsis I gave you at the top isn't even really a synopsis; more accurately, it's a teaser, because what I told you didn't even scratch the surface of what is going on. Guys, gals, gays, theys, all of y'all...please...I beg...play this damn game. Like holy shit, I cannot push this game enough. Like, yeah, sure, just to provide criticism or whatever, certain things or scenes are worded really "Ooh, I'm edgy and fucked up", and (unless I just read it weird) I think there were a few coding errors for nicknames and some super minor grammar errors, but like honestly, it doesn't even matter. I honestly couldn't give a damn because shit, the game is damned good! Like, there honestly isn't anything significant to complain about or critique. The dev? C4Games? They are out here, and they are setting the bar damned high.

Like, oh my gods, the fucking concept had me tripping out! Like, the whole "sadistic MC" or "The MC is crazy, too" trope isn't unheard of but, as far as I know, the execution itself is original, and I'm super geeked about it! A sadistic and twisted MC who is literally corrupting and molding an innocent guy to be the yandere that she craves. Like...what the hell? Ahhh!! I love it! Like, I literally cannot hold in the amount of gushing that I'm doing, and you can tell when I'm gushing because every other sentence will be "like, like, and like, like, like, and oh my gods, holy shit, like, like, like". Like lmao, I am gushing. I am ruined.

At this point, I feel that no other game will top this game. If I was making a tier list of the visual novels I have been reviewing, this is by far, no debate, an S Tier, God Tier, "whatever your highest tier would be" game. This visual novel is good, and I cannot wait to play the other seven routes, and guess what? The best part of all of this is that it's released! This is the entire game, and you can bet your ass that I'm going to be playing every route MUTLIPLE times!

Okay, I feel like the review and this overall post is long enough, and I want to stop myself from rambling and gushing anymore than I already have. That being said, that is officially all from me, and everyone's homework-- actually, nah. Everyone's project -- and it's going to be worth 100% of your grade -- is to play this damned game. EXPIDITIOUSLY. This is a requirement. This is an order.

Side note, I'm back on my sims kick, and I'm half tempted to make a family of the Milos I unlock because apparently -- pay attention! This is about to be a "pro, not really pro, but super helpful" tip! -- Milo's appearance and personality changes based on how you choose to mold him. Interesting, right? So, considering that there's 8 endings, I'm thinking there's 8 Milos, so...that's a full household in the Sims. Lol I might do it. I think I am.

Lol all right, enough rambling, I'm outta here for realsies! I hope everyone enjoys whatever time zone they're in, and, in case it wasn't clear or you missed it, play this damned game!

Anywho! Huge reminder! Drink water, don’t be dumb, play this game, and hope to see you around~!

Perfect Love

[shino-shino-bird]

Review: Return to Shironagasu Island

Disclaimer: this game is not a yuri visual novel and may contain some male-gaze elements in addition to being a violent horror-mystery game

Played: Completed the true ending but have not seen all of the bad endings (sorry, my heart is too weak) and have not played the extra after story (beach episode?) yet — apprx. 8 hours so far

A detective from New York investigates a secluded island with his special assistant. He soon becomes entangled in ominous secrets and the investigation of an inexplicable murder.

Story

Solid mystery writing with foreshadowing carefully dropped for the reader. Although not all of the characters were developed to the same extent, I did find myself growing fond of the main cast.

The twists near the end were a bit weird but overall engaging and exciting!

As a weakling who can't do horror, I also appreciated how well they telegraphed the jump-scares. (Not that I was looking at that point)

At some points, you'll be able to tell this is a JP-EN translation, but if you've ever watched fansubbed anime, I don't think this will be too big of an issue?

Art

Indie but charming. There's a lot of CGs, which help illustrate the scenes well, and the BGs definitely let you get an understanding of the locations, especially the creepy island.

The textbox grows on you, and the text readability is very good!

Top tier key visual; need some of that in my life. (The KV is what made the game catch my eye in the first place)

Music

Scary music makes my heart go whoosh Σ(°△°|||)︴

For the most part, music was well chosen to set the mood for scenes.

Gameplay

I'm not a big fan of QTEs and point-and-click in general, but it was alright. The scenes for QTEs were well chosen, but the point-and-click could've been more polished.

Yuri

Not yuri, but Akira could totally be a girl magnet if she wanted to.

Rating: Enjoyed, recommend

[8bitdigi]

Review | Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue (PC)

Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue is an engaging thriller that is always keeping the player on edge.

Survive the Game and Win the Prize I was introduced to Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue during Anime Expo 2022, where I had the chance to try out a limited demo. Even though the demo provided a sample of what the full experience would be like, it managed to pique my interest. After some time and another playable demo, I can confidently say that the game lives up to my expectations. Inescapable:…

[sixeyesun]

In the midst of a rough patch I've been having with my anxiety, I decided to take a look at the results of a survey I posted to ask my viewers what they'd like to see me review on the show.

I was especially taken with respondents that asked me to take a look at a game I bought a year ago during the Steam Summer Sale. What resulted was my encounter with the Milk Duology, a fascinating pair of Visual Novels that centered on a young woman with mental health issues of her own.

Out of a desire to get out of my funk, continue my current momentum by taking on a smaller project, and give a little back to people who responded to my survey, I decided to put in the time to review the Milk Duology

[arimiadev]

*non-vn gaming journalists constantly foaming at the mouth to assert how much they hate visual novels*

(this is for a review of tsukihime)