Belle Automata I
This game is an otome game, where you play as a self-aware android to find your purpose and your special someone.
Story
The heroine of this game was sold by her previous owners after her master died (probably because they noticed she has emotions and is self-aware). At the beginning of the game she arrives at the mansion, where the people, who bought her, live. While she is still sad about the loss of her master, she cannot just sit there and grieve because she needs to find a new purpose for her existence and maybe (most likely, if you donât fail) even love.
The Characters
Heroine (Aureve)
The main character is a self-aware android, a dreamweaver model, whose sole purpose was to weave tapestries for her master. Well, until he died. His family realized she was self-aware and proceeded to sell her off. Now, she was brought to a fancy mansion and for the first time in her life can decide for herself, what she wants to do in the future.
Victor
Victor is the only butler of the mansion she was brought to. He is stoic and can be cold and straightforward at times. He seldomly smiles, talks harshly and is very overprotective towards the Nightmare Prince. However, if the main character chooses him as her love interest, he will show you he can be very emotional, if you have the patience to deal with him despite his behaviour. (Well, not gonna lie my heart skipped a beat at some scenesâŠ)
Nightmare Prince
The Nightmare Prince is the heroineâs saviour and employer. He is a very mysterious person, who alters his voice, when speaking with the heroine, and besides her, only speaks with Victor and his brother Roman. If the heroine is patient and tries to befriend him, eventually, he opens up to her and she get to see, what he looks like and why he is behaving this weirdly. Â
My Opinion
I actually enjoyed this game more than I thought I would. It was especially refreshing to see a new kind of main character in these kinds of games. Iâm used to the typical damsel in distress, who has zero combat abilities and endangers herself in every way possible to humankind. Not that I donât enjoy reading those kinds of stories, but having a totally different heroine is a welcome change of pace as well.
The main character does not endanger herself in any way, but instead seeks to understand herself and her emotions better. She starts slowly liking the companion she chose, not aware of her own feelings in the beginning and unsure where everything will lead to. Additionally, she chooses not only whom to pursue, but also what to do with herself. She gains new friendships, new hobbies and new goals.
It is very nice to read this kind of a story in my opinion, although I do feel that it is in some parts way too hopeful (but, hey, it is a fairy tale after all). To be honest I still would have bought this game, if only to play the Nightmare Princeâs route because âŠ. Well, this guy is so adorable and precious. You just feel like you want to hug and protect him and tell him that everythingâs going to be alright. Lucky me got this for free though to review as a curator. (And Iâm so happy because otherwise I wouldnât have played it probably because itâs so underrated that it never popped up in my recommendationsâŠ) Anyways, even besides the Nightmare Prince, Victorâs route was nice to read as well.
Besides the writing, the game can offer you nice visuals (although the CG look worse than the character designs), really good voice-acting (yes, it is fully voiced PLUS the androids actually sound like androids, which is amazing) and some really good lines that you can quote and seem smart (as I did here).
So, while I would give a 10/10 for the Nightmare Prince, Iâd only give an 8.5/10 for Victor. Why the difference in score? Well, like I said I didnât like the parts, where the game gets too fairy tale-ish and it was especially so in Victorâs route. I also didnât like how Victor behaved that much. If I was the heroine, I would have quit pursuing him (hell, I even thought the bad ending was the better one). Also, the difficulty to get the perfect ending is high. Already 3 wrong choices gave me the ânormal endingâ with the Nightmare Prince (and for me the right choices were kind of difficult to guess sometimes) and for Victor I even got the âbad endingâ when I didnât use a guide. And lastly, I did not like that the difference between the endings was so little. If you for example get the perfect ending, the normal and the bad ending will have 90% the same story, so you will be skipping a lot of text.
You might be puzzled, why the Nightmare Prince got such a high score then? Because his story was far more realistic and consistent with my interpretation of the heroineâs personality. His character was also deeper and more âthought-outâ in my opinion. The difference in the endings was also very true to his character and in this case, it actually made sense for the story to be 90% the same for all endings. All in all, I just really liked his character and story. I was actually so engrossed that I played his whole route including all endings in one sitting because I just wanted to know, how it ends.
So, yeah, here you have my opinion on this game and I hope you consider at least looking into it because it is far more underrated than it deserves to be.
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A Story Beside
This is a RPG, but rather that slaying monsters and saving NPCâs, you will be making everyday choices. Realizing along the way that those kinds of choices can have as much of an impact as slaying monsters or saving kingdoms.
Story
The main character is called Lyric. An average girl living in an average village on the mountainside. Every day is nice and blissful for her â surrounded by family and friends. The player has a vast amount of possibilities how to change her life for the worse or the better by influencing the choices that she does. While the choices do seem random and insignificant sometimes, you never know how much impact they can have on the future.
Characters
Lyric
I will only talk about Lyric because everything else seems like a spoiler to me. Lyricâs personality is heavily influenced by your choices. Itâs really as simple as that. In my playthrough she was a very honest, hard-working, amazing and courageous girl, who was willing to put her life at stake to protect and save the things and the people she loved and succeeded in doing so. She was a hero. More than those heroes the game mentions. Because fighting your fate takes a lot more courage than fighting a monster.
My opinion
I was really shocked to see how unknown this game actually is. Having played âWorldâs Dawnâ I just saw a notification in Steam that this game came out about a year ago. Long story short, I had put it on my Wishlist thinking it was another farming game and now bought it in this summer sale. Oh, how I had been wrong.
This game is like listening to a life story of a stranger and feeling more and more attached to them as you listen. Not only that â you can even influence the decisions of that stranger. Itâs similar to being reincarnated into another person and making their choices for them. However, this game doesnât really feel like a story. It feels too realistic to be a story.
There are happy things and sad things â just like in life. You learn to appreciate the small kindnesses life gives you in the darkest hour. You try your best to survive, to make meaningful choices, to make the right choices. To love and be loved. To save people in the hope that this small act of kindness can change the future for the better. Although you donât know. You never know. Even when youâre older and look back at the things you did, you will never know, if they were the right choices. You will never know, if you couldâve done things better.
However, you will know that you did what you could. Even, if nothing seems to work at the moment and everything seems like a never-ending winter, you should always try your best to survive today, to survive tomorrow. And then slowly the darkness might fade. Slowly you might get the things back you cherished and loved.
The small things that you took for granted all these years. The friendship with your best friend maybe. The relationship with your partner, which might be sweet but lacks the fire and drama youâre used to from novels. The love from your pets. Your friends and family that surround you.
After playing this game, you might reflect on your life and see that this game is not so different from your own life. As for me, I did experience moments in my life that were actually similar to this game. Moments, where I instinctively knew that my choice had a big impact on the future of a person. Might it be friends, might it be family, might it be the love of my life. I instinctively knew that the things Iâm choosing wonât be ever changeable in this timeline. And itâs a scary feeling. You sit there and wonder, whether you couldâve done things differently. How your life would have been, if you did things differently. If you had missed something, if you had neglected something. It just makes me emotional. This is the kind of game it is â it stirs something within you. Makes you understand something about yourself you chose to ignore all these years. And hopefully teaches you to cherish the things that you have and be careful with the choices you make.
Because everyone of us can be a hero or a villain, if we want to.
Everyone of us can change the world for the better or worse.
So, what will you choose?
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Lake of Voices
I stumbled across the visual novel âLake of Voicesâ by pure chance and hence it is free (yes, it is free and good, so I donât know why youâre even reading this review), I thought âWhy not?â.
It is a âhorrorâ visual novel, fairly short (about 5h) and deals with themes such as loss or sacrifices.
Well, obviously I donât regret playing this game, or I wouldnât be writing a long review about it. And since youâre reading this review, it seems you want to know more about this game as well⊠so here I go:
Story
You play as Kikka, attempting to cross the lake Sinnlos, with two other travelers â her fellow guard Bemelle and a young girl called Margret. Although the guide warns them that not everyone will survive this trip, all of them are not shaken in their resolve and attempt it.
Well, the guide warned you guys, you canât save everyone. It is literally impossible in this game, where dangers and timed choices lurk around every corner. Sometimes waiting is the only way to let danger pass and sometimes you have to act quickly. However, the lake always needs sacrifices. And by that, I mean, if you do not choose whom to sacrifice, the game will do it for you â trust me.
Basically, if you want to end up on a route or reach a specific ending you have to think beforehand, whom to save. Specifically â if someone dies it worsens the psychological state of the rest of the characters. Additionally, it changes the overall plot because the other characters make some crucial choices as well. For example, Lu assumes Bemelle and Kikka share a mutual attraction and you can guess why itâs bad to have him assume this, if you want his best ending.
Besides that, the story is pretty straightforward and somewhat repetitive. You will see what I mean â every story has the overall same structure and you will always have to skip some parts of the dialogue.
However, the overall impression of the story can be totally different depending on the choices. The most prominent example is the difference between Luâs best ending and Bemelleâs best ending. I wouldnât even have guessed from Bemelleâs ending what the true story behind the problems of the lake is.
So, while it can be a bit repetitive, itâs overall worthwhile to play each of the routes.
Characters
Kikka
The main character is Kikka the Steadfast â a guard on her way to help a village under siege with her partner Bemelle, whom she has known for years. She decides to cross the lake Sinnlos with him, so that they can arrive at the village quickly enough to help. While at the beginning she is quite âemotionlessâ and acts tough, depending on your choices and the consequences, this façade starts either crumbling down or not.
Bemelle
Bemelle is Kikkaâs fellow guard and has known her for years. He admires and trusts her very much and, while before Kikka didnât realize how much attention he has been giving her, in this trip it becomes very obvious. Additionally, he is very emotional and canât really deal with his anger well â he can say things that he will regret later on. All in all, he is a good person though and is willing up to speak up, if he thinks that things are wrong.Â
Margret
Margret is a witty young woman, who wants to cross the lake with the main character and her fellow guard. While she does have a reason to cross it, it has in fact nothing to do with helping others. Kikka has the option to befriend and help her deal with her issues. Only in her route you can learn about the reasons, why she has to cross the lake in the first place.
Lu
Lu is a stranger that you meet on the bridge. He does not have a light with him as he attempts to cross it and he is still alive, so it is kind of strange in the first place (the novel tells you that Nixi fear light and having light is the only way to cross the bridge and survive). His favorite phrase is âIâm sorryâ and he is very hateful and depreciating towards himself. Lu has actually two routes â one âtrueâ route, where you can be together, and one âbittersweetâ route. The âtrueâ route also explains the real issue â why Sinnlos is a deadly place.
The Guide
The guide is a stoic and apathic person, who seems to care only about himself and his survival. In his route and Luâs route, you can see that this is not fully true and that he has emotions and cares not only for himself. However, in Margretâs and Bemelleâs route he really acts not nicely towards the main characters. Although he is not really a bad person (you will see what I mean, when you play the game), he makes pretty much sure everyone hates him.
My opinion
While the story had a few shortcomings (especially the true ending of Lu) because it was too short to have major plot twists like that and they were basically left there without further explanation, it was overall a very enjoyable novel. The writing style is good and immersive, the characters are nice and lively and the idea is creative.
âYou canât save them allâ â basically you have to learn that lesson as well as Kikka. Although you might feel that as the player you have the upper hand and can manage to do the impossible, this game just tells you: âNo, you canâtâ. This is the part, which I tend to like the most because it makes it feel much more real. Not because youâre crossing a lake with monsters in it, not because you have a goal to save people in another village or because you can befriend strangers on a dangerous journey â but because dangerous, deadly things lead to death. It is natural. You canât save them all and thatâs it. And I am very pleased not because the novel kills of likeable characters, but because it is not clichĂ©. It doesnât make things magically appear and fix all problems and it doesnât turn the main character into a superhero, who can be everywhere at the same time. All three characters besides Kikka are basically incapable to survive this journey alone and Kikka is just one person, so itâs obviously impossible to save them all.
To summarize: Â This novel is free, so you can definitely give it a go, if you like the things I was describing in my review. Although this game has a few shortcomings regarding the plot, it was overall interesting and very immersive. I give it an 8.5/10.
Well⊠however I was a bit frustrated about the guideâs route, so I ⊠uhm⊠wrote an alternative setting for it. Itâs just a one shot and Iâm not that good at writing (especially in English), soo please donât judge me too much, heh?
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One Shots Based on Visual Novels
Sometimes I get creative and write my own stories about things...
The Lake doesnât Welcome Many - Perspective of The Guide
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The Lake doesnât Welcome Many
Disclaimer: I do not own Lake of Voices in any way and hope the creators do not mind that I wrote a kinda stupid fanfiction using a character of their visual novel (The Guide).
Here is the link to the original game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/782340/Lake_of_Voices/
Additionally, proceed with caution because this story might contain some spoilers.
And Iâll add a trigger warning to make sure no one reads it, who canât deal with such stuff⊠(domestic violence hinted at / bruises)
While he was working, he saw humans, many different kinds of humans.
Humans with ugly, dark souls, greedy and careful to always benefit from everything.
Humans, who claimed themselves righteous, who wanted to help others even if it meant to sacrifice their life.
Hopeless ones, who tried to change their lives. Boastful ones, who wanted to show everyone how courageous and capable they wereâŠ
At first it was unbearable. He wasted time and effort trying to convince them to stop. Trying to use rational arguments, to warn about the dangers, to make them understand they would lose everything they value, if they cross this lake.
They never listened.
He grew tired.
Tired of their screams, tired of their cowardice and irrationality, how they acted and how they talked.
He did not care anymore.
They were all the same, always minding no oneâs business but their own.
Always not listening to him.
âHow bad could it be?â
âHe is just exaggeratingâ
âWe know of the difficulties, but we have to take the journey no matter what.â
And then the screams.
The screams were always the worst.
He felt like it was him metaphorically pulling the trigger on them. He felt it was his fault, no matter how often he tried to convince himself otherwise.
Eventually he grew dull to the pain.
His conscience stopped bothering him.
It was a part of his life now. Death was a part of him now.
Every time he led people to their doom some part of him died with them.
No matter how noble his goals were, he still knew deep inside that he had made a choice. He had chosen his kin and forsaken the humans. Every time a human died it was like a statement that Nixi lives were more valuable. It was wrong. Very wrongâŠ
Heâd deny it vigorously, if such a thought would emerge. He would tell himself how hard he tried to convince the humans since the beginning to move away. To leave the shores of Seelenlos alone. They didnât listen. They were the ones at fault.
Not him.
He was the one, who sacrificed himself for his kin. He was the one trying to minimize the damage. He was the one, who had to burden everything. He wasâŠ
âHello, this girl will cross the lake with you, when you guide the people to the other shoreâ
Will? Not would like?
He raised his head and turned around. He had a habit looking down on the water, when he wasnât working as if trying to converse with the drowned or convince them that he was doing the right thing.
The person making such claims was a short and rather corpulent woman dressed as a housekeeper from a wealthy family. As saying that, she dragged the mentioned âgirlâ â a scrawny figure wearing a jacket with a hood by her arm, towards him. That person did not even look up.
In his years as a guide, he had seen a lot of people. Never before he had seen someone wanting to cross the lake not by their own volition.
His mouth became a thin line, making him look even more soulless and cold than he did normally. He was displeased.
âHere is the money.â, she handed him some bills, then just turned around and left.
He was speechless. He never took money for his work. He got his pay from the elders â the travelers did not have to pay for they were paying with their lives to begin with.
However, when he regained his composure, the woman was long gone and he was left alone with the figure.
âDo you wish to cross?â, he asked them for he was sure they never would have started a conversation with him on their own.
âNo, but what choice do I have?â, the voice answering was definitely feminine, although tired and worn out.
âI could give you the bills and you could go the long way aroundâ, he claimed, pretty sure that it was a valid choice.
That is when she looked up. Her face was somewhat pretty, although she looked malnourished and had purple bags under her eyes. Eyes that were a deep and bright color of blue and looked at him angrily, no â furious: âAnd do you expect them to welcome me with open arms? A girl in rags with a lot of cash?â, she hissed, âI know, you will be leading me to my death⊠But why did you mock me in the same way she has for the whole trip? Do you enjoy seeing people suffer?â
He was taken aback by the sharp and strong words from such a feeble creature, so it took a few minutes for him to answer.
âWhy do you think I enjoy seeing people suffer?â, he asked ignoring the first part completely. It was not intentionally ignored. It was more that the second part stung and awoke something in him, which he thought was long gone.
âBecauseâŠâ, she didnât know what to say and bit her lip realizing she had spoken to harshly and hastily to a stranger.
However, this gesture made him involuntary look at her lips and then his gaze was drawn towards her neck. His eyes slightly widened, betraying him by showing some emotions for the first time in a long while.
Oh, yes, he had told himself so often that humans were a danger to his kin that he had to protect. And those humans, who died, deserved it in the end because it was their choice. Some of those humans even deserved to perish for other humansâ sake. But thisâŠ
He was looking at bruises, a purple unhealthy color mixed with yellow. They had a weird shapeâŠ
Like fingers.
Someone tried to strangle her with their bare hands.
The girl realized what he was looking at and hastily looked down on the ground, so that he wouldnât see; wouldnât look anymore.
Maybe that was why she thought he enjoyed peopleâs suffering.
Because she never knew anything else.
For the first time in years, he felt something within him coming to life. Not only a bit of emotion, a fleeting feeling of regret, shame or pain, but something far stronger. He was furious.
His first thought was to ask, who did that to her, but he dismissed it as quickly as it came. First of all, he doubted she would answer and second, what could he do about it? Run into the town and kill the person responsible? Not only it would endanger his kin and the girl, but it would lead him to lose his job as a guide â make him lose everything he stood for.
Speaking of what he stood for â he had told himself for years that humans were the stronger and more selfish race and that they would betray his kin, if they ever had the chance. That it was either killing some individuals to protect his kin â the minority, or losing all chances of survival.
But killing this girl was like killing one of his brothers or sisters, one of his family. She was the living example of everything that would happen to them, if a human found out. The reason he was protecting in the first place. And she was not a Nixi but a human.
It was like a punch in the gut.
For years he had seen travelers; some of them were righteous â those, who tried to save everyone and whose claims were that the world was unfair and they were helping to undo it. He had dismissed those sayings as self-praise and overreaction. Now it seemed to him that not they were the fools but him.
Assuming that he knew humans through his job and through the fleeting contact he had as a teenager with one leader of a village and using it as an excuse to let them die for years⊠Wasnât it something that he had done all this time?
And now the truth stood before him â the truth that he had been wrong. That he had been protecting not the weak, but playing God. Maybe he had been leading someone over this bridge, who had been a parent or a relative of this girl. And it was him, who turned her into this. Had she been from his kinâŠ
He stopped himself.
Exactly, she was the reason why he was protecting them in the first place. So that they didnât need to suffer like her. She was human. Just human.
âItâs okay, if I dieâ, she said suddenly as if reading his thoughts.
Startled he looked up and saw her standing next to the water of the lake â far too close to the water. While he had been thinking and debating with himself for seemingly a long time, he did not notice her moving.
He made a few steps towards her, debating with himself, whether he should pull her away from the murky dark water or not.
She kneeled down, robbing him that choice â now it was either kneeling and pulling her back, which was a rather intimate gesture, or waiting for her to go away on her own. Although it was very unlikely, she would move from that place in near future.
âI donât mind dyingâ, she repeated quietly, as if talking to herself. Actually, she was because a human wouldnât have been able to hear her muttering.
âNo one minds it, they even paid for itâ, she chuckled quietly, âitâs not like I have a place to be anywayâŠâ
She reminded him of Lu, who was a part of his kin. His favorite appearance was a short and scrawny red-haired boy and when he spoke, he either belittled himself or said he was sorry. He was sorry for everything, beginning from his existence. And this girl apparently shared the same thoughts regarding that.
He almost cussed aloud.
Why did he start comparing these two? It was a bad choice; one he couldnât turn back. He had before successfully stopped himself, when he started sympathizing with the girl, but now it made his whole effort for naught. The emotions were there again, now far stronger than before, since he had found a compared her to a person he cherished and protected.
If she was like Lu, then how could he forsake her? If she was like a person for whom he killed others to protect them. If heâd kill her, wouldnât he kill Lu with her?
He shook his head. These thoughts were so wrong. All of them. He shouldâŠ
Instinctively he jumped forward, his hands slid around the waist of the girl and he pulled her back from the shore. Although he heard a low hiss from the water asking something like âWhatâs wrong with you?â or âDidnât she agree to be a sacrifice?â, he didnât answer. He didnât have an answer actually because he had instinctively moved towards the water as he realized the impending danger in the back of his mind.
Well, actually he had an answer now. There was no way he could live with himself apparently, if he let this girl die. And as far as he understood her, she would die, if heâd left her.
While he had pondered about the choices he had now, which were rather little, the girl apparently regained her composure and wiggled out from his grasp.
As she stood up, she gave him a curious look: âWhy did you save me?â
He growled. So, she had seen them as well.
âDo you intend to keep me?â, she asked, her gaze still fixed on him, as if confirming, whether he was willing to go through with his actions or just some guy, who claimed to be righteous and didnât mind the consequences of his actions.
He stood up, keeping quiet.
It was answer enough for her because she frowned and then turned around facing the lake again.
He hissed.
She turned around to him both surprised and startled. Her blue eyes now full of curiosity waited for an answer to her question, which she hoped would soon come.
The hiss had been the answer though.
In a language she wouldnât understand⊠yet.
âDonât touch her. She is mine.â
Suddenly a lot of noises were coming from the lake â angry, surprised noises.
She turned around again, seeing a lot of shadows close to the shore made her involuntary take a few steps back towards him.
He didnât bother to answer. They would see what he meant in due time. Or maybe they wouldnât see it and choose someone to replace him. As for now he intended to do the things his duty told him to do. This girl was belonging to a minority as well. She had nowhere to go. She regarded herself as a thing â something you can keep. He wouldnât be able to kill her. He wouldnât be able to sacrifice her for his cause â trying to save his kin from exactly this.
Future would show.
But for nowâŠ
âCome. You will be staying with me. We will go to the other side, when there are more travelers. The cabin on the other side of the lake will be your home.â
She didnât answer. He looked at the water, not at her, while saying it. His emotions were far too strong, out of control and he didnât trust himself enough that they were not visible on his face.
After a while that seemed like an eternity, she spoke: âIâm Rika⊠pleased to make your acquaintanceâ, her voice was shaky. She probably was crying from disbelief and relief because of his answer.
He sighed.
âYou ought to remember my name from now on. It is Dour.â
Notes: Actually, I wanted to call him Airen before I saw the Bonus Scene ;_; Airen is a way better name, damn itâŠ
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Battle Royale: For Your Heart!
First things first: This game is only a Demo (roughly 70 min reading time). There is no full version available yet and itâs pretty short. You only get introduced to the possible romance candidates and have about 10-15 choices (maybe more, I didnât count). Therefore, if you hope to see some romance interaction going on, you will be disappointed. Additionally, since the funding goal on Kickstarter wasnât reached, there is no real information, when the full game will be released.
However, I would still like to express my opinion about the Demo and, when the game gets released and I get a chance to read it, I will just update this review.
 Story
In the story of this game you play as a noob (gender is selectable), who has decided to join a Battle Royale Game for the first time because their favorite streamer SamuraiStriker asked his viewers to participate. After you manage to embarrass yourself in front of more experienced players in the waiting area and hopefully found new friends, you are given a choice, whether you want to team up with some of the romanceable characters or go alone.
The Characters
As far as I know, there are six routes/ characters to choose from:
Your âtwinâ (basically the character of the gender that you didnât choose to play), who is maybe slightly better than you, but still a bad player. TwinTails, who acts like a cute girl, but seems to be an experienced player. Midnight, who acts like a middle-aged guy (I donât know, if this was intended) and is definitely an experienced player. SamuraiStriker, the famous streamer, whose fan you are. He in my opinion a little too arrogant and a little too secure about his win⊠HollyDay, who seems to be somehow very creepy, cruel and wants to win the competition no matter what. (However, the description of this game states that she can actually be a nice person as well).
My Opinion
Anyway, like I said there is no romance in the Demo. Therefore, Iâd say that for now the main genre of this story would be comedy (or parody like itâs said in the description). Plus, SamuraiStriker and HollyDay had only a short introduction and left a somehow bad first impression on me.
Even though overall the Demo is very short, I still would like to mention some aspects of this Game:
I really like the writing style and the overall writing of this game. I think it is great that the focus is comedy rather than romance in the beginning because it doesnât ârushâ the plot. Itâs not like you fall in love with someone just because you meet them in a lobby a few minutes ago and their in-game character looks cute. However, there are two aspects in the writing I disliked: Firstly, I was overwhelmed by the amount of choices you have in this game. While there are people, who like it, when there are a lot of choices, I have the opinion that it can destroy the flow of the game. Just because youâre busy saving & loading most of the time to get the route that you like (or just hunting for CGs). Secondly, I just donât like, how stupid the main character is acting sometimes. I mean, even, if she is supposed to be a total noob, it doesnât make really sense for her to know so little about the game, when her favorite streamer is often playing Battle Royale games or even just computer gamesâŠ
Besides the writing, I also liked the art of the game and the gameplay. Especially I want to mention that in the full game, you will be able to choose your starting point like you would (more or less) be able in a real Battle Royale game and thatâs a great detail.
Overall, I think that this game managed to pique my interest. While I canât really vouch for the whole story right now, the writing until this point is nice and the idea of the story is not only interesting, but also realized well. However, there are a few things that I donât like right now: The personality of the main character and the amount of choices.
Anyway, for now Iâll stay curious until the full game gets released.
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Theories about Visual Novels
Since in the past years Iâve started to play not only romance visual novels, where the plot is pretty much described in all the routes, but also mystery and horror visual novels. Therefore, I started to develop my own theories about, whatâs going in the games.
And, while I know that everything will be revealed in the end, I want to have the pleasure of writing down my theories and see, whether I am right or totally wrong. Of course, if youâre interested in them as well, feel free to read and comment. However, Iâll write in each case, how much Iâve read, so please refrain from writiting spoilers.
Higurashi When They Cry (Currently read: Chapter 4)
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Theory about Hinamizawa - SPOILER
Warning: Heavily Spoilers (Iâve currently read Chapter 4)
I think honestly that there is something like drug addiction or a disease or something going on.
Why I think so?
Well, first of all the hallucinations. Keiichi hallucinates in all of the chapters at some point.
In the first chapter it happens, when he thinks that Rena and Mion are evil or have a somewhat evil personality like, when Rena starts stalking him. Additionally, it doesnât look like he is the first one to experience it because
It is mentioned that Satokoâs brother has acted the same, before he disappeared
He clawed open his own throat like the photographer Tomitake did
In the second one there is this whole business with Mion. Rena kind of mentions that there is the demon side of Mion, which awakes because Keiichi doesnât care for her. This may sound like something supernatural, but also can be interpreted as a disease. Additionally, at the end, everyone dies either suddenly or commits suicide. I think the cause of that could be hallucinations as well, since there is a possibility for one to die from shock (sometimes exploited in horror games e.g. with using the heart rate of main characters).
In the third chapter Keiichi even literally hallucinates the murder of Satokoâs uncle. I mean, there wasnât a corpse. It also seems like he develops a second personality throughout the novel, more like, he starts acting like a psychopath. Even in the first chapter this personality was hinted at, since at the beginning, I presume, Keiichi is killing Rena, while telling that he loved her. (tbh could also be Mion, but I am more likely to guess Rena because he prefers Rena throughout this chapter)
But why disease or drug and not a demonic entity?
Hmm⊠well, I really donât think itâs a demon since other villages actually donât come close to Hinamizawa residents and say that they are descendants of demons. Would be a really easy excuse for everything, if the residents are actually demonic. But basically, what I think instead, is that this disease may have to do something with the air or the swamp in Hinamizawa that is why I was suggesting drugs or simply toxic air. So, while demons might be an easy explanation, itâs more likely for me that the residents start feeling sick, when they stay in the village for too long.
What about Rika and the disaster that happens, when Rika dies?
Thatâs actually a good question because in every timeline, where Rika dies, the swamp erupts toxic gas and the whole village is wiped out. More surprisingly Rika is even able to foretell her fate, as we can see in the fourth chapter. Honestly, while this can be easily explained with supernatural abilities, it is very hard to explain otherwise. I think that Rika might really have a talent and that she is able to see the future. However, I donât think that her death is the reason for the toxic gas. I think it is more like she canât save the village from the toxic gas, if she is dead.
To sum it up:
I think that the village is plagued by a disease or some kind of drug (donât really know, whether Irie has something to do with the drug, or the drug is just naturally produced by the swamp). However, I am sure the blue substance or something that the girls have in their pockets at the end of chapter two is something like a medicine against it. This disease corrupts the human brain, so that the person starts heavily hallucinating and act rather brutal against themselves or other people. It also corrupts relationships since the person feels that everyone is hostile against them.
However, Rikaâs ability to foresee the future seems real. Additionally, that the Sonozaki clan is more like a mafia seems very real too. Therefore, I donât doubt that Mion has some blood on her hands or at least has at some point done something rather illegal. Additionally, I think it is very suspicious that Rena seems to know something about the âdemonic powersâ of others. I feel like she might know something about the true happenings at Hinamizawa, but chose to say that itâs all the work of demons.
Additionally, I really donât trust both Irie and Miyo. Miyo seems to be way too brutal and is interested in all that gruesome stuffâŠ
Ah, yeah, if itâs a disease, then who killed all those people?
I think Keiichi did his fair share of killings and in the second part it was mostly Mion, who went berserk. However, Rika wasnât murdered by them in the third and fourth chapters and also there were a lot of people murdered before Keiichi even came to the village. My opinion would be that the deaths of the people before Keiichiâs arrival were the work of the Sonozaki family.
Now, for the other murders, I think it depends on the timeline. In the first part it was Keiichi. In the second part the killings were done because of the Sonozaki clan. And in the third and fourth part I think it was the main antagonist of the series. Yeah, I honestly believe there is an antagonist, who has also some kind of medical knowledge because I really think that this person has an influence on the Hinamizawa âdiseaseâ and its progression (e.g. Tomitake, who clawed his own throat). While the protagonist(s) donât live long enough in the first two parts for the antagonist to act, in the third and fourth part itâs enough time for them to get to their goal: Slice up Rika at the shrine as an offering.
Thatâs it for my theory.
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Higurashi When They Cry - Himatsubushi
As you might have guessed, this is a sound novel as well. Look up my Reviews for the First Part, Second Part and Third Part of the Series, if you want to know, what this game is about, as I will not repeat, what I wrote before.
Story
This time we read about the past of Hinamizawa, the dam construction riots and the abduction of the grandson of a governmental official. The story is told by a police officer named Akasaka Mamoru, who arrives at the village in order to find the missing grandson and ultimately solve the case, whether the culprits are the Sonozaki family. While he is searching for the grandson, he meets Rika Furude in Hinamizama and develops a close friendship with her. She actually warns him at the beginning of the game to return back to his homeplace in Tokyo and give up on the search of the grandson, but he doesnât listen to her. So, the ending is rather⊠not very good.
New Characters
Mamoru Akasaka
Akasaka is the protagonist of this chapter. He is a police officer from Tokyo and has a pregnant wife, who is currently staying in the hospital. Akasaka is a very devoted to his work and a fighter for justice. He is very diligent and refuses to give up and go back home until he has rescued the child. However, this is more than stupid in this scenario.
Kuraudo Ooishi
While he was a reoccurring side character in the previous chapters as well, he is more of a main character in this one. Since Akasaka doesnât know his way in Hinamizawa, Ooishi acts like a mentor to him and teaches him, how to behave. Ultimately, we can also see that Ooishi wants the best for the village, since he is devastated at the end of the chapter and is as obsessed as Akasaka to find out the truth about what happened in Hinamizawa.
My opinion
I think it is very refreshing that the protagonist and the story-telling changes. While Keiichi was a high school boy going through puberty, Akasaka is an adult, who is very much in love with his wife and wants their daughter to be cute like Rika.
Actually, he is even more or less a fanboy of Rika, but he treats her with a fatherly attention and far better than her own family. So, while there are traits that make Keiichi and Akasaka seem similar, they are behaving differently and Akasaka has a lot more freedom in his actions than Keiichi because he is an adult (plus a police officer). While this is a positive aspect on its own, Akasaka proves in this chapter that even, if you have a freedom of choice, there is still a way to choose the worst possible ending.
However, since this chapter was shorter and more informative about the past than the previous chapters, it was very quick to read and gave many insights, which led to my current theory about what is happening in Hinamizawa.
(you can read about it here â SPOILER ALERT)
I think you should definitely read this chapter, if you want to decide on a theory as well, because now the story is told in the perspective of the âenemies of Hinamizawaâ and therefore, you might finally have valuable reasons towards the human culprit theory instead of the demon culprit one.
Well, thatâs that, I think youâll miss out, if you donât read it. This chapter deserves a 9.5/10 since it is good, but still really canât compete with the previous one.
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Higurashi When They Cry - Tatarigoroshi
As you might have guessed, this is a sound novel as well. Look up my Reviews for the First Part and Second Part of the Series, if you want to know, what this game is about, as I will not repeat, what I wrote before.
Story
The protagonist, you might guess, is again Keiichi Maebara, who transferred schools and joined the same club with the same girls as in the previous parts. However, this time he quickly develops a close relationship with Satoko Houjou. He feels like she can give her the family love he earns for and starts acting like her missing brother. While he finds support in his actions by Irie Kyousuke, the coach of the schoolâs baseball team, I cannot fully grasp, why he would hate Satokoâs brother with such a passion. Additionally, while these feelings for Satoko may be bright as the sun, Keiichi develops a rather dark second personality, which starts to shine after Satokoâs uncle comes back to Hinamizawa. Keiichi is faced with the choice of how to deal with this sudden fiend and, what he chooses youâll find out in this novel.
New Characters
Irie Kyousuke
He is the baseball coach of the school as well as the head doctor in the clinic of Hinamizawa. His personality is somewhat weird because, while he may seem like a normal adult at first, he has a fetish for maid costumes and maids and has rather questionable feelings for Satoko. However, he is not a criminal, more like he materializes the feelings he has for Satoko in making her happy in all possible ways. I am not sure, how far he would go for her happiness, but I guess maybe I will find this out in the next chapters.
My opinion
I think this chapter was the best of the series so far. The author manages to captivate the reader because of the sudden change of pace and plot in the story. While everything begins the same like before with Keiichiâs transfer and the club, this time the relationship with Satoko quickly changes the flow of the story into a somewhat heartfelt family reunion. Keiichi seems to be similar to a reincarnation of Satokoâs lost brother and since the reader gets a glimpse of Satokoâs past, they completely would agree with Keiichiâs decision to support Satoko to the fullest.
However, all that happy go-lucky atmosphere changes for the worse, when Satokoâs uncle suddenly returns. Why? Maybe Satoko was too happy. Higurashi plot doesnât like happy at all.
Anyway, Satokoâs uncle is back and Keiichi doesnât know, what to do, since he is still a child and doesnât have any income or resources to help her. Like his other friends. Well, what now?
An idea, which is born, cannot die so quickly, and Keiichiâs idea is that, what determines the outcome in a somewhat drastic way. And I can tell you, I never had anticipated this ending.
To sum this up: I think it might be my favorite from the series so far and Iâm kind of doubting that any chapter that comes after this can change my opinion, but we shall see.
I think, if you managed to get through chapter 2, you will read this chapter in one go. Itâs a clear 10/10.
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WILL: A Wonderful World
This is a unique game, where the actual story is partly told by written letters and partly as a dialog. Your contribution to the story is that you need to change the contents of the letters by switching sentences from two of the letters you get and therefore you decide the fate of the characters.
Story
You play as a goddess, who lives in a secluded city in a house. Outside itâs always snowing and you only later get to know about the world, where she is living. The goddess has only one friend and itâs her dog Willy. Every day she receives some letters and can change the fate of the sender by switching out the sentences in two of those letters.
The characters introduced in the letters are more or less the main characters of the story since the content of the visual novel is mostly about them. Their names are Li Wen, Wen Zhaoren, Jimmy, Pi, Spottie, Carlos, Alicia, Chang Gyeong-Min and Kang Baek-Ya. These characters can be divided further in four groups: Li Wen, Wen Zhaoren and Jimmy are the first group. Their story is more or less like a romance K-Drama, while Jimmyâs story later on becomes even a little scary. The second group consists of Pi and Spottie and the third group of Carlos and Alicia. Both of these stories Iâd call action stories. And the fourth group would be Chang Gyeong-Min and Kang Baek-Ya. Their story is pretty much a thriller/ detective.
Characters
Li Wen
She has a somewhat cold and distant personality and isnât very happy with her life before she meets her new art teacher Wen Zhaoren. While she seems somewhat intelligent at first, she makes a lot of really stupid decisions throughout her storyline and is actually quite a romantic.
Wen Zhaoren
He has pretty much given up on his life at the beginning of the story and wants to quit living altogether. However, after meeting Li Wen he somewhat gains a new purpose in life and becomes a happier person.
Jimmy
While at first, he seems more of a geek and a somewhat secluded gamer, he matures throughout his story and at the end becomes a successful adult.
Pi
A secret character.
Spottie
He is a cat, who lost his guardian and struggles to start a new life as a stray without anyone next to him.
Carlos
He is Aliciaâs brother, who ventures out from his hometown to search for his lost sister and gets somehow involved with a shady organization.
Alicia
Carlosâ sister, who was separated from her brother at a young age. She wants to find Carlos at all means, however, gets also involved with shady characters.
Chang Gyeong-Min
He is a freshly graduated police officer, who has a lot of illusions about his future job. Being more about physical strength than brain, he often blindly follows his ideals about a greater justice and throws himself into dangerous situations without a second thought, much to the dismay of his chef.
Kang Baek-Ya
He is a somewhat pessimistic police officer, even more annoyed because of his new partner Chang than his own âmiserableâ life. While he seems cold at first, he is actually somewhat caring towards his friends and subordinates. However, he has also a darker side, which actually never gets fully explained in the game, since he canât actually write about it in the letters, while he is unconscious.
My opinion
This game has very interesting approach to visual novels. It completely satisfies a lot of readers with different preferences by combining different genres together in one big story line. While some of these genres might be focused to satisfy specific readers like e.g. there is k-drama like romance, the whole story can be enjoyed by everyone, who likes suspense. Honestly, I was really engrossed in the story, while reading this novel, so I sat for days in front of the computer in order to read everything.
Besides the story I really liked the characters as well. They all have different personalities, a different goal and a different story. I really enjoyed it that some of the stories didnât focus at romance at all, or even led to worse endings, if you included romance, since it was hindering the characters to reach their goals, or made their decisions very emotional towards the end, where they should have acted more rationally.
Both the characters and storytelling are also very unique. Since you are reading the characterâs letters and since they are writing to you only, when they have a problem, you have some time-skips and a very subjective perspective. Also, it is pretty funny that a some of wishes of the characters need to be ignored in order for them to achieve the best possible ending since they canât predict the future and sometimes the future is brighter, when people donât get, what they want for a while. While some of the choices didnât made sense for me and the endings for some stories felt a little rushed, I think all in all the game does a pretty good job conveying the story and combining all of the stories into the main story. However, you need to be prepared that you wonât always get the happy ending you wish for and some characters donât manage to get to their goal, even when you try to help them. Plus, the story of the goddess is actually a real tear jerker, so be prepared.
I can add that the music is very good as well. The game tells you to wear headphones, while you play and I wholeheartedly agree with that suggestion.
To summarize: I really love this game and itâs holds a special place in my heart since I was so fascinated both with the storytelling, the idea and I really liked the characters. The only thing I was frustrated with is that the one, who brought happiness to others didnât have a happy ending herself. And I am still kind of sad about it.
Obviously, this game gets a 10/10 from me.
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This Starry Midnight We Make
Itâs more of a puzzle game than a visual novel. Your goal is to combine stars into different clusters and the missions in the game specify how that combination should look like. In between there are short story sequences.
Story
You play as Hamomoru Tachibana, who got lost while visiting a festival in Kyoto. She walked into a forest and found a pond, which has the power to influence peopleâs fates. When you throw rocks into the pond, they become stars and combining those stars leads to clusters. Each cluster has a different metaphorical meaning and this meaning is basically translated as an occurrence in someoneâs life. Hamomoru didnât only find the pond, but also met a scientist with the name Chuuya Shingoh, whose goal is to analyse how the stars in the pond would affect peopleâs lives. Therefore, he assigns Hamomoru as his assistant and she has to comply because she had lost her wallet prior to this event and has no means to survive otherwise. And so the story begins, where at night Hamomoru and Shingoh combine stars and throughout the day they watch the people, who are affected by their âexperimentsâ.
Characters
Hamomoru Tachibana
She is a clerk and currently on vacation in Kyoto. Since she had lost her wallet, her only option is to stay with Shingoh and be his assistant. You are playing as her, when you combine stars in the pond. She really likes food.
Chuuya Shingoh
He is a scientist, who takes his job very seriously. While he seems calm and collected on the outside, he stops being rational, if itâs about science. Because for science he is willing to do a lot of sacrifices as well as for his little project regarding the stars in the pond.
There are four other characters, who are influenced by the stars in the pond. You will meet them and get to know them throughout the game, so, it will be a little of a spoiler, if I start describing them here.
My opinion
This game is somewhat calming. You will be in charge of combining stars throughout the whole game. Youâre not going to influence the story or the main characterâs personality in any way, but still you will be kind of intrigued and fascinated by the story. Somehow, it is really nice to see, how youâre able to change peopleâs lives for the better and how you can help them to achieve, what they couldnât do before without the help of the stars.
The story is well-written and the pace of the story is really good. You are slowly introduced to the characters and start to get to know them first as acquaintances, then as friends. Like Hamomoru you will slowly develop the urge to help them and therefore are willing to grind through the star-combining for hours. And, after finishing the game, you will feel somehow a sort of satisfaction, like that you didnât help virtual characters, but real people, or somehow made the world a better place.
Regarding the gameplay, I think itâs the weakest point of the game. Towards the end, it becomes more of a grind and you will need to look up a guide in order to complete the game. Itâs still worth it though, but it would be better, if there was a less exhausting way to do it.
All in all, this game is still one of my favourites. I think it is very underrated because it is a really heart-warming game with a good story and amazing characters that you will totally like.
I think everybody should play this, but because of the grind, I can only give it a 9/10.
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Rose of Winter
This is an otome game, where you have to choose between four candidates. It is a short game (about five hours), but itâs more like a visual novel in terms of the writing and the story.
Story
You play as Rosemary, who needs to cross the mountains with a companion of her choice in order to earn some money. Although she wants to call herself a knight, she kind of isnât yet, but she still gets the chance to romanticize some âhotâ guys, plus earns herself some cash at the same time. Every companion she chooses has a unique story and Rosemary has different experiences on each journey. While she travels with one of the men, she is also able to find out more about their past and their life and may or may not start a relationship with them.
Characters
Rosemary
She is a self-proclaimed knight and currently in need of money. She seems not very girlish at the beginning, but she is pretty romantic and is willing to choose her own destiny. Rosemary also knows that love isnât the most important thing and is willing to accept that other people may need to choose their duty instead. She is a very strong girl and one of the few main characters of otome games that I really respect.
The Fae prince Falkner
He is a fairy, so he basically sits on Rosemaryâs shoulder for the whole trip. Although he is small, it doesnât mean he canât stand up for himself and he knows his duty as a prince. However, sometimes duty and feelings clash.
The companion of the southern Prince Crow
He seems kind of mysterious at first and flirts a lot with the main character. As she gets closer to him, he is willing to tell her the truth about himself at some point. This is more like a bittersweet romance.
The dragon prince Tirune
He is very cold at first, but has his reasons to do so. Dragon prince means he is literally a dragon and,  as a dragon, he hates the cold very much. His story was my favourite because Tirune is actually a really sweet guy (erm⊠dragon).
The magnificent prince Kuya
He isnât that magnificent. While Rosemary travels with him, she realizes he is more talk than action and some kind of a jerk. However, at some point, Kuya opens up to her and he is⊠well kind of cute too, in a peculiar kind of way.
My Opinion
The game is great. Each story is unique and the only thing that repeats in every story is that Rosemary needs to cross the same mountain. Itâs an aspect that is really rare to see in a otome game because most of the developers tend to copy paste some scenes eventually.
Next thing I want to talk about is that I loved the characters. I mean each one of them had a different background, a different story and the whole romance aspect was handled differently. I liked the characters because they had not flawless personalities and distinguishable character traits.
Another good aspect is that the romance wasnât forced. It was more like âthings just happened naturallyâ. Every partner handles Rosemary differently and she acts not the same in every story.
If we are talking about Rosemary, I also really like her as a main character because she has a realistic personality. She doesnât have superpowers or is at the right place at the right time (while we are talking about that I might add there are no real damsel in distress scenes in this game). Rosemary tries to make her own choices regarding her life rather than just giving up because of possible hardships. I really respect her.
In conclusion, this is one of my favourite games. It has a really good writing style. The characters are great and the main character matures throughout the story. Every route you can choose is unique and even, if this game seems like a fairy tale at first, the endings are a lot more realistic than you might have thought. I would totally recommend buying this game.
Also, what makes this visual novel really special for me is that it leaves you with a sort of feeling of accomplishment after you finish it. I had some kind of warm and fuzzy feeling after reading the story like I came back home from a long trip. And I felt really happy for some reason for the whole day. The game is just this amazing like that.
10/10
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Lost in Secular Love
This is more of an otome game than a visual novel. It is quite short. There are only three routes available and there are only two ends for each route.
Story
The heroine has to go to a temple to get married to a monk because her father made a mistake to support the wrong candidate for the throne. Now her family maybe calls themselves aristocrats, but they are poor, and since a monk has a lot of money, the mother chooses to marry off her eldest daughter to one. The heroine is not religious in any way though, but a glutton. However, miraculously she stills passes the test at the temple and is engaged to the monk Zhikong. Â Now is the time for the player to decide, whether this relationship will last, or, if she falls in love with someone else: either Zhikongâs brother Huihai or her childhood friend Ziqing.
Characters
The Heroine
I kind of like the heroine but at the same time I donât. What I really liked, was that she has some distinguishable personality traits like her love for food or her will to survive because she is poor. In addition, I liked her inner conflict that she is torn between following the aristocratic traditions and earning money for her family.
However, I have two major problems with her personality: Firstly, how she fell in love with her fiancĂ© doesnât make sense to me at all. The story goes from he kissed her and now she is obsessed with him. They just completely changed her personality, so that she is an over-caring, obsessive girlish teenager, who acts like she fell in love with a celebrity.
Her development is really abrupt in every story. She goes from âI want to eat white rice!â to âI want to be there for you and do religious things!â. Itâs confusing because she was very materialistic at first, but suddenly becomes very poetical and mature (in the good endings). I feels like the person was switched out, but not like she has matured mentally.
In the bad endings, I feel like she was switched out as well. In my opinion, doesnât suit her personality, because she is shown to be very headstrong, that she lets herself be completely destroyed. I donât believe that even strong affections change people this much. It was like she had completely given up on life.
Nevertheless, to be honest, even with her flaws, her personality is still a change from the typical lady in distress "please hold and save me" girly-girl, which is typical for otome. Still it is very underdeveloped because her personality changes feel rather forced and rushed.
Zhikong
He is the heroineâs fiancĂ©e. He starts off being quite monotone and makes many religious quotes (, which I didnât getâŠ), but has a weird fetish for ⊠strange things? (I donât even know, how to describe the stuff he hoards, just play the game and see for yourself). What intrigued me the most about him, was his devilish, so to say yandere, side later in the game.
And, like I said, I didnât get most of his religious quotes, so the interactions with the heroine werenât that interesting for me and I became bored with his personality quite quickly as well. I even couldnât understand, what choice mattered for the bad end and why. He was mostly acting the same in both ends to be honest, so I felt in the bad end the heroine was just somehow mentally unstable and it was her problem that everything escalated and not his.
Anyway, this route had a lot of potential, but it left so many things just unexplained. Zhikongâs yandere side for example: The game never explained, why he is acting like this, and what events led to it. His personality is rather confusing, not very realistic and the story had a lot of unnecessary drama.
Huihai
This is the brother of the fiancĂ©, so itâs more like a forbidden romance.
My favorite route of the game, although I liked the bad ending slightly more than the good ending, since it was written more realistic in my opinion.
Huihai is more of a housewife than manly. He has an obsession for buying things at a cheap price, but has also a childish and flirty way of talking to the ladies. In fact, he has quite a fan base, so to say, and gets many gifts, which end up in the warehouse because he clearly doesnât get the meaning of love yet. Yet means that, after the heroine appears and you choose his route, he does fall in love â with that girl.
This is a clearly unhappy event for both of them, since the heroine should be married off to his brother. So, they start off being just friends, but that isnât a wise choice because at some point both of them realize that they want more.
I think this story was actually really good. It is clearly realistic, since itâs normal for two people to fall in love, if they share the same interests and the main character suits Huihai very much. There was character development â not only the heroine changed her way of thinking, but Huihai became more manly â both grew up. And last, but not least, there wasnât unnecessary drama because the situation they were in was dramatic enough itself, and understandable so.
However, I think in the good ending towards the end things were too rushed. Before some event, it was going towards the bad ending, but suddenly everything changed and they could have a good ending. Therefore, I liked the bad ending more. Otherwise, of course Iâd want the characters to be happy.
Ziqing
The shortest and the worst route of the game. It had so much potential. Childhood friends met each other after so many years, developing romantic feelings for each other, but the girl has to marry Zhikong and so onâŠ
Well, what happened was an unlovable, almost egomaniac person, who said so many rude things that I started to wonder about why the heroine even keeps talking to him. If I was her, Iâd had punched him at least a million times. And he made her cry so often with his unbelievable bad behavior â there are just things you donât say to a person. I donât really care, how hard youâve had it in your life, dude, but just why do you have to make her life miserable too?
So, itâs no wonder that, when he confessed, I wasnât the slightest happy, but utterly confused, why the heroine didnât just say outright no, but that she had to âthink about itâ.
What made it even worse is that his personality just completely switched after the confession, like he started to be really caring and not being rude, but only teasing.
For me it was like a try to make a character tsundere, but not fully understanding the meaning behind tsundere, so they just made him awful instead. But, how can you love an awful character? So, after the confession they just switched his personality, so he is more lovable, without any further reason.
My opinion
Well, enough ranting about the characters. As you can see, my main problem with this novel was not the writing style, the music or the art, but the character design and the routes.
Honestly, I donât think all of the routes besides Huihaiâs are really worth playing, but Iâd think Zhikongâs route is at least somehow enjoyable. Anyway, Huihaiâs route is actually so good that for me itâs totally worth to buy this game for it.
It had the right amount of drama and action in it and since it wasnât that long, it didnât get boring or tedious to play. In addition, I really liked the chemistry between the main character and Huihai.
In conclusion, this novel is a pretty refreshing story with a rather unusual and kind of funny main character. The story idea is quite nice as well, but the actual storytelling and character development is still unpolished. With some routes like Zhikongâs the character development is rather questionable. Somehow, the characters just switch personalities. However, there is also Huihaiâs route, which makes up for all the lacks the other two stories have.
If you want to read something for a few hours, which isnât your typical romance visual novel game, but you donât necessary want a game that is absolute astonishing and Iâd call one of the best Iâve ever read, then I would say you should give this novel a try.
Iâd give Huihai a 9/10 and the rest of the game about 6/10.
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Hustle Cat
This is more of an otome game, but a very good one. Its writing style is amazing and Iâd only say itâs an otome because the main genre is romance and itâs fairly short and heavily dependent on choices.
Story
You play as the (girl or boy â you can choose) Avery. They have started a new job at a cat cafĂ©; however, this new job brings many problems with it. The cafĂ© Avery starts working at is quite special and the workers there are all people, who need to deal with their problems in order to move on with their lives. Avery needs to choose to help one of them because, if they donât they wonât ever have their previous life back as well.
The characters
Avery
They are a very tomboyish girl (or a guy), who doesnât like to study and was in search for a job. They donât like reading that much, but are friendly towards others. Avery wants to help people they like or care for. Their usage of language is pretty standard for a teenager â they often use slang and cuss sometimes.
Mason
She a quiet girl with a delinquent personality. As Avery grow closer to her, they realize she has also a very sweet side.
Hayes
He is a timid and shy boy. Hayes seems to like poetry very much and even writes his own poems sometimes.
Finley
She is a really extroverted and eccentric girl. In addition, she is a very famous internet celebrity.
Reese
He is a nosy, but really cute, brat. Reese can be rude sometimes, even when he tries to help people. Also he loves playing pranks like making new employees wear the uniform.
Landry
He is a friendly and laid-back person, who dislikes conflicts. However, when he gets angry, his complete personality changes for the worse.
Graves
He is the owner of the café and a really eccentric person, who speaks like he came from the 19th century.
My opinion
This game is great.
Itâs written from Averyâs perspective, so the writing tries to mimic the thoughts and expressions of a teenager. At first it might seem like the writer isnât doing it on purpose and itâs actually their writing style, but thatâs a false thought. The writer of this novel is using that writing style intentionally to tell the story from Averyâs perspective. When needed, the writing style changes very quickly, as you can see, when you read Gravesâ dialogues, which sound very poetical and metaphorical instead of Averyâs usual style.
Another aspect is that the characters have all really thought-out and well-developed personalities. Although the game is fairly short, it manages to tell every story of each character detailed enough that the reader starts caring for them as much as Avery.
Another pretty remarkable aspect of this visual novel is that it touches a lot of sensitive topics without being too nosy or critical about it. First of all you can choose the gender of the main character, so the relationships are really open-minded (this aspect made the writing suffer a little though, since I felt that a lot of situations are kind of expecting the main character to have a specific gender e.g. in Finleyâs route Iâd say that they should be a boy).
Then the characters deal with a lot of problems. And these problems are very relatable and also make the characters seem very human. I think a lot of visual novels and otome forget that even in romance games most of the readers donât search for a perfect prince on a white steed, but for someone they can relate to and, who has some faults as well. This game clearly brings this point across. The characters are definitely more lovable because they are not perfect.
Nevertheless, even, when I disregard both writing style and character design, the whole story is great too. I really like the message(s) that it brings across. Itâs very open-minded, but at the same time so hopeful.
After reading it, you will feel very happy inside as if you have been in Averyâs place and helped all those people in the cafĂ© to deal with their problems and move on with their lives.
Iâd call that a pretty great feeling.
And this amazing game deserves your money.
And it is clearly one of my favourites. 10/10
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Higurashi When They Cry - Watanagashi
This is a sound novel as well. Look up my Review for the First Part of the Series, if you want to know, what this game is about, as I will not repeat, what I wrote before, in this review.
Story
Again, the protagonist is Keiichi Maebara. As for the events in the game, they are not the same, but the plot is very similar. Keiichi is a new student in the school of Hinamizawa and quickly befriends the four girls. However, in this part a new character is introduced: Shion Sonozaki, who is the twin sister of Mion. Keiichi spends most of the time in this game with her.
New Characters
Shion Sonozaki
She looks exactly like Mion (at first Keiichi thinks that she is Mion), although her personality is completely different. Shion seems very mature and feminine. Sometimes she is even quite vulgar, acting overly flirtatious to the protagonist and e.g. pressing his hand against her chest. Shion and Mion donât like each other for various reasons, one of them being that the protagonists spends too much time with Shion, what Mion dislikes very much. However, Keiichi seems to like Shion a lot because she seems like a mature woman to him and like a more feminine version of Mion, who he can pay back for the embarrassing penalties.
My Opinion
This novel was a little bit worse than the first one. Itâs just my preferences though because I didnât like Shion and I didnât like, how the protagonist was doing everything for her just because he felt that a mature woman liked him. In this story I really felt like Keiichi was completely stupid and running around after a woman, who just caught him like a fish on a hook just by acting somehow cute and giving him fan service.
On the other hand, when something went wrong Keiichi just accused Shion for it, although he couldâve seen that coming. He completely neglected his club activities in order to meet up with Shion as well and only through Rena, he started to understand that something was going wrong.
Honestly, I really pitied Rena in this novel. She really tried her best to fix Keiichiâs mistakes all the time, although I am pretty sure she was hurt as well because of what he was doing.
Anyway, personal opinion aside, the novel is still written as good as the first one. Because of the reason I listed above, I wasnât able to enjoy half of the novel though. However, a friend of mine told me itâs not going to be a never ending soup opera love triangle with the twins and I continued reading. As the more bizarre events happened, I found myself once again really immersed in the novel and at the end; the feeling was there again that I was missing something in order to understand, what was happening.
Honestly, I am still not sure, whether to go with the demon or human theory, but I going stick to the human theory once again.
In addition, as a last note something very important: If you are struggling through the first part as well, just do it! Read! Itâs worth it in the end. And the third part starts off AMAZING. Therefore, itâs even more worth to struggle through the first half.
If you want to know further details, how about reading my review
here
(Honestly Iâd give the part about 7.5/10, but you still kind of need to read this in order to understand the next part)
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Higurashi When They Cry - Onikakushi
This game is a sound novel. This means, you donât choose anything and just read. Imagine a book with sounds.
Story
The main character is a teenage boy, whose name is Keiichi Maebara. He changes schools after his family (his father is an artist and his mother helps him) decides to move to Hinamizawa. At first, he isnât really into this idea because Hinamizawa is more like a village and he grew up in towns. However, his opinion quickly changes as he befriends four girls, Mion Sonozaki, Rena Ryuugu, Satoko Houjou and Rika Furude, and is accepted as a member of their club. This club is rather weird though: They are playing games every day after school and the loser is penalized. These penalties are a bit over the board though e.g. they are really embarrassing or dangerous. Anyway, Keiichi is really happy about having new friends because he wasnât close with anyone before and he starts enjoying his everyday life. However, Hinamizawa isnât a normal village and soon Keiichi starts to realize that is has a dark past. Having that knowledge is dangerous, as he soon understands, but itâs too lateâŠ
The Characters
Keiichi Maebara
He is a (quite perverted) teenage boy, who wasnât close to anyone before meeting his current friends. He is very grateful to everyone of them, since his life became more enjoyable and fun because of the games. He doesnât like to study very much and often gets in some kind of embarrassing situations. Since he isnât that good at the games at first, he is often forced to participate in the penalties. However, he loves his friends and doesnât want to distrust anyone of them, even when the events take a turn for the worse. In addition, he doesnât seem to be close to his family because he never tells his parents whatâs going on, but rather tries to solve everything by himself.
Mion Sonozaki
She is the class representative and seems to be the oldest of their class. Mion is also the leader of the club and takes care of everyone (and the penalties). She seems to be much of a tomboy and addresses herself often as a male, but surprisingly has a girly side to her as she enjoys cooking and doing chores. However, the protagonist often doesnât treat her as a girl.
Rena Ryuugu
She is very close to Keiichi and he spends most of his time with her, since they walk to school and back together every day (Mion walks with them too, but only a part of the way). Rena wants to protect the protagonist and often takes care of him. She is also way more mature than Keiichi and knows, when to ask for help. However, she has also a weird obsession with things that she calls âkyuteâ (not always a synonym for cute) and, if she sees something âkyuteâ she always wants to âtake it homeâ and is willing to go through hardships for that.
Satoko Houjou
One of the youngest pupils in class and the best friend of Rika. She loves to play (sometimes dangerous) pranks on people and always fights with the protagonist. Both Satoko and Keiichi seem to provoke each other every day and I suppose Satoko is the reason, why Keiichiâs life is not in any way boring.
Rika Furude
Rika is also really young. She is the shrine maiden and the last of the Furude clan. While she seems weak, she isnât because of her charms. She knows, how to manipulate people into doing what she wants and nobody suspects her of being evil, even though she sometimes just tends to use people for her goals. However, she is also a very sweet and cute girl and is the epitome of âkyuteâ, when she sulks or smiles brightly, so Rena almost always wants to âtake her homeâ.
My Opinion
Youâre missing something, if you havenât read this novel yet. The anime seems to be good as well, however it hasnât enough episodes to cover everything from the novels and these novels are so well-written that itâs a pity, if you donât read them, instead or additionally to watching the anime.
The writing is in fact so good that you start feeling like youâre the main character at some point: It starts off with a gruesome scene, then youâre suddenly in a school, where everything seems to be normal. Of course, at first youâre suspicious of everything. Youâre waiting for the shock, the horror and the events of the prologue. However, nothing happens.
Keiichi is happy that he found his new friends. He spends time with them. Their activities may be strange, but still feel normal. Their bonds deepen. Time passes.
After reading for a few hours, you start to relax. Youâre reading about Keiichiâs friendship with the girls, maybe laugh a bit about their stupid games. You start to forget about the prologue and unconsciously or consciously pick a favorite from the girls. Maybe you even start to imagine possible romance options in the game and squeal at some scenes that show that Keiichi favors your choice of girl as well andâŠ
Suddenly you're confronted with those horrible events again - like the main character, you're not prepared for it, but it's there. Your life is over, youâre not happy anymore - Yes, you knew about it, since the prologue, you knew that it would happen at some point, but you chose to not think about it. Not now, not, while everyone is so happy and everything is nice and âkyuuteâ andâŠ
Well, and it goes on in this manner: You start to cope with the things that happened and start to acknowledge the main characters plans and think that everything shall work out andâŠ
And youâre just questioning everything. You arenât smarter than the characters, hell, you donât even know, what happened and why. And, after thinking about the story for a long time, (or just because youâre so curiousâŠ), you go on to the next chapter because you simply want to know the truth or at least get a few more hints, the review of which I shall provide
Here
(Iâm not sure if I need to add that, but for me this series are clear 10/10)
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