mayiotome

[mayiotome]

When The Night Comes   [$12.99]

My rating: 💗💗💗💗▪️

itch.io game page

Producer:  Lunaris Games

Developer:   Lunaris Games

Release Date: Sep 04, 2018 (Updated Nov 17, 2020)

Languages: English

Genre(s): Dark Fantasy, Horror, LGBT, LGBTQIA, Mystery, Romance, supernatural, Vampire

Download size: 411 MB (W) 410 MB (M) 417 MB (L)

Content Warnings: Fantasy Violence,

Advertised length: 80+ Hours

My Play Length: For one route (August’s) it took me about 3 hours. I do read fast. 

Steam Key: NO

Achievements: NO

Demo Available: YES (Same itch.io page)

Description/Features from game page:

When The Night Comes is a queer, narrative-driven, supernatural visual novel. The game has 11 chapters totaling at 490,000+ words, has 60+ gorgeous collectable illustrations, resulting in a total of 80 hours of game play across all possible routes.

You are a renowned Hunter, a creature slayer who has been called to the quiet, strange little town of Lunaris to assist the local Enforcers with an investigation into a series of unsettling and unexplained supernatural murders.

6 individual romance routes

2 polyamorous romance routes 

Player chooses their own pronouns

No gender-restrictive romances

Play without romancing anyone OR play a romance comfortably with no obligation to partake in sexual scenes

Unlockable CGs with every chapter

A wide and varied range of dialogue options in every chapter that help you choose your path and mold the story depending on what choices you make

Your choices matter from the start! Choose wisely...

First Impressions before playing:

I already like the art style from what I’ve seen from the game page. It’s an LGBTQA game so I’m excited about that. There are 2 poly relationships and a non-binary character from what I’ve seen. It’s supernatural stuff which makes me even more excited. I’m curious if there’s actual horror or if it’s just labeled horror because of the supernatural stuff. 

My Review:

What’s very important, at least to me, when playing an LGBTQA/Queer game is that you can pick your first and last name as well as your pronouns. This game has that. It also has the choice of whether or not to engage in the 18+ content. You always have the choice of either kissing or embracing your choice (I like that it doesn’t just force you into doing stuff like that.) you also don’t have to sleep with your choice if you don’t want to.

During the 18+ scenes (which are not that long or really that detailed) they never mention specific body parts and throughout the game they don’t really use pronouns for the character that often.

The game also gives you a warning about which lines will be seen as flirting, in case you don’t want to romance anyone at all. It also gives warnings as to which choices will result in a fight.

Story/Writing

The romance is mostly on the back burner as you’re trying to solve the mysterying going on but that’s not to say it’s nonexistent. You can flirt from chapter 2 on. I believe you pick your main choice around chapter 4, a possible 18+ scene is halfway through chapter 7.

As stated above it took me about 3 hours to go through one route (August’s) so I’m not sure if it’s because I read fast or if the calculation is off but 3 hours times the number of routes (8) means it would only take me about 24 to compete the entirety of the game (all routes). (If it took someone 5 hours each that would still only be 40 hours. So I’m not exactly sure how they came to the number of 80 hours unless they’re counting the mini stories and every single choice/variation. 

The mystery was good, I wasn’t able to guess who the “bad guy” was or what the cause of the murders were until the very end. 

Characters

The diversity of the characters was well done (the only real problem I had was the POC characters going RED when they blush. The lighter skin ones(Alkar), yeah maybe but not Ezra - green magic, fourth from the right on the photo at the top). 

In the case of sexuality and gender Identity: August goes by they/them pronouns. Omen and Alkar can be in a poly relationship as can Ezra and Finn. You can romance any of the characters no matter what pronouns you pick at the beginning (there’s no restrictions). I also like that if you don’t romance either of either poly pair you can basically suggest the two finally get together (saying something along the lines of they look cute together after seeing signs of affection between them- not just randomly). 

In the case of race (both skin wise and creature wise): It’s pretty much split half and half. 3 lighter skinned characters and 3 darker skinned characters but all of them are different. (i.e. Ezra has super dark skin while Alkar is a lighter tone but still not “white” and Finn (vampire) being deathly pale while August is more of a not-a-vampire/alive type of pale.) And creature wise there’s no repeat of creatures (though technically both August and Ezra are Witches). 

Visuals

The player character is never shown, letting the player imagine them to look like however they wish (which I really appreciate for this type of game).

Sound/Music

The music mostly fits the scenes. There’s one or two times where the music seems overly dramatic for the situation. Example: After you defeat something the music remains loud and dramatic even though the danger has passed, the characters are simply talking.

There’s no voice acting in the game. There are some background noises like knocking on doors, footsteps, etc.

The music is actually good though, especially towards the end at a certain scene (you’ll know which i mean) it’s just so badass and awesome.

Issues

*The only “issues�� I had, which is probably just a pet peeve of mine, is that when I played other routes (after completing one all the way through) some of the lines that I had 100% seen before were unskippable. I would be able to skip 10 then maybe 5 of ones I had definitely seen before would be unskippable then maybe some new lines then I’d be able to skip again. Again, just a personal thing probably, I like to read new stuff immediately. 

Another possible mistake (not really a bug) is that when you’re on the Finn or Finn/Ezra path and your vision blurs, Finn’s sprite moves up and down while Ezra remains still while he blurs.

Worth the Price: Yes. It’s a full game with a heck ton of story and characters. The art is very pretty and it’s not cheaply made or thrown together. I’m honestly surprised it’s not more than just $5.

Conclusion aka TL;DR

If you want mystery with also the possibility to romance supernatural characters (who are gay, lesbian, non-binary, poly) then this is the game for you. I didn’t see the ending coming (or rather didn’t know so-and-so was behind it all/what was actually going on until it was told to me.)

My Rating: 💗💗💗💗▪️

Story: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Visuals: 10/10

Sound: 9/10

Gameplay/Interface: 9/10*

[mayiotome]

Crimson Spires [$19.99]

My rating: 💗💗💗 💗 ▪️

itch.io game page

Producer:  Woodsy Studio

Developer:  Woodsy Studio

Release Date: Oct 27, 2020

Languages: English

Genre(s): Horror, visual Novel, narrative, dating sim,

Download size: 2 GB

Content Warnings: Blood, violence, gore, vampires,

Advertised length: Demo says it takes half an hour but the full game doesn’t have an advertised length (That I could find.)

My Play Length: 6hrs (Common + August’s Route)

Steam Key: Yes

Achievements: Yes

Demo Available: Yes

Description/Features from game page:

The small mining town of Bataille, Missouri has been cordoned off from the outside world for six months. The inhabitants have no idea why. All they know is that ever since the so-called "Contingency," planes no longer fly overhead, strange creatures have been glimpsed beyond the perimeter, and large mechanical towers will gun down anyone who tries to escape. As Sheriff Erika Wright searches for the truth, she must listen to the advice of a serial killer, mingle with extreme conspiracy theorists, and negotiate with vampires.

Choose a partner

As Erika struggles to maintain order in Bataille, she uncovers startling secrets and makes unlikely alliances. Eventually, she must choose a partner in her quest to find the truth. The story will have four completely unique story branches depending on Erika's partner, each of which reveals a new secret and a chance for Erika to find romance.

Instead of the normal first impressions before playing here’s my DEMO review: (feel free to skip since this is longer than the normal section that goes here)

What hooked me to want to play the game was the trailer for it:

The game is a mystery to me, idk if it’s just a visual novel with graphics that look like a first person game or if it is. 

Either way it looks interesting. The people you can pick to work with alone are interesting, an officer(?), a prisoner, a vampire(?) And a local girl(?),

So I was able to finish the demo is less than 30 minutes. (I didn’t realize it was that short and was thoroughly disappointed but also hooked and I want to play the full version at some point.)

The game does have a movement aspect to it with WASD or the arrow keys. I’m very interested to play more of the game with more of that. I like the idea of a visual novel you actually play.

Story/Writing

I don’t know much about the story other than what was in the trailer and demo. If you watched the trailer or read the description you know that your character is trapped in the town by spires that kill whoever tried to leave. 

The only characters the demo introduced were Erika (Main character), Jones, Your Boss(whose name escapes me), and August Flynn (one of the 4 choices).  

Characters

So kinda spoilers but it’s in the first 5 minutes of the game… we meet Jones after there was a crash where only he and 3 others survived (2 dead) and one of those 3 killed the one who’s not Jones… Basically we find Jones, 3 dead bodies and there’s a serial killer that was being transported, loose… and Jones starts blushing and flirting… read the room dude.

August, one of the choices, is the only character we meet in the DEMO. He’s the accused serial killer the “Heartbreaker”.

Visuals

It’s a game you can walk around in occasionally so the graphics are 3D and not drawn. The characters are kinda… comic book / manga style like though. Their mouths move when they talk..it’s a bit off putting when they’re close up and saying long sentences (Probably cause it’s just the mouth moving and not the whole lower jaw…) and their eyes move as well. It looks less weird if you read along with them and don’t stare at their mouths the whole time...

At certain times there’s a cool comic book like effect where a triangle of the screen shows who’s talking while the center shows the situation. (See photo below of a scene from the DEMO)

Depending on what choices you pick it’ll show a “____ liked that” in the top left corner. I’m not sure if that actually raises some sort of hidden stat for that character or if it’s just to show that they liked the action.

Sound

Not all characters talk. I honestly thought there wasn’t actually any voice acting until Jones suddenly started talking. 

The background sounds and music fit the tone. It’s a very eerie tone from what I’ve played

Issues/Bugs

Sometimes it doesn’t register a click right away and when you click again after a moment it’ll skip two lines. (Reminder, this is the DEMO and the full version is out already and probably doesn’t have these issues/bugs.) 

Conclusion aka TL;DR

I’m hooked and I’m going to buy and play the full game at some point.

FULL GAME Review

I liked it. I wouldn’t say it’s one of my favorites.

The only thing I didn’t really like was the amount that religion came up. It technically had to do with the story but personally I don’t like when religion comes up. That’s just me. It’s not even like it was shoving it in your face.

The game doesn’t really try to hide the fact that there are vampires. When you meet one you, the player, can tell very easily by the fangs. 

The normal save method is different for this game. Normally with dating sims you can save wherever to then go back and try another choice. In this case, even if you save at a certain point it’ll restart from the nearest checkpoint OF that save. You also can’t always go back to reread certain parts. If you click the right mouse button sometimes it’ll let you go back but other times it’ll play a noise, indicating you can’t. If a choice has popped up you can’t go back, if there are visual effects happening you can’t go back, and if a new chapter/scene has started you can’t go back.

So I was able to finish August's Route in about 6 hours. (That's the common route plus his. The others, without the common route, are about 3 hours each I’d say.) 

After you finish one route you can just start the others from the main menu "extras" page. It starts the route just after you picked the partner.

There's not much romance or at least not the normal dating sim type romance. It’s not your typical otome game. 

The 3D/walking around the environment seems a little tedious or off putting. It's not like you can find something that unlocks an ending. It's mostly about reading environment descriptions and looking around. It’s still a great concept.

The voice acting isn't for the entire game. There are certain scenes where each character is fully voiced while in others the same characters say one liners that pertain to the tone of their dialogue. 

Story/Writing

So, obviously, since this is the full game we meet a lot more people. We have our main character (whose name we cannot change, but that means the other characters call her by her name out loud), our 4 choices and other characters. A roommate, the mayor, Julian and Liam’s sister (who, i swear, gives off big Team Rocket vibes when you first see her).

The mystery wasn’t rushed at all though you do have to play all of the routes to really grasp what’s going on. They all obviously have the same end goal but they all go about it different ways. So like you won’t do the same things with August that you do with Liam, for example.

Characters

I’d say all the characters are very unique and full fleshed out (meaning they don’t really fit into a stereotype and seem more like “real” people). I’m just going to cover the choices here (These paragraphs are from the game page). My personal fav is August.

Adopted by the Bataille family at a young age, Liam Bataille has always struggled to feel like he fits in with the family. He’s easily the nicest member of the Batailles with an optimistic attitude, and he regularly urges to Erika to relax and have fun. But his loyalty is frequently torn between his personal virtue and his desire to please Julian and Charlotte. 

Before the towers rose, August Flynn was a philosophy professor accused of 7 murders, coined the “Heartbreaker” for removing the victims’ hearts. Erika doesn’t believe his claims of innocence, but she might need his expertise against darker forces. 

Growing up as a lesbian in a conservative, rural town often made Maddy Gray feel like an outsider in her own home. The Batailles were the only people who fully accepted her, so she feels loyal to them. But as she learns the real truth of the Batailles, she’ll have to fight for the greater good.

Julian Bataille seems calm, polite, and practical on the surface. He claims to maintain order in Bataille with his wealth and influence. He does like to maintain order and peace. But is he actually manipulating everyone for his own personal gain?

Visuals

So it’s a mix of 3D areas and the 2D anime/manga drawn like characters. When walking around, if there’s a character in the same room they’ll look kinda like paper and always be facing you. (Turning so you only ever see the one POV). 

There’s only a few places you actually walk around. In my opinion, if they didn’t have the walking around bits… it wouldn’t really affect the game much. Most times there’s only 1 or 2 things to interact with. (Slight spoiler: There’s legit a part where there’s nothing to do in the room but turn around and click to go up a set of stairs 4-5 times. Like you can walk around the big room but there’s legit nothing else to interact with.) I don’t wanna say it’s pointless… but it kinda is. I like it, I think it’s a very cool concept, but it was pointless. It didn’t add anything to the actual story really.

There’s a few comic book like moments. The DEMO review mentions the characters being show in triangles in the corners giving a comic book effect. There’s also other visual effects that give off a similar vibe. (It’s kinda hard to describe them.)

Sound

Voice acting was great. If they were in an echo-y room the voices echoed. None of it seemed over acted.

Some rain sounds, buildings had appropriate ambiance noise.

bugs/issues: During Julien’s Route there’s a moment the mayor’s face is supposed to be in a square on the screen but just the outline of the square is there. During Liam’s route there’s multiple instances of the same type of square or triangle mentioned above that stay with a character in them, when they shouldn’t be there. (Like I can tell they were meant to go away cause the same character will be on screen twice).

Worth the Price: Yes

For the amount of work that went into it, I’d say yeah. There’s a lot of voice acting, the 3D environment had to be made, the coding/programming couldn’t have been simple, and the story itself was a good read. Each route gave different hints and perspectives on what’s really going on.

Conclusion aka TL;DR

Good if you want a horror-mystery, not much “otome” romance like in other dating sims, I’d say yeah. I would watch the trailer and play the demo for yourself though.

I wouldn’t really say this game really falls under the LGBTQ label since Maddy is the only LGBTQ choice but since she is a choice (and I love her) I’ll be putting this game under the LGBTQ+ page on the blog.)

My Rating: 💗💗💗 💗 ▪️

Story: 8/10

Characters: 10/10

Visuals: 9/10

Sound:10 /10

Gameplay: 7/10

[mayiotome]

Whats your favorite Otome game?

Out of the ones I’ve played/reviewed for this blog so far I’d have to say it’s a tie between Changeling and Rockin Robin. Though I’m sure I’ll be adding more to my favorites list. (I have all my favorite Otome Games listed on my Personal Favs Page on the blog)

Sorry this took so long to reply too (Tumblr didn’t tell me I had anything in my inbox)

[mayiotome]

Love Spell: Written in the Stars  [$18.99]

My Rating: 💗 💗 ▪️ ▪️ ▪️

itch.io Game Page

Love Spell: Written in the Stars  [$18.99] - (I got it on sale for $15.19)

Producer:  Great Gretuski Studios LLC

Developer:   Great Gretuski Studios LLC

Release Date:  Oct 18, 2019  (Updated Sep 28, 2020 )

Languages: English

Genre(s): Romance, Dating Sim, Story Rich, Visual Novel,

Download size: 1 GB

Content Warnings: Alcohol Use/Ref. , Mature Language, Mature Scenes, Some violence,

Advertised length: no advertised length

My Play Length: I’d say one full route (Marcello’s) took me about 2-3 hours maybe, including the prologue)

Steam Key: No

Achievements:  No

Demo Available: Yes

Description/Features from game page:

“Love Spell features a variety of game-based interactions to increase the level of storytelling, such as:

 Nameable Heroine: You can keep our MC’s default name, Luna, or take the lead in the story yourself with a custom name!  

 4(+) Different Romantic Routes: Each route in this story was written as a different literary genre featuring a different guy! Whether your cup of tea is the drama involved in romancing a childhood friend or a heart-racing adventure on an expedition with your professor--or even more-- the choice is yours to make! The heroine herself and her interests also differ slightly from story to story, so you’ll have to play all of the routes to experience the full picture!  

Navigation System: Instead of manual save slots, our game uses a "Navigate" feature which allows players to revisit previously unlocked chapters in the story through an auto-save function. Interested in going back to explore different choices in the story? No problem! With the navigation feature, you can easily go back in time and change any choice-- the game will record your new decision automatically. 

 HIS P.O.V Stories: Each route features a special chapter where the story is told from your lover’s perspective. See the world and experience his feelings about you through his very eyes!  

 Romantic CGs: In the more intimate moments of your relationship, experience what his embrace feels like first hand with beautiful CG illustrations. 

 User Choices: Take control of your destiny by picking first hand what you say or do in the story-- but be careful, the wrong choice could lead to a terrible fate!  

 Multiple Endings: The Good, The Bad and The Secret Ending (Epilogues, if unlocked in stretch goals) can all be unraveled through your choices in the story! Determine your own fate and decide on your own ending!”

First Impressions before playing:

Seems like it’ll be funny/cute though I’m not sure how everything will resolve since they guy will be under a spell but only until the next full moon… what the heck happens after that????

Based on the guys profiles they seem like good options.

My Review:

Right off the bat I gotta say… I’m disappointed. (and I wish I could get my money back)

Overall visuals are great, visual and sound effects and such are also great. It seems like a lot of work went into the look of this game. I don’t know how much work went into the characters themselves but each character had a completely different story to it which was about the only good thing about the writing.

The interface/controls are severely limited. In the tutorial it’s said the makers want it to be “easy-breezy-lemon-squeezy” but there’s no roll back option, no save option (if you want to stop in the middle of an episode and quit the game you have to restart that whole episode when you wanna continue), there’s no skip option (auto works kinda if you put it at its fastest setting but even then it’s slow), audio settings did nothing (at least for me) I tried to set music to 0% when 3 different tracks started playing at once but it didn’t work. Oh and 3 different tracks started playing at once at one point.

Story/Writing

All four routes were different. Different stories with different side characters. The writing of the stories didn’t bother me it was the writing of the characters (See Characters below)

Choices don’t matter.

For one example: I had a choice of 3 books. I picked Book A and the game basically said, No we wanted you to pick Book C so MC is gonna pick Book C for you.

Another example is that in one story you’re naming a cat and it doesn’t matter what you pick, the MC picks a certain one anyway.

There are so many moments where it’ll go “(What should I do?)” Then give you ONE “choice”. Like what’s even the point?

Even the final choice that determines the good or bad ending... the good choice is clearly always the top one and it’s super obvious otherwise.

I don’t like that you can’t pick whether you want to have s*x with the guys or not. Also reading the descriptions gave me flashbacks to FF days of “Lemons'' written by 13yo virgins who know nothing about s*x.

I wouldn’t say any of these stories are really romantic in the usual sense but they have obvious romantic cliches/ elements to them. The little Penguin Philia that comes in the pen you get from the witch says that after their names are written the guys are then in love with the MC but it definitely doesn’t seem like it by the way they all act towards her.

ALSO it’s kinda fucked up when you think about it, getting into non-con territory (Spoilers: Having s*x with any of the guys while they’re under the influence of the spell is super yucky to me) and after a month (by the next full moon) they just DON’T REMEMBER ANYTHING.

Also tiny side note, I don’t think the devs know the difference between “couple” and “few”. Example in Jamie’s story a few days pass, then a few weeks pass, then a few days. Now that means 3 or more days, 3 or more weeks, then 3 or more days again. That’s a month, the spell lasts a month, it’s just shy of 4 weeks and yet... there’s more days after that. (I’m not counting any time after the spell breaking)

Characters

The guys suck. Plain and simple. This was a game made by an all woman team and I don’t know if that had anything to do with it but all the guys they made were either jerks, creeps, or both. Either they don’t spend much time around decent guys or they all have preferences for men that most people would see as toxic.

The profiles on the game page don’t mention the BAD parts of the guys.

The MC… screams a lot, cries a lot, blushes a lot. She, and I hate using this term, seems like a “Mary-Sue”. Yeah “bad” things happen to her it’s not like her life is perfect and she gets everything she wants but still.. she kinda gets what she wants imo. The whole love spell seems like just a way to avoid writing the guy falling for her, it’s a quick loophole.

The MC is failing in school, either has no job or gets fired for being late too many times, gets drunk on weekdays… and we’re supposed to root for her? Like the witch gave her the book cause she saves once her but maybe she should have watched her a bit longer. Also how does she have such a nice apartment if she doesn’t have/is bad at her job/is failing school. Kinda gloss right over that little detail.

Also you’d think a group of women would know how to draw boobs... her right (our left) one looks so... off. the other one’s fine. The Y shape of her cleavage isn’t proportionate to the angle she’s at.

Thoughts on the routes in order of me playing them:

Marcello was my favorite route but it wasn’t exactly a tough competition. The only iffy moment with him was when (SPOILERS) MC goes into the men’s bathroom (without knowing) to take a shower and in a later scene he implies she could be a stripper with her body from what he’s seen. His profile on the game page implies he respects women and hates people who don’t but right off the bat when we meet him he’s super rude and mean to the MC because he bumped into her.

The teacher Atlas, is a certified creep. (SPOILERS for this whole paragraph) MC gets dressed up to go to his house to study and he makes this huge dinner, puts on jazz, and pours champagne (first off, uh… what???) then proceeds to imply she got all dressed up to seduce him, that she’s essentially “asking for it”. BIG NOPE. He picks on MC, insulted a girl who confessed to him behind her back after he had her running out the room crying… why did the makers think this was a good guy for this game?? An example of MC crying and being super childish is when Atlas doesn’t want her to come on a super dangerous deep sea dive (mind you she has absolutely no training) they have limited time to get what they need while they’re down there and he tells her to go home after the typhoon and ... she goes to her room crying cause he won’t let her go. ... LIKE GIRL you have no training. For once he’s not being mean, he’s being LOGICAL. More examples or her being SO DUMB is that she HEARS THE BAD GUY and is just like “what an odd conversation...anyway~” and just- SO DUMB.

Jamie’s Route: is actually okay. It’s cute. Jamie is the only decent guy so far. MC is made even more mary-sue-ish by her amazing talent. Jamie’s “Secret” is revealed as soon as you take a closer look at MC’s room. The drama at the end seemed so unnecessary, like all the stories apparently need to have a bad guy. It’s cute, cliche, and will make you roll your eyes a lot but it’s not super bad. (SPOILERS) So what I didn’t understand is the games logic of she wrote “The new barista, Jamie” and even though it wasn’t his full name the spell book counted it but then suddenly when she learns his name isn’t really Jamie the book is like WHOOPS sorry spells gonna end a little early.

Enix’s Route: (only on ep 3 when writing this) Alright so he’s already with someone (who’s off on a trip) so right off the bat, old friends or not, I don’t like this route. It’s borderline cheating and I know based off the other 3 routes SOMETHING is gonna happen between the two. I don’t like it. (SPOILERS) Apparently Isla (Enix’s girl) has been talking shit about MC and this causes one of Enix’s “friends” to think MC is an easy lay and he essentially tries to get her to leave with him in a very NOPE way. Enix saves MC but then proceeds to YELL AT her. First off, why the absolute hell does he not make Isla stop/correct her when she says thing like that and second how dare he yell at MC after she almost got assaulted! I almost don’t even wanna finish the route and I’m only on like ep 4 out of 10. Alright after finishing this route I’d say it’s not the worst, it’s full of cliches and some moments you wanna scream at MC but it’s not the worst thing.

I would say 1st place goes to Jamie, then Marcello, then Enix and Atlas last.

Visuals/Sound

Backgrounds were nice, the CGs were nicely drawn. The backgrounds shaking when they did was too much, it was (for me) hard to read/focus. (meaning it was distracting, I have ADD so that didn’t really help when the shaking was violent.) So warning for shaking screens (that bothers some people I’m sure)

Character outfits didn’t change too much. I believe out of all 4 routes MC only has 6 outfits (2 of which are only in Atlas’ route for 2 scenes). Sometimes she’s wearing her normal pink thing when the situation seems like she shouldn’t (Epilogue of Atlas’ Route for example). The guy’s outfits vary in the same way.

Music fit the scenes for the most part and was nice. The only thing I REALLY didn’t like was when something would crash or a knocking sound happened or a thud it was always ... too loud/sudden. Like normally loud noises don’t make me jump but the noises all happened either when there was no music or very low music. So warning for anyone who doesn’t like loud sudden noises.

Worth the Price: No.

Conclusion aka TL;DR

If you want an overly blushing and stuttering MC and stories full of cliche’s, 1 of the choices being a creep, and drama then go for it. I wouldn’t recommend this game. There’s a few moments where I was uncomfortable reading it. There’s only 1 decent (2 if you count Marcello, 3 if you stretch and count Enix) guys/routes. Sure, it looks pretty and it’s got a nice well put together trailer for it but it’s not that good. If you’re still iffy over getting it or not then read other reviews, read reviews from people who didn’t like the game to understand better. (I personally recommend the review by skmccord on the game’s itchio page as they go into detail on all four routes.)

After finishing the other 2 routes I’ve updated my rating from 1 heart to 2. There are some really iffy moments and the MC is still a stuttering, blushing, mess but it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever played.

My Rating: 💗 💗 ▪️ ▪️ ▪️

Story: 6/10

Characters: 3/10

Visuals: 9/10

Sound: 10/10

Interface:  4/10

[mayiotome]

XOXO Droplets [Free to Play/ ext. ver:$19.99]

My Rating: 💗💗💗💗 ▪️

itch.io game page

Producer: GBPatch 

Release Date: Aug 31, 2017  (Updated: Mar 20, 2020)

Languages: English

Genre(s): Stat Management, Romance, Slice of Life,  

Download size: 279 MB (W/L) 261 MB (M)

Content Warnings: Swearing but it’s censored anyways.

Advertised length: not listed in hours but the completed game is 320,00 words while the free version is 130,00+

My Play Length: a few (3-4) hours to complete all routes (using cheats after the first one and skipping all seen lines). 

Steam Key: YES

Achievements: YES

Demo Available: Technically there’s a free version that’s about half the game.

(There is also a horror version of this game I’ll be reviewing in the future.)

Description/Features from game page:

“The story begins when our nameable protagonist finally transfers into the boarding school of her dreams at the start of her junior year in high school. It would be perfect if it wasn't for that little catch attached to her enrollment: her parents will only let her keep attending the school for her remaining two years if she doesn't make everyone  there hate her by shunning them, like she always does.

Do your best to show just enough interest in the other losers around to appease the folks while still having time to chase after all the attractive guys in the MC's afterschool group, which just so happens to be a group for chronically unfriendable people.

★★★★★★★

No, seriously folks. When we say the protagonist and main love interests are a big ol' jerk squad it's not a mistake and it's not an understatement.”

Default Game

3 distinct jerky main boyfriend options: Everett Gray, Nate Lawson, and Shiloh Fields

6 side characters who'll be your buddies and 6 minor clique boyfriend options, each with a bonus effect that makes the game easier

Partial Voice acting for every significant character by a talented cast

The option to break up with your bf and start dating someone else, if you feel like it

A variety of methods to manage your Reputation with the unimportant students

Part-time jobs, stores to visit, useful items, optional mini-games, an in-game phone to call a guy up and arrange a date at one of several different locations

Over 130,00 words. Hundreds of different events, including a collage-style ending system where you get events for every goal you achieved during the game

Cheat codes for those who don't give a f*ck about gameplay and just wanna see the events

Paid Extended Addition

3 more main jerk boyfriend options: Bae Pyoun, Jeremy King, and Pran Taylor

2 sweet but not-terribly-bright side boyfriend options: Kam Sung and Adrian Wulu

Yet 1 more boyfriend option in the flirtations party boy Lucas Kaiser (New Addition!)

4 Extra Date Events for Everett, Nate, and Shiloh

The ability to unlock all 4 CGs and 12 outfits for Everett, Nate, and Shiloh, rather than just 3 and 10

The ability to unlock all 4 CGs and 12 outfits for Everett, Nate, and Shiloh, rather than just 3 and 10

50 more Random Events, 45 more Text Chats, 24 more Part-Time Work Events

320,000 words in total

An accessory system that lets you decorate the main character with a variety of pieces, plus small events where characters comment on the accessories you wear

The option to change the background of your cellphone to one of 12 different options

Even better cheat codes

My Review:

This game is half stat manager, you have to “work” to get money, choose where you sit at lunch to raise your popularity with different cliques, etc. 

The story isn’t all that long if you use cheats but if you do use cheats you can’t get certain achievements.

The free version only lets you date 3 out of the main 6 guys (The paid extra version gives you those 3 + 3 others that are more side characters but they have their own scenes too, though not many).

It’s not too long or that story rich compared to other games I’ve played. The gameplay isn’t too hard or difficult to figure out.

You can pick the first and last name of the protag but not her looks.

Story/Writing

The story isn’t that long or complex, you have an ultimate end date. Extra scenes take place at the jobs you do every few times you do them. Each job is connected to a character (and school clique) with a few scenes. There are 1-3 date scenes per date location per guy. On certain (calendar) dates certain events happen, depending on who you’re dating certain dialogue will change but it’s not too big of a change (maybe like 3-5 extra or changed lines). 

Most of the game is just slight dialogue changes depending on who you want to romance/who you’re dating and a few original scenes per character.

Characters

So yeah, they’re not lying when they say that the characters are jerks. Kinda loveable jerks after a while but yeah, none of the guys actually want to date the protag but she kinda just says “Hey we’re dating now” or “Hey we’re going on a date tomorrow” and they just go with it albeit reluctantly but she grows on them for the most part.

There are 3 side characters you can date too, for achievements and I think 6 others for smaller perks for the game but no actual game-play involving them and it takes a long time to be able to actually date them as you need to meet certain requirements.

The 3 side characters are only with the paid version but they don’t go to the school the protag goes to so there’s less scenes of them really.

Visuals

The style of the stat raising menu/Weekend Planner is cute, the CGs are drawn in a cute drawing style and the rest are classic looking backgrounds that match the character styles.

The protag has a little portrait in the bottom corner where her facial expression change. With the paid version you can buy her accessories and they show up on her in game (some also trigger random events for each guy, 2 per guy as there are 2 versions for each of those items).

Sound

It is semi-voiced meaning there’s sigh sounds, growls of annoyance, a few lines here and there are voiced, they each have a set of “catchphrases” like the protag will go “Boo” when she is unhappy or a little laugh sound, Nate saying “this is absurd” when he’s annoyed or “You can’t be serious!” Sometimes they say the first or first few words of a sentence.

Stat Raising (Gameplay)

It’s not too hard to keep the stats (clique popularity) even/balanced so you don’t fail the game. It’s easy to earn money via the jobs, if you have a set guy you want then keep doing the job associated with him (where he also works) to raise his stat with you, get scenes at that location and earn more money the more you progress that job. (There’s no mini game for the jobs just occasional scenes.)

Using cheats the stat gameplay goes by fairly quickly and with no possibility of failing. You can get through each route quicker this way but there’s no way to skip the actual weekend planner part (which is good because you can go on dates or the store still.)

My strategy is to use a cheat to raise clique levels to the max, to get money, and buy a bunch of taffy (which skips the weekday choice pages and lets you quickly get to new story events.) that way I can just skip over the mostly tedious parts of the gameplay.

Worth the Price?: In my opinion, yes. You get a lot more content, unlock the other 3 guys, outfits, cheats more, date options, etc. (See above) and clearly time and effort went into this game. There’s no bugs, the VA is decent however limited. I’m sure some people might thing it’s a bit expensive but you have to remember you’re supporting a creator and not some big game cooperation.

Conclusion aka TL;DR

It’s not your traditional guys quickly fall for the protag story as none of the guys actually want to date her when they start dating. All the characters are jerks (So much so that they’re all in a club cause no one else wants them in theirs) but they do grow on you after a while. There’s no way to really skip the stat raising part of the game but it’s also not that hard to keep everything balanced and there’s always cheat codes.

I ended up getting the extra version (meaning paying for the rest of the game) because I wanted to romance Jeremy and Pran (Green and white haired ones).

My Rating:

Story: 7/10 (would score higher if the routes were more different.)

Characters: 9/10 (They’re jerks but they’re meant to be. This isn’t really a game where the characters will compliment yours and make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside but they’re well done.

Visuals: 10/10

Sound: 10/10

Gameplay: 9/10 (sometimes you just wanna skip all the stat stuff and just read the story. there are cheats in that case but you still need to actually click through the weekend stuff and keep skipping days until you get to the next event day). You can’t simply roll back on the mouse wheel to change a choice or rehear a line, it’ll bring up the log page where you can click any line that has sound to hear it or read what was said.)

Overall - 💗💗💗💗 ▪️

[mayiotome]

Rock Robin *[Name Your Price]

My Rating: 💗 💗 💗 💗 💗

itch.io page link

[This game is a Name Your Price game. If you pay $1 or more you get a *Premium Code.]

Producer: Aleema

Status: In Development (main game is finished. Don’t let the status prevent you from experiencing this.)

Release Date: May 01, 2016

Languages: English

Genre(s): Management Sim/Visual Novel, Music, Romance

Download size: 464 MB(W/M/L) (Code is 2kB)

Content Warnings: Mature Language and Themes, Drinking, Smoking, Sexual Content (No visuals), sensitive topics (If you want me to be more specific let me know. I don’t want to put the words if that’ll trigger someone.)

Advertised length: 4+ hours

My Play Length: Roughly 6-8 hours or so I think

Steam Key: NO

Achievements: In Game yes

Demo Available: NO

Description on game page:

    “Robin is kicked out of her band by her former lover! She must start a new band to show them up. Her fellow band-members aren't exactly who she thought she would be working with ... But she needs them, for now anyway!

    The game is half visual novel, half band management sim.

    Customize your own band by choosing your genre, name, and logo. You give your band members tasks to practice in the week, raising 3 stats and generating stress:     Music, Writing, and Star Quality. You play gigs to earn Popularity, which is the goal of the game: to get really popular.

     The game is split into two modes:     Story Mode and Open-Ended Mode. During Story Mode, you will have 3 non-adjustable band members. After the story ends, you can form any kind of band you want and recruit who you wish. Story Mode is mostly linear so it can tell a strong story.”

Game Features:

Customize Your Band (Genres: Pop, Pop Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative, Classic Rock, Heavy Metal, Grunge)

Customize your released CDs and design their cover art

Upgrade your band's instruments and gear

Play gigs to raise money and popularity

Browse your band's forum to see how people think of you

Shop for gifts for your band mates and upgrade your housing

*You can pay $1 or more to get a premium code which gives you a new side character, a new genre, new logos, new locations and a list of cheat code. The game folder also includes a walkthrough on how to get in game achievements/how to follow character routes.

My review

Keeping in mind this is a beta version of the game there were a few times the game lagged for a split second/music skipped, and a time where i had to click “ignore” when i got an error page. 

Also keep in mind the game is not completely done. The main story is but they’re still adding scenes for epilogues and adding in scenes for other characters. You can play the main story without having to wait though.

I’m not even close to done with this game and I’m loving it. There’s so much emotion in the story, it makes you feel invested in the main character and her pains and struggles. Right off the bat you’ll notice how the main character is very stubborn and she can definitely be mean and a bit of a brat but (no spoilers) as you play the game you learn why and how she’s evolved to be made this way. So if you get put off by her character at first, give her a bit longer than you would normally and at least try to play through one of the routes.

Story/Writing

As of this paragraph I’ve finished my first route (Dallas) and I’ve used a cheat code (available via the $1 premium code) to read the other routes without the band management aspect (I’ll get into my thoughts on that in a bit). 

If you want an emotional, heart clenching, you-might-cry path I highly suggest Dallas’ route. No spoilers obviously but I feel if this were an anime, show, drama, etc. that the “canon pairing” would be Robin and Dallas. It honestly felt like I was just reading a drama anime/ show and it was so good I stayed up way too late to finish it.

The routes also have very different scenes for each guy. There are a bunch of scenes that are there for all the routes but for the most part depending on who you pick you’ll do different things. Example: If you pick Emmitt you’ll go to his house for some holidays while if you pick Dallas he’ll hang out with you on that holiday.

There’s also different side characters you can meet per main route. These side characters also become available to add to your band in open-ended mode (which takes place canonically after the story mode.) Some of these characters you can even romance later on in open-ended mode (even if you’ve already romanced a main guy - there’s a break up scene listed under all the scenes for each other romance option).

Characters

As I said before, Robin, the main girl, can be harsh, mean, and generally unlikeable when you first start playing. Once you go through one route it’s a lot easier to like her and sympathize with her. Once you learn her struggles she’s no longer a brat but someone whose simply lost the ability to trust others through no fault of her own. (I tried to say that in the least spoilery way possible). 

The writer(s) did a very good job of making the main antagonist (Stirling) very very very unlikable that it kinda helps you feel bad for Robin and you’re more on her side even if she’s rude. 

The main selection of guys is very different but very nice. You got the old friend, the young excitable but sensitive guy, and the super rich guy who seems heartless and fake but … well I won’t spoil it. 

The open-ended selection of romanceable characters are also very different ranging from a “nerd” who makes games and music to a German stripper who plays the guitar while he strips. Yeah, you read that right. 

Sound

So this is a music game, meaning there’s music. While managing the band there’s a few songs that will play (all real songs by real bands, I think one or two are by lesser known people because I couldn’t find all the songs on Spotify but most of them were there.) 

What I really enjoyed, sounds wise, about this game is that the background sounds fit every scene. If a character kisses someone’s cheek, there’s a sound for that. Shifts in their seat, sound for that. Opens a door, it rains, shuts a car door, drives said car, talking in the background, movie playing in the background, tv show, snores, wakes up with a sharp inhale, basketball sounds (and like if the character is only dribbling they won’t have the hoop swish sound until it says they make a shot). It makes it very immersive and I think makes up for the lack of actual voice acting. I think it’s better because you can make the voices in your head but still get into the story with the other sounds. I think it was very well done. (and of course if sounds like that bother you or make a game unenjoyable you can lower the SFX volume from the options menu.

Visuals

So there’s only a few CGs with the actual characters but they’re all well drawn and the style fits the game very well. The background changes for every scene, using real life photos (sometimes blurred a bit when real people are in them.) If/when you change living locations for Robin it reflects in the management menu and where the band practices. They don’t reuse photos for different locations (I think they used the same photo for a hotel once but that was it.)

I really liked seeing the real life photos more than I would have liked them being all drawn. The real life photos had more… well life in them. The places actually looked like they belonged to the characters and were lived in. 

Band Management (Gameplay)

So with the code I got I was able to skip the band management for the other routes I wanted but that’s not to say I didn’t like the band management part (I just really wanted to read the other routes and didn’t have time to do the band sim part.) The management isn’t that hard to do (and if it is too hard or even too easy for you, you can adjust it in the options). I actually really enjoyed making/releasing Singles/Albums. I had a lot of fun designing the covers for them and figuring out which songs I wanted on them. (I’m not sure how the songs work, there are a number of types of songs - loud, dark, flat, soft, harsh, etc. - and a lot of topics for the songs - falling in love, sex, video games, getting drunk, big city, cruel world, etc. - and I don’t know if putting the same type or topic helps sales at all or if it’s just by the star rating of the song itself. 

Even if the song names, topics, and styles don’t mean anything it’s still a lot of fun putting together an album and designing the cover art. There’s a ton of backgrounds to choose from and images to stick on the front, the possibilities are seemingly endless. 

All that being said, after a while the management part gets annoying when you want to keep reading the story. (Which is why I used the cheat to be able to do that so I can play the management part without wanting to rush it to read more.)

Worth the price: (Referring to paying at least $1 to get access to the premium code which then lets you unlock a new character, genre, logos, places, and cheat codes.) Yes well worth it for the $1 minimum required. I suggest you play the game and if you like it let that decide how much you give to support the creator(s) and to get the code.

If you just want to read the story and don’t want to play the management aspect then you can use a code to unlock every scene and just watch from there. Or if the game is too hard/taking too long there are other codes you can use.

Issues

The only issues I had were the sound skipping every now and then when I was making the album covers and cycling through options. There was one error screen where I had to skip. And I had tried a Emmitt route and somehow failed even though there was no reason I should have… it was confusing but probably something I did...

Conclusion aka TL;DR

This game made me cry many times, the writing is very well done, the characters have flaws and they help make it a great story to read, it’s not all happy fun times, falling in love immediately, it’s more “real”. The sound effects, I think, make up for the lack of voice acting. The management part was fun imo for playing through my first route without cheats. The cheats help if you wanna go fast/don’t wanna do the management thing..

I would recommend this game if you like management sims, music, and emotional stories. This one is another of my personal faves.

My Rating:

Visuals: 10/10

Sound: 10/10

Story: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Gameplay: 8/10 (Only because the management part does get boring and long after a while when you wanna read more story BUT you can also change the speed of the game, I’m giving it this score based on the normal speed.)

Music: 10/10

Overall -  💗 💗 💗 💗 💗

I’m super excited to see what the creators add to the game next.

[mayiotome]

Changeling   [$19.99]

My Rating: 💗💗💗💗💗

itch.io page link

Producer: Steamberry Studio

Developer:  Steamberry Studio

Release Date: Jan 30, 2019

Languages: English

Genre(s): Romance, Fantasy, Visual Novel

Download size: 637 MB (W) 636 MB (M)

Content Warnings: Some scary visuals, blood, non-visual violence, death (via bad ends)

Advertised length: 25-35 hours

My Play Length: 19.3 hours (I speed through already read things and I read fast. Also I’ve yet to finish 1 route.)

Steam Key: YES  (Steam Page Link)

Achievements: NO

Demo Available: YES (Common route only. Link here.)

Description from game page:

“Changeling is a GxB, non-stat raising, full-length visual novel about love, reconciliation, and trying to survive in a dangerous supernatural world. Play through about 30-40 hours of content and over 40 unique endings while trying to survive the perils of a newly discovered paranormal community. Romance one of 6 love interests as you uncover information about the supernatural and the secrets from your own past - all while you try to patch up your relationship with your twin brother who grows more and more suspicious of you with each passing day.”

Features as listed on the game page:

685,000 words (around 100-115k per route, not including the common route)

25-35 hours of playable content (4-6 hours per route)*

6 love interests

Over 40 unique endings

30+ unique CGs

30+ unique backgrounds

30+ characters and sprites

Developed side characters 

*calculated at a reading speed of 300 wpm

My review

So, right off the bat I wanna say this is one of my favorite games I’ve played which is why this is my first review. This game is FULL of content. There are SO many endings you can get, I only got 20 out of 48 and that was in 19 hours and I haven’t even finished the last guy yet.

The story is (imo) incredible. You kinda know where it’s going with the name of the game but it’s still very well written and well executed. 

One thing that’s not listed on the game page as a feature is the Journal. As the Protag learns about lore and creatures she writes it down in a journal and by going to the menu (Right click) you can read the entries she’s written.

It’s hours of story (I think going through one guy took me about 4-5 hours), each route is actually different so you get a completely different experience and subplot depending on which guy you pick. 

The main story is the same but the subplot specifically is tied to the guy you choose and determines how certain things go and what new characters will show up. (i.e. you pick a Vampire you’re going to deal with Vampire things and new Vamp characters.) There are no shared endings among the guys.

There are six guys total you can romance and they each have their own number of CGs and endings. Without spoilers here are the names and numbers:

Corvin - 8 endings, 10 CGs

Danny - 5 endings, 7 CGs

Elliot - 6 endings, 8 CGs

Ewan - 13 endings, 6 CGs

Marc - 5 endings, 9 CGs

William - 10 endings, 8 CGs

And then there’s 1 Protag ending and 2 Protag CGs

The CGs are beautiful, the sprites are beautiful, they move their faces to show emotion but their mouths don’t move when speaking. The Protag’s features also change that way. You can change her first and last name but not her looks (which I was okay with considering some lines mention her features and most games either don’t show you the protag or have one already set like this one.)

Worth the price: Yes. Definitely YES.

Conclusion aka TL;DR

It’s hours of story, each story is actually different so you get a completely different experience depending on which guy you pick. The main story is the same but the subplot is tied to the guy you choose and what new characters will show up. (i.e. you pick the Vampire you’re going to deal with vampire things and new Vamp characters.) The CGs are beautiful, it’s very story rich, the characters are all unique (even the side characters), there was so much attention to detail. 

My Rating

Visuals: 10/10

Story: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Interface: 10/10 (Though most of them are)

Overall - 💗💗💗💗💗