Palais de Reine
Played a bit more, and decided to add some new and fresh feelings. I definitely recommend this game, like 99 out of 100. Though lots of texts, even the opening took me like more than an hour (I’m a slow reader, though).
Highlight of the game, I think, is the way of building characters. Each character have distinct personalities and personal stories, for like 30-40 characters? It also built a pretty complete world, with reasonable explanation for all things I can think of.
This is a mixture of romance and strategy, like half-half. Yet I guess a reason why this game is not very popular is that neither is out-standing. I mean, both are great, but if compare each element to famous games like Civilization (famous strategy game) or 蝶の毒 華の鎖 (famous romance game), neither part stands out. I don’t play strategy games, so I only can speak romance-wise. The number of characters is both the tame’s highlight and weakness. With so many characters, it is just impossible to make everyone’s story equally impressive. Personally, only one character’s route made me feel like in love. All other romance route makes me feel average-good but not impressive (or maybe I’m too harsh). Though most non-romance routes are beautiful.
– Real player with 85.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Diplomacy Grand Strategy Games.
Highly recommended.
-Romance parts are optional and not required to finish or to enjoy the game!!!
-It has two difficulty settings, normal and difficult.
-You can’t just click your way through the game. If you fail the strategy part then that means game over.
-Has partial voice acting. The 7 “poster boy” knights are all voiced, while the 20 kights are not voiced. Some of the Lords are
voiced, as well as the Princess’ two aides.
-Don’t focus too much on voiced characters. The rest of the cast all have their own stories and the majority of the characters can
– Real player with 48.5 hrs in game
Ambition: A Minuet in Power
I almost fainted when I saw Ambition’s premise. A choose-your-own adventure? With political intrigue and love interests?! Taking place in the French Revolution!? It seemed perfect for me - and, oh, it was!
You play as Yvette Decaux, a woman who travels to Paris on the eve of the French Revolution to rendezvous with her fiance, a baron named Armand. But oh no! He’s missing! You have the option to try and find him, and/or abandon him for one or more of the five other love interests. Each of those love interests are part of a faction - the Crown, the Church, the Military, the Bourgeoisie, and the Revolution. To build your power, you must go to parties thrown by these factions to meet your romance options, collect gossip, and participate in a randomized and vast array of entertaining minor intrigues. The gossip you get can be sold for money (used to buy dresses, pay rent, bribe the authorities, and purchase coffee - the usual!) or bend the factions to your will. You can increase or decrease their power, or nudge the middle factions towards the Crown or Revolution.
– Real player with 146.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Diplomacy Political Games.
First and foremost: this game gets my recommendation. Its content is deep, compelling, and interesting. Despite having limited hours to do so, I wanted to keep playing. The historical perspective seems incredibly well researched and founded (though I admit I am not a good source to weigh in on historical legitimacy), the characters were diverse, and the story was compelling.
That being said, I found numerous issues. The most frustrating being that many of the randomly generated interactions kept appearing “out of order” in such a way that the story felt massively interrupted and disjointed. I’m honestly not sure if it’s some strange series of choices I made to cause this, but I kept accidentally running into one of the main characters in the game in side missions at parties in which she would act as if we had some very contemptuous history, when in reality, I had never even seen her before let alone (to my knowledge) upset her before. As I found from playing the entire game, I believe she was destined to be an adversary, but I was SO confused when I was playing. There were several other instances in which I found that interactions I had already had with characters didn’t jive with interactions I went on to have with them subsequently, and honestly, this is my biggest issue with the game.
– Real player with 48.2 hrs in game
HaremKingdom
9/10
20 hrs for a fast reader
18+ Patch: https://www.johren.games/games/download/haremkingdom-dlc-en/
For:
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People who want harem routes:
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People who want a light hearted comedy
Not For:
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People who want a deep story
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People who want a 1 on 1 relationship with a character
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People turned off by incest (half-sister)
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People annoyed by minor bugs with the VN system
HaremKingdom is the 2020 Smee game, winner of a 2020 pink award from Moe Game Award, the 4th officially localized Smee game, and the 1st one to be localized by Shiravune. Like in typical Smee fashion this is a very light hearted comedy featuring virgin heroines, but this time Smee uses the recently popular Isekai setting and features harems instead of single pairings. Also in typical Smee fashion, this is better than every Smee game that came before it, imo, but that recommendation comes with a lot of caveats.
– Real player with 67.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Diplomacy Cute Games.
I swear Japanese can actually make good comedy when they try, HaremKingdom is the proof. The game is absolutely littered with over-the-top humor and intentional ridiculousness, it takes tropes from isekai and fairytale fantasies and twists the shit out of them to fit into the game’s crazy story. Comedy is all about subverting expectations, after all. When it comes to jokes, well, it’s almost always the delivery that sells. And yeah… This game does deliver. Seriously, HaremKingdom is legitimately the funniest game (VN) I’ve played (read) this year, no contest. Royal Seal of Approval.
– Real player with 32.6 hrs in game
Bleeding Moons
A unique and entertaining point and click adventure game in the vein of Space Pilgrim about war, politics, love and everything in between. The game is more of an interactive novel, the puzzle part is very easy, too easy I would say, so if you are expecting to get creative about picking things and combining them in the inventory, this is not the game for you.
The game tackles adult issues such as rape and abuse, but very tastefully, which is testament to the overall excellent writing. The world is rich with characters and they all have a story, even the many NPCs will tell you their tale. The creators really took their time with every detail, including some humorous: in a city with many stray dogs, of course you will find poop on the street :) … which should have been an achievement itself.
– Real player with 35.4 hrs in game
First of all, I’m writing this review as a huge THANK YOU to the creator. I just finished the game and I’m absolutely in love with it! I spent about a good 10 hours playing through the story and because I’m that kind of guy that wants to know everything, I logged over 200 saves. I’ll be going back to my final save later this week to try something a little different. After that I’m likely to try again from the beginning to see what I might be able to change.
! I was surprised to find out I was locked out of Luna’s ending but the rest were available to me
– Real player with 13.8 hrs in game
The Play’s the Thing
This one was enjoyable, would recommend
– Real player with 89.3 hrs in game
My mom was very much into theater.
– Real player with 45.9 hrs in game
Solar Echoes: The Star Legation
STORY
Soon after the alien races began to explore outside their own star systems, they discovered each other. Hostilities grew into skirmishes and eventually, wars. However, some still desired peace. We’ve been taught that the Interstellar Union was formed in the year 1,023 LN. And we’ve been told of the human, Trey Donovan, who led the peace legation to unite everyone across the stars.
Details beyond that are varied and embellished, but we do have records of Trey’s past. This man, now considered a legend, was no diplomat. He grew up in entirely human-centric surroundings and had never ventured beyond human territories. He was banished to an exile colony after a dishonorable discharge from the military. He received no training for the peace legation that he supposedly led. Trey’s only known redeeming quality was his leadership and success in bringing law to a planet overrun with criminals.
How did this man travel to alien worlds and speak before powerful leaders? How was this human able to convince those alien leaders to send a representative with him to join the Interstellar Union? How did he survive the dangerous journey through space among an alien crew, several which were technically still at war with each other? There are still many unanswered questions about Trey Donovan and his journey across the universe. What really happened aboard that starship?
ABOUT
Solar Echoes: The Star Legation is a Sci-Fi Visual Novel game with RPG elements, full of intriguing alien characters, bizarre foreign cultures, and interstellar conflict. Journey through space to gather and manage an alien crew, visit new worlds, negotiate with alien leaders, and even risk romance across the stars! Survival and success depends upon your choices and the reputation you’ve built among your alien crewmates. Can your diplomatic efforts with alien leaders lead to a peaceful alliance between all the races, or will you incite a massive interstellar war? Will your words bring unity, or chaos?
FEATURES
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The Star Legation’s beautifully authentic style blends realism with a cel-shaded, anime touch. Design, art, and audio create a unique space-opera atmosphere.
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100’s of decisions to make in this epic, choice-driven branching story
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Experience an engaging narrative filled with intrigue, humor, science, treachery, and heart.
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RPG elements with 8 different character design skill choices to make
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32 possible endings (including 5 main endings)
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Immersive and realistic dialogue: some character sprites have over 100 different expressions!
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Optional Romance story routes with 2 human characters
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Detailed background art, cinematic camera work, expressive character sprites, and animated sequences make this visual novel a dynamic experience!
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Build relationships with memorable characters and develop a reputation that will alter the course of the story!
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Over 20 hours of gameplay, with additional hours in alternate routes and endings
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Awesome SciFi soundtrack by composer Andy Mitchell, featuring over 75 minutes of original music!
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15+ High Res CG’s to unlock, designed by the talented artist, Aeghite!
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Hidden skill-related choices based on your character design that unlock extra routes
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Optional Combat (auto-win option), or Challenge Mode
Shutterbug Stud
Shutterbug Stud is a fun, character driven, scavenger hunt, where the player is commissioned to take pictures of local girls for a calendar. As such, the player must roam the town and countryside looking for willing girls to photograph, and fulfilling tasks for ~almost~ willing girls. For every (quality) picture you deliver you are paid, and are one step closer to the goal of a finished calendar and, hopefully, a fat wallet.
An RPG Maker game, enjoy exploring the town, seeing the sights (and the girls) and maybe finding some hidden secrets to discover.
The core game is filled with characters and pictures that range from cute to a little suggestive. A planned expansion has pictures ranging from suggestive to very suggestive, but still fairly tame. Further expansions (or third party art) may push these limits even further.
FEATURING:
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• 12 Major Characters
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• 24 Reward Pictures
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• Scenic Morlock Lake (Town and Environs) to Explore
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• Standard RPG Maker Controller Support
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• Art package free (found in core game files)
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• DLC Coming Soon!