Scarlet and Blank
PROS
-Great writing
-Nice soundtrack
-The melancholic vibe
-Art style
-It’s FREE
CONS
-A bit too short (characters don’t really get fleshed out).
-A few bugs.
I really enjoyed this short visual novel.
8/10
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Historical Linear Games.
I enjoyed this beautifully tragic tale, the narration and music set the atmosphere nicely for the read
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Lurkers
Lurkers #recommended for people who lurk, sorry I had to insert bad jokes here, is a BL Visual Novel where it sets in Victorian England when the Jack The Ripper’s cases took place. As Eddy Nichols, avenge your mother’s death #if your Main Character is a whore’s son, sounds promising while seeking for your love. #what a smart boy, never losing a chance.
[olist]PROS:
- A variety of white, classical, and thriller music #really puts you on the shoes, not on the socks.
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Historical Thriller Games.
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Lurkers
Developer: Ertal Games
Publisher: Ertal Games
Pros:
1. With the plot following our protagonist seeking justice for the murder of his mother by Jack the Ripper, it uses an interesting integration of light romance among the 2 love interests; Chris and William.
2. Having 3 characters with different desires eventually turning into 1 common goal was done quite well, especially how different William, Eddy, and Chris are. It all starts to add up once more information is obtained on the hunt for Jack the Ripper.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
BO020880
This is a very moving visual novel that does an excellent job of creating small vignettes, introducing the player to many characters. I really felt how they emphasized the weight of a human life, how much was lost in this horrible attack. It’s very short; I recommend you spend half an hour to play.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Historical Narration Games.
A beautiful way to tell a terrible story. Well done.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
Dark Renaissance
From the Author of the best-selling Medici series Matteo Strukul, comes a new exciting Interactive History Drama, pushing the boundaries of video game storytelling and narrative depth.
Dark Renaissance is an adventure game with RPG elements and a compelling and dramatic story, true to historical events, characters and places of the 15th century.
Embark on a journey through key places of the Renaissance world, from Italy to China, going through the fascinating lands of the Middle East and Transylvania. Lend your sword to Lorenzo de' Medici and fight formidable enemies, such as the cunning Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, the treacherous Anguana and the impetuous Duke Ercole d’Este.
In a land of immense Beauty and ageless mysticism, where families of ruthless powermongers wage battle through generations, the mother of all wars is bound to happen.
In the heart of Firenze, Italy’s cradle of culture and art, Lorenzo il Magnifico, heir to the Medici Family, sits on his throne of riches. After having conquered the economic power of Italy, the Lord of Florence senses a new threat coming, meant to jeopardize his ruler’s status quo. With its power and financial establishment at a stake, The Magnificent must recur to the most legendary soldier on the battlefield: Marco Badoer, a tormented Capitano di Ventura who survived the twilight of Middle Ages to be born again in an age of discovery and wonder.
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The darkest and grittiest Renaissance epic ever built in a game.
Discover the story of Marco Badoer, one of the last knights of the famed Ordo Draconis, a chivalry order so bloodthirsty that counted Vlad the Impaler himself among its ranks.
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Meet the rockstars of Italian Renaissance.
From Lorenzo de' Medici to Leonardo da Vinci, you will walk on the shoulder of giants and explore world-famous landmarks such as Venice and Florence. But be wary: ancient pagan magic, Eastern mysticism and occult knowledge will drag you into the darkest corners of human mind.
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Countless options for roleplaying.
Shape your path through nuanced branches in an intricate web of political conspiracies and moral dilemmas. Will you unleash your vengeful primal self? Or you’ll rather stay balanced as a monk through wise decisions? The choice is yours.
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The art of War.
Choose among several weapons of the time, face your enemies in strategic duels and lead your troops in open field battles. Get ready to become a strategist, thanks to unique staged combat sequences blending opera and brutal RPG action.
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Sex, drugs and gambling.
From the opium-filled hammam of Constantinople, to the alcova of the most beautiful courtesans in Florence, the darker side of European history will unveil in front of your eyes, while a romance and social linking system will let you decide to desecrate your body as much as you wish.
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Enjoy high-class Renaissance living.
Behold the beauty of Italy in all of its splendor during the Main Quest, and kick back with a glass of wine at Villa del Drago, home to Marco Badoer. To transform this old house in a luxurious mansion, filled with fine Tuscany spirits and tasty food, it’s up to you, thanks to the currency and historical accurate card games.
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A political manifesto from the past.
After condemning the horrors of totalitarianism and datacracy in the award-winning Dry Drowning, Studio V goes back to its roots, to push again the boundaries of philosophical and political discourse in gaming. Swept under the rug of a beautiful world, tales of corruption, violence and dirty money await for the player to be discovered.
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Original soundtrack.
An original symphonic score by the award-winning composer David Logan, mixing and matching ancient and modern styles.
Embraced by Autumn
Mirabel is based
– Real player with 120.9 hrs in game
Embraced by Autumn is an amazing visual novel with great characters and wonderful writing! But it is a visual novel and not a visual novel game you only get one choice in the novel but all the characters story’s are amazing and sweet I would highly suggest buying this novel.
– Real player with 42.1 hrs in game
Genius! NAZI-GIRL GoePPels-Chan ep1
Amazing game, makes me laugh every time I open it up. There is one problem, and it is that the game is only like 20-40 minutes of gameplay, on all of the eps for all options. Still a good game though. I would expect it to be at least $2 each
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game
A short but sweet visual novel. Has a surprising amount of historical accuracy for a moe-styled retelling of the Nazis' propaganda efforts. I’d recommend not posting anything about it on YouTube if you value your channel (I’ve learned this the hard way).
You can reach an ending in about an hour if you don’t rush it and listen to the dialog.
Translations are very well done and everything is perfectly understandable.
One playthrough has me wanting to buy the sequels, if you’re interested then pick it up!
– Real player with 1.7 hrs in game
The Schizophrenic Dynasty of Müller
Rock solid game! The atmosphere, music and the aura of the game just caught my eye, do play it and you’ll come to think alike!
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
UPDATE:
The game hasn’t had an update in 4 months and there have been no communications about it from the developer. The English translation of the game has had no changes from the initial release – it is still incomprehensible, written or translated by someone who does not have a good grasp of English. Furthermore, when I confronted the developer through the games' group chat about a refund, I was promptly banned, without even receiving any sort of answer.
TL;DR - The written English of this game is incomprehensible. Development of this game seems to have stopped after the initial release. I strongly advise against buying this game.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Casina: The Forgotten Comedy
An interesting take on classic play, that needs just a tad polishing
Casina….well not gonna lie, it was a pretty unique experience for me since I have almost no idea about classic play. So, by the time I finished the visual novels (which surprisingly hooked me in) I was kinda curious so I looked for the original Casina play. I was like “aaah so this is what they’re adapting” and I like how they tried to keep it as close to the original play as possible.
Now about the game
– Real player with 4.4 hrs in game
Casina: The Forgotten Comedy is a modern iteration of the ancient Latin play set in Greece with the same name “Casina”. I have a little background with theatre and plays and was excited to enjoy the story and the art together in a different way! Fully voice acted with accompanying art and scenes to set the stage of a highly desirable slave and all the men who wish to have her to themselves.
Even before playing the game, I could tell the art of the game was going to be easy on the eyes. The art for the game is well done and I enjoyed the consistency across the entire game. Some of the backgrounds aren’t as finely detailed or manicured but were still appealing and enjoyable throughout. I like the idea of having choices in a visual novel and multiple endings, it makes it feel like your choices may have bearing on the outcomes which makes for a more focused patron of the story. Others have said they don’t care for the voice acting, and while it is not the best of the best and some of the ranges of character seem limited, I still found them to be very well done in craft and style. The voices felt like they were fit for the characters they were voicing, which I feel like is the key to voice over acting like this.
– Real player with 3.3 hrs in game
Evil Shogun
Finished in less than an hour. Too short for this price. Dialogs are lame and the story is underwhelming. Puzzles take 3-4 seconds to complete.
– Real player with 0.9 hrs in game
❗❗❗ Warning: Mac/iOS ONLY ❗❗❗
There is no warning about this anywhere on the Steam page, this game does NOT work on Windows.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds
I’ve been a VN enthusiast for awhile now and this game and its sequel caught my eye in a recent sale. I was thinking, “Hmm, I want some romance, this looks good.” I did indeed get some flashes of romance, though relatively subtle and subdued, in the lengthy and complex story. But I was soon completely caught in the world and the time and the turmoil it was set in. Immediately arrested by the setting and conflicts, though they were in another country centuries ago on the other side of the world, I started researching them on the side as I made my way through the story. I found the real historical bones of it very easy to pick out from the flights of fancy that make it a historical fantasy. To be honest, I’d rather have less apparent romance in a story where the setting, conflicts, all the characters and their relationships with each other are so fleshed out as this one, because it makes the romance more poignant and believable when you do get a glimmer or foreshadowing of it. I hear the second part of the game, Edo Blossoms, has the actual romance parts of the stories, and it feels like it will be so much more rewarding after the work to weave the friendship in Kyoto Winds.
– Real player with 146.2 hrs in game
Note: Keep in mind that Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is only the first half of the game/plot. Kyoto Winds ends where the individual character routes in other Hakuoki versions would usually begin.
Played Character Route Order: Chikage ◈ Sanosuke ◈ Hijikata ◈ Iba ◈ Souji ◈ Ryouma ◈ Yamazaki ◈ Saito ◈ Shinpachi ◈ Heisuke ◈ Sanan ◈ Souma
You can see this review as the first part of a summarized review of Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds and Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms, because basically everything I wrote here can be easily applied on both games. You can read about my personal thoughts, and final conclusion in my review for Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms, if you are interested.
– Real player with 142.9 hrs in game