Heart of the Woods
Heya! Zombie Cecelia here!
This is gonna be my first proper-ish game review on Steam so expect a not so much a review than me waffling review
So I bought this game on release (15.02.2019) and played a bit of it before work and stuff happened so was too busy then kinda forgot about it for over a year and only just got back into it about a week ago… Oops!
I guess because I can’t physically go outside due to sickness and the lock-down, meaning my favourite bookstore is closed, gave me the incentive to pick up Visual Novels (VNs) again (I usually prefer reading from a physical book rather than online buut let’s not delve into the reasons for it lol plus VNs have their own magical quality so it wouldn’t be fair to compare the two… but I digress because this is meant to be a review)
– Real player with 34.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best LGBTQ Visual Novel Games.
(This article was written as a blog post )
Heart of the Woods looks like a nice interesting love story about 2 girls, one human, one ghost. It’s homo, so it’s just what I needed to escape from the real world. Although it appears to involve love across the living and the dead, which is a concept that’s been done to literal death. But hey, the game is well-received, it’s on sale, the artstyle is new to me, and most importantly, it doesn’t appear to be too long. So I guessed it’s going to be a nice fit for the spare time I currently have.
– Real player with 21.9 hrs in game
Deep Dark Fight
This game is not OK, it is bad. All sounds in game (music, jumps, sound of your death) are very annoing (but not gachi sounds of course). 1/2 of levels are VERY boring. Bosses are very boring, too. The last level had made so bad, that I deleted game. This game is not rofl-able, it is too good for that (but it is too bad to play it serios). I don’t want to play this game for free, and paying even 300$ hm hm… 1,5$ for it is silly
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best LGBTQ Mature Games.
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– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game
Ochitsubaki
A fallen camellia is a beheading, every time, every petal falling at once: a severing.
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TW: CSA, animal death, violence, suicidal ideation
OCHITSUBAKI || 落ち椿 is a visual novel about the impossibility of translating trauma. It is a bilingual JPN/ENG game about translation and how it can run as deeply as the way hypermarginalized people constantly “translate” their identities and trauma for the understanding of others, no matter how far it is from the source material. It’s about recovering from trauma through the genuine compassion and consideration of another person, who manages to See the aftereffects of trauma and are willing to meet that person’s unique needs, regardless of if they “understand” them or not.
Ochitsubaki is only loosely a visual novel, which is to say it is a story-based game with a strong aesthetic component. Ochitsubaki has a deep, rich tapestry of aesthetics in unifying modern elegance with unique retro anime-inspired character portraits. The original soundtrack derives inspiration from traditional Asian pentatonic scales, particularly but not limited to Japanese ones, that also derive a modern, Genshin’s Liyue-type twist that sets it firmly in contemporary times. It has three language options: JPN, ENG, and JPN translation. The ENG/JPN versions are two different renditions of the story, thus requiring a separate JPN translation, emulating what happens when you try to translate something as complex as identity. You can consider that the only real choice you make in the game is which language to play it in, and each language option provides a different “route,” a similar but very distinctly different iteration of the story. The language modes mimic the powerful loss that happens when stories–when trauma–is translated.
The demo only contains the first two ENG chapters, an estimated 30-45min of playtime.
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Hanashiro (he/she/they) and their few remaining kin all react differently to the trauma of being immortal and witnessing the apocalypse over and over again in different cycles of reincarnation. Shiragiku is unfazed and cheery and flippant and whimsical and capricious; Shirayuri is nowhere to be found; and Hanashiro? Hanashiro is planning on their death in 10 years, when the camellias fall, if they cannot find a reason to live by then.
Hanashiro and Shirayuri have witnessed THE END OF THE WORLD before. But no one believed them. Shiragiku has seen many, many apocalypses, but she has never been hurt by any one after the first. Shiragiku has remembered every single end; Shirayuri has remembered none; and Hanashiro only remembers some. Which? Even he doesn’t know.
Hanashiro misses speaking her fey mother tongue, but she can’t seem to find anyone willing to listen to her, not even her own kind. And then she makes an enemy who just might. Their name is Lun Kochouran.
And they might be the first one in a millennium to learn the Amayuri tongue.
They also might be the first to kill an immortal.
Read More: Best LGBTQ Romance Games.
When The Night Comes
Before anything, I want to say - Gideon Emery (Finn’s voice actor)! He is my all time favourite voice actor - Fenris from Dragon Age, Balthier from FF12, Lor’themar Theron from World of Warcraft and many more. I really did not expect to hear his voice, I almost squealed when I heard it! Also, August’s voice actor (Jonah Scott) is AMAZING! I usually don’t like voice acting in indie VNs, but the voices are so good.
Game has a nice sort of mystery plot. It’s nicely written, doesn’t get boring and keeps you wanting to find out how it ends. Also the “bad ending” paths are well done.
– Real player with 120.2 hrs in game
I give this VN 7.5/10
Pros: Beautiful character creations (especially Ezra, he’s unique, breathtaking witch)
Lovely voices (Finn, Erza, Alkar, August), although, Omen' voice seem a little off
Have a lot of romance options. When you officially engage in one romance route, things seem more focus, I like it better than dilly dally between them all in the initiation.
Full well spoiled by the end game and 3 mini stories after.
There are more missing parts make you want to play anew, and those beautiful galleries sure help make it interesting.
– Real player with 44.0 hrs in game
Chronotopia: Second Skin
~~~~~~~~ Fairytale princess dies; she gets better. Love in the bargain. ~~~~~~~~
The plan was supposed to be simple, almost ridiculously so.
When her father, driven mad by years of grief, suddenly decided to force her into marrying him, Princess Kionna enlisted the help of her childhood friend. Together, they managed to contact her long-lost fairy godmother. Surely, her powers would save her from this hellish fate. Kionna would be able to escape the castle, a prince charming would find her, and they would live happily ever after.
Alas, magic can only do as much. Things keep spinning out of control. Trapped in an endless nightmare, the princess ceaselessly rewinds time in a race with death itself. Is a happy ending truly waiting for her at the end of the tunnel?
Kionna perfectly encapsulates what you would expect from a fairytale princess. Naive and sheltered, she means to do good but comes across as haughty due to her upbringing.
Unfortunately for Kionna, she cannot rely on others forever. To escape her fate, she will have to learn to fight for herself…
Nahima’s whole world revolves around Kionna. She has been her confidant for as long as she can remember and she is dead set on staying this way.
Deep down, she knows this is impossible but she is not ready to let go. After all, if Kionna truly leaves, she wouldn’t have use for her anymore, would she?
Médeia is not quite the traditional fairy godmother. She makes it abundantly clear she is not interested in becoming Kionna’s magical sidekick. The sooner she helps her, the sooner she can return to the magical realm. And that is all that matters as far as she is concerned.
Or is it? For someone who always appears so unfazed, she seems to care an awful lot…
While life is not as convenient as Kionna had hoped, her dream might not be completely out of her reach. Indeed, there are numerous handsome lords in her vicinity who would make perfectly fine suitors. Could one of them be her Prince Charming?
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A captivating plot full of unexpected twists and existential dread
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Over 200 000 words of content with multiple endings (20-30 hours of playtime)
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2 GxG (Nahima and Médeia) and 1 GxB (the “Prince”) romances can be chosen at the end of Kionna’s journey
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Unlockable archives connecting the story to real-life European folklore
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Several gameplay phases to experience the semi-realistic medieval world in a different light
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Beautiful artwork, with animated backgrounds and special stained-glass illustrations
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Frequent use of cinematic shots to make the reading more immersive
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A full original soundtrack with celtic influences
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Available in both English and French!
Twisted: A Dark Fairytale
A fascinating, unusual visual novel (VN). Dark - even gruesome, in parts - but compelling. The shape of the story emerges relatively quickly, but leaves questions that make the reader want to unlock more information and more endings. There is always fear and running at the forefront of everything, but the protagonist (Sage) is more resilient and determined than it might seem at first. Eventually, one can feel her** compassion overriding her well-founded anxiety.
**The game allows the player to select pronouns for the protagonist: “he/him” “she/her” and “they/them”. I chose “she/her”.
– Real player with 17.4 hrs in game
This game has an excellent story line and beautiful art. I would recommend this game to my friends, as the characters were so unique and there plot is different then most others I read.
Only thing I wish was that all the achievements worked for the game and some of the bugs were fixed with the cg library
– Real player with 10.1 hrs in game
Cute Bite
Cute Bite is a fun raising sim where you take control of a butler (whose name you can decide, but her default is Saule) who is in charge of training the daughter of her former vampire master. The “Little Mistress” (also nameable; default is Buttercup), as Saule calls her, is far older than Saule herself, but after being confined to a coffin for centuries, she has lost many of her skills and reverted to the form of a child. It’s the player’s job to make Buttercup powerful enough within a year to complete the blood ritual which allows Saule to live.
– Real player with 25.2 hrs in game
A vampire has been locked away so long that her body has reverted to the size she was when she first became a creature of the night – when she was child. After being freed, she must build up her various skills to restore her adult form. Her faithful butler is more than happy to assist, but is she hiding something?
Information
• All romances take place after she regains her adult form. This game does not involve or promote pedophilia.
• Gameplay involves stat raising (which determines endings), and a hunting mini-game (to replenish energy via biting people for blood), along with other fun mechanics.
– Real player with 21.0 hrs in game
The Outbreak Story
Join Noah as he follows in his deceased father’s footsteps: becoming an agent of the Special Paranormal Defense Forces, a secret organisation that protects people from the paranormal. The organisation has its hands full, however, as a strange disease is turning people into unrecognisable monsters.
Along the way, Noah and his teammates (James Thorpe and Marie Belle) gain various allies, such as fellow SPDF agents Alexia Birmingham and Shelby Rose, their superior Prof. Steffi Cartwright and others, all of whom have their own personal tragedies that led to them joining the SPDF to begin with. Their fight against the encroaching darkness is made more difficult as their unresolved issues catch up to them in ways they do not expect.
Will they be able to overcome the trials that lay ahead?
Features:
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Action-packed combat.
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A dramatic story with complex characters and existentialist themes.
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Music that sets the mood of the story, featuring original compositions by Cocoshii as well as tracks by NemesisTheory and DJGenericName.
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Lots of side-quests, NPCs and lore to be discovered.
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RPG elements.
Demonheart
(Note: This review was written after chapter 4’s release. If the final fifth chapter impacts this review, I will update it accordingly. I am also a man.)
Female-driven visual novels have become increasingly common among western audiences. Unfortunately, these games are also peppered with groan-inducing young boys seeking to win the hearts of adolescent girls through affection. Where are the games with dark storytelling and evil men, and why is it taboo for women to fantasize about them? Demonheart wisely accommodates this void with a cast of evil love interests and a thought-provoking dark narrative.
– Real player with 40.8 hrs in game
Demonheart is a dark fantasy tale about a young woman, who has her life taken completely out of her own hands, in the most unusual circumstances. Follow this aberrant tale as she is lead down a dark path of no return.
Plot: Step into the role of Bright, a young red-headed maiden as she goes about her everyday life. She lives with her parents in a tiny house as the three of them try to scrape together to simply put food in their stomachs. That is, until one fateful day, an unexpected job offer reaches her. The town’s famous healer wishes to extend an invite to Bright to work alongside her in her shop as her assistant. This could be the break Bright and her family so desperately need, but is it too good to be true? Well, of course, it is or the story would end pretty quickly, wouldn’t it?
– Real player with 36.9 hrs in game
Masquerada: Songs and Shadows
Masquerada: Songs and Shadows really took me by surprise, it really did. The game claims to be a RPG but there are very few elements to support that claim, especially given the fact that the story is quite linear and there are no choices for you to make, you’re basically just watching how everything unfolds. That said, there is a lot to say about Masquerada, both good and bad, and I believe it’s a game that went under a lot of people’s radar and I truly believe it deserves a lot more exposure and credit than it has received.
– Real player with 38.5 hrs in game
Once again, this is the type of game where the “Yes” actually means “Yes, but-”, as in “Yes, but only if you like linear story-focused games with lots (and I mean LOTS) of reading”. Let’s get this straight: any mention of this game being an “RPG” is very misleading. There are no choices in the story at all; the protagonist (Cicero) is a defined character with his own personality and backstory, which I don’t think is a bad thing. There is very little exploration, aside from a few tidbits of lore and equipment sprinkled about, and since the game almost never lets you backtrack, it’s easy to lock yourself out of getting a certain lore entry or mask forever if you’re not careful. Pretty much the only RPG-like mechanic is the skills, masks, and enchantments you can pick between, so if you consider XCOM an RPG, then sure, I guess this game counts, too.
– Real player with 27.4 hrs in game