Dear Althea
About this game
This visual novel, full of decisions and repercussions, is a fun reinterpretation of the novel “Dear Faustina” (1897) by British author Rhoda Broughton. Each chapter is filled with beautiful, high quality artwork that illustrates all the situations and moments you will experience alongside the charismatic characters. The art that you will be able to see has been made with special care in the representation of the British Victorian era as well as taking into account the class difference that is present at all times. The entire video game has 51 chapters that you will only be able to see if you play all the routes and enjoy the nine endings of the video game.
Story
In Dear Althea, you play as Althea Vane; a young upper class British woman whose life is turned upside down after the death of her father which causes her family to fall apart along with her future. She will be forced to choose a new future, a place to call home and a group to belong to. To get there she will have to face all sorts of situations in Victorian London, but love and romance will fortunately abound and make her quest more enjoyable.
Choices matter
You will find that the choices you make will change the story from the very first chapter, even if they change there will be many of them that will affect the story in the long run. In Dear Althea, your choices can affect not only your fate, but also the fate of other people. They can also change your relationship with other characters and open up new routes of dialogue that will change the dynamics of relationships.
Diverse relationships
You don’t have to fall in love with anyone or enter into any kind of romantic or sexual relationship in the game, but depending on your choices you can enter into a relationship with up to four characters that fall within the LGBT spectrum, however you don’t have to choose just one relationship; you can enter into a variety of polyamorous relationships.
Consent
In this video game, consent is discussed and encouraged in all aspects of relationships between characters. In romantic relationships there is no obligation to have sex, and refusing to have sex has no negative repercussions.
Characters
There is a great diversity of charismatic characters in “Dear Althea” but there is a clear division between upper class and working class characters. As a protagonist you can decide from the first chapter and throughout the story which group you are more sympathetic to. Defending characters from one class or the other can have repercussions.
Puzzles
If puzzles are not your thing you can skip them without missing any important plot points; however, there has been a lot of effort in the creation of the puzzles to make them all diverse. They have been integrated in the best possible way into the storyline as well as being completely set in the era in which the story takes place.
Typography
The typography has been created to help people with dyslexia to identify letters more easily. It is based on the typeface that appears in the original 1897 book.
Endings
There are a total of nine completely different final chapters, many of which are the result of decisions that took place several chapters earlier.Due to the branching of the story, finishing a single route can cause you to miss even twenty whole chapters that belong to the other routes, so the title invites replayability. Also, as a final surprise, there are some small post-credits scenes that will change depending on the decisions made throughout the story.
Duration and text
Counting all possible decisions, the game has 112408 words and (although it is not finished yet) I estimate that approximately and depending on the decisions chosen, the game can last about 5 hours.
Read More: Best LGBTQ Visual Novel Games.
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 Story Rich Games.
Blooming Nightshade
This VN was designed with mobile phones in mind, which results in an unusual graphic layout and generally very simple visuals. Only two sprites show up on the screen at any time and there are no dedicated illustrations to portray important scenes. Music is also super-simple, and the default font is kind of hard to read (thankfully it can be changed in the menu). It doesn’t give a bad impression, but still looks pretty stiff and basic.
So, how’s the story? Well, also basic. The protagonist is pretty much a blank slate, receiving little introduction and mostly standing out by being the tallest girl in the game. There are six potential love interests who you can either romance or befriend, with each one having a theme (eg. being a gamer, baking, but also things like slight disabilities) along with some kind of issue they have to resolve during the route. It’s your typical slice-of-life fluff, but I can’t say I hated any of the stories or the chemistry between the girls and the protagonist. This is probably still better as a smartphone game, letting you burn some time on a bus or a train with its bite-sized, cute yuri romance… But was still fun enough to keep me reasonably entertained on the PC. Just don’t expect anything deep or elaborately illustrated.
– Real player with 25.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best LGBTQ Female Protagonist Games.
I love dating games - and games in which you are not action,action,action - all the time and for me this is perfect
I too thought like many when i first came across this free game it was nothing more than a girl on girl sex game and nothing more - i was wrong, very wrong
First off there are adult themes in mention only -but gladly never shown (no need to be shown either)
Secondly the girls you get to date each have a good story to them - though the game is short and really for a VN is more read than play with mostly a single option per girl - i really love the stories inside
– Real player with 12.8 hrs in game
DRAMAtical Murder
I’m very impressed with the quality of image. Beside that, the story is good.
10/10 with the uncensored path (within not include in steam).
– Real player with 35.7 hrs in game
First playthrough ' Ah, it’s just another otome / visual novel with good and bad endings. Wow, Koujaku is cool"
Second p.: " I want to try all the romance options, there are only 4 of them. Holy cow, Noiz was intense! Why do I feel I’m missing something though?
Third p. : “Stockholm syndrome simulator (Mink)….also: I am definitely missing something.
Fourth p: “Clear is just precious 3 ….. Who is that dude in the fedora?”
Fifth p: " Christ almighty”
– Real player with 27.1 hrs in game
Eldritch Academy
A nice mild magical girl (without the flashy change scenes or clothes change)
type horror with mild yuri romance. This is the prelude of the Eldritch University VN which is The Girl who got Badly hurt and her girlfriend..
You have the 3 girl endings and a harem and a secret ending, I have the secret and harem to find.
It is a good VN so give it a go.
– Real player with 68.3 hrs in game
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cute yuri game
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interesting mystic concept
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a few fun conversations
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this is NOT a horror or a thriller. there are definitely no scary or tense moments in the game
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the game is short, but terribly repetitive
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I expected more from Akomi, almost all her innuendo are dull
This is a cute short game with misleading tags in the annotation. The characters and the story itself lack depth. Even so I enjoy this game. You should give it a chance
– Real player with 27.3 hrs in game
Rose Seed Replica
The most heartwarming story I’ve ever seen in a lesbian game. There’s also an underplot as to how the girls ended up where they did, but it’s not the main focus of the game. Also, there’s a few strange glitches that can occur that seem to be related to the fast forward button, but they don’t break the game or anything.
– Real player with 41.6 hrs in game
Full disclaimer: I was a beta-tester for this game and I’m in the credits.
Rose Seed Replica is pretty good! It’s also really hard to describe, as it turns out. I guess calling it a lesbian love story first and an adventure game second might be accurate enough. A big draw of the game is the many branching paths within it. These paths do tend to converge after a point, but there’s a ton of dialogue to see and hunt for across multiple playthroughs. Personally speaking, I did four playthroughs, one for each of the advertised romance types. I still definitely missed out on a lot of dialogue.
– Real player with 31.9 hrs in game
Summer In Trigue
Another Great VN By Winter Wolves.
This is the one said After Vollyball Heaven when asked about a Sequal.
This is a great story and Of Course Beautiful images, though some are used in Vollyball I noticed, but
I suppose that happens everywhere as only a certain amount are around.
I ended up with Alex, who as you find out, has an issue and it is up to you how you react to her as
to what happens.
Grace is the One you come across alot, she is a really nice girl, but clumsy and I will do her route
– Real player with 60.5 hrs in game
The game is fine. The writing is kinda meh, 5 romance interests 2 I would consider good, 1 okay, one is okayisch on account that I assume some people are okay with forgiving cheaters and one was pure trash. Sometimes choices I never made seemed to have been taken into account. A lot of the time you don’t get to see everything as your character seems to know stuff you never experienced making it all feel way too rushed. Buy it on a sale of like 70% or more if you are interested.
– Real player with 20.4 hrs in game
Dead Man’s Rest
A very good game, even in early access (it’s almost complete at this point, anyway).
I follow Argent Games ever since Requiescence, even if I tend to purchase their titles elsewhere due to Steam censorship, which isn’t relevant here since the game is not explicit in content.
It has to be my favorite of their games, alongside Requiescence itself.
The storylines are interesting, and with a very short common route (that has more than one path to access the various routes), it makes replaying each route a whole new experience, especially since what is true in one route won’t be in another, aside from core traits and background elements about the characters.
– Real player with 17.0 hrs in game
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Dead Man’s Rest
Developer: Gallium Games
Publisher: Argent Games
Pros:
1. The Wild West, a place where a balance of lawlessness and peacekeeping is a mainstay. Gunslinging, alcoholism, and tensions between Americans and Natives run in the back. What happens if we add in a little love to that? A more taboo love such as homosexuality in a time where heterosexuality was the overwhelming factor? You get Dead Man’s Rest, a finely packed visual novel with short routes varying from 5 love interests, each being variably different from each other but keep the characters consistency almost each time. It does a great deal in being faithful to old western culture that involves your standard by the book sheriff, trifles with Native Americans, and some small scenes of gunfighting, however it does an excellent job at adding in the romance aspect. It feels down to earth and realistic, with morals that reflected the time back then whether it be about sexuality or your culture, and how people react.
– Real player with 12.3 hrs in game
Doki Doki Ragnarok
Doki Doki Ragnarok is a viking visual novel in which you pillage and date villages around the world. It takes place in a ridiculous world where viking raids are like going on a date - with the village!
For vikings, raiding a village is more than warfare: it means dating, flirting, and understanding each other consensually. Show that you carry a conversation as easy as you carry an axe.
Choose from a wide cast of diverse vikings and unravel the peculiarities of each village. Find out what they truly desire from the viking of their dreams. You can always revisit past conquests to experience alternative dates.
Will you find the village of your dreams?
Features
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Date quirky villages across Europe!
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Choose from a wide cast of diverse vikings
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Choose your voice regardless of your appearance
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Encounter Odin, other vikings, local people and various animals!
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Revisit dates to explore alternative outcomes
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Stay in touch with past conquests in case someone invents a Dating App.
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Collect achievements by choosing the weirdest, funniest or plain most unlikely options on your dates!
Planned Steam Features:
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Cloud Save
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Achievements
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Trading Cards
Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
First of all, I DID like the game. But it was, at the same time, deceiving. I’d give it a 6/10, but if it were the right price, I’d give it a 8.5/10 for sure.
Let’s start with the good things about it: it is a very enjoyable, nice and light game. Most dads are also charming, the art is great, too.
But on the other hand… routes are extremely, extremely short. Takes around 45 minutes to complete each route. Not only that, but the endings are very limited, only having 2 endings, so there’s no room for replaying it to find the rest of the endings. I remember the Official Twitter promised multiple endings per dad. You don’t get to know the characters, and most of the time, it doesn’t really feel like you’re flirting with them. I only got that impression with Damien. It’s like you guys are obviously just friends until the end of the third date where you suddenly kiss and love each other. I was really excited to do Brian’s route, but was very deceived to find that his route is just… being rivals and at the very end kissing. Nothing more. It felt empty and superficial, despite the cute shirtless moment or the final kiss and hug at Amanda’s party. Didn’t feel like a real developing relationship. I think that it wasn’t only because of how short the route is, but because of how it was written as well. You could also have a short route where it does seem like they’re flirting, like Damien’s.
– Real player with 27.3 hrs in game
Played Character Route Order: Damien ◈ Robert ◈ Joseph ◈ Mat ◈ Craig ◈ Hugo ◈ Brian
Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator doesn’t really live up to what the store page tells you, nor to most of the positive reviews it received. You’re better off reading positive as well as negative reviews to get an idea of the actual content. I’m not going to say that Dream Daddy is a bad Visual Novel, it’s just not what one might expect at first.
I have mixed feelings about this game, and I can’t deny that I’m slightly disappointed. You see, it was one of those games I was really looking forward to since it claims to be a BxB dating sim. I know it probably sounds stupid, but I usually wait before I purchase a game that I really want, just to build up some more excitement, or to pass time until the game is running properly. The longer I wait, the more I’m actually anticipating the moment when I finally decide to play it. After seeing that this title is so hyped on Steam and YouTube, my expectations naturally grew to an extent where it is almost unavoidable not to feel slightly disappointed now and then. Nevertheless, after figuring out that one year after release was enough time of waiting, I finally started to play it. Alas, it didn’t turn out like I hoped it would.
– Real player with 20.4 hrs in game