Back in April I’d covered a preview of The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, and found myself immediately fascinated by it. Coming from an established publisher and developer and dealing with occult matters in a fleshed out fantasy world, it was just a taste of something that promised to be far greater. So how could I turn down checking out the finished deal?
Back in 2021 I reviewed a rather well-made furry visual novel called Winds of Change, and I was immediately drawn in by its world building and characters. So, when the developer contacted me about reviewing their followup title Komorebi, how could I possibly say no? I knew that one way or another, I’d be in for an experience.
I am usually thrilled when I write a preview and get to review the full version of a game soon after. Especially when it’s a title I’m excited about. The things I hope to see and express disappointment with during my initial playthrough are things I sharply look for the second time around, and this
I can’t express how excited I was when I was told I would get to preview Don’t Nod’s new narrative adventure game. Life is Strange is one of my favorite series and, given my affinity for visual novels and the like, this sounded like an amazing opportunity. However, I have to admit that Harmony: The
I’ve always been a fan of the occult. Fortune telling, folk magic, fell creatures from beyond, a world lurking just beyond our own. So when I saw Devolver was publishing a new game all about these themes, of course I was interested. The developers, Destructeam, are no newcomers either, having made Gods Will Be Watching
The Coffee Talk series features two things I’m fond of: visual novel elements and coffee! It’s interesting because while the premise seems rather simple, I don’t actually come across many games that explore these types of random mixes often, or well, for that matter.
I am in love with the fact that indie developers have begun to unabashedly explore stories that were not at all common 20 years ago. There is something so refreshing about seeing an obscure narrative come to life and I hope with all my heart this trend continues.
It’s been a while since I’ve played a true visual novel. By that, I mean a game that’s entirely text-based with no choices to make. There is something kind of nice about a title that has its own story to tell and just wants to do that, with the only deviation being who you want
The last time I wrote a review for an otome game, I couldn’t help but point out how childish the genre’s usual tropes felt from the perspective of an older player. The satisfaction I craved from that particular story never came because I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t the intended audience. This never
If you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you have probably noticed by this point that I periodically make a point of picking a game up that I am in no way qualified to review. This would be one of those times, because quite frankly? If there’s one genre I tend to actively dislike,
Is anyone else tired of some modern games not being able to put forth clear narratives? I recently experienced this with The Good Life, SWERY’s newest title, and now find myself in the same boat with The VII Enigma, a character-driven sci-fi mystery visual novel developed and published on PC via Steam by Spire Games.
One of the perks of being a game reviewer is learning about upcoming games that may be easy to miss. Sometimes, these hidden gems can provide more entertainment than big named titles, and when that happens it’s ALWAYS the best feeling. I recently had this experience with Arcadia Fallen, a modern fantasy visual novel developed
I have to admit that it’s a great time to be an otome fan. I remember when the only source of otome games available in the west were either fan-translated ports or very questionable-looking games on sites like Newgrounds. We now get new otome releases almost every year, and as a long-time player of dating
It’s been nearly five years since we’ve seen an entry in the Ace Attorney series arrive in the west, but at long last the wait is over. Coming to Switch, PS4, and PC on July 27, 2021, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a remaster of a pair of 2017 3DS Ace Attorney titles that
Growing up as a furry in the late 90s and early 2000s, it seemed unthinkable that it’d ever be some degree of mainstream. Sure, animators on various cartoons were undoubtedly throwing us a bone here and there, but the thought of something unapologetically made by furries, for furries, escaping our niche corner of the internet
Of the “classics” one is expected to play in order to consider themselves a “real visual novel fan,” one that is often mentioned to this day is Ever17: Out of Infinity. It’s easy to see why; aside from the fact it was one of the first “real” visual novels to be released in English, it’s
The idea of visual novels in virtual reality has always intrigued me. Taking a genre mostly made up of 2D sprites and massive amounts of text, and turning it into an immersive experience that actually allows one to interact with the characters and the story around them. I had my first taste of this a
I’m a huge fan of incredibly dense, complex stories. Ones that require active thinking from the reader to keep track of them, as they weave multiple narratives together. Ones that keep me thinking of them long after I’ve put down the book or controller, putting pieces of it together in my head.
Here’s the thing. This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered visual novels as a reviewer or as a gamer. Admittedly, most of the titles that I’ve come up against possess some sort of gameplay element. Sometimes it’s pointing a finger at your opponent to prove your client’s innocence. Other times Japanese high school girls are
Video games are finally becoming an accepted format to tell involved, intimate, and personal stories. At least, it seems that way to me. What was once the exclusive realm of film and literature appears to finally be normalized in the gaming medium, which has long been questioned on artistic merit (and whether it has any).
