Lebkuchen best girl (I only did leb's route)

I was drawn in by the 90s anime style and the idea that this game might be like the RPG maker horror games of old. In reality, the games horror is tame and limited to short sections of the game, often hours apart from each other. In the meantime you go about Elises' day, working in the village she lives at or dating one of the three potential female love interests in a very Persona-esq time-of-day system.

A better developer could have probably made that idea work by having the horror invade the day-to-day life, gradually breaking down the barrier between normal and horror until all that is left is praying the characters can fix what's happening. Standard horror stuff, really. Instead, the horror is confined to cordoned off sections and rarely interacts meaningfully with the goings on of the day-to-day life of Elise and the villagers. The horror loses a lot of its threat factor this way, because it only actually happens when Elise ACTIVELY seeks it out. Meaning: It’s no threat if left alone and feels more like a horror house attraction than anything real in-world. There is no sense of urgency or fear of things getting out of control because all Elise has to do in order for the horror to stop is to stop pocking the hornets nest.
SPOILER FOR THE ENDINGS: The Happy Endings are exactly that. Elise, just, STOPS making a deal with the devil and goes on living happy and fulfilled lives with one of the love interests.

The horror parts, when they do happen, are then too short, too far apart and rather tame.

The dating sim element of the game isn’t properly implement into the game. While all three girls are likeable (Lebkuchen best girl, fight me), I kept asking myself what the point of this system was. Your choice of love interest for Elise has no baring on the story, as Rozenmarine is still the character that accompanies Elise during the few times a character other than Elise ventures to horror land. Again, only during the ending is this system relevant. It would’ve made far more sense (if this gameplay element REALLY needed to be part of the game) to have the love interest be threatened by the horror or interact with it in a meaningful way. It’s sad, really, because I quite enjoyed the dialogue here.

I really wanted to like this game. From its clear inspiration of RPG maker horror games to its great soundtrack and amazing visual presentation, its eye and ear candy and the people in charge of these aspects knocked it out of the park. However, as stated above, the game just doesn’t come together as a cohesive whole. There are other aspects that I disliked as well, such as the puzzles and survival mini-games feeling quite frustrating (potential skill issue), the lack of QoL, such as a true “Skip Dialogue” button and fast travel between areas.

At least the endings are great, depending on which you choose. They either pay off the dating sim elements or bring about actually horrible situations. The latter being something the game fails throughout most of its run-time.

+Story
++Artwork
+++Music