Recent reviews by Aniva

Played Character Route Order: Koujaku ◈ Noiz ◈ Clear ◈ Mink ◈ Ren ◈ Virus/Trip

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I've bet my butt that DRAMAtical Murder would NEVER release on Steam (don't do that if you are the main character in a Yaoi game for... obvious reasons), so being able to play the most popular title of its genre on this platform still feels surreal. Make sure to give yourself time to get a feel for it and to let everything sink in. You won't pick up on all the nuances scattered throughout the story and endings by rushing through it.

DMMD was the devil that dragged me into Yaoi hell, no other title was able to push it from its well-earned first place in my heart. It strikes a chord unlike most others. I've played this and the fan disk Re:Connect years ago, and I ventured into this without knowing what a wild ride I signed up for. How terribly naive that was! I didn't expect anything in particular but was blown away by the gradual shift in tone and overwhelmed by all the sensations that flowed through me. I'm dying to continue my second playthrough, fully prepared to let it tore the emotional wound back open. But does DMMD measure up to its hype? Definitely. It easily stands out with its complex world-building, excellent storyline, and multifaceted character cast.

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DMMD is a story-driven and character-centric VN set in a world of clashing opposites and takes place in Midorijima, a remote island that the Toue Corporation gained control over. The citizens of the Old Residential District and the luxury resort Platinum Jail are separated by a giant wall that divides both areas and further symbolizes the rift between them. Platinum Jail stands in stark contrast to the slum that is the Old Residential Restrict; void of luxury and stripped of law and order, flamboyant aesthetics collide with muddy colors and run-down alleys. This play of contrasts sets the tone for the rest of the game. The writing puts tension and the abundant usage of contrasts to marvelous use, while it's incredibly strong in its delivery and pacing.

Not only Toue and the yakuza make a living in the Old Residential District much harder on everyone, the competing Rib gangs and Rhyme teams are an additional threat. The members of Rib gangs, called Ribsteez, take pride in battling with their fists. Rhyme on the other hand makes you experience virtual combat in a safe environment by connecting your mind with the net. Measures are taken by a game master to prevent participants from getting physically harmed.

Our protagonist, Aoba Seragaki, is not part of any gang. He works in the Hum-Drum Junkshop, where he takes advantage of the alluring effect his voice has on some of his customers to sell more items than he normally would. Against all odds, Aoba enjoys his peaceful life there. That ought to change when unsettling incidents become more frequent. Rib gangs go missing, people get kidnapped, and no one knows who's responsible for that.

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After someone forces him into a Rhyme match, things only turn worse for him. What starts as an upbeat story slowly unravels into a convoluted narrative loaded with twists and turns. Forced to act, Aoba eventually has to face himself in order to protect the people dear to him... or to seal their fate, whether it leads to doom or salvation.

You can't discuss DMMD without mentioning the stellar OST and sound design. It utilizes each track to amplify the feel of action-packed scenes, fragile moments of serenity, or the sense of ominous dread without ever missing the mark.

But where it really shines is the engaging and expressive character cast. The voice actors brought these characters to life and turned them into believable, vulnerable human beings who really grew on me. There's loads of chemistry between Aoba and the LIs, the romantic tension between them grows in a steady slow way. Chaste moments of affection eventually fade into hot passion, never failing to set your heart aflutter.

Little did I know that the more emotionally invested I got in the characters, the more I was basically begging to dig my own grave, which leads me to the most remarkable and intense part... the endings.

Yaoi veterans know that nonconsensual acts are usually instrumentalized to serve dark, animalistic urges as a form of punishment for not picking the right choices. However, most of these choices are usually so non-causal that you can't blame the protagonist for the turn of events... but not with Aoba. For each bad ending, it's solely Aoba to blame. The writers didn't shy away from relentlessly attacking you, the reader, on a psychological level for messing up and leading all involved characters on a path of destruction. The endings, two in particular, really ruined me.

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The first two of them were more on the bittersweet side, and while they certainly affected me on an emotional level, they didn't prepare me for the fierce whiplash of emotions that ought to follow. The suffering they inflicted on my poor heart was in no way on par with the other bad endings and grew progressively worse.

The third bad ending? It f***ing broke me. Its intensity still haunts me and never ceases to linger in some corner of my mind. There's a cruel, wicked beauty in it that I find morbidly intriguing, depressing, and engrossing simultaneously. It resonated so deeply with me that I had a hard time forgetting that these are fictional characters, making it impossible to get some distance from them. I was so taken aback that I didn't even notice the tears running down my cheeks when the credits rolled. I felt so disconnected from reality and utterly hopeless while that damn ending theme played in the background. I couldn't take it. To agonize over a character's misery even long after finishing the story is what truly makes it captivating and exceptional to me.

The credits barely gave me enough time to finish bawling my eyes out. This damn game didn't give me any time to heal and didn't wait for my pain to subside. I was shocked and disturbed to my very core with the fifth ending. The ruthless portrayal of gore and nauseating sound design were torturous. Watching made me feel physically sick. The composer of the ending theme did a phenomenal job in getting the inner conflict and viciousness across. As for the remaining two bad endings, they weren't any easier to endure.

While you can certainly romanticize it, the symbolism behind most endings is heartbreaking. What hurts the most is to see the dramatic change in personality, how horridly they snap, and watching them fall into an abyss of anguish. My heart ached for them and felt like someone ripped it in two. But what really clung to me are the ending themes that bring forth a lot of emotions.

Thank god that there are also happy outcomes! They really served as an antidote for my wrecked nerves and saved me from reaching the point of near-fatality. They struck me as so affectionate, tender and sensual compared to the bad endings that they made me feel giddy and lighthearted. In the end, I got crushed by the weight of my own feelings, but it was totally worth it!

Played Route/Ending Order: Remi ◈ Rald ◈ Okan ◈ Kovit ◈ Lenga ◈ Oki ◈ Sota ◈ Hisami

Full Service? Well, the name doesn't serve it justice, does it? The amount of positive reviews seems quite fishy to me, and that there are only seven(!!!) negative reviews as of now while the game certainly deserves way more is alarmingly suspicious.

I was incredibly torn about whether to go with a positive review that's stated as a neutral one or with a roast in written form like it actually deserves. Given that Herculion (formerly known as Black Monkey Pro) actively update the game, I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt in hopes that some of the negatives may change over time, making the purchase of Full Service at least worth a little if all you are hoping to get your hands on is smut in its most basic and effortless form. However, once I gave it some more thought, I could have impossibly recommended this, given how angry I am at myself for not being patient enough to wait until it gets discounted at least 50%. Full Service does so little right, it's a rip-off if you pay more than 10€-15€. The tricky thing about this is that you won't even know at first what you really get for your money, and once you notice the pattern, it's already too late for a refund.

Would you willingly pay 34€ for a VN if you know beforehand that it comes without full voice acting, inconsistent art for sprites and CGs, weird anatomy, writing that is mediocre at best and amateurish while riddled with typos at worst, and the only thing it has really going for it are repetitive sex scenes that fail to excite even the semi-experienced fujoshi/fudanshi? Unlikely, I assume. That price is only acceptable and reasonable if you get presented with skillful writing, a nice soundtrack that matches the premise and atmosphere, excellent FULL voice over that breathes life into the characters, and consistent art you enjoy looking at - throughout the whole game, that is. Alas, Full Service offers countless shortcomings, but nothing of the stated above. Zero. Nada.

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It baffles me how most people don't really mention all the negative things, and most of them aren't for subjective matter, either: they are undeniable ugly facts. Is it the thirst for new Yaoi VNs that compels people to spend so much money for a generic and unjustified priced VN without complaining and simply sucking it up? Or is what Full Service offers enough to satisfy its audience? Regardless, I do know that you, we all, deserve way better than this. It's important to show that there are people interested in this niche genre, within reason, that is. Within reason doesn't mean to flush 34€ down the toilet. I can only imagine that all the positive reviews are coming from people that are either hardcore Camp Buddy fans and blindly support everything coming from these developers or part of their team, have very low expectations, are easy to please, or simply haven't read a good (Yaoi) Visual Novel before.

It's a common thing for many VNs to only offer a partial voice over, but most developers don't have the audacity to checkmark full audio on their store page without further notice that the voice over is only partially present. It's quite shady actually, and that you can switch between English and Japanese voice acting doesn't make it better. Or does it really matter whether you hear "Hehe", "Mhhh", "Ahh", and names in Japanese or English? Because that's exactly what you'll hear most of the time whenever the characters are speaking.

Let's talk about the story for a bit. Our main character Tomoki Nakamoto is the epitome of a workaholic. He's overworked, in dire need of change and stress relief when he one day gets a flyer for the Full Service Spa that offers different kinds of massage-styles and happy endings. Not knowing what a happy ending is (I mean HOW??? He's a grown man FFS!), he ponders about it on the way there, looking forward to a massage that could ease his tense muscles.

I won't deny that it was fun at first but the novelty wears off quickly, more quickly than some characters trying to get in MCs pants. A compiling of cheap sex fantasies akin to the ones you can find on any amateur sex site where everyone is free to write down and post their fantasies is not what I expect to get when I buy such an expensive Yaoi VN.

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There are no real routes, it's rather a mix of shared events for all characters and five dates for each of them with the last one resulting in sex, of course. Individuality is so lacking that you could almost use any of the characters for any scene and no one would notice that something is off. It's not particularly kinky and there are no fetishes to speak of, except for the licking armpits thing maybe.. on a sunny day on the beach, big yikes! That was the only immersive moment as I could almost smell it, and I think my tongue was vaguely able to imagine its taste. Eww.

Only the affection determines which ending you'll get, and if you plan ahead, date four guys at the same time, and save smartly you can finish most of them in one playthrough. You get the bad ending if the affection is low and not maxed out, and the good endings can be unlocked if you just don't go to the fifth date. Choices don't really influence which ending you'll get, nor do they have much impact on the story. Basically, you can max out the affection for one character (with gifts, of course, not like I expected more depth from characters that flat) up to the required point in one playthrough while never interacting with the other characters in any way to unlock their bad endings.

Every time when I got the impression they are maybe starting a meaningful conversation for once, they destroy it with 'Can we do it?' Drink a shot every time they say it and you'll be drunk in no time, maybe then it's more enjoyable and a foggy, drunk mind might be able to get at least some value out of this. Let me give you a few examples for that, so let's take a look at Oki's love confession:

"You're more to me than a friend, thank you for being with me."

"I want to show you how much you mean to me..."

"Can you take care of this?" he says while pointing to his junior that reared its head.

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That's NOT a love confession, that's BS. Another prominent example is Sota's love confession, which you can read in the screenshot above. It's bad porn. Bad, generic, repetitive porn. But it doesn't end there. The whole game is brimming with scenes like these two. Can I hold you? translates to Can we do it?, Let's go somewhere means Can we do it? Needless to say that Can we do it? means can we do it. It's so ridiculous up to the point where I could tell EXACTLY when they are going to say it.

No substance, no emotions, no story that accompanies the sex scenes, and worst of all no build-up, making steamy moments less exciting in the progress. There are so many climaxes that there is no real climax, you know? And as I see it, if an Eroge fails to excite you, it's lost its purpose if it doesn't have ANYTHING ELSE going for it. Nevertheless, the thought that I (hopefully) took one for the team to warn others about its true contents comforts me a little bit.

Played Character Route Order: Simon ◈ Jon ◈ Ari ◈ Secret Character ◈ Katy ◈ Eric ◈ Michelle ◈ Grace ◈ Luna ◈ Liz

Amplitude is criminally underrated, and it makes me quite sad to know that this vivid yet, admittedly, unpolished gem will never get the love and attention it deserves. This peculiar Visual Novel is a wild mix of different genres: slice of life, stat-raising, Otome/dating sim elements, horror, mystery, sci-fi, comedy, and more while also featuring a crafting and questing system that, however, still leave room for improvement. Sounds absurd if not chaotic right? Let me tell you... IT IS, but it's crazy in an enjoyable way. The developers managed to balance out all these genres to create a unique experience, and I loved every second of it! Normally I've made the experience that nothing good comes from mixing everything together, but Amplitude proved itself to be an exception. I still need to find the time to get around Frequency, the previous game from the same developers that is, unfortunately, not available on Steam.

This time, I won't give you a story synopsis. Firstly, I think the store page already tells you everything about the plot you should know before heading in. Secondly, there's so much else I want to say that a simple re-telling of what awaits you seems like a waste of (very limited) space.

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What compelled me to buy Amplitude was the Otome content, but I had to realize that even if there are many love interests to choose from, romance is clearly not the most elaborated aspect of this game. This doesn't mean that the romance part comes short, it's quite the opposite, in fact! It's just that the emphasis on everything else simply takes the spotlight away from it. And in this particular case, I'm totally fine with that, and that's coming from someone who can't get enough heart-fluttering and tension-filled moments in any kind of media and that often criticizes the lack of romance in many localized Otome games. I'm surprised what I actually got instead of the simple dating sim I expected it to be.

You ought to play through Amplitude several times to truly understand what's going on. If you get the feeling that the story and premise are too confusing, please keep playing. It is totally worth it, and in the end, you will be happy that the majority of your questions got answered. The story and events are cut short a few times, but given the amount of content you get for just nine bucks, it's a flaw I can overlook.

There are so many things for you to do and to discover, which makes it impossible to see and finish everything in one single playthrough, especially with activated stat-raising, since the in-game time you have is limited to one month.

Fear not my stat-raising hating friends: the developers thought of you and implemented a cheat mode that makes it possible to enjoy the story to its fullest without this annoying obstacle. I'm aware that there are people who like it, but I don't, so I appreciated being able to deactivate it, especially regarding re-plays. It doesn't lock you out from earning achievements, either.

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Although I do recommend not to make use of the cheat mode while you are still on your first playthrough. Even if I dislike stat-raising, it was kind of fun and immersed me immensely when I played it for the very first time. Amplitude even managed to make me enjoy the feature I usually dislike so much that I decided to reactivate it before I started my fourth playthrough.

If you liked the Visual Novel and city roaming part in Persona 3 for the PSP (It's kind of different in comparison to the PS2 version), then you will love Amplitude. There's a map that lets you navigate to different locations that you are able to visit during all times of the day. You can click on different objects to interact with them, NPCs appear on certain days and a specific daytime, and there are shops where you are able to buy items. Some of the NPCs just chat with you for a bit, others will give you quests or hints to quests that can be found elsewhere.

You can choose to play as a man or a woman, furthermore, you may choose whether your chosen vessel should be male or female, too. I loved the combination of Kate as the vessel and Adam as the murder victim that now have to share mind and body. Their banter is so witty and entertaining! That was definitely my favorite combination and perspective to experience the story from out of the four available options. One of my favorite parts was when Kate's strawberry-week kicked in and Adam had to realize that menstruation pain and PMS are not so pleasant after all, now that he's forced to feel the same pain as his vessel.

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Most CGs are quite stunning and gorgeous, however, others can also look very strange and unnatural, unsightly even. All in all, the art quality is pretty inconsistent. The soundtrack always goes well with the atmosphere without attracting too much attention on its own, creating a vibe that makes it even easier to get immersed in the game.

The only downside is... THAT YOU CAN'T ROMANCE ADAM! He's damn hot, right!? It's like seeing a delicious cake right in front of you, but you are not allowed to eat it. It's torture, I'll tell ya, and completely unfair!

I can whole-heartedly recommend Amplitude to anyone who likes Visual Novels and the flair of games like Persona 3 with a unique story and a broad variety of possibilities that will undoubtedly spice up every single playthrough. The writing, among other things, is unpolished and in dire need of improvement, and yes, Amplitude is by no means perfect, but it doesn't have to be.

Played Character Route Order: Roza ◈ Lorenzo ◈ Arken ◈ Serafina/Reuben ◈ Kallias ◈ Kendal

Serafina's Crown is one of those Visual Novels where I was wondering for the longest time if I should even give it a try, or if I were better off spending my time on some other game in its stead. It just didn't seem very appealing to me before I started to play it, but the debating system along with the diplomacy theme mentioned in the description piqued my interest. In the end, I'm really happy that I gave it a shot since it was an utterly enjoyable experience for me, which I'd really like to share with you, especially if you have a hard time deciding whether or not this story about royal court, political intrigue, diplomacy, and romance is worth of your time. I know there is an audience for this kind of Visual Novel, the more it baffles me how underrated Serafina's Crown apparently is.

Before I begin to write my thoughts down, I'd like to mention that this is the sequel of Serafina's Saga, which takes place seven years prior to the events of Serafina's Crown. Alas, the prequel is not available on Steam, but you can download it for free at Woodsy Studios Official Homepage[woodsy-studio.com] It's not necessary to read the prequel to understand the plot of Serafina's Crown, however, it does help with understanding the subtext. And with it being free, there really is no reason not to play it!

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We assume the role of Odell Perin, a young woman that always felt somewhat indifferent about politics before. I don't know about you, but not being highly interested in politics is something I can perfectly relate to. Everything she ever wanted was to enjoy her freedom together with her beloved Lorenzo. That was until the day she reluctantly had to travel back to her homeland Darzia to attend the voting that is supposed to determine the next heir after the former Queen died in a hunting accident. Her lover Lorenzo gave her a bracelet, the Divinity Dial, as a parting gift. Little did she know that his gift is going to be more meaningful than previously thought.

To everyone's dismay, they find out that Queen Belatrix Grandil didn't die in an accident, but that she was assassinated. Many nobles suspect Serafina's husband Reuben to have murdered the queen. Even so, basically every contender could be the culprit, and as the only neutral person in this whole dispute, it's up to Odell to act as the regent to help to elect the next king or queen of Darzia. As the regent, her tasks include but are not limited to calming everyone down, attending to important matters in the meantime, while finding ways and solutions to put a halt to the ongoing disputes, although she unwillingly had to assume this position of power.

Odell needs to make irrelevant but also impactful decisions that are additionally dedicated to one of the four worshiped wild gods. At the same time, her decisions raise her stats that'll help her to make progress in the debates. While being the key person in every debate, she has to take one side to argue in their favor and to try to win the discussion. The mini-game for that is quite simple, but it can also be a little annoying and frustrating as it is not only predictable but also feels like it's based on sheer luck. You should always save before the start of a dispute since there is a high chance that you will either lose it due to RNG, or a thoughtless misclick that can cause you to have to start all over. When she wins a debate for her chosen party, their house rises while the opposing party's house drops in rank. If you are thinking about the Harry Potter house cup, then you're on the right track. It is precisely this system that determines who is going to become the next heir.

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The story has many branches; while some of them focus on finding out who murdered the former queen, others focus entirely on supporting one of the candidates. Odell can even decide to take matters into her own hands and to act solely on her own behalf. As you can see, your decisions can lead you to many different, exciting paths.

The romance paths are quite enjoyable, even if they're clearly not prioritized. You'll also unlock CGs when you have reached a key moment with your chosen romance interest. The variety of romance options regarding different relationship models and the inclusivity of same-sex options was something I found very appealing, and it was executed in a manner where I found myself enjoying every route in one way or another, yes even Kendal's. The characters are believable, well-developed, and, most importantly, they feel real, which makes it incredibly easy to grow attached to them. All in all, I enjoyed Roza's and Lorenzo's routes and ends the most.

It's rare for me to like, and even less to say something nice about an English voice-over in Visual Novels, but the partial voice acting in Serafina's Crown is excellent and sounds professional enough. I really enjoyed every second of listening to it. It was not cringy at all, except for Lorenzo's voice acting. But I really loved his voice when he spoke without the fake accent after he outed himself as Lokke.

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A feature that I find quite interesting, but doesn't affect the gameplay (and can also be disabled if you like) is that Odell's hair color constantly changes and can take on many different nuances throughout the game, depending on the decisions you make, that is. Even CGs are affected by this. You can choose between two hairstyles along with a few other things to customize Odell a bit more to your liking. It's not much, but it's still nice to be given the option to change a few things about her appearance.

Granted, I'm not a huge fan of the artwork, but I got used to the rather crude art style Woodsy Studio uses relatively quickly, and now after playing the majority of their games, I'm even growing to like the art style a bit. Not because it's so gorgeous, but because it's unique – in a good way.

If you've already played one or two Woodsy Studio Visual Novels then you'll know that the facial expression of the characters often seems unintentionally funny. That's something Serafina's Crown has in common with other titles, however, I think that gives the game an incredible and easily recognizable charm.

Ultimately, everything fits together nicely, and if you approach Serafina's Crown with an open mind, you will experience an engaging, mature and well-thought-out story about royal court and intrigues with many redeemable qualities and likable as well as unlikable characters.

Played Character Route Order: Brendon ◈ Angelo ◈ Ashley ◈ Danny ◈ Ji Hyo ◈ Peggy ◈ Aasi ◈ Mark

You like Visual Novels with an erotic twist, the feeling of having butterflies in your stomach, to grin like a love-drunken idiot, and well-developed love interests that will woo you over and make your heart throb like crazy? Great, then you should definitely stay away from England Exchange as far as you possibly can! Perish the thought that you'll find any of that in this disappointing atrocity that came straight from the fieriest pits of cliché hell. I refuse to acknowledge it as part of Hanako's Game Catalog as it is, thankfully, not comparable to any of their other published titles. It's beyond me how England Exchange managed to receive so much positive feedback, and yes: a mixed rating doesn't even begin to reflect how bad it actually is.

While I hate this Visual Novel with a passion, I want to make it very clear that every word of criticism is directed at England Exchange alone, not at Hanako as a developer/publisher. You see, I really enjoyed most of their other titles, so it kind of pains me to leave a thoroughly negative review for one of their games. Even though, I can't help but let out all my feelings of aversion and dissatisfaction when I'm confronted with a dating sim like that.

I'll first list the things that I didn't completely dislike, so let's start with the artwork, which is pretty neat and nice to look at. Admittedly, I don't particularly dig the western/comic art style, but if you are fond of this art direction, you'll most likely appreciate it way more than I did. The backgrounds are gorgeous, though! Alas, it's a shame that beautiful backgrounds like this were wasted for the disgrace that is England Exchange.

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Before our journey is leading us to get treated worse than abandoned trash even rats would not take an interest in, we first have to decide which of two spineless protagonists we are going to pick for our one-semester lasting nightmare stay in England. It's not like it has a positive effect in any way, but let's dwindle in the illusion that it does make a difference for a while longer. It's getting worse soon enough after all!

Whether you choose the male or female main character, you are free to pursue BxB, GxG, BxG, and GxB romance paths. While choice of gender is a great way to create self-insertion, therefore, immersion as a whole, which is great if that's what you are looking for, it's often accompanied by a lack of CGs, rushed character routes, and a poorly elaborated story. There are exceptions that manage to create a satisfying experience in spite of all that, but England Exchange is no exception whatsoever.

Each route rewards you with one CG and the routes are cut short for the sake of quantity. In this case, I'm happy that they are cut short, though. While CGs are a must-have for me in important or intimate scenes, I can still enjoy the romance as long as everything else, the writing and story specifically, is making up for the lack of CGs. Though I really don't need to see another one of Brendon. Maybe you guessed it already, but the shallow remains don't make up for it at all.

Actually, England Exchange is a rather short dating sim. After completing your first playthrough, you are going to spend most of your time skipping previously read text, instead of reading something new. The two different protagonists could have made a difference regarding replay value, alas this opportunity was wasted. And by now I am firmly convinced that choice of gender only serves to attract as many audiences as possible, no matter what pairings they are looking for, even if the game itself does not have much to offer to the player except for reading as many clichés as possible.


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Silly me, I guess I wasn't able to count any positive things at all, even if I said that I would mention them first. Oopsie. Now, take a deep breath and suit yourself; from here on out it only goes downhill! Never before did I take notice of so many stereotypical, annoying, hypocritical, one-dimensional, and unlikable characters as in England Exchange. There is no adjective that could perfectly describe how blandly bad they truly are. Brendon and Angelo are the most obnoxious characters I had the displeasure of being pestered with in a Visual Novel and believe me, that doesn't mean they had no competition. During Angelo's mansplaining lectures about the differences between woman's and man's work and repeating sexist statements like a broken record, I had a hard time keeping my composure. I needed something for my hands to squeeze on tightly. However, squeezing something didn't help much, so I'd suggest getting either drunk or stoned. The only thing that amused me is the fact that I rage quitted it – twice, in fact.

The nonsense Angelo and Brendon came up with every time they appeared on screen tormented me on a physical level. For me, they are both the personified nightmare of every woman, which should be avoided like the plague to not end up in jail for committing several crimes. Sexism is definitely a big no-no for me in a dating sim, and it's nothing I could ever find myself enjoying in any way. Other characters, however, were able to disgust me with various other negative statements and character traits, including homophobia.

To talk about romantic or sexual tension is downright ridiculous. The characters simply confess to each other pretty quickly, which is just as meaningless as everything else in this game, only to end up in bed together. After that, you either reach a good ending, which suggests a happily ever after, or you travel back home to America all alone without having a new boyfriend/girlfriend absolutely no one would envy you for.

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You can decide whether or not the character sprites grace you with nudity. What I, as the little pervert I am, considered as a nice feature at first, turned out to be completely useless quite soon, merely because every time when the naked Brendon and Brendon junior stood in front of me, and he does so very often since the only thing his hollow skull is filled with is sex, I would have liked to commit nonexistence.

Brendon's endings alone already tell you everything you need to know: worse, worst, special. It wouldn't have surprised me if the special ending were just especially worse. Well for me, it kind of was, because every Brendon ending where you don't get the choice to make omelet à la Brendon is a worse ending. As you can see, I've deeply fallen in love with this revolting specimen of a man.

I know I'm harsh, but that's how I truly feel about England Exchange. I don't mince words, I never did, and I won't hide it when I really loved or hated to play a game. As much as I love Hanako's other works, I truly hate this one mostly for its character cast and half-assed storyline.

To finally end this review: if a dull story involving stereotypical, generic, and insufferable characters is right up your alley, then England Exchange might be the perfect Visual Novel for you. However, if that's not the case you should seriously move on, you won't miss out on anything.

Grab a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, tea, a glass of wine, or whatever else you prefer to drink to get yourself in a cozy mood, and enjoy this atmospheric Visual Novel influenced by Russian folktales and fairy tales.

Big Dipper is a great addition to your Christmas library, thus I'd really recommend enjoying this title during wintertime. Playing this almost made me want to take the Christmas decoration from the basement back to where it was just a few months ago. I don't want to reveal too much of the story here due to its shortness, so I will try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible.

Starting off with the day being the 31st of December, we experience the story from Andrew's perspective, a young man that has no friends except for an elderly guy called Nicholos. After getting introduced to both of them, we learn that Andrew and his mother agreed on celebrating together in a cottage deep in the woods. Apparently, their relationship is dysfunctional and complicated, which makes it more or less impossible for Andrew to look forward to reuniting with his mother.

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Instead of peacefully preparing everything for the celebration after arriving at the cottage, someone hits Andrew on his head and is threatening him with his very own weapon. Turns out that the attacker is Julia, a cute-looking woman that introduces herself as being Nicholos' granddaughter. Well, that's a great start for a romance, don't you think? Although the beginning may be somewhat bumpy, it's also the start of a sweet love story even if both of them could not be more different from each other. For instance, Julia believes that forest witches, bear spirits, and folktales are real, while Andrew is rather skeptical regarding all of this. Can Julia directly or indirectly convince him otherwise?

Big Dipper is a fairly short Kinetic Novel, which means that you won't encounter any choices that affect the outcome but that's quite alright, and I would almost say that the story is greatly benefiting from the lack of choices. The ending was very sweet, and I'm grateful that there is no bad or neutral ending that would have spoiled the created calm and magical atmosphere in any way.

In terms of writing, this Visual Novel gave me a really hard time at first. There are lots of typos and awkward phrasings that could have been easily fixed. You will encounter many typos such as sgh instead of sigh, embarresd instead of embarrassed, or burst instead of burst, and I'm talking about the very first few minutes of the game here. As you may imagine, I was somewhat discouraged to keep reading any longer, surprisingly, the rest of the writing is quite decent, and thankfully I didn't notice many typos after a few more minutes of reading. Incorrect grammar and awkward phrasings are still present throughout the narrative, but it's admittedly not as awful as in most other Visual Novels that were originally translated from Russian to English.

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It's possible that native English speaker might have a harder time catching puns or understanding certain phrases since I think that I was able to understand most of them, without Russian being one of my languages, because I've heard them in German already, but I never heard them in English before. It's just an assumption, so I can't tell for sure if that is really the case.

Overall, the writing is bearable enough not to be bothered by it too much, unless you are really trying hard to nitpick. Nonetheless, the script is still in need of editing and while it's nothing dramatic per se, it is still kind of irritating when it occurs in such a short Visual Novel like Big Dipper.

The attention to detail here is amazing, especially for such a short game. Something you don't often get to see in cheap and pricey Visual Novels alike are animated backgrounds. Animations like a crackling fireplace, falling snow, and a smoking roof contribute a lot to the atmosphere and give Big Dipper a realistic touch. The background of the cottage is so pretty that you could easily use it as a wallpaper for your desktop. In case you own Wallpaper Engine, you just need to add the snow effect to the background to get a wonderful wallpaper for the next Christmas time.

The beautiful and soothing guitar soundtracks got me in the winterly mood quickly and fit perfectly into the winterly premise. The visuals are fantastic starting from the backgrounds, to the GUI with snowflake design, all the way to the character design. Something else that caught my attention are the adorable chibis. I could swear that I almost got diabetes just by looking at them.

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There is still something else that I would like to talk about. You could say that Big Dipper is a very lighthearted Visual Novel, except for a few scenes that might make you sad depending on if you can relate to it or not. If you've lost your mom or dad especially when you were very young, you may remember your first Christmas holidays without them. This topic is being touched upon, and it brought up a few painful memories while I was absolutely unprepared for it. Andrew says later that after his dad has passed away, the magic simply has vanished and that's true. Having lost my father when I was only fourteen years old, I can remember the first Christmas holidays without him very vividly, and it was easy for me to relate to Andrew's situation and emotions. Andrew's and Julia's conversation about it made me think about that, and I can't deny that my previously cheerful mood quickly shifted to a sad and thoughtful one. Another topic that is predestined to set a sad mood for the reader is when Julia starts to talk about her fond memories of her grandmother that sadly passed away.

Anyway, you will most likely enjoy the story for its amusing content, the romance, the cuteness along with the witty and flirtatious banter between Andrew and Julia, and less for sad moments like the ones I mentioned above.

I can recommend Big Dipper to anyone that enjoys winterly-themed Visual Novels, beautiful artwork, and romantic stories revolving around folktales.

Fortunately, it's not the game that is broken, but you'll undoubtedly hear this line from the soundtrack quite a few times. First of all, don't forget to enable the nude mode by creating a text file named nude.patch in your DEEP SPACE WAIFU: WORLD content folder. You may agree that this step is essential for your overall enjoyment, and you absolutely don't want to skip or forget about it! I know you need your waifu and you need her now, thus you don't have any time to waste reading a long review, so I'll keep this short.

DEEP SPACE WAIFU: WORLD does not differ from previous entries of its franchise in any regard. I suppose there is no need to talk about game mechanics since most people will probably know already what they can expect from this series or a bullet hell game in general. Just let me say that everything works like it's supposed to be.

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However, Neko Climax Studios newest addition to their popular game series feels somewhat shorter and easier to beat than its predecessors. You still have to beat one super boss on each stage, while the soundtrack continues to burn into your memory, but DEEP SPACE WAIFU: WORLD doesn't add any new or groundbreaking features regarding the gameplay.

How challenging the stages are going to be still lies in your hand(s) as you can adjust the difficulty as you deem fit. However, even on highest difficult settings, it's not as challenging as most other representatives of its genre. On the other hand, I doubt that anyone is playing these games in hopes to find a challenge anyways. We all know why we really keep playing them, so don't even try to deny it, it won't work! We came for pretty anime girls along with addictive gameplay and Neko Climax Studios doesn't fail to deliver once again.

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Of course, you can also play the one-hand mode to do other stuff with your free hand, but don't get to distracted by the view unless you want Waifuminati to keep a closer eye on you. You still have a mission to accomplish, and I'm certain that you won't feel any remorse by destroying every piece of fabric the twelve girls wear, correct?

I don't know about you but I will certainly continue to play every DEEP SPACE WAIFU game that will release in the future, no matter if it adds new features or not, since they are just fun to play and to complete.

Now, stop wasting your time in the review section and make your waifu happy!

How to Take Off Your Mask is the first entry of the Story of Eroolia Series, which consists of three games so far, all of them taking place in the same universe. This title revolves around the romance between Lilia and Ronan.

This is just another Visual Novel where I'd prefer to have a neutral rating option instead of thumbs up/down, and where I feel the need to justify my positive review with sale prices and discounts since I can only fully recommend this fantasy romcom if you have the opportunity to get it a bit cheaper or as part of a bundle. Despite a full Japanese voiceover, $11.99 seems hardly appropriate, due to lack of content, an extremely short playtime of barely three hours, and one available character route that only has up to two possible endings.

We play as Lilia, or whatever lovely name you might give her, who works in the bakery of her grandmother, and actually believed to be nothing more than your average person. However, someday she is suddenly able to hear a black cat randomly talking to her, which gives the startled Lilia the warning that her world will drastically change tomorrow. The next morning after the encounter with the black cat, Lilia is shocked when finding out that she has turned into a Luccretia, a being with feline features or to put it simply: a neko.

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While Lilia tries rather poorly to keep her true identity as secret as possible, her childhood friend Ronan also hides something from her. Of course, they cross paths while being in their other role, and thus Lilia learns about his secret quite soon. Ronan, on the other hand, does not suspect that the Luccretia he just met is in truth his best friend. Due to her altered appearance, and her drastic change in age and attitude, he is not able to recognize her. Being the nice guy he is, Ronan lends Leea a helping hand since many people don't think kindly about Luccretia. The local folk shows their disapproval towards Leea quite bluntly when dealing with her.

Their roles are reversed when Lilia turns into Leea. While Lilia always treats him like a little child (but if you ask me she's rather treating him like a dog) when she's human, Ronan treats her like a little kitten when she's Leea. It's really cute and heartwarming to watch their relationship slowly changing from childhood friends to lovers, and how they misunderstand each other even in situations that are almost impossible to misunderstand.

I'm not very fond of Lilia/Leea, though. Her exaggerating and deafening screaming as Luccretia contributes only little to the narrative, and to make matters worse, almost every sentence that comes out of Leea's mouth ends with nya. Since she belongs to the kind of Luccretia that naturally ends each sentence with nya, it somewhat belongs to the plot, but it increasingly annoyed me since it massively hinders the flow of reading. Of course, this is completely subjective, and it doesn't mean that you will dislike it as much as I did. Everyone has different preferences in this regard, and most people seem to find it rather cute. It's just not my thing, really. I never liked characters that behave like this, neither in Visual Novels nor in anime, but chances are high that you will love the MC if you usually tend to like characters like that. However, Lilia's patronizing behavior as a mature adult, and her unceasingly whining while being a rather strict and serious character at the same time does not make me like her more, either. I enjoyed reading both branches nonetheless, and I got used to the main character(s) after a while.

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Like I mentioned before, there are only two endings; one ending for Lilia's and one for Leea's route. The love meter which you'll encounter only decides if you unlock the side story of each chapter, but it has no further impact on the story whatsoever. All other choices only determine if you are going to follow Lilia's or Leea's character route. Both endings are very fluffy and romantic, exactly what you'd expect from a rom-com. I also liked the side characters and Ronan a lot, but I do not think that I'll become a huge fan of the main characters of the Story of Eroolia Series in the near future, assuming that the other MC's are akin to Lilia/Leea. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't really matter to me anymore as long as I'm able to like the other characters, and I'm looking forward to reading the other two entries of this series!

All critique aside, it is nonetheless a cute as well as funny Visual Novel that is nicely written and it's additionally a great entry-level title if you haven't played Visual Novels or Otome before since you do not risk being overwhelmed with countless routes or a complex story, which gives you a good chance to consider whether you are going to like this genre or not. Another nice trait of this Visual Novel is clearly that it was released in many languages and not only in English and Japanese.

The cute and simple art style harmonizes well with the rest of the game even if the artwork is partially undetailed and blurry, which is especially obvious when it's zooming closer to the characters. The Japanese voice acting is splendid, and the greatest highlight How to Take Off Your Mask has to offer in my opinion, besides of many language options. The sound effects are often way too excessive, keep that in mind if you play with headphones.

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Since I've played this twice, both in English and in German, I'd like to mention that the German localization is not as good as it could have been, and as a native speaker I would even prefer to stick to the English translation. There aren't many typos, but the writing is so simple that it almost hurts. I assume that the translator either lacks an extensive vocabulary or they didn't care much about a translation that would be also enjoyable for people older than fourteen.

It may sound like I dislike How to Take Off Your Mask, but that's really not the case, it's quite the opposite. I really enjoyed it when I first played it, and I still like the simple and delightful concept behind it. Granted, I was inexperienced with Visual Novels back then, and I'm sure that this is one of the reasons why I liked it so much at that time. That's why I'd recommend this especially to people that haven't read many Visual Novels yet, and less to people that have already read plenty of them.

How to Take Off Your Mask is in spite of everything, and both a linear and rather silly story, a solid rom-com Otome. It's pretty average compared to other English Otome titles that were released in the past few years, but anyone who is looking for a light and cute reading experience that requires only little time to invest should definitely take a look at it.

Ignis Avis Venatio includes many genre and is probably best described as supernatural/fantasy/slice of life Visual Novel. I'm honest with you guys, I played it just a few months ago, but I already can't remember a single thing about the story, only that I felt like falling asleep out of boredom, and I'm sure I even did fall asleep for a few minutes. It's always a bad sign if something simply fails to be rememberable after such a short time. That only happens with titles that are neither good nor bad enough to be actually remembered in any way. I don't know about you, but that's how it works for me, at least. So, if you expect to read a fleshed-out review, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. I can't tell you much about the story or characters anymore because I simply can't recall anything except for the beautiful visuals and the fits of sole boredom that got a hold on me more often than not, but I would like to warn you that you probably won't get anything out of reading this paper-thin story, except for admiring the gorgeous artwork. This is not a hidden gem, even if it may looks like it at first glance.

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The text is displayed as a wall of text instead of a classic text box. You probably know that kind of text representation already from the highly acclaimed Higurashi Series. One might feel overwhelmed by the amount of text since there is simply too much to read at once before it goes over to the next transition. I already disliked the wall of text in Higurashi, and I only started to read it attentively after installing the PS3 Patch, which transforms the wall of text into a classic text box. However, the Higurashi Series is more than a decade older than Ignis Avis Venatio, and what many people seem to accept when playing Higurashi due to the good plot, as well as the hype, is probably more difficult to achieve for a relatively new Visual Novel like this one. The text presentation made it even more difficult for me to follow the shallow story, and I lost the desire in it quite soon.

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Admittedly, I'm kind of biased since the art is absolutely stunning, and that always catches my attention even if the story is not that interesting to begin with. I think it's not an exaggeration to say that this is one of the most beautiful looking Visual Novels here on Steam. I mean just take a look at some of the CGs; if those aren't beautiful then I don't know what actually is. Some Visual Novels that lack great storytelling can still convince me and are able to leave a positive impression on me when the graphics are beautifully illustrated, but the story has to be at least a bit intriguing for that to happen. Sadly, the artwork is the only thing that kept me going, otherwise, I would have just skipped through the whole game. I was hoping that the plot would show some kind of improvement over time, alas that did not happen. It's nothing you haven't seen before and especially if you've watched your fair share of shounen anime, Ignis Avis Venatio is probably going to be a tedious experience for you as well.

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There are just too many aspects that make it impossible for me to truly recommend this Visual Novel. Missing features like a voice over, a user-friendly interface or a gallery are just a few honorable mentions that would doubtlessly turn it into a more enjoyable experience, but first and foremost Ignis Avis Venatio is lacking a captivating story that would make it worthwhile to torture yourself with the amateurish writing that is far off from being well written.

I was skeptical when I accepted Manna for our Malices via Curator Connect. I didn't expect much of it at all, given how it looks. To put it bluntly; I'm simply no longer interested in playing a Visual Novel when I dislike the artwork, thus I was about to decline the offer at first. I already have plenty of bad Visual Novels, and I'm not eager to add more of them to my Steam library or to waste my time with them anymore. Even though I was sure that this is just another trash game, I still decided to give it a shot and, to my own surprise, I didn't regret it at all. The execution of the story and the decent writing totally took me by surprise. Judging by the store page, it's nothing I would have expected from this title at first or tenth glance.

I assume that Manna for our Malices is only around one hour short if you use the guide right from the beginning, which I honestly wouldn't recommend doing, it really takes away the whole fun. It took me about three hours and around sixty deaths to finish everything the game had to offer and to obtain all achievements without using the guide. To die sixty times in three hours is something you would rather expect to experience in a soulslike, less in a Visual Novel. You have to die a lot in order to check if there are new options that may lead you to a different path or that offer new dialogue choices. It's fun trying to figure out how you could probably discover something new that might helps you to proceed with the story and to experiment with all available options.

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Akagi Ai is your average student, she's attending classes and goes to school with her best friend Aoi every morning. Aoi seems to have a crush on Akagi Ai, but don't get your hopes up; it's not a Yuri game and romance is not part of the story, although the relationship between them does take a substantial role plotwise. After a rather uneventful school day, our first day ends abruptly when we get sneakily stabbed on our way home, and die for the very first, but certainly not for the last time. The story continues as we find ourselves once again at the beginning, waking up on the exact same day. The only difference this time is that the Aiko from the past, which just died, is now trapped in a time loop and the clueless Aiko of the present, that didn't die yet, are now able to mentally communicate with each other. The time loop of waking up in the morning, going to school, and getting murdered continues until you reach a true ending, meanwhile, one question remains; why is someone so obsessed to kill us?

Repeating the same day, our goal is to find new clues, new clues give us new options, and new options lead us to new clues, revealing the truth more and more, which is the only way to break free from the time loop for good. Despite being darker, the setting heavily reminds me of the comedy movie Groundhog Day where the protagonist is also trapped in a time loop and awakes on the same day and time again and again until he finds a way to escape from his fate.

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The avatar sketches from the text box remind me of an RPG Maker horror game called Calm Falls[i.ytimg.com] released in 2002 in Germany by Kelven, which I really liked back then. Granted, I was seven years old, and it was probably not so hard to impress me. Maybe the feel of nostalgia is playing tricks on me but I really enjoyed the transmitted atmosphere in this Visual Novel. The artwork which was probably drawn in Paint, is jokingly bad, up to a point where the question comes up if someone even put any effort into drawing the characters. I basically have two left hands when it comes to drawing, but I think even I could have managed to draw better-looking character sprites. While the art style does look hideous, it kind of has a charm I can not really explain. It's quite similar to the feeling I have about child drawings in horror movies. They have something eerie attached to them because they look amateurish and some low budget horror movies are more atmospheric merely because they are somewhat cheaply made. I do wonder if the artist made the characters look like this out of intent or not.

Since Manna for our Malices is extremely short and looks nothing like an appealing or enjoyable game at all, I think it would have been more appropriate to offer it for free or to sell it as a one-dollar game because if I'm completely honest with you here, I wouldn't have purchased it. I only gave it a chance because I was given a review copy and even now after playing and liking it, I still wouldn't pay more than $1.

While I do recommend Manna for our Malices if you take an interest in the well-thought-out time loop theme, I'd also suggest waiting for a sale.