Recent reviews by Nightlily

Right off the bat, this game had my heart for the awesome character creator with a ton of options not only for appearance but also for pronouns. Also you can change both mid-game in your room!! The art and aesthetic of the whole thing is simply gorgeous (sell real versions of the tarot cards and enchanted items, please I beg of you). The gardening and crafting isn't anything groundbreaking, but I enjoyed the little daily routine and getting to see what our finished creations looked like. You can also pull some tarot cards and decorate your space with the things you gather and craft, which they didn't have to include but I absolutely love that they did. It really shows how much care and thought went into the game. The music is also great. Some tracks get played a little too often compared to others but they're still pleasant enough that they don't get annoying after a while. The special ones like Devin's song and the credits song are a real treat.
The characters are all really sweet with some relatable struggles. Nothing super life-changingly deep, but enough to give their personalities a little more texture. I know some people have beef with the MC being immature but let's be real: your average eighteen-year-old is just as much of a disaster. Some of you were clearly not hanging on by a thread through high school and it shows lmao.
Anyway! As for actual issues, it is lacking some visual novel QOL standards like multiple save files and a skip function, though there's a pretty simple workaround for the save file thing by just, well, locating your save file and copypasta-ing it. It does also look like the back half of the game didn't get as much of a check for typos as they are quite abundant around the middle/end. On the bright side, it's usually simple things like a missing letter so the writing still ends up being easily comprehensible.
All things considered, a really comfy and fun little game that I would love to live inside of.

I cannot believe how this game has flown so far under the radar. It's such a cute story. The characters are really endearing though Valerie's wild lack of respect for personal boundaries is played off for laughs one too many times, lol, and overall the tone just feels really warm and cozy. I enjoy the rhythm minigame and really appreciate that failing it doesn't affect the ending at all, especially since the one time I did fail, it felt really narratively fitting and I felt fully satisfied moving on instead of being compelled to go back and break my fingers trying over and over again to pass, lmao. It does struggle a bit with "show, don't tell" especially considering it's a visual novel, but I don't think this is enough to make the sweet, wholesome story unenjoyable. All in all, cute as hell! Happy to have played it <3

I stumbled across CKC at the end of last year after playing The Big Con, which has sorta similar 90's vibes, and ended up playing just the first episode at the time. It was really fun and silly and I had a great time with it, but wanted to wait until the game was fully out so I could play it without worrying about hitting a point where I'd have to stop and wait for more.
I have now had the pleasure of playing the entirety of CKC and it kills me that this game isn't more well-known. It starts out as a fairly silly and lighthearted romp, and quickly becomes so much more with some really hard-hitting, heartbreaking moments. The characters are all so lovable and layered and really relatable. I've finished the game, but I can already see this is going to be like Wandersong and Night in the Woods, where I come back to it once a year or so just to spend more time with the characters because I love them too much. Absolutely phenomenal.

An excellent cozy wholesome game with fantastically charming and funny dialogue. The characters are all wonderful, even the capitalist pig cat (mostly because he's very adorable). Honestly, would love to be besties with the dialogue writer because clearly they get me and my brand of humor perfectly.
The character creator isn't anything crazy expansive or groundbreaking, but I think it offers a good variety of cute options for a fairly small game.
Some menus -- specifically the hat-picking one -- are a little clunky to navigate with controller, but I didn't run into anything game-breaking.
As someone who's just awful at platformers, I was able to fully complete this without too much trouble, so that's a big plus imo.
Also, yes, it's basically a big game of fetch quests, but of course it is because you play as a mail delivery person, so if you're not a fan of that I'm truly not sure what you're doing looking at this game to begin with lmao
The only complaint I could have with it is the very minor fact that some items you pick up don't seem to have any use. Part of me wonders if they're just to characterize the MC as a hoarder collector of shiny things because it feels really on brand lol, but at the same time I have to wonder if it was part of some other planned quests that didn't end up in the final game.

All in all, very recommended if you like little comfy silly games where you take stuff all over the place to make cute characters happy.

Top-tier HOG that's challenging but still fully doable without using hints since there are no secret "click on some inconspicuous, unrelated item to reveal the thing you're actually looking for" bits that some other games have. Almost every level had me stumped for a bit once I got down to the last one or two capys, so imo it's a nice level of difficulty.
The art is really cute and lovely, and the vibes of the night maps especially are *immaculate*. Honestly, my playtime is a little inflated because I kinda just hung out on the night maps after I finished to really appreciate and admire them, lol. This is also one of the few HOGs I've played where I left the in-game music on as opposed to listening to my own playlist. Very relaxing, chill tracks that elevate the coziness of the whole game.
Simply perfection <3

I could've sworn I wrote a review for this game but Steam is insisting I didn't so I'm here now to fix that!
Emberfate is basically the perfect VN if you have fond memories of playing MMOs and want to relive that without having to actually get addicted to MMOs and ruin your life/sleep schedule all over again. The characters and chats feel so real that even from the very first scene I was already completely on board and giggling like an idiot lmao. It really emulates the guild experience and all the chaos that comes along with it perfectly imo. I hadn't thought about just how long it's been since I was actively participating in three different conversations at the same time, but it felt great reactivating that corner of my brain lol (and no worries if you're not well versed in such a ridiculous level of multitasking; you can easily adjust the speed or pause conversations entirely to keep up).
The only thing that does make me a little sad is that there isn't a more general route to become closer with everyone. I didn't realize this on my first playthrough and, thinking I'd reject everyone's offers at the fork, unintentionally ended up on Nathan's route -- which turned out to actually be perfect because WOW was that relatable as hell. Regardless, while that one definitely resonated with me the most, the other routes feel very easy to relate to and empathize with as well with the way each character fully comes to life, thanks not only to the writing but also the excellent voice acting. This game has so much heart in it that I can't help but keep coming back to it.
Oh! And the extra little DLC booklet is a wonderful addition. Accomplishes both the satisfaction of letting me throw well-deserved money at the devs AND gives some more insight into some of the characters. Just fantastic <3

When I was considering picking up this game, I saw only one negative review among a sea of positive ones, and since it's short and cheap and looked relatable, I figured I could chalk up the one person who didn't enjoy it to personal taste.
After fully finishing the game, though, I have to say I agree with that one individual and feel compelled to add my own warning to those who may get this game looking for some catharsis. The game starts out well enough; honestly I did enjoy most of it. It builds tension well, and the unsettling feeling when coming across various things was pretty satisfying. The problem is the ending. (The "true" ending, that is. The jokey secret ending and the bad ending are perfectly fine for what they are imo.) The main character spends the entire game being stressed and anxious only to "defeat" the source of apparently all their worries and become perfectly happy and in control of their life. It's the most glib handling of mental illness I've seen in a while and it just felt bad, especially when you play through the extra "explore" mode and that ending is really hammered home in a way that I couldn't help but think of as insincere. It feels like the epitome of "You're depressed? Well, you just need to smile more and think happy thoughts, silly!" Which is a real ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shame because, again, the majority of the game up until that ending was pretty damn good. The soundtrack is great, and the style is lovely. But the ending leaves such a bad taste in my gut that I can't recommend it to anyone.

Much like my other favorite games, Start Again feels like a precious gift packaged with so much love and care that also happens to contain a dart aimed directly for the heart. It does a perfect job at hitting that helpless routine of the depressed and the tightrope we put ourselves on to not burden those around us, and it does this in a way that doesn't feel too heavy either imo. It really compels you to continue, in no small part thanks to the utterly overflowing charm of the party of characters. By the end, they all had me laugh-crying in one of the most truly cathartic scenes I've ever seen in a video game, and suffice to say I love them all with my whole damn heart. 10/10 would cry over a piece of candy again

This is such a neat little game. The way it's presented, with notable gaps at first, really inspires curiosity and makes you wonder at what's being unsaid. (Admittedly, hidden things are still hard to read when they initially begin to be revealed, though I suspect that's by design since they do become more visible afterward.) The story itself feels really relatable and I got a good feel for the characters despite this being so short -- about 40 mins to get 3 different endings + the true one while reading it all aloud. The main menu/beginning song isn't my jam, but the soundtrack really does suit the game well imo; especially later in the game, it does a great job of building tension. Definitely worth the the price <3

I love this vn so much. I was initially interested in it because of the art style (which is genuinely gorgeous) and then I found out about the potential for disaster relationships and I couldn't throw my money at it fast enough lol. Shout out to the Ari/Marius/Raeann dynamic in particular; chaotic-stupid power level off the charts and we love that lmfaoooo. 1000% would kill and die for them again <3 The characters all have such vivid personalities and so much heart that by the end even characters I didn't end up interacting with too much were still tugging at my heartstrings.
On top of that, basically every choice really feels like it matters. Currently partway through my second playthrough and although I was initially going to rush through it to see a different ending, I truly immediately got sidetracked by curiosity and I'm so glad for it because it ended up being a super fascinating route. And I love that I can't even call one choice better than the other. This really doesn't feel like one of those vn's where there's a "right" way to do things, it's just up to who you are and how you wanna do things, and that's honestly the most powerful move for a game imo.
So much fun. Can't wait to get back to it and let this game destroy my heart more <3