VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Heart Of The Woods [Final] [Studio Elan]

A lovely lesbian* VN with elements of cosmic horror, as the main characters pursue a supernatural mystery... into the heart of the woods.

Though there are really only a couple of choices involved, they do change the story a lot. It really is a visual rather than a kinetic novel -- do save before making a choice, because you'll want to see the roads not taken.

The main characters are all deeply engaging, the visuals are beautiful and original (very Miyazaki-esque), the story is spooky and engrossing, the romance is lovely, and the sex is sexy.

I don't give five-star ratings lightly, but if you've found your way to this VN, my guess is you're going to love it as much as I did.


* One of the main characters is trans/non-binary. It's played completely realistically and believably, but if that doesn't float your boat, then be forewarned.

Review for Version Final

A bittersweet yuri novel with relatable and likable characters.


This novel is told from the perspective of three characters; Madison, Tara and Morgan. Madison and Tara travel to various places to investigate paranormal activity for their web series "Taranormal". Tara is the face of the show while Madison handles the behind the scenes duties.

The novel starts with the two of them on a train to a remote village at the request of one of their fans, Morgan. Their relationship is strained as Madison has told Tara that this will be the last episode she'll be doing. Upon arriving, they're greeted by Morgan who tells them that, among other things, a giant forest spirit resides there and that her cat can speak. Tara is excited but Madison feels as though they've been conned and that the month long stay is a waste of time, further aggravating her about the whole issue of her leaving, especially after Morgan's cat fails to speak.

After a few days, Morgan takes them into the forest where they become trapped by a blizzard and are forced to hold out in an abandoned church. It is here where the three witness the forest spirit lumbering along, taller than the trees. All are shocked and, upon returning to their cabin, Tara cuts Madison out of the investigation out of spite, claiming she has to learn how to do everything by herself since she'll be running the show alone. At this point, the novel jumps between the three women, telling a story from their differing perspective. It comes to light that there is more going on than meets the eye and I'll leave it at that to avoid spoilers.

The artwork is beautifully drawn, if not a bit limited. There may be a dozen or so backgrounds such as a forest, the church, their cabin, Morgan's store/home and the village itself. The same goes for the characters. There are only eight avatars; Tara, Madison, Morgan, Abigail, Geladura, Mogan's mother (drawing blank on her name), a trio of fairies and the forest spirit but each one has variations with different postures or expressions.

There is very little H-content in the ten hours it took me to read with the option to skip them if you wish; maybe four or five scenes. The writing is superb. There are a handful of typos but nothing annoying and the overall flow of dialogue is great. I can't speak for the audio as I generally mute games when I play them. There appears to be three endings according to the gallery and the one I got was bittersweet. It wasn't bad, per se, but it probably could have been better but I don't know. There were only three choices to make so I'll have to see about another read some time in the future.

I'll leave it on my tablet as I really liked it and found little to complain about. Definitely worth a read if you like Yuri stories.

(More of a 4.5 IMO, but we don't have .5 increments to work with here.)

This is a phenomenal VN. Among the best I've ever read (which is a fair few by this point). The story has some subtle twists and turns that really makes you wonder "what the hell is gonna happen now?" without being heavy-handed. Has a nice mix of mystery that flows very well as you discover more about what's really going on.

The characters have a great deal of personality despite not being voiced (my biggest complaint about the title) because of both the excellent writing and expressive sprites (seriously, Tara's personality comes across from her sprite's poses alone).

The title greatest strength is undoubtedly the soundtrack. There's a nice mix of heavy and light-hearted tracks that suit the ambiance perfectly. Play this VN for this reason alone. It's extremely rare for me to consider music so heavily, so when I call this "hauntingly beautiful" I say so with a fair amount of weight.

The H-content is fairly minimal, so I wouldn't recommend this title if that's what you're after. But the romance is great (if a little fast to develop IMO: my only other criticism here).

TLDR: Great story, good romance, FANTASTIC music, minimal sexy times. Highly recommended if that sounds good to you.