I remember trying this out a while back, but was turned off due to the rape scene of the MC. I see that was changed and we now have a choice in that matter (I edited my old post about it for clarification), so thought I'd check this out again and give it a fair chance. On a side note, respect for doing that (adding the choice there). You didn't have to, but you did any ways, which was very thoughtful of you.
I'm not a big fan of sandbox mechanics, but glad to see this is mostly just some point and click stuff, not a full sandbox. So that definitely works much better, as sandboxes can get messy and become time wasters if done wrong (which most are). But the point and click elements are done really well, and the map is neat too (love the artwork). I did get the little map glitch as well, but saw that you made a hotfix for it so A+ for being on top of things pretty quickly. But yeah it's nice, not intrusive or annoying.
Story wise though, I do like it. I enjoy how the story is still moving forward and we are not just standing still with side stuff or "girl drama" without any story progression. Things are shaping up well, recruiting our own adventuring group and getting a little army on our side now too. There's a lot of uncertainty coming soon, as we haven't been back to the castle in a long time. We don't even know if anyone is still there to save. And if they are still there, what condition they are even in.
I do like Freja though. Give me a feisty ginger any day and I'll be happy lol. Very Nordic Viking feel, and she is great. I'm curious what we are doing to her though (unless I missed that being explained somewhere). Oh and Valery is one of my favorite models for these games, so kudos on that lol. Your attention to detail in sword fighting is awesome as well by the way. Oh and those elven daggers? Nice. They remind me of these old D&D daggers I read about (I think they were called Dearly Departed or something). That whole spider den gave me some old school D&D vibes, and I loved it lol.
But yeah, overall, I'm really loving this now. First impressions aside, this has really shaped up to be pretty great. The little mechanics you have give it a nice RPG feel, but not over the top with a lot of grinding and such. It's a nice flavor touch. Really like how this is coming along and interested to see what is next now. Best of luck and thanks!
