I dont usually give a game 5 stars and even now i debate giving it 5 but guess i feel generous today,still i dont agree with the 5 start system,the real rating is 9/10. The review contains SPOILERS so read at your discretion.
First of all i gotta start with what I believe is this game's greatest asset,its story that is among the best on this site if not the best for a porn game,maybe even rivaling some normal games in terms of the story.
From the start we get the impression its gonna be another of those anime shonan protag 360 big chungus keanu reeves crap that keeps being used over and over again and expecting different results but no the Protag which unfortunatly has no name,I called him Fred because of the whole charming and clue finding to solve mysteries thing,starts off as a semi-normal character who suprisingly has a bad relationship not just with his sister (who isnt step) and his uncle,his parents are gone and we get no explanation till later.He is apparently lazy and does nothing but feebly train his only talent on the world that being his truthsaying,to tell when people are lying but apparently its more to that,its like the first step on the road to real magic.
Here I was dissapointed that Fred doesnt have any relationship to the royal family or monsters since its explained that magic abilities are the result of monster blood and thats how the royal family has them since they intermarried with monsters,this was one of the few predictions I didnt manage to get right and waited the whole game to see if there is a relation,that and not seeing that Taddeus will have a major role in the story,the dev hid him quite well in plain sight and giving him the background NPC vibe.
Things take a turn and to keep it short Fred somehow find the opportunity of a lifetime that gives him the necesary ambition (from his former lazy self its something) to do things people never thought possible such as meeting the fairy queen,uncovering not 1 but 2 conspiracies,meeting a love diety,a driad,defeating a demon,hook up with just about anyone including the royal family potentially making a name for himself.Although the character development is subtle and gradual we do see the Protag change alot during it,wish the game was more detailed and there being more interactions since in some areas it feels very dull.
The wholesome paths of making a shy girl with some trauma get out of her shell and live a normal and happy life (Rose),free to now express herself is satisfying,next you can finally achiev Fred's dream of dating and marrying his crush and childhood friend who apparently is very much alike (atleast in perversity and will to corrupt someone to the bone),I like that unlike others you had to put considerable effort to make it work,like learning the spell to make Callie normal or as close to normal as she can be,helping her come to terms with her new reality which is liking men and getting her close,to let her know you do care and want to stick with her.
Callie is of the biggest tragedies in this game,she is lesbian and feels unhappy with it,cant find someone to seattle down with,it doesnt help that she is a massive pervert and not really the kind to have just 1 lover at a time unless he is Fred,leaving her be as she is will condemn her pretty much to never having children and never having someone to care about and vice versa,even the ending where you let her pregnant and run off to be King makes it clear she cherrishes the child born out of love and would find a ad for him,the romanic,not sex,interactions with her are just wholesome and give off the feel that you are doing the right thing,problem is that there is a good alternetive to this too like accepting the royal offer and becoming King,having 2 women to yourself who arent bothered by the other,becoming a watcher over the royal family so another Taddeus or world ending event doesnt happen again,the royal siblings arent very stable emotionaly or mentally either so leaving them be will be a recipe for disaster such as the incest is found out and boom revolution or coup or at THE MOST they have no children with the whole lesbian thing and the royal family dies with them potentially making other problems as a succesion crisis and looking at Spain that can be bad enough on its own. Callie still feels the best personally choice for wife but taking the whole picture you kind of need to pick the royal option for the stabiliy of the real and its not that bad either.
Belle is ok,she starts as a typical entitled and spoiled piece of shit but grows on you,still i never considered her even a option for ending neither i've seen her as a major character,more like a commentor or if a average joe was teleported in Naruto for example,its the mascot of the dev so i guess that somewhat explains her passive addition as observer.
The various lore and personal segements like with Evelin to find your true parentage is something,so is with Samara and Nell who are some of the best story parts,you learn alot and they almost feel like genuine real people.
The plot twists as I said and clues really makes the game unique,the plot twists arent cliche or easy to see,they are executed well for the most part but most of them I did see,the clues are way too easy to find and game keeps giving you clues where,when and how to use them,its holding your hand too much,I wish they had a LA Noir system implemented,God that was a really great game,still this is a porn game guess we cant have too much of a good thing now can we?
The last part of the game,which I will call the climax of the story from meeting the princess (Selena but I guess works for the other one too) was story heavy,dynamic,engaging and I didnt see it coming with the whole Thaddeus being a cultist,the demon getting out of Selena,lilith abandoning you if you didnt succed a very annoying skill check A LONG TIME AGO by the part of the story,there are so many ways to fail the endgame part with the Demon but its so satisfying to get all things right and watch it play out,Thaddeus despite proving to be a spiteful coward son of a bitch in the end,war a cool and likable character initially and I was somewhat dissapointed it turned out like this and there was no way to change things like allying with him but guess that wasnt possible with the way he turned out,from his presence to his dialogue is has to be hands down the 2th best character in the game,the first spot is taken by the Demon unsuprisingly is a major character so thats that,if i were to place a 3th I would say Samara tied here closely with Lilith but only really by her whole act and predictable but interesting reveal which was the game's way to say "you just reached the endgame motherfucker so fasten your seatbelt"
Dialogue with Merek was also enlightening and finally gave some screentime to him,he is such a major character,no even saying major isnt enoguh HE PRACTICALLY SET EVERYTHING IN MOTION, who could even have his spin off about his youth and he barely gets any screentime despite the events of the game not being possible without him neither your victory.
Overall I hope we will see a whole franchise about this universe and characters like a continuation (or not,its up to how its made) spin offs,events in different times like Merek in his youth. Or The supposed father of Fred not his real one. The King,etc.
Now to gameplay: The clues mechanic as i said is kind of underwhelming,dialogue is ok but only a few really shine,Music for the most part is either absent or poor,most of the time while scrolling the map or going on the world or normal locations there isnt any music, which is a huge minus for me,music is important to the athmosphere,thanfully in the most important scenes like mind control,endgame and others have music that nicely fits and complements the events,after all you should feel like you are in the engame if you are in the engame or making a big decision.
The map is too small and places have few interactions,wish the game had the courage to expand beyond the main story like in Skyrim where the sidequests are very numerious and I might say confidently even better than the main one,few characters like the town feels empty,no combat,in terms of scenes i must say im dissapointed its all vanila with little options but its ok.
. I need to reveal crones dark secret but I'm missing the hint (by what I've learned from the web) where Leanan mentioned Crone, but I already fckd leanan twice (so can't go back to her) and she didn't tell me anything like it. :/ Asking 4 a friend.
