Version: v1.11.0 Main
Time played: ~3 hours
PROS:
- Design of characters. All characters have distict facial and physical features (exept for the twins, for obvious reasons) which makes each individual interesting. The faces of the characters are refined and delicate, which suits the whole style of the visual novel. The MC has a rather feminine look to him, but it does make sense due to the the hybrid (feline) idea. The physical features of the characters are (as if now) well proportioned and diverse enough to fit the peronalities.
- Detailed story pacing. You can immediately notice that the dev has an intriguing story to tell, because the scenes are long enough to cover the subject. The difficulty here is that a long scene would become boring after a while, but the dev made sure to add suble changes to the renders to keep you locked in. Example: Two characters are in a conversations and the third is listening in, but gets distracted by the clothes she is wearing. I appreciate those subtle efforts to build a character's personality.
- Detailed dialogues. The amount of dialogue per click is properly balanced and the use of font styles adds to the experience. All caps when shouting, small when whispering, destorted when mysterious, symbols to add expressions. Also adding a secondary character's reaction in the same dialogue box gives depth to the conversation.
MIXED:
- The amount of characters. More than just one main character in a game is always good, but it can get too much whenever it keeps adding more charachters to the roster. Especially if you want to give all the characters a detailed and interesting personality. It often leads to writersblocks whenever a dev needs to place each individual character in the right context somewhere mid-story.
CONS:
- Music. One single song is being used in the background for all the different scenes. Sometimes it would be better to pause the song in some situations and add some footsteps when the MC is walking in a public area. Or add ambient noises of people chattering and drinking coffee whenever the story takes place in a café. And so on. This builds dimension in the storytelling.
Story:
The story is somewhat mysterious, but also a bit generic. The formula is not entirely unique: a household is being moved to a new, big place where a plethora of (potential) harem members are being introduced to the MC and are going to live with him, where all of them are going to accept a polyamorous relationship. But to be fair, this formula has worked for other big titles on this forum. The mystique around the new house, along with the supernatural vibe of the story does make the game captivating enough.
Gameplay:
As far as the gameplay goes, it is a rather default visual novel written in RenPy. So don't expect any exotic game mechanics, because that is not how this 'game' is built for.
Language/Grammar:
I have not noticed any typos, so I can tell it is well written.
Graphics:
The renders are of high quality. There was a bonus animation scene, which piques my interest on how these will look like in the future (body dynamics, camera work, etc.).
Sound:
There is some soothing background music across the game, but it is just one single song (or at least it sounds like that to me). No noticeable sound effects or voicing is used in this game.
Conclusion:
If you are into a wholesome, carefully designed experience, you will be delighted with this visual novel. It is rather slow paced, but the renders are of high quality and frequent enough to keep you engaged in the story. Do not expect a constant barrage of hardcore H-scenes from the start, but it does have potential to give you well written scenes in the future updates. (4/5)
Recommendations:
- Do not introduce too many new characters. It is better to have a handfull of detailed (main) characters, than an army of generic (and dull) side characters.
- Complementary to the previous point: add a journal with some background information of the characters. It does not have to be a growing log as you learn to know the specific character further down the story, but it might be interesting to see some details such as age, measurements, occupation, type of hybrid, etc. It gives the characters some depth.
- Play around with different music between the different scenes. For instance, use ambient noises in cafés and shops. This adds to the immersion. It is not necessary to have a different song each scene, but if you break the background music up every once in a while, it does add some dimension to the experience.
- Add an option to change the font of the character. The font does add to the style of the visual novel, but makes it less accessible for people having difficulties with reading.
Keep up the good work - I am excited what the future holds, since this visual novel has some real potential. I will keep an eye on this one!
