It hasn't made its way to F95 yet, but I have a new recommendation:
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This is somewhat of a return to form by ebi-hime, whose recent games have all been fluffy, saccharine romances.
Roses is angsty, dark, and flowery in its prose - as the best of ebi's work tends to be. In fact, it turns out that a VN studio well known for publishing yuri games approached her, who pitched this game to them, and they rejected it as being 'too dark'.
So, what's it about?
Cage of Roses is a gothic romance drama set in 17th century Germany (and appropriately scored with copius Bach). It's heavily inspired by
Beauty and the Beast, which should be apparent within the first hour. Noble girl Meike is on her way to Augsburg to meet her future husband, travelling with her family and her maid Henny. Their carriage is attacked by bandits and none are spared, save for the two. Just as they are about to die too, a shadowy figure leaps in and makes short work of the outlaws.
Enter, Magdelena - an aloof, dignified vampire living in a decrepit old manor. She throws the girls into the dungeon, but after some bargaining agrees to let Henny go. And so, a parallel story starts. Henny goes to great lengths to rescue her mistress, recruiting some unlikely allies in Johann and Heidemarie. Meike spends her time getting to know her captor better, who might not be so alone in the manor, if the occasional screams she hears are to be believed.
That's all I can say about the plot without heading into spoilers. Hopefully it sounds interesting to some of you. Unusually for a story of this kind, Meike is neither the most interesting nor the most important character. That's despite being the protagonist and the literal damsel in distress. That honour goes to the other four I've named, all a lot more colourful and endearing.
Cage of Roses is very, very far from ebi-hime's darkest work. She
has grown soft! But if you're looking for a story that's a bit more challenging and angsty than the usual safe space harems around us, you might want to give this a shot. I'll wait for the game to show up here before adding it to the OP, but I'll leave you with an excerpt. It might even entice you
P.S: As always with ebi-hime's work, when you finish the game don't forget to check Addendum and Notes under the extras section.
