A bit over 1100 renders and estimates another ~250 to reach the halfway mark for the update and the dev is strongly considering doing two releases for this chapter. There is gonna be a poll for subs if you're interested in participating. There are also some sneak peek renders from the beginning of March that I won't be posting.
I think there's one 4 star mixed in there, it just rounds the overall average up to 5.0.
As one of the people that left one of those 5 star reviews, this game has a lot of potential. It's quite early, but the dev is doing a lot of worldbuilding to set up what seems to be a rather unique urban fantasy setting that avoids a lot of the lazier tropes in harem games. If you are okay with HS graphics and enjoy harem games, I would strongly suggest giving this one a shot. It is pretty light on actual adult content currently as it's still early in the story, so I could also understand waiting (a couple months?) until chapter 2 releases to take a look.
For those who don't have access to or haven't read the Chapter Two progress updates, Chapter Two is large enough that I've been considering splitting it into two releases. As of right now, I am working under the assumption that I'll be releasing the chapter in two parts. I wanted to put this poll up to get an idea of how you all feel about it before committing to that plan. If the results are overwhelmingly in favor of the single release, then I'll switch gears, otherwise I'll be moving forward with the two release plan.
Very little content-wise would change between the two. The only notable difference is that with the two releases, I'm planning on pushing where the chapter ends back to where I originally outlined it. While writing the first draft for Chapter Two, it was clear halfway through that it was going to be longer than the script for the first chapter, so I wrote the ending in a little earlier than it was in my outline for the chapter. With the two releases, I'll be writing back in the other scenes that would've been pushed to Chapter Three. The writing/rendering shouldn't take more than a week or two, so between that and the extra time for release prep/handling, the full chapter release will be probably three weeks later under the two release plan than it would under the one release. Not a very significant difference as far as I'm concerned, but I'm sure some folks might feel otherwise. As for the content in the releases, there'll be time with all the girls across both, but the first half of the chapter has more time with Cerys, Anwen, Aerion, and Orlaith, while the second has more with Áine, Bael, Fiadh, and Leala. Edit: forgot to note that there are six "quality time" scenes in the chapter that would be evenly split in the two release plan, so three per release. There'd probably be around 1500 renders in both releases as well, so the two releases would be by no means small. The single would just be really big.
As for when the release(s) would be coming, under the two release plan I expect the public release for the first part to be in early/mid June, with backers getting it either late May or early June, and the public release for the second part in late September or early October. Under the single release, I expect the public one would be mid-to-late September. Note that those are rough estimates and I'll make other posts with the actual dates once development is far enough along.
I just got a chance to play this game and am hoping Slate can keep this developing the way it is. I love the world building, which makes me get engrossed in it further. This is the sort of game, so far, I want to see what happens next. Now, I have been saddened from this before, but it really does have me want more.
First? I've needed to meditate every aprox. 3 posts... Opinions are one thing, everybody is entitled to them. The MC behaviour/response should haves and misguided genre definitions really grinded my gears.
Readers please enjoy the fantasy journey the dev(s) tried to create. Yes, fantasy. And no, exclusively your itch will not scratched. There are other places with less story and more specialised content. Or so I've heard from my neighbour's cousin...
devs I enjoyed this journey immensely. My only critic is that is too short, because I wanted more after that Ch1 cliffhanger. Keep it up please!
Okay, I know I'm a bit late giving my opinion, but I recently revisited this game, and that made me want to give my opinion.
Disclaimer: 1- English is not my native language. I understand it perfectly, but I express myself very poorly in English. And this entire comment is translated by Google. I would therefore be very grateful if you would not dwell on spelling and grammar errors.
2- When I play, I tend to consider the protagonist as myself. This means that I tend to take what happens to the MC very personally. Therefore, I prefer to have strong agency.
I should point out that I know the difference between a video game and reality. I'm just talking about my preferences when it comes to video games, which guides my recent experience and therefore my criticism.
3- I will propose what I think are good ideas for improvement, but I understand that I am not the developer of the game and that I don't feel invested with the right to dictate to the developer how he should design his game. However, I find that criticizing for the sake of criticizing is not constructive, This is why I offer my thoughts on the subject.
1st point: What honestly poses the most problem to me is the treatment of the relationship between the main character and Cerys: I can understand that Cerys is hurt by the departure without a word from the MC and that the MC feels guilty about this. But I think the choice of the protagonist was good and that even if Cerys has the right to feel hurt she does not have the right to "punish" the protagonist for how he decided to live his life, and I am not a fan of the fact that the game proves me wrong. Especially since Cerys also more or less abandoned MC to go to her wardship (yes, she had no choice, but the fact that the MC might feel abandoned remains legitimate).
This also applies to Anwen and Aine, I think they have no right to criticize the MC.
I think a good alternative could be to have a dialogue that defines the MC's opinion on the matter. This could even set the tone for the relationship between the MC and Cerys, with options like:
1 (100/0) MC doesn't feel guilty and believes that Cerys has no say in the matter because she was the one who abandoned him first when she left to do her wardship. He believes that she is the one who should do "repentance" (maledom-oriented relationships).
2 (75/25) MC doesn't feel guilty but understands that Cerys is hurt. But he still thinks she was the one who abandoned him first when she left to do her wardship. He feels she's the one who should do "penance" (maledom-oriented relationships) (my personal point of view).
3 (50/50) MC feels a little guilty and understands that Cerys is hurt. He apologizes to Cerys, but feels he made the right choice, so he doesn't really feel the need to do "penance".(neutral relationships).
4 (25/75) MC feels a little guilty and thinks he should do "penance" (femdom-oriented relationships). (current version)
5 (0/100) MC is consumed by guilt and feels he deserves to be punished by Cerys (femdom-oriented relationships).
In ideas, options 1 and 5 are oriented towards a more extreme domination and versions 2 and 4 towards a softer domination.
I understand that this would be a lot of work, but in my opinion, it would give the player a strong sense of agency.
2nd point: Cerys, Anwen, and Aine's pranks give them a bitchy vibe, which doesn't help my liking them. And overall, the MC's reactions to this so-called "prank" give the impression that the MC is a doormat (which does not help to have a feeling of agency).
I even ended up almost hating Cerys (problematic since she's supposed to be the main love interest).
As many have pointed out, undressing the MC in front of the Wards was a very inappropriate joke (and, in my opinion, goes beyond legitimate "revenge" and is downright cruel).
I think a good alternative, related to the proposal in the previous point, could be:
Route 1 and 2: The MC quickly cuts off Cerys, Anwen and Aine's pranks and retaliates with his own (it's potentially him who makes Cerys look ridiculous in front of the Wards).
Route 3: stops before the public humiliation.
Route 4 and 5: current version.
That's more or less all the negatives. I really liked the world building (a world map in the codex to help visualize the world would be nice but not essential) and the story presented, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
I wish the developer good luck and apologize if my comment is hurtful
As one of the people that left one of those 5 star reviews, this game has a lot of potential. It's quite early, but the dev is doing a lot of worldbuilding to set up what seems to be a rather unique urban fantasy setting that avoids a lot of the lazier tropes in harem games. If you are okay with HS graphics and enjoy harem games, I would strongly suggest giving this one a shot. It is pretty light on actual adult content currently as it's still early in the story, so I could also understand waiting (a couple months?) until chapter 2 releases to take a look.
From a technical aspect (by "pulling back the curtain") the entire core set of mechanics appear to be there. In layman's terms, character values are stored in a way that makes saves more likely to be compatible if the dev wants to take a different approach in writing, and attributes tied to each character are laid out similar to character sheets used in RPGs (i.e. "affection", "romance").
While developing Ren'Py titles aren't as difficult as Unreal/Unity (the well made titles) it's nonetheless an impressive feat, and the dev is almost on par with the likes of Eric Barone (Stardew Valley) or Edmund McMillen (SMB, Binding of Isaac).
*EDITS BELOW THIS POINT*
Alright, now having actually played through the entirety of the first chapter I can competently share my opinions regarding story elements.
Firstly, Cerys seems to be a somewhat divisive character due to a few different reasons, but primarily dealing with either her personality or her power. Speaking to the former, she's shown early on as fiery/passionate with the MC outright stating such when he peaks at her "Weave Aura". It's unsurprising that she swings both ways, but I believe she only genuinely cares about the MC - which is also somewhat stated during her confession if you have enough affinity (see spoiler).
It becomes even more evident that she only values how the MC feels if you choose to reciprocate her feelings as during their passionate moment the following is stated:
Even with her sexuality, the author paints a clear picture that anything Cerys does with anyone else is done with the MC's interest at heart. Regardless of who enters the marriage the MC is "[her] heart".
As for the second point, this one should be pretty self explanatory, but I will concede that it's rather subtle how Cerys and MC's power potentially equal out. Cerys has several years of formal training under belt as granddaughter to the most powerful mage alive - as stated a few times by the wards and Luther. Her being next in line to succeed him means she is considered strong enough by Cymhen to become head of one of the six most powerful families. MC - on the other hand - hid his powers for his own safety and only learned a select few spells before disappearing into the wilderness for 5 years. When it comes to formal magical power he's severely outclassed by Cerys, and she wanted to demonstrate that power imbalance to drive that point home
However, the MC has essentially mastered the primal form of magic which has allowed him to learn new spells at an incredible pace while also sidestepping the limitation of physical touch. He's able to wield magic in a way that even Cymhen struggles with, all the while Cerys even states that the MC will eventually overtake her in terms of power. That's also the general premise guiding the plot and stated right in the intro: power. It's a rather clever take on the whole "chosen one" trope because the MC isn't the chosen one, but rather the discoverer of a new form of magical possibilities that anyone can use.
This isn't a story with a singular protagonist, but rather one that follows both a controllable and independent character. To draw a parallel, few would claim that Ciri is more important than Geralt in the Witcher series because the story is about both of them.
This took quite a while to make with how many choices there are... anyways, here's an unofficial walkthrough for the game! Feel free to message me if you find any errors and I'll fix it ASAP.
Unofficial Walkthrough
Game Title: The Nature of Magic Game Version: Ch. 1 Walkthrough Updated: May 21st, 2025
I think your comment wasn't hurtful at all, and my aim with this reply is not to critic your opinions (although I mostly disagree with them), only to point out you might have missed some info which might have unduly influenced your opinion.
We don't actually know how long a wardship takes, what the wards are and are not allowed to do during their stay, if anything different applies depending on the ward or the family and so on. However, we do know that MC was still in contact with Cerys at least via phone or mail while she was warding with the Fayes before MC cut contact. So to say that Cerys more or less abandoned MC too is a bit rushed and uncalled-for, especially when we know they were still in communication and for all we know were or could meet up once or twice a week (as we know current wards have a day off).
