VN - Ren'Py - The Nature of Magic [Part 3] [Slate Interactive]

Were to even start, i would love to say that this is great game but so many things are just bad. Game feels like one of those over the top manuals that go on and on about something that could be put in few pages instead of hundreds. Visually its horrible and blurry, part from characters everything seams out of focus and its painfully draining for more then ten minutes at time!

Great game so far with a great story. I have seen some people say the lore drop is a lot but I think its good world building and helped my immersion. Anwen is the best long live the piercings may they live long and never leave. The brute scene was great and the animations have been very good with nice physics to them.

Absolutely excellent so far. Great writing, great characters, incredible worldbuilding, and an excellent plot hook. Just absolutely a 10/10 as it stands.
More like a visual novel with nsfw scenes, rather than a nsfw game.

Great story and writing. Although a bit too much magic infodumping.
Cute girls, nice visuals. At the moment all h-scenes too vanilla for my taste, but thats tolerable.
Future pregnancies - always good.

Fuck I didn't even knew that Irish names are sooo sexy... I want a gf with a name Áine.

The fact that this game has such a high rating is an anomaly. The game makes a big entrance. It creates a world and provides a lot of descriptions, giving you the impression that you're going to have a full-fledged adventure. However, that's all there is to it. The entire game takes place inside a mansion. Don't expect different locations or events; it's a classic porn game.

I enjoyed this much more than I expected to when I first saw the game. The story is quite compelling, the characters are unique and very appealing for different reasons. I am excited to see where the game goes over time.

Pretty engaging story so far and the renders/animations are right up my alley. Only a few characters with animated scenes so far but the existing animations are great. Hoping for Fiadh or more of Anwen soon but all the LI's look great so far.

overall 10/10
new and engaging storyline, renders are superb, and so are the animations. Especially of the redhead trinity and more so of Cerys.
The characters are well thought out, with each one bringing something new and distinct, as well as an interesting backstory.
Sex scenes are just out of this world. Though it is a slow grind to get to them, but totally worth it.
This vn is slowly becoming one of my favourites.
cant wait to play the next update

Sexy, intriguing, and awesome character and world building. The basis in Celtic (I believe?) folklore and myth is sweet too. Still early in the development journey, but everything so far is high quality. Definitely worth checking out and keeping an eye on.

I loved the world building and the unique approach to magic and the weave. But most of all, the characters, especially the 3 redheads. I always like the type but these 3 are something else. Each with their unique flavors.

I can't stress this enough, redheads, each with their separate charms and personalities. And I really like how their personalities also connect back to the weave.

Ten out of ten looking forward for more.

REDHEADS. REDHEADS. REDHEADS.
Other than that a pretty good AVN, I love the lore and the fact that it draws from D&D and their Weave. TNoM manages to strike a good balance between humour and seriousness, I caught myself having a chuckle quite a bit.
As of the current update Ch2Up1 there is about 6-7hours to enjoy, and they are very enjoyable - especially if you love READHEADS. Totally not me though.

This MC is just disappointing. I stopped playing after chapter 1 because I became too annoyed with the MC and disinterested in the non-existent story. And no, worldbuilding does not equate storytelling, just as troubled characters can still be one-note and don't create a character-driven story.

I liked the start of the game, seeing the MC take out a group of mercenaries. He's shown to have skill and determination. However, as the story progresses, these qualities don't get to shine. He finds himself engaged to the granddaughter of what could be called a magical mafia boss and soon realizes that he's weaker than everyone there.
To make matters worse, this same guy will explain how he orchestrated events so the MC would end up in his family eventually and that he specifically put Cerys in his path to lure him in. The MC thanked him for this.

Our MC is also a constant target of "ribbing" and "pranks". While the game tries to present it as good-natured and funny, it's mostly one-sided, certainly where his fiancée is concerned.
Of course, the women will gang up on him and are extremely competitive toward him as well. This gives the impression that the MC is just a whiny bitch, a punching bag, or a masochist, even if he says he'd hate to be one.

For instance, on a certain morning, the MC wakes up next to a demon's head (decoration). He's startled and lightheartedly confronts his fiancée at the breakfast table about it. She acts as if she didn't do it, and other women take her side.
Does the MC do anything to get even? Does he play his own pranks? Of course not, he's not powerful enough. The only thing he can do is take the abuse, complain tepidly, or say that he likes the treatment.

Another reviewer said it already, and I agree; this story is Cerys' story, not the MC's. He has no say and no real value now that he taught others his way of doing magic. This story is about a man who's a glorified breeding bull in a gilded cage, encouraged to create magically adept offspring.
Before playing this AVN, first decide if the characters' physical properties are enough to get you invested. The game itself will do little to endear them, so their bodies are all you have to go on.

The main reason for this disconnect between me and this narrative is, I think, that characters are introduced badly. There's more concern with worldbuilding and extensive exposition than actually introducing characters. Despite not having seen Cerys for 5 years because he ghosted her, the MC manages to pick things up right where they left things off. Except the part where Cerys will get even with him using pranks and humiliation, of course.
Instead, the writer could've let them reconnect for a while first, so the audience gets to know the characters. We don't have the MC's experience or history with them, after all. An important aspect of this is the exploration of boundaries. Why not have Cerys go too far with a prank? Why not let him get angry or disappointed to show the audience that he has limits to what he'll endure?

Another thing I've noticed is that the point system is very one-sided. It will only check if the score is above a certain value, not below. This means that renders and general dialogue will always increase in casual intimacy even if you have 0/50 points with a character. There won't be a remark that this MC isn't the person they knew because of a low score or that he doesn't seem very invested in the family's mission.

On the positive side, I really like this game's UI design. I like how choices are handled and how visuals and UI elements are used for effect. It's clear a lot of effort went into this.
One nitpick is that the dark red font on top of the dark background is difficult to read in the preferences screen. The lack of a scrollbar also obfuscates the audio options at the bottom of that page.

Objectively, the renders of this AVN are nicely done as well. They're pretty, with good lighting/shadows and environments that fit the locations and themes nicely.

In terms of quality of writing, it's in my top 5 best VNs on this website, and it's not even close. It just feels very organic and coherent with the world and the characters.

Story wise, it's great. The pacing takes its time to establish the world and the stakes, without being sluggish. If you're only here for the porn though, this might be a pass. The scenes are frankly really good and well written, but they aren't the main focus of the game.

Then again, when the dialog, story, pacing and everything is in place, what more could you ask for ?
Don't sleep on this, it's too good to not have more exposition, and even now early in the development you still have quite a few hours of content to go through.

Story immediately throw player on deep waters. Beginning was quite overwhelming, too much lore and politics in short amount of time and if I wouldn't trust recommendation I would consider dropping it early, because few first hours were like reading regular book. Core of the plot is similar to one cosy game, a powerful families and an outcast that can destroy the balance and unify them, but here MC have much more help and world is full of magic that he's easily mastering. Pacing isn't the best, story develops too fast and without too many breaks for intimacy, but when you break through all of the descriptions and lore, you'll find very good and entertaining story. There's also a kind of glossary with some summaries, so if you "accidentally" skip few walls of text or read just a part of it, you can fill gaps later.

As I've readen in recommendation, the best thing here are relations with LIs. It's early to say that every LI will be amazing and lovely, because few of them didn't have a possibility to spend time with MC yet, but basing on current events, I have faith in it.

Game have very nice visuals and not bad faces, if compared to other HS games. At the beginning I was afraid that this is another game with only huge tits and big butts (it's still majority), but diversity came with introducing more LIs. Body proprortions are nice and there are no ugly girls. Some may not be to my or someone's taste, but objectively I can't say a bad word about any LI.

Well, this game is definetely a slow burner, so I don't recommend it to people who just seek for porn. It's much more about story and (re)buildling relationships. It has porn later and it's very good porn, but don't expect it early. At the end I'm rating it as 5*, because I'm sure this production will be better and better with every update, but being totally honest I should give it only 4 due to overwhelming beginning.

Ch 2 Part 1.

It's a fantasy story with some fairly tame naughtiness thus far added in. Love the world, love the writing, love the redheads.

It is fairly slow-paced. I don't see that as a problem.

Just don't download this for some quick fap. If you rush through the dialogue without reading, you'll have an underwhelming experience.

Played version Ch.2 Part 1 with the Walk-through mod.

This is a great game. Very cool world and story, great dialog, and very attractive models with some variety. Definitely looking forward to see where this goes.

Be warned that the world is fairly complex, and that there's a lot of exposition to setup the backstory. I generally like well-developed stories, and don't mind a slower pace with the sex scenes, but even I was tempted to skip some of the story at times.

One other minor nit: I think the dialog goes a bit overboard in trying to make sure everybody is "comfortable". I get that these are good people that care about each other, and that there's some trauma involved, but the constant assurances started to feel like pandering.

Wow, this is an excellent game! It was a great surprise. Story is interesting. MC is skilled but needs to learn a lot, so he is a mix of being relatively weak BUT improving at great speed. LIs are all excellent and interesting. Can't wait for the next release.

I don't know that I can say enough good things about this game. I'll keep the review short since I have nothing other than a minor criticism.

Con-
Some of the animations are a bit choppy, while others less so. It's a little odd for the animation quality to differ in the same scene, but at least at the beginning that's what we're left with.

Pros-
Literally everything else. The game looks gorgeous, the story is interesting, and the characters are all distinct and seem to actually HAVE character. There is a degree of variety in the body proportions of the LIs, though they tend towards large chests so if that's not your thing you'll be unhappy with that. It seems that you can pick the nature of your relationship with each one, so while it looks like you'll have to be cordial with all of them, you don't have to sleep with anyone you don't want to. Maybe. There is one LI that you have to marry, and story-wise you'll likely have to sleep with women to make sure magic doesn't die out, but that may be an epilogue type scenario that never actually impacts the player.

If the overview sounds interesting to you, play this game. There's a ton of content for such an early release, and the content that's there is excellent.

Fantastic, excellent, beautiful, and brilliantly written VN. Don't expect a ton of choice yet in the game, though it does appear you get to choose every love interest, which is nice. The writing is incredible, with a good amount of humor and depth. The renders are great, outfits and models are all unique and varied and interesting.

I love the world building and how the harem is naturally set up within the setting instead of seemingly shoe-horned in, and the promise of lots of mff sex alongside the typical mf sex is super welcome.

If I had to make some contextual comparisons (not to compare the games themselves but just to give ideas to people not yet sold). Vibes wise it feels like a mixture of Now&Then, and The Fiery Scion. Absolutely check it out, and if you enjoy it, please support the devs!

A brilliant game that starts a bit slowly. There is a lot of world building to get through, which is understandable when the developer crafts a new fantasy world for their story, however it does drag a bit.

The exposition is an enduring plague clinging to the otherwise fun and easy to digest dialogue between characters. Forgive me for sounding like an English teacher but the game is at it's weakest when it is telling you about a world it isn't letting you see.

It is no suprise then that the game improves significantly with the gradual arrival of the wards, five girls that each represent (but also don't perfectly reflect) a world which you have so far only heard of.

This proves to be the remedy for the ailment of exposition, from this point forward you feel as is you are experiencing the story rather than reading about it. I found the game morphing from something I was playing because I had already downloaded it and the main girl was hot, to something I was geniunely interested in.

This is a great game. It always was, it was just hard to appreciate through the world building. Now though it is starting to shine. I eagerly await the next update.