This game is a game like very few others I have played yet. In short, where this game comes short in it's number of art works, sprites, etc. , it more than makes up for that with its story.
Let me elaborate. The Survival of Sarah Rose features a story that rivals some of the best VNs out there. It features choices that majorly alter the path of the story. As of now, I have counted 4+ different major story lines, all with their own long and complicated plot and all with their multiple different endings, which still all follow one major story arch, leading to you ending up in different positions in the same event. (The endings and story lines I counted are: Staying in the castle and a) you win the war (-> (no) marriage) or b) you lose the war (-> you arrive in Al Gahaem); Leaving the castle with Kate and a) become a thief, b) become a mage, c) be alone in the city (not really implemented yet) or d) become a mercenary (they end up in Bagrad). If I forgot any paths/endings, I am sorry, but there are just so many of them.) And while many of these lines are not finished yet (the game is still in development after all), many of them are already incredibly fleshed out. In addition to this there are many, many explicit scenes strewn throughout the whole story. Another thing that should also be noted is the way these stories are being told. The writing in this game is spectacular with tension, release, uncertainty and something that let's the need in me arise to want to know where the story will take me next. This also helps to make the choices in this game make way more meaningful. As you are able to see by all the wildly different major routes one can take, there is also a lot that changes in this story. And most of what can change is caused by ones own choices. As an example, whether or not Rosana will fall is being determined by which choices you make in the council meetings based on the sparse information your advisors can give you or how you can decide in Lethram where you will end up by choosing what you do. This is how I want a good, story driven game to be. Your own choices based on your own limited knowledge of the circumstances and with a little bit of unpredictable things thrown into the mix affecting your life, or rather the life of the character you have the honor to follow.
There is a downside to this though. The accompanying artworks are sadly only very few. With some scenes having placeholders and the amount of different sprites always feeling a bit lacking to me. Although the quality of the art pieces is still pristine with a clearly defined art style and the artist clearly not lacking the skill. What also needs to be noted is that the dev said that he plans to rework many scenes since "The game had quite a lot of scenes for its initial release, so getting around to completing them all was not feasible. "
But in the end I feel like the goods far outweigh the bads for this game. Where the number of artworks is little, it always managed to support the text. The text, to which my main focus was being drawn due to its outstanding quality in both the quantity and quality and to the choices, which were almost always hard to make, outweighing what the risks and rewards of each one are, acting based on my limited knowledge of the circumstances surrounding them. Just how choices should be. Hence, my 5 stars.
The last thing I will note here is that the game version I played is version 0.20, although I do not expect this game to become incredibly worse in the future, since what is here already makes for a worthy game of its own.
