Intriguing game. I enjoyed it but I want to see a bit more before I rate it. I'm a sucker for a good story and this one is very promising, but also extremely confusing, which is to be expected at this point. I really like the atmosphere and especially the music. I had some scenes where the menu choice sychronized with the chorus and it felt really badass.
MC's character is very fitting. He is smart and proactive, exactly how he should be in such a chaotic situation. The thrill of intrigue and mystery is also communicated very well and it's a really good device to drive the plot, because it mirrors the reader's curiosity, amplified by small foreshadowings.
Some feedback:
1) I expect this will happen down the line anyway, but you may want to include a glossary to explain things that the MC knows about. An obvious example is the Ceremony of Ash. I can roughly understand what it's about, but it feels a bit cheap for the MC to have the full context while the player tries to grasp at straws. For example, we can't know if the ritual is responsible for Marie not having feelings for Caleb anymore, or it's purpose is more specific, like annuling some magical connection.
2) This ties a bit to the previous point because there is much to be learned and explained, but I think that the romance paths are locked way too early. I'm going to assume that it's a soft lock, but a full blown relationship in 3 days, while MC's life is extremely hectic and he has to deal with both his past relationship while understanding his "destiny", is a bit too much. Keira says that she doesn't want to be a sidepiece, but for all intents and purposes, romantic or not, she is.
3) l understand it's early, but I feel like the side content is spread way too thin and gated too much. Maximizing a stat means that you get less experience when using it. An obvious sex god like Aphrodite gives you 3 extra scenes, two of them are the girls masturbating so you don't get to partake, and the other is enabling content with Swansong which ends up hurting the relationship with Marie that seems integral to the story. As it stands, I'd rather hack a playthrough to enable all the content than minmax because the system is unessecary punishing, and I don't really subscribe to the "multiple playthrough" idea because after all are said and done, this is still a visual novel and the gameplay isn't varied enough to worth the effort. If there is a rhyme behind those choices, I just can't see it. Thankfully, hacking the game isn't that hard, so I don't see this being an obstacle to my enjoyment, rather a minor inconvenience.
