In 2020, Salty Salty Studios and Studio Elan released First Snow, a prequel/side story which teased the upcoming release of Twofold. Now, after a decade in development, Twofold is finally here, and it is a step up in every way over its predecessor.
The overall art style carries over from First Snow, with character sprites rendered like paper cut outs on backgrounds that appear like paintings on canvas. The splash CGs likewise give the impression of being hand illustrated, in a way that meshes much more cleanly with the other elements than before. The details and colouring also vary according to the scene, with a large variety of poses, outfit variations, and colour grading effects applied to match the environmental lighting. Smart directing also helps the visuals sell the prose, with subtle sprite positioning, pose changes, and camera movements used to great effect for even the smallest actions.
Twofold's story comprises two main routes, with main character Olive pursuing a relationship with either Caprice the artist or Millie the writer. While both characters appear in either route, playing both will be necessary to get both sides of the conflict between the two girls (and unlock certain bonuses aside). The supporting cast in Caprice's route all return from First Snow, while Millie's route introduces several others, each of which are brought to life in their own individual B-plots. Each character's personality shines by way of distinct character voice, in particular the deadpan Hayley and love-to-hate-her Heather.
Possibly the biggest contributing factor to bringing the characters and story to life however is in the voice acting. Unlike First Snow, Twofold is fully voice acted, with all dialogue from every character performed to great effect. In particular the performances of Lisa Reimold as Caprice and Jill Harris as Millie carry a great deal of the emotional core of the narrative. Also worth noting is the inclusive casting for Darren.
Twofold is a wonderful visual novel. If this review has not yet convinced you, then I suggest trying out the demo, or taking a look at the prequel, First Snow (also available on Steam, at the low low cost of FREE).
Disclaimer: I was invited to provide guest art for the in-game gallery but I was otherwise not involved with development and bought the game myself.
This is a standalone version of the full-completion bonus in Twofold, repackaged with a new UI and extra scene. It hits just as hard as it does in its original iteration, but it should be said that it's pretty important that you're familiar with Twofold before playing this.
Update after voice acting patch: it's got 2B
Much like the developers, Salty Salty Studios, First Snow can be described using three "S"s: soft, sweet and sapphic. This kinetic visual novel tells the story of Allison Merlo, a girl feeling quite overwhelmed by upheaval in her life in the form of a new school, new living situation, new friends and new feelings with respect to one Eileen Turner. With the cozy Winter setting, cute paper-craft artstyle, and colourful cast of characters, this title ought to leave you feeling sweet and warm like drinking a hot mug of cocoa on Christmas morning.
I really liked this game! The story is really well paced, with a balance of cute comedy and deep, emotional pathos. Its structure resembles an adventure game, where each "chapter" feels like a different "level" to explore, each with unique key NPCs and point-and-click style "verb-noun" puzzles to solve which cleverly play into the setting and themes. And that soundtrack? Hello???
Also, Rain is precious. Must protecc. Must ruffle floofy hair.
A decade ago I was infected with Fate/Stay Night brain rot, which led to the other myriad Type Moon works. If you told me A Tithe in Blood was one of those works, I would agree without so much as a second thought.
The dark urban fantasy tone absolutely brings the vibes, and the art is breathtakingly gorgeous. I am intrigued by where the story is going to go, and I can't wait for the full release!
Wow, truly impressive. I was engrossed in the story right from the start, and the way that the UI, graphics, prose, and even the type face unify to create the dark fairy tale setting is immaculate. This entry in the Dandelion Set stands as quite the stark contrast to all the others, and it is no less potent for it.
The ending of the game suggests we may see more of it in the future. I very much hope that will indeed be the case.
Talk about an original pitch! Yuri Paddle makes a strong statement with its bold, monochrome colour palette, and an even stronger one with its story setup. But its strongest statement comes in its impeccable black comedy writing, filled with snappy dialogue and prose that show the writers really get anime cons and the people that frequent them. Especially a certain character that is so delightfully hateable.
As a murder mystery themed game, it was neat to play around with some Ace Attorney style crime scene investigating and evidence presenting, though I did feel the pacing and structure left a little bit to be desired; I get the impression some things had to be cut for time as some threads and characters are introduced but never followed up on, and as a result there isn't much mystery to the murder.
Still though, this game is funny as hell and an absolute mood.
I really dig the "solarpunk" setting of this game. It's not a term I was familiar with before, but the vibes it has here are immaculate. It makes me think so Disney's Treasure Planet, in a weird way? But I love the idea of an optimistic sci-fi interstellar road trip with the girls.
I'm really looking forward to the full release! Also, Quinn is best person.
Mirabelle is really cute! I gave my best efforts to brew the right potions and get the good ending, and then when I did another play through and intentionally ruined all of them I felt awful for letting her (and Sara and Lilian) down. Serves me right, I guess.
Also, I was surprised that there was character creation! That's a non-trivial bit of extra effort the devs didn't need to do to for this story to work, so good on them for going the extra mile! It would be nice to see this game fleshed out into a full length experience some day!
