Hello,
After trying the demo, I became very interested in the game, so I purchased and fully played through Chapter 1. I believe I have seen most of the endings, including the secret route. I have to say that, within this genre, this feels like a milestone work. It makes excellent use of the strengths of visual novels, and the choices truly feel meaningful and impactful.
The writing is very delicate and thoughtful, the characters have rich personalities, and their development feels logical and convincing. The AI-generated music is also handled with remarkable care. Whether it is the piano pieces or the female vocal chants, the music fits the scenes extremely well and gives the game a surprisingly high-production feeling. It's literally epic.
At the same time, however, I noticed some issues that I found rather unfortunate. The game currently feels a bit like an excellent restaurant: the decoration, service, appetizers, and desserts are all wonderful, but the main dish — the part players are most looking forward to — still feels like it needs a little more refinement.
1. Artwork consistency and immersion
Players of this type of game are often drawn very strongly to character sprites and CG illustrations in a visual novel, so the consistency between the artwork and the story text is extremely important.
Some story CGs and sprites seem to be designed to remain compatible with different outcomes caused by different choices and stages, but this can sometimes create a sense of mismatch. Some images also feel noticeably disconnected from the rest of the art style, or show body proportions that do not quite match. This issue can even appear between one image and the next, which significantly hurts immersion and the overall experience.
For example, this was noticeable in Charlotte’s and Rosalind’s reward scenes. Charlotte’s sprite and CG illustrations also seem somewhat inconsistent in body shape.
2. Choice guidance, gallery, and pacing of rewards
The story is genuinely excellent, but I think the choice system could benefit from an optional toggle, such as “Show choice guidance?” This would allow players to see roughly what consequences their choices may lead to. It does not necessarily need to show exact values; even a simple hint about which aspect a choice may affect would be enough. Players who prefer a more immersive experience could simply turn this option off.
I would also recommend adding a gallery feature. If more illustrations are added at important story moments, the gallery could also help players understand which major scenes or routes they may have missed.
Also, the secret route currently feels a little too understated compared with how difficult it is to reach. Of course, it is possible that I have not seen all of the secret content, but from what I experienced, there seems to be only one nighttime conversation between the two characters and one additional kitchen event involving three characters.
In addition, I would suggest placing smaller reward content before the major battle, while saving the larger rewards for after the battle. This would better fit the usual structure of dramatic conflict and would also give players stronger motivation and payoff. At the moment, almost all of the reward content happens before the boss fight, which makes the story after the major battle feel slightly empty, even though everyone understands that Chapter 1 is not the end, but only the beginning.
3. Expectations for Selena’s story progression
I also have one larger expectation regarding the story. I understand that the demo is very important for promotion and for encouraging players to buy Chapter 1, but Selena, who was developed with so much care in the demo, does not appear to have any additional stage progression in Chapter 1. This may be quite disappointing for many players.
Selena has already reached her second highest stage before the first battle. Because of this, the card artwork do not create as much contrast, surprise, immersion, or excitement as they could.
One possible solution would be to reduce Selena’s stage progression in the demo, or make Stage 3 a secret branch that can be reached only under special conditions. Then she could enter Chapter 1 at Stage 2 and reach Stage 4 during Chapter 1. I think this might make players much more satisfied.
4. Expectations for character sprites and CGs
The first illustration in Valeriana' s minigame feels excellent. However, I think the minigame’s progression might work better as bloat → overbloat → extremely overbloat, rather than directly changing on weight during the feeding process. The current presentation may feel a little confusing to players.
After all, for a progression-based game where the appeal comes from seeing characters change over time, the more strongly a character is established in their normal state, the greater the contrast, impact, and excitement will be when those changes finally happen. That contrast is a very important part of the player’s enjoyment. In this sense, bloat or temporary visual changes can serve as an effective way to provide immediate visual payoff during normal gameplay, while preserving the stronger long-term impact of later stages.
Many events, except for the mirror-trap event, currently seem to lack a very direct visual design that lets players immediately understand and enjoy the intended excitement. After the character comes out of the mirror, the sprite changes are indeed visible, but I think they could be made just a little more noticeable. Of course, I also understand that with AI-generated sprites, maintaining the right level of intensity and consistency is a difficult challenge.
I would strongly recommend adding bloat, overbloat, and even extremely overbloat sprites for some characters, as this would greatly improve immersion and the overall player experience.
There is also one small common issue with the current sprites, at least from my personal perspective. When looking only at the characters’ faces, they generally seem reasonable. However, if the player’s focus is on the characters’ bodies, the faces in later stages sometimes feel a little too round. Perhaps this kind of facial change could be reduced slightly, or applied only in much later stages. This is only my personal impression.
5. Liora’s route and possible additional reward scenes
Liora’s characterization is very good, and her route design and requirements feel almost counterintuitive compared with many other games in the same genre, in a very interesting way.
This gave me an idea that I would strongly recommend, although I understand it would also require more work: perhaps characters could have separate reward CGs depending on their stage, initial state, or after reaching a certain amount of weight gain. This kind of contrast seems like it could be very appealing.
6. Battle sound effects and party guidance
The battle system may really benefit from some simple sound effects. Even if there were only different hit sounds for water, fire, wind, arcane, and physical attacks, it would greatly improve the game experience.
I would also suggest that characters who join through the story be added to the party by default, or that the game provide a little more guidance when they become available.
These are just some rough and immature thoughts. I can truly feel how much care and polish has gone into this game, and that is exactly why I feel both regret and high expectations.
I sincerely hope that Chapter 2 can improve the artistic consistency of sprites and CG illustrations, and that bloat sprites can be added as well. I really think these changes would make the game much closer to perfect. It would also be wonderful if Chapter 1 and the earlier prologue could receive appropriate updates someday.
Thank you.