This is so far my favourite Team Eclipse VN, and the best "to be continued" VN of this jam.
The visuals are absolutely gorgeous and steal the show. Roar has outdone himself in every aspect. I remember loving the itch page alone, seeing Frey's shiny armour as he's releasing the dove. The illustrations in game are even better. The random dying tiger guard makes such iconic faces as he's getting a smooch, the lighting from Frey's healing magic is gorgeous and the tiger's tits are fat and pierced for an amazing reason.
The sprites are just as nice to look at. I think the generic guards and enemies look a kinda goofy, but I do love how all the characters look. They have nice clean designs that tell you who they are, with pleasant colour schemes and a smooth simple rendering style that is easy on the eyes. I think I like Korpa's design and expressions the most, but I love Frey's soothing colours and very naive head empty smiles, and the fact that all of Chris's expressions are just different flavours of 😏
Speaking of characters, I enjoyed them quite a bit. Frey is a relatively unusual protagonist since such archetypes usually tend to have more of a supporting role. I must admit I was going in with a bit of dread as more of his deal was revealed, since the other Team Eclipse protagonist who has Very Important Powers and is a symbol of purity and goodness I didn't jive with. Thankfully Frey managed to avoid all the grievances I had with a certain other puppy. Chris did strike a good balance of being a cocky bastard, reasonable and dutybound and kinda too edgy for his own good. I liked the dynamic those two have both as rivals and as party companions. I am a sucker for a good enemies to lover AND a healer/bodyguard romance, so I'm looking ahead to what will come next with these two (even if it isn't romance, I am just manifesting). Korpa was used well for a character who exited the story pretty early on, but the inkeeper felt like he was trying to hog up the screentime towards the end. I felt like he tried so hard to invite himself to the party and elevate himself to status of main character, I almost expected him to join the duo in their travels.
Also just one last minor thing about the characters - I found the names pretty odd. We have Korpa who fits his name (being corpulent), Manfrey who is literally a MAN wanting to be FREE, and then we have... Chris from accounting. Chris gets done double dirty cause he introduces himself with a pretty edgy sounding dorky title. It is a small thing, but it leaves an impression.
As for the writing and story, its greatest strength is that it manages to be a self contained episode despite being an intro for a bigger long term project. Very few WIP VNs manage to do this, so congrats to the team! Anyone can read the jam version and end up with it being a pretty satisfactory self contained story. The other strength was the characters, whom I talked about already.
The writing itself and the setting I didn't enjoy as much. I felt both were pretty bland, and a lot of things seemed either generic DND campaign or just a general trope without anything too concrete to make it stand out to me. Okay that's a lie, there is one thing that stood out to me...
The boykisser magic! That was so unexpected, self indulgent, and kinda unhinged... but... it works! Once again the illustrations make the absolutely ridiculous situation of making out with dying men work, but the writing does pull its own weight here too. Frey is such a sweet, innocent person that he manages to do it without coming off as an absolute freak. I can't overstate how easily this could have ended up being creepy or weird or unserious, but we avoid all those pitfalls here yay! I think beautiful art and shock factor aside, I appreciate his absolute devotion Frey shows here. It is a small detail discussed in only one or two lines, but him explaining that his healing kiss gets powered by him showing his authentic self and being vulnerable is an angle I really enjoyed. It is a perfect parallel to his main character dilemma of gaining unwanted attention and jeopardising his freedom because he can't live himself if he refuses helping the vulnerable. Not only that, but it is a great parallel to queer experiences! Letting yourself be open and vulnerable is dangerous, but it will heal both you and your loved ones. Waiter waiter more stuff like boykisser magic please!
One last remark I have that I have no fitting place to put it in is the music. It was lovely, but it is such a shame that these loops were so short. I am not sure if this was caused by the cost of production, but the Tavern ditty in particularly actually drove me mad with how short and repetitive it is. I don't hold this against the game when rating it, since it's such a minor blemish when it comes to the presentation, but it is a shame when devs go the extra mile and put in the effort, but in the end it makes for a worse reading experience.
All in all, I am happy that I have a Team Eclipse project I can say I enjoyed without too many caveats. I guess this review did include plenty of complaints, but I do think it's a well made VN and I overall had fun with it.