Okay, I said to myself that I wouldn't make a long review, but here I am, over an hour and a half later!!! 😅😂 Lmfao I can't help it, it always turns into this for the games I enjoy the most. Very long review, I feel SUPER bad that I typed this much so I'm sorry!!! Not everyone likes long ass reviews but I couldn't help it. I wanted every element of the art to be acknowledged and no dev to feel left out. You guys deserve high praise. Feel free to not read it all and only read the parts that apply to you as I cover all the elements of the game. Please pass it along to the other members so they are acknowledged for their hard work!
I am in absolute AWE that you guys made this for nanoreno. I have played many visual novels now, at least a for a decade of my life now mostly through my teen years, and I have been following nanoreno for years to the point where it's a tradition now. I've gotta say, in all my years of playing, this has got to be the most fleshed out, polished, just...MOST IMPRESSIVE work I've seen! This is at the top of the list of games I would've never expected were NOT full titles. I understand the length is shorter than full title visual novels, but I could barely tell based on how expertly paced the game's story was.
~~ WRITING ~~ I'm not gonna lie, whether I acknowledge it or not I kind of have high standards for the narrative works I read. (Less picky for the visual elements in visual novels, but I still have some level of standard in which I'm taken out of the story a bit if one of the elements feel different from others. But ESPECIALLY for story). Like, literally even down to fanfiction lmfao, I can't finish a story if the writing is kinda clunky. So if the writing and pacing is off in a story, I notice. If the romance is too abrupt or forced, I can try to ignore it and still enjoy reading but I do notice. So I'm saying that to say...when I find a story done so well -- good writing form, gripping narrative, expert pacing, JUST OVERALL AMAZING -- I hold it to such high regard!!! What makes your talent as writers stick out even more is the fact that you made this story seam so seamless and natural and well-paced within the confines of time. You guys had to make this in such short and in turn, the timing affected the plot time (by that, I mean the characters had limited time to interact due to you guys needing to wrap it up within a month.). So it is impressive not only because you guys were able to create this story in such rushed time but also because your amazing pacing still held up despite the characters having less "screen time" lol, so to speak, than a game with no time constraints.
~~ PROGRAMMING ~~ I've gotta give it up to the other members of the team too. Their hard work truly supplemented the story and the narrative wouldn't have been as powerful without their hard work. There was no part of this game that lacked to me; every element was complementary of the others. The game was clearly coded SO well. I will say that this is THE cleanest and most polished programming I've come across from a nanoreno game. Undoubtedly. This is impressive work to have made so polished within such short time. I hope the programmers feel good about themselves, I hope they're not staying up too late and not straining their eyes lmfao. I have an interest in python and renpy from all my years of lurking on lemmasoft lol and it's actually really inspiring to see how smooth and natural the programming was. (The shake animation when the characters were surprised was the most natural animation I've come across, I've honestly never seen anyone ever do that type of animation.) The GUI and other graphics wouldn't have been the same without the programming, so well done on that. The particles were animated so nicely, it all felt so animated and alive that I felt I got sucked into the world itself. It was fully immersive.
~~ ART: ~~ Which leads me to my next point of art. The character art, the background art, the GUI/overlays...Nothing I say can do it all justice. We all know how amazing the art in this game is! The character design is amazing (I seriously want her shirt LOL, like omg I would pay top dollar for that blouse.) Both of the characters are gorgeous! That man makes me weak in the knees lmfao if I saw a dude like him IRL I'd lose my damn mind. (THE "MY RADIANCE" !!!! THING DID NOT HELP OKAY OMFG-) Lmfao anyways, I'm really too uncultured when it comes to giving reviews on art, but I really loved the style. The characters, the backgrounds, the UI...they all have this stylistic "look" to them that blend so well. All these art elements went together nicely, and I couldn't imagine a different style with this alluring and mysterious game. I don't what what it is, but the texture and style really fits the medieval and supernatural theme so well. The different color schemes, the relationship between colors and darkness/shadows was really interesting and unique. I'm obsessed and will be lurking to follow whatever twitter/deviantart/artstation/whatever I can find.
~~ MIUSIC/SOUND: ~~ is another field I'm super uncultured in, I don't know how to say much on it but the game would have been a different game without this music. So enchanting, emotional, and just straight up beautiful. I'm actually listening to it right now lol, really calming and fitting for the style. It really set the tone in each scene and helped so much with immersion. The instruments definitely fit the vampire theme without sounding basic, you know? String instruments are used a lot in vampire media, sometimes it can sound like really basic Victorian lol, idk how to describe it but sometimes it can just sounds like forced I guess? Some VNS in general have forced music. Like a song with no heart/soul to it or not quite fitting of the VNs theme. In THIS game, though, the music took on its own form and had its own, unique sound. It had its own emotions that fit the game well. And it never got overbearing/annoying and I never noticed when it looped or anything like that. Very fitting and immersive.
~~ VA: ~~ The voice actress sung SO beautifully, I loved her voice and the composition of the song she sung. Which is my next point that the voice actors were so damn good. Sometimes English visual novel voice acting can be...well, I don't want be critical but they can be definitely different than the standard of Japanese otomes ^^" Sometimes English voice acting sounds a bit theatrical/exaggerated and unbelievable, actually I get second-hand embarrassment sometimes. Not for this game. These voice actors captured emotions so raw and powerfully...I found myself listening to voice lines multiple times because I was so taken. Really portrayed the characters beautifully, I was entranced in Ms. Youman's portrayal of the MC from her initial fear (EXTREMELY BELIEVABLE, this stood out to me a lot! I was so immersed), to her snarky personality, to her vulnerability and subtleties. Eric Navarro's character interpretation was just as powerful. Sorry to be a creep but man what a sexy voice. 😂😂 Goodness gracious!!! So deep and alluring; mysterious, but personable and not UN-approachable -- just like our vampy boi is. What stood out to me how dynamic and emotional he was in just a single sentence. For one particular line, Lucious is in pain and while you can hear that pain reflected, you can also hear the gentleness he has for the MC as he explains his what he's going through and then a pinch of frustration/rage towards the end of the sentence from the context of what he was explaining to the MC. It was so raw, I felt super inspired and impressed with how he could convey all these emotions so naturally, like someone would IRL as they are speaking. There's so much subtext that isn't present in dialogue and the voice actors really brought that out. I seriously am shook and hope their careers go even farther.
I really need to cut this review short now, but I just wanted to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart. I feel like this is illegal or undeserving that I got to experience such a nice story LOL. Sorry to be dramatic but I'm so serious that you guys made the perfect team on this project. I'm eternally grateful for having this experience. Sooo desperate for that last ending and cannot wait to read it!