This comment is a review and contains spoilers. The start and end of each spoiler section is marked. I apologise for any grammar or spelling mistakes as English is not my first language.
This game was so well made it made me feel guilty for not being able to donate to the creators.
First of all, the artwork. Absolutely amazing. Beautiful, captivating illustrations. Interesting character designs. Sprites full of emotion. It has been a very long time since I've seen a game in which the visuals on their own pulled me so much into the story. I felt like each character's art truly captured their personality and role in the plot. My personal favourite were the illustrations displayed during the flashback sections.
Second, the music was amazing as well. It was fitting into the story, it helped to set the mood and it was an element of the narrative.
Thirdly the game was easy to navigate, did not have any crashes or glitches and the save folder was easy to find (which is very imporant to me as i tend to delete free-to-play games from my computer to save disc space, but like to keep the saves in case i ever wanted to re-play it - and this game is definetly one i'll be replaying).
I decided to play all of the routes in the suggested order and i highly recommend doing that. By following the recommended order you avoid reading spoilers about characters who's route you haven't played yet. The routes also have a nice build up, leaving the ones filled with most tension to the end. In my opinion Waltz's route is also very fit to be the last one as it has the most satifying ending and could be considered the true route.
ROD'S ROUTE
overall rating 7,5/10
As it was the first route I played i didn't really know what to expect (I wasn't even sure if the routes meant a love story or just focus on a specific character). The writing was good and i had a lot of fun playing it, especially getting to know Lucette, her life at the palace and her family. I especially enjoyed the time spend with Emeliegne.
- SPOILERS AHEAD -
I also really really enjoyed the scene with breaking Rod's curse - as a person rather familiar with fairytales and with a passion for figiuring out plot points before they happen i quickly guessed that Lucette would have to throw herself into the knife to keep Rod from stabbing his love and i was SO READY FOR THAT.
- END SPOILERS -
Conclusion:
I had lots of fun. Compared to the other routes Rod's didn't leave much impact on me, although i believe it's more of a compliment to those routes than a fault in this one. It did however leave a bit of bad aftertaste due to being, well, kinda incest-y.
KARMA'S ROUTE
overall rating 10/10
Yes, yes, A MILLION TIMES YES! Easily my favourite route, although I might be biased, given that the Beauty and the Beast is my all time favourite fairytale and i just have to appreciate every retelling in any shape or form. Karma is an absolutely captivating character and his and Lucette's relationship felt so incredibly real. They have gone through similar hardships in life and come from similar backgrounds so their bond and love felt like the most natural thing in the world. As with Rod, i did figure out how the route was going to end rather quickly, this however did not make me enjoy the gameplay any less. I got so into the story that i just couldn't stop playing and ended up staying up late into the night just to get to the ending.
- SPOILERS AHEAD-
THE LAST CHAPTER. AMAZING. BRILLIANT. FUDQIOWDIQXIXQIOWJSOID. I'm always a sucker for the "I will never be afraid of you" (proceeds to hug the beast) trope in fairytale retellings.
Also, the fact that his brother's name is Llama. Whoever came up with this, I love you.
The only thing missing in the ending (imo) was a bit of info on what the political impact of Klaude's and Lucette's relationship was. Because surely there must be some, right?
- END SPOILERS -
Conclusion: Karma has stolen my heart and sould and is not planning on giving it back. Will 100% replay this route at least once.
RUMPEL'S ROUTE
overall rating 8/10
Rumpel's route i was looking forward to the least and originally wanted to play it only for the sake of completion. That feeling was a result of Rumpel giving off incredibly intense Nice Guy TM vibes. Boiiiiiiiiii was I wrong!!! I was incredibly pleasantly surprised with Rumpel's character and character development.
- SPOILERS AHEAD -
I really liked the fact that even though Bria was a past love interest and also a cheater we got to see her side of the story as well, instead of just painting her as a villan. It was new and refreshing. I also would absolutely never have guessed that Rumpel was a doctor????????????? I like to think I'm hard to surprise by stories and i have been completely surprised by this one!
- END SPOILERS -
Conclusion: Good route. Had lots of fun. Kept staring lovingly at Karma every time he appeared on the screen.
FRITZ'S ROUTE
overall rating 9/10
Definitely the one i was looking most forward to after seeing the prologue. I am a sucker for friends to lovers tropes and was hoping to find that here. I didn't exactly but still the route was incredibly good.
- SPOILERS AHEAD -
I have to say that i did figure out Varg was Fritz already when encountering him in Rod's route ( i was convinced he was wearing a mask for a reason so i started to compare his skin and eye color to every character already known). I was however really surprised by how much i grew to like Varg. I started off pretty much hating the dude and ended feeling bad for the fact that he had erased his existence and had to do so knowing that the person he loved would never love him back (even though he technically is the same person as Fritz so he didn't really die or anything, right). And the line in the ending about seeing something familiar in Fritz's cocky smile fucked me up.
There was also a bit too much death for me. Cried everytime.
- END SPOILERS -
Conclusion: How did I end up liking Varg so much??????????? I wish it was a bit longer so that we could spend more time with both Varg and Fritz, but oh well you can't have everything right.
WALTZ'S ROUTE
Overall rating: 10/10
I FOUND THE CHILDHOOD FRIENDS TO LOVERS!!!!! HHHHHHHH!! Waltz is absolutely amazing. The story felt so diffetent from the previous ones, in a good why, though i can't exactly put my finger on why that is. The little moments when Waltz was showing his magic skills to woo Lucette: Delicious. Finally some good fucking food.
- SPOILERS AHEAD -
The ending was so extremely satifying!!! The fact that Lucette actually becomes queen (even though the king had to die (i cried)), the parade through the town with lilies everywhere, Lucette protecting the citizens from Hildyr, the ball, Lucette in that beautiful dress... hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Also why did Waltz never properly dress up for that ball do you not own any clothes boi.(jk i know sprites are time consuming)
- END SPOILERS -
Conclusion: Great. 100% will play again. Almost made me stop thinking about how much i love Karma.
Almost.