itch.io

Dear Devere is an epistolary visual novel, meaning that it’s a story told through letters. Here, Angela writes a letter to herself as a way of venting, and she hides it in a rock outside of town so nobody will find it. Instead, the mysterious Devere finds it, and they start a loving correspondence.

This is an otome game, at least in that it’s GxB, though the narrator isn’t always the girl. The game download page doesn’t make it clear there’s any otome elements or romance, but there is. So I guess it’s otome/bishoujo? The game took me about 32 minutes listening to about 70% of the spoken dialogue.

Full disclosure: I was asked by the creator if I’d play the game and review it, though I’ve had a link to Katy133’s games in my sidebar a while, so I was going to play the game anyway XD. But yes, being asked to review it didn’t sway my opinion and I wasn’t compensated or anything.

The game starts out with Angela writing that first letter, and from there, the reader is shown their correspondence. The game is split into a prologue, three acts, and an epilogue for the good end. The game is inspired by The Griffin and Sabine Saga, a series of epistolary books. Some of the devlogs include behind the scenes looks at how the images in the game were made, such as this one.

The game has absolutely beautiful music. It is very Celtic-sounding to me, so it matches Devere’s and the general atmosphere of the game. The soundtrack is available on the itch.io page for the game for free. The game also has a lot of settings, including a dyslexic text option, voice to speech options, and other things to assist players.

The game is also voice acted for the two main characters! It added so much depth to the game. Even though we never get to see the main characters, the voice acting really makes you feel connected to them. I feel like I have a very clear picture of what Angela and Devere look like despite us getting very little description of Devere or Angela.

Before getting into plot points, I want to mention that this game was made for NaNoRenO 2020, so the game was made in a short time, and during a pandemic. The plot points that were a bit confusing were not so much so to make me enjoy the game any less. The game has a time skip, and then we’re presented with some drama. I don’t want to spoil it, but this drama felt show-horned in because there was a time skip. Had the game been longer, I think that would have solved the issue.

The narrator is basically always switching, as well as the point of view. Sometimes it’s Devere, sometimes Angela, sometimes someone else, and sometimes I wasn’t sure. It didn’t really distract me from the game or make me enjoy it any less, but I was confused at points.

Their romance also came very quickly to me, which initially felt unrealistic, but then I realized by that point I shipped them as well, so I can’t complain XD.

At one point, I had to solve a code, so that’s dope LOL.

Onto the characters!

Angela is a social outcast who starts up a book club, but then a girl who doesn’t like her joins and turns everyone against her. She is very independent, and I’m not really sure why she’s an outcast. Overall, she’s fine, and I felt really connected to her as the story progressed.

Devere is…it’s not clear. It’s very clear from very early on that Devere is most likely not human, though the game doesn’t say exactly what he is. I personally headcanon him as a wendigo as some descriptions seemed to match that, but regardless, I know in my heart, he’s hot. I know this. His voice is also really nice and soothing? XD Props to the VA because there was some ASMR going on. Devere has some sass sometimes, and he’s just great. We don’t find out how old he is exactly, but if people can sweat hundreds of year old vampires, we can sweat kind-of-old wendigo werewolf creature boys.

There’s only two endings, so no play order this time around. The bad ending was sad, but I think potentially hopeful. The good ending was great, and I love it. One part of the good ending wasn’t explained as some of Devere’s limitations and abilities weren’t fleshed out enough to know how they’d impact it, but overall, the ending was super sweet and I almost cried.

Going very “you can tell I’m a writing and literature student” here, but I think a strong theme of the game is that looks can be deceiving. People assume negative things about Devere and Angela because they don’t take the time to actually analyze the situation. They let their preconceived biases take hold of them at the expense of Angela and Devere. There’s more to this theme, but I don’t want to spoil more lol.

Should you play?:

Please do. This game was so enjoyable and unique. The writing is done really well, and you WILL feel attached to Angela and Devere. Their romance is adorable, and the letter correspondence really fleshed out their characters in ways that I’m not sure showing actual sprites would have done.

This short game is really nice. The first screen is a customization screen. Here you can pick your pronouns that change how you are addressed, and the other options change how each character perceives you. The options you choose also impact what your character looks like.

Kirby is the shy young guy who is adorable and huggable. Micah is the studious man. Ash is the token bad boy with a heart of gold. All of the characters have their own unique charm and treat you differently based on your choices at the beginning of the game, as well as later on. Considering each play through is only ten or so minutes, there are a surprising amount of options for how the story progresses.

One funny thing I noticed was that the itch.io page describes Kirby as "A chronically white kid." I am…not sure what that means? But hey, it gave me a chuckle.

This game was known for having a plot-twist (hinted at in the game’s name according to the developer, except it is so vaguely hinted, I cannot imagine anyone actually guessed). I went in knowing the plot twist, but I was still able to fully enjoy the game.

The game is so short, just pick whoever you feel like. I cant really recommend an order to play the routes in.

Absolutely go play this game. The game is adorable, the plot-twist is surprising, each play takes a maximum of ten minutes, and it is just fun.

To start off, I will say that I somehow got spoiled to the main plot twist of the game. Even so, I still really enjoyed the game, and it gave me a different perspective. I can also say because of that, there are sufficient hints throughout the game, so the plot twist is not out of nowhere. Each love interest has an ending, though the endings barely vary between the two love interests due to time constraints (this game was made for NaNoRenO 2017).

The game also has character customization. You can choose from three different skin tones and eye colors, four different hair styles, and to have freckles or not. These changes are represented in the CG’s, which was really nice. I am not a fan of the art style. Unfortunately, that meant I was not really attracted to either character. The art has noticeably improved since Diving Deep though.

Both guys are clearly flirting with Tiana, and it comes off as a bit weird since she is just some random girl they do not know. By the end, their flirting made enough sense to me, but the journey to the end made them seem desperate and horny.

Lucan is the suave player type, while Tristan is the laid-back guy. They butt-heads a lot due to their situation and conflicting personalities, and it did make me chuckle a few times. Neither were very memorable to me. However, both guys have nothing glaringly wrong with them, and I was happy with Tiana ending up with either.

Where the game really shines is the plot. While at first it seems like the plot is an excuse to throw Tiana into a house with hot men, it quickly becomes clear that there is something weird and dark going on in the house. Again, I knew what was going on, but I did not know why, just what. I was still deeply invested in figuring out exactly what was going on in the house and with the two guys.

I did Tristan>Lucan but it really doesn’t matter. Once you do one route, you will know the plot, so I’d say say do the guy you like more first that way the plot unfolds with him.

Definitely check the game out. This is a game where you play it for the plot over the love interests, though both of the guys are fine (and their arguing was entertaining lol).

Despite my reservations about Heaven's Grave, I definitely plan on checking out more of your games. I really enjoyed the plot of Heaven's Grave, just not so much the execution, so I look forward to playing more games by you all as I'm sure the plots will be great <3.

I got a review copy of the game, but all my thoughts are unbiased. My full review can be found here (it's long lol): https://sonicnancyfan.wordpress.com/2019/09/13/otome-review-heavens-graveblackcr...

I'll just copy pasta some highlights of the most important parts of my review, and add some more thoughts.

The game can be summarized really simply: walking>camping>catastrophe>repeat

All of the routes follow this format, which makes them feel very much the same. Now this has some downfalls and some benefits. The biggest benefit is that the player gets to see Arha and her guy interact almost constantly. This allows for character growth and for feelings to grow as well. The biggest downfall is that the same things keep on happening over and over again. Most of the game takes place on roads or in forests, so though there are a lot of backgrounds, they’re usually really similar (like multiple backgrounds of a forest), so we don’t even get a change in scenery that often. One town gets destroyed in one route, and in another route, a different town gets destroyed. But in the end, it's basically the same thing for the player since we have no connection to either town.

The characters sit at campfires so much, they actually have sprites for sitting down XD.

The endings are also all very similar. The good ends are similar to each other and the normal ends are similar to each other. Since there’s three guys, the events in the ends kind of triangulate among them, and even after only seeing one ending, I feared the others would be about the same, and yep, I was right

I didn’t really like any of the endings? XD I suppose it’s the nature of the game, but I wouldn’t consider any of the endings actually “good,” at least if I interpreted them right, and considering all the endings are basically the same, that made me not like any of the endings. I’m very much an “I want an absolute perfectly happy ending” person, so I went in knowing I probably wouldn’t like the endings that much, and the game is clearly not happy from the description, so I can’t fault it for its depressing endings.

Kien is the unspoken OTP. His route has the most romance, the most chemistry, the spiciest CG's, and sexual content. Tai and Suiza barely have any. Tai and Arha have some slight chemistry in their route, but Suiza and Arha really don't acknowledge their feelings until super far in. Kien's route feels the most like what you'd expect in an otome game route.

Arha has sass and doesn't take crap from people, which was great. I really enjoyed her as a character. All of the guys were fine. Tai's route felt the most boring to me since most of his drama was him feeling conflicted over not being able to take charge in such a terrible situation. Suiza's route was full of sass, which was nice, but it also wasn't very romantic. Kien's route sucked up all the romance and hoarded it, so I enjoyed his route the most, and I felt they had the most chemistry.

As for play order, I would recommend Tai>Suiza>Kien. This leaves Kien for last and starts you out with the most boring route. Plus, Tai and Kien’s routes share similarities in some parts, so breaking them up is nice.

If you enjoy apocalyptic stories or otome games that have a lot of plot (at the expense of romance), as well as don’t mind how sad it is, then this game would be great for you. For anyone who wants a light-fluffy game, first, the plot description should be enough to know it’s not lol. But I’ll confirm; it’s not. This game wouldn’t be for you. If you want your otome game to have happy endings (beyond the MC and her guy getting together), then this game also wouldn’t be for you. It is a great take on an apocalyptic story that isn't set in a future setting though. I don't see that very often. So if apocalyptic stories are your jam, then definitely check this out.

As someone who generally prefers my otome games to have a lot of plot (even at the expense of romance), but, also wants happy endings, there was only so much I could enjoy the game. All the guys were okay enough, the plot was fine, and some of the journey was fun, but much of the game was ruined by my dislike for all the endings.

So would I recommend the game? If you’re someone like me, then no. If you view a happy ending as needing more than just the MC and her guy getting together, then this game, and most depressing otome games, are not for you. But, if that doesn’t bother you, then there’s an interesting plot and fun characters set in an (eventual) apocalyptic world.