Recent reviews by Juylyenne

Who doesn't love vampires?

Well if you don't, what is wrong with you?

The game has a wonderful Castlevania-esque aesthetic, except you're the naughty vampire slowly destroying all the hopes and dreams of the locals. It is a fun base building, resource managing, co-op game, with challenging enemies meant to wipe the floor with your team if you aren't careful.

Play it.

The narrative is engaging and even after running through the story twice I still don't feel I have all the answers. Anyone who likes to choose their own adventure should play this.

Absolutely adorable game. Story is cute, wholesome, and fun. The writing, the character styling, and the way the camera tends to work reminds me of many Zelda games, especially Ocarina of time. If you like puzzles, gathering, fun navigation styles, quirky characters, and a gentle atmosphere, you will like this game. It is just so peaceful and calm.

I enjoyed this installment of the VTM choice games.

Yes, it was shorter than the others. But that is not necessarily bad. I would rather have a shorter, better written game than a long one filled with extra fat that is choppy at best.

And the prose *is* written better than other. I felt it was elegant and flowed beautifully. There were also fewer non sequiturs than the other choice games. I didn't feel like a choice I made suddenly was null and void.

The cons? There were several times when I felt like their should have been one more choice. Or that a character should have had a different reaction. And the endings seemed a little to restrictive and not fully fleshed out (at least the two I got).

It is quite enjoyable and I think everyone should give it a try.

This was a very entertaining and educational game! I loved all the Slavic folklore and it introduced me to mythologies I hadn't really considered before. The style of rpg-story and card fighting was great! I really like that format!

I can't think of anything bad to say! It was amazing!

This is a review for early access (SPOILERS POTENTIALLY):

I enjoy the story so far. It was interesting seeing the choices I had playing as a drow (very different!) vs other people's experiences. My character, for instance, got past a lot of the nasty goblins just by throwing my weight around and telling them to bugger off. That was fun.

Yes it is extremely buggy! But it didn't stop me. I won't list everything because I am sure others already have. Notable things to fix:
- IF you scroll to far away from characters, the camera tends to get lost or stuck behind/below terrain.
- Seems like a lot of character story flags aren't triggering at the right moment or not at all. For instance I picked up Wylls's eye after killing one of the goblin leaders and it never triggered a conversation with him when back at camp. Where as Gale's trigger for wanting to steal the idol from the druids came much later (after saving the druids.)
- Lots of camera issues when talking to characters. They flicker in and out of the scene, seem to be merging into the ground, etc.
- The character didn't seem to update properly. I added several abilities at level 4 and they didn't show in the list of what I had gained (they did appear for use in the spell book and on the bar though. I wonder if some passive abilities never get listed? For instance the "Mobile" trait never showed.)

Features I am looking forward to:
- You meet a smith pretty early, but there is no way to upgrade weapons or armor yet!
- Likewise I was able to pick up herbs and mushrooms but I had no use for them yet. Can't wait to see a crafting system for potions, oils, bombs, etc.
- More secondary action spells or cantrips.

I can't wait for more to come!

I really enjoyed the game and it is certainly worth the prices and your time. It captured the world WTA very well!

Pros:
- The story really does change with your choices
- The art is haunting and beautiful
- The music is atmospheric and really cements you in the mood of the game
- The writing is smooth and most scenes transition well between each other

Cons:
- Too short! The story ended just as I felt it was beginning. I am hoping there will be a second chapter to continue the main character's adventures!
- Some scenes jumped out at me for not making sense. (There is a scene where i believe the Wyrm is speaking to Maia but it pops up, goes away, and nothing comes of it.) At least on the path I chose, it seemed out of place.

Overall, the story was very good. Your choices are influenced by the powers, skills, and disciplines you develop plus your hunger, wounds, and philosophy. It delivers what so many choice based games only claim to do but fail - give you real choices.

Despite some questionable things happening in the plot (Julian you are overpowered buddy), I still enjoyed it. I just had to suspend some disbelief. My only real criticism beyond that is that your past was set up for you. WIthout spoilers, despite being able to pick your clan and your first few stats through a bit of story, your origins are fixed. I felt a bit disappointed in that.

What little art we do get, is very well done. But I would have loved more art for characters, scenery, pictures of described items, etc.

The menus are simple to understand, so I don't get the beef some people have with them.

My last comment is when the next one comes out: wait a few days for major updates to go through. Apparently large bug fixes cost many people their saves on this game. It would be a shame for that to happen again.

The game has a lot of pros and cons. A lot of the cons are disappointments I have with nearly every visual novel game, so it was still worth recommending despite them.

Pros:
*Beautiful Art
*Diverse and inclusive character design
*There are choices in which side stories to do. Depending on how you interact with side NPCs, it changes who helps you in the end.
*Immersive music
*UI is easy to control/understand
*Nice edition to VtM world.

Cons:
*Other than choosing who your allies are and having a choice in what side stories are completed, ultimately, your decisions mean squat. You come out to the same ending no matter what. Sadly, although this is disappointing, not many VN games really do any better...
*I specifically tried to be nice. 1st NPC response would play. I specifically was a pain in the ass. 1st NPC response would play...Again, you'd think there would be more divergence in how NPCs respond to you. But alas...nope. You pretty much end up at the same place with the key NPCs. For the side characters you DO have a chance to change their decisions, as stated above, but that again doesn't really change how the game plays out. Which in a good narrative, it SHOULD.
*There was some lack of care with side narration. As before, I would react in different ways with each play through, with each character, and the narration would either miraculously be the same despite the events of the night before being very different, or the player character's inner dialogues were all exactly the same. Not exactly immersive.
*They left several big threads hanging. I kept thinking, maybe there is some way, some dialogue I can choose, to see that character again? Nope...(Examples: Juno and the other faction! Let's continue that arc! Nope... Had to beat down a spy to get his master's name and with great success, I get it! But that goes no where...etc...etc..)

Over all: The game was still fun. I am big fan of VtM and always welcome more content. And I am sure that a game with the art and sound design as beautiful as it was, took a lot of hard work and I commend them. But the narration and story could have been soooo much better. Play it for the simple story and the beautiful vamps, but don't expect a deep, immersive story.

The mix between Gwent (both regular games and puzzle games), which is fun and challenging, and the story and adventure of roaming the map, makes for quite a fun game. I wish more people would give it a go.

The graphics are great. I even like the detail they put in to the mouths moving while characters talk,which triple A $60 games don't even do ( I am looking at you bioware). I especially love the pseudo movies with the partial animations.

It is a well done game.