Bride of Darkness Review by Amjara
EARLY ACCESS REVIEW
Bride of Darkness is an otome novel about a young girl who is coming of age and finds out she is to be married in an arranged marriage against her will but the marriage is the least of her problems.
Within the main story there are unique underlying stories that give some context and possible hints at things to come. I have to say I am impressed with the writing, in some parts I enjoyed the depth and thoughtfulness. Good writing is not always a given in a visual novel but appreciated when it is there and very noticeable when it is absent.
The
game is in early access and so far with three chapters. Your choices,
for the most part, do not (yet) seem to impact the direction of the game
until you get to chapter 3. The game cuts off at a point where it seems
your choices will start to finally play more of a role in the game's
direction but we'll have to see how it goes when the next chapter is
released.
Game play & Features
- I love when novels include your chosen name into the story. It makes it more immersive and enjoyable. So I am happy to see this feature in this game.
- Easy to read text with fast/slow scrolling being adjustable.
- Bright, colourful gorgeous artwork.
- You can hide the hud by pressing "H" to, you know, take pictures of the cute suitors (ahem…I mean take some screen captures for wallpapers) ;)
- Lots of save slots
- The achievements are minimal at the moment and all obtainable by normal game play and not influenced so far by personal choices made within the game. So far only one play-through is necessary to obtain all of them.Graphics & Sound
- The soundtrack is relaxing and fits the story. Not intrusive and all audio is adjustable in the settings.
- Artwork is gorgeous and will display at full screen on widescreen monitors with black bars on either side
Overall Experience
The
game so far is good, I appreciate the good writing and the beautiful
artwork. The build up of the individual characters is slowly taking
shape. The story and characters at this point are still more of mystery
on purpose. I hope our choices end up having more of an influence on the
game's direction than it has so far. I get a hint of choice and
consequence starting to happen right at the end of chapter 3. Only
future chapters will determine how much of an impact we end up really
having in this story.
For the price the game is worth it at this point just for the writing alone. It is well written and I look forward to future content to see how the story plays out. 🖤
Otome Lovers wishes to thank Vorobushek for providing a free review copy for this game.
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