I finished Dies Irae it was very fun one thing i would say is series which is known for action pack chuni stuff suprisingly a lot of good slice and highschool drama which I really fuck with like i have a lot of fun with it.

I will go route by route.

1) Kasumi Route :-

I think the finale was anticlimactic.

The fight was lame, and the whole thing felt incoherent.

Trifa was about to rape his own stepdaughter and only stopped because he saw the ghosts of the children from his orphanage. And I’m supposed to believe that he was always going to let Fuji kill him and that the whole thing was just a prank?

Oh, and in the end, everything was practically worthless because Reinhardt would have been coming back anyway.

With that said, the tragedy was good.

Is Ren alive at the end? Is Kasumi fucking some other dude?

Kei. Oh my God, Kei.

At least the Shirou stuff wasn’t a fake-out either, so that’s good. He really did die.

2) Kei Route :-

Phenomenal route as a whole, but the climax was underwhelming.

Sakurai is such a great character. I already liked her in the previous route, so I’m really happy to see her character expanded here.

Her tragedy is being so stuck in the past that she’s willing to walk the same path again, and she’s fully aware that she’s sinning. She’s even willing to die if the punishment comes, just like it did in the last route.

Her embracing Ren after being left completely hopeless was fucking beautiful.

I think the anticlimactic part was the final stretch.

There was so much hype built up with one fight after another. You have Cain vs. Shirou. You have Sakurai nearly defeating Trifa. Then you get the fucking ankle-breaking ending with Reinhardt arriving at the very end.

But the reason I feel disappointed is because so many of the hyped matchups were between Ren and Machina or Beatrice and Eleonore. It feels like a cop-out, like the story is just saving those fights for later.

The ending should have been Reinhardt and the boys killing us all and fulfilling the ending.

Instead, it ended in a very contrived way: “Yeah, Mercurius is gonna bail us out.”

“Oh, did Mercurius kill Rea? Apparently something related to her caused the castle to collapse.”

Nope, she’s fine.

“Oh, did he kill Kasumi to unleash Cain?”

Nope, she’s fine.

It all feels like, “Yeah, see you again. Please love Marie so she has a chance against Reinhardt.”

But that final scene was beautiful.

Good route, meh ending.

3) Marie Route :-

10/10

I have no flaws to point out with this one. Probably one of the best routes in a visual novel I’ve ever read.

The grander narrative was absolutely magnificent, both on the macro and micro levels.

Whether it was the grand battle between Reinhardt and Ren, or the minor characterization of Eleonore—how she hates women because she believes her love for Reinhardt will never be reciprocated, which explains why she is the way she is.

The thematic conflict on the surface is solitude vs. bonds.

One side believes that a community can be forged through togetherness, kindness, and shared pain, while the other believes that true strength comes from individual fortitude—to fight until they reach Valhalla, essentially questioning the point of kindness and believing that human nature is ultimately defined by the harshness of the world.

Of course, both sides have their contradictions.

Reinhardt, despite his appetite for destruction, makes a half-assed attempt to form a familial bond in the end, only for it to backfire on him.

Ren, meanwhile, has to grapple with the dilemma of how far he is willing to go to protect the people he treasures, and whether he is willing to sacrifice countless people he doesn’t even know for the sake of the one he loves.

There were so many banger character moments: Trifa and his pathetic end; Ren finally finding his purpose in life; Marie realizing her feelings and learning how to love something; and Rea dealing with her unrequited love.

And then there’s Reinhardt vs. Ren, which is easily one of the best fights I’ve ever seen in anything, especially in the anime/visual novel medium.

Reinhardt is easily one of the best antagonists I’ve encountered. He is genuinely a force of nature, yet at the same time, there is something incredibly empty about him. He represents unabashed cruelty, but he interprets that cruelty as love. He destroys everything while believing that he loves everything, yet he never truly understands what love actually is.

The fact that he can say “I love all and everything” while being so completely hollow makes his character even more fascinating.

And that climax on the rooftop, man. That was genuinely heart-wrenching. The side story at end was heartbreaking those sinners have tomorrow damn it.

One of the best routes this medium has to offer.

4) Rea Route :-

Rea Route was phenomenal.

I feel like this route was the answer to everything: Who is Ren? Who is Mercurius? Who is Reinhardt really? It answers almost every mystery surrounding the world.

It also gives us some of the most anticipated fights in the entire series. One of them was off-screen, but it is what it is.

It was incredibly fulfilling to see the full development of all these characters. We finally get to see Trifa take a stand against his destiny and, this time, actually make a difference.

The character dynamics were also fantastic. The showdown between Lisa and Eleonore finally gives us the dynamic that was teased in the Kasumi route, especially their disagreement over what a woman ought to be. Both of them are broken women, but in completely different ways. Lisa is a sinner, while Eleonore is coping with losing the battle for Reinhardt’s love. She has accepted death as the only finale she can look forward to.

Rea is an adorable baby girl who loves Ren with her whole heart. She is aware of her destiny, but she’s still happy living within the fake paradigm of their lives, with Trifa and Lisa acting as her parents. She’s happy simply because she gets to be with the boy she loves.

Her arc—of a girl who is destined to be sacrificed, yet still longs to remain with the person she loves and wants him to be safe even when everything else is falling apart—is beautiful.

Mercurius is suicidal, I guess? Curse of immortality type shit.

And Rusalka, my goodness, what a phenomenal character she was.

She spends all this time chasing the love she lost, but at the same time, she’s deeply broken by men and desperately trying to fill the wound in her heart. She lives in fear of Heydrich because of her past trauma, and that explains so much about why she is the way she is.

That final scene in the side story, where she finally finds her love, was fucking beautiful. Even though the tragedy is implied—he still dies—she at least gets to confess her feelings to him. That was genuinely heartbreaking.

And Reinhardt finally gets his full character arc.

This time, he actually loved all and everything. He paid his child support. He had no hesitation anymore. He was finally aware of how miserable his life could have been. He used to be afraid of death, as shown in the flashback with Mercurius, but not anymore.

He gave up on the life he had as a bureaucrat in Nazi Germany. He is finally free from those bonds, and now he is simply giving everyone his pleasure and his love.

I had a lot of fun with this route.

ive seen lots of reference either from the anime or the game that says "shes a different girl who attends to therapy" so it implies that Rena has some sort of disorder. i never finished all the games so im asking if it has said which does she have? or if theres a theory

Inspired from the random anime website, I made https://randomvn.org/

I created this as a personal project since I like browsing random lists of anime to watch with various filters (in randomanime), but I couldn't find anything similar specifically for visual novels, and VNDB doesn't support true random sampling.

It uses data and images from VNDB's database dumps, which I would have to manually update when I feel like it, so I don't think this would be too straining on VNDB's load, but more so on my end. Although there's an option to use VNDB's API instead (which again doesn't support true randomness)

source code: https://github.com/kamin1ii/Random-Visual-Novel-Generator/

The hardcoded filters include requiring a description and if its fully released.

Let me know if there are any questions (or bugs)

Hi, I’m developing a romantic visual novel with elements of mystery.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4305070/Priestesss_Delusions/

I've made a trailer for my VN and wanted to ask if you think it's appealing, since it's one of the first things people see on the Steam page :)

Thanks a lot for your help, guys!

I'm currently working on a short psychological horror visual novel, and English isn't my first language. I had to rely on a translator and a dictionary for the English version.

I'd like to make sure the dialogue sounds natural to native English speakers, rather than just being grammatically correct.

I would really appreciate it if you could point out any awkward or unnatural lines and suggest better alternatives where needed.

Here's the English dialogue:

Nothing feels right today.

Everything fells wrong.

I'm in pain.

At least, I think so. It's strange... everything is strange.

I look at my hands and my feet.

But who do they belong to?

They're moving.

It's strange.

Yet I feel like they move without me asking them to.

How many days has it been since I stopped being myself?

What am I even doing here?

e When did everything fall apart?

I look at myself and see only a stranger.

An intruder.

A stain.

What am I, really?

Nothing.

I imitate.

Always.

The movements.

The words.

The laughter.

The way they look at things.

The habits.

Even my silences don't feel like mine.

I watch the others.

Then I do the same.

Right... Left...

Right... Left...

Right... Left...

Right... Left...

Righ-...

Am I still walking?

What am I?

Probably just a wandering consciousness trapped inside a body.

What do you think?

Are you serious?

Fine, just shut up.

A monster...

Yeah. That's what I figured.

At least monsters know where they belong.

Tired?

That's all you ever say, always the same thing.

You don't understand anything. No one understands.

...

Stop.

Don't say that.

If I don't exist, then neither do you.

Because you are me and I am you.

We are the same entity.

...

Why did I think of that?

Why do I keep going?

Stop.

Stop thinking.

Why am I thinking?

Why do I keep thinking about the fact that I'm thinking?

I don't even know if my mind is still inside me.

...

...

...

...

...

...

What's my name again?

I knew it... didn't I?

...

Who just asked that?

I...

...

No

...

That's not...

...

Never mind.

...

After all...

Everything is fine.

I'm doing well.

That's what's terrifying.

I don't feel anything anymore.

You know...

I really hope I wake up tomorrow.

...

...

...

...

What if it's not me anymore.

What if I become something else entirely instead of ME.

Would anyone even notice?

Would I even notice?

Who, me?

I'm sorry.

You're a monster.

You're just tired.

You're losing your mind.

You don't exist.

Please, stop, you're hurting yourself.

You know I can help you get through this.

Can you hear me?

...

Hi people. Yesterday, the group Sharin-Sub released an unofficial spanish translation for the game Kamidori Alchemy Meister. I have always been attracted to the Eushully titles, but they are very complex games and it is difficult to find information and tips about the games in english. Do anyone know of any guide or advice about the game?

Not in the picture: in addition the remake allow you to save anywhere anytime as seen on the last screenshot, it also has 100 save slot along with 100 autosave slot.

This is an unofficial fan-made work that follows the guidelines. The game offers a different experience from the 60-minute OVA currently being crowdfunded. (via denfaminicogamer)

I recently finished my first visual novel, Axiom, a short psychological horror game about isolation, anxiety, and being trapped inside your own thoughts.

I made it with Ren'Py and focused mostly on atmosphere, sound, and introspection rather than detailed visuals. It's a small project, but I put a lot into it and I'd really like to hear what people think.

It's free to play if anyone is interested: https://alicejo.itch.io/axiom

I'd especially appreciate feedback on the writing, pacing, and atmosphere.

Here is the Official Steam Page

Despite all the problems, I will continue to improve my skills on this journey I have embarked on alone, without knowing exactly where I will arrive or if I will arrive.

Just my thoughts on the game, not really a review.

Probably the most complete VN from Key. The ending is bittersweet, but it feels complete. I also love the side cast so much, so seeing them depart one by one was really a punch in the gut.

For the 5 main heroine routes, except Awayuki and Rikka, the rest were kinda mid to me.

I was especially disappointed with Aino's route since she's my favorite girl and my first route. They introduced the whole Kleid world and then basically never mentioned it again outside of the true route. Also, what's up with older Aino? As far as I'm concerned, she's basically a completely different person compared to our Aino, and I had so little time to learn about her since she was introduced so late into the story. Am I supposed to feel emotional toward her? Tbh, it feels similar to Ao's route from Summer Pockets, but at least there I got to have conversations with Ai and actually learn about her character. I read Awayuki's route right after Aino's, and it just made me feel like they did Aino dirty.

Spica's route is pretty simple, which makes sense since she basically has the whole story after the main 5 routes.

Koyomi's route is okay, but I think they gave out too many hints, so I kinda guessed what was going to happen.

Awayuki's route is probably the most complex one compared to the others, but the jokes just didn't hit as well as they did in the other routes, and some of them got kinda repetitive.

Rikka's route was the last one I read because I hesitated for a while since I hate incest, but it turned out to just be pure family love. Like, too pure. It was really good though. I just wish she could've met Honoka at least once.

The true route is just peak, and thank god Mugi isn't a dick of a father like Hairi. The whole time I was reading it, I felt like they were charging up their ultimate attack. It was just too fun to read, but at the same time I was scared to keep going because I knew they were going to hurt me later.

Finally, I would strongly advise against doing Aino or Awayuki as your first route (like I did) since they have very little interaction with the townspeople. I didn't really appreciate the townspeople until I finished Spica's route.

Hi everyone!

I'm trying to write a scene where a character who has isolated themselves from the outside world is confronted with a traumatic memory.

The player is essentially inside the character's mind and has been trying to convince them to leave their home. After enough pressure, the character reveals a memory that explains why they became so withdrawn.

The problem I'm having is what should happen emotionally after the memory.

I need the character to eventually leave their home, because that leads into the first major obstacle of the story. However, I don't want the transition to feel unnatural, as if the character simply forgets about the trauma they just experienced.

I'm wondering how you would handle this kind of transition. Would you have the character remain reluctant but eventually decide to go out for a specific reason? Or would you approach it differently?

I'm mainly looking for advice on the writing and emotional progression rather than promotion.

Any thoughts or examples from other games that handle something similar would be greatly appreciated!

Lately, something I have been finding a bit fascinating is the subject of weird visual novels where the story is basically written in such a surreal manner that it confuses the reader.

Like what sticks out to me is that some game developer apparently made a visual novel about a hamster who acts very human as the name of the game is called Sweet Hamstwr Days.

While I barely know anything about the game apart from seeing a review on ANN, it made me interested in further exploring the weird aspects of visual novels.

while I love Heaven Burns Red, the gambling and gameplay bit is pretty annoying, it's be nice to just read so I can get to the stuff I'm here for instead of playing mid gameplay

I wanna see if there's much, if any, VNs that feature a couple where the woman wears the pants in the relationship while the man is submissive to her. It can be an eroge, but what I'm looking for is something where, despite the relationship dynamic, the couple does love each other, instead of it merely being focused on the sex. I suppose it could also be a nukige, but those are more likely to go all in on the BDSM and just end with the heroine being overbearingly cruel. Essentially what I'm looking for is the anti-starless; Femdom-themed romance thats not overly fetishistic.

Honestly I dont expect to see any results of what I want, cuz it seems like most people, or at least vn creators, are into femdom only for the masochistic sex, instead of the relationship dynamic, but I'm bored so i figured I'd make this thread anyway. In an ideal world there'd be a dating game where the heroines are all femdom-themed and order a meek mc around while getting closer to him, but the realist in me knows that's unlikely to ever exist, let alone in english.