One small fire at a time is definitely a hidden gem. You can tell a ton of work has been put into it, all the Beautiful picturesque characters, backgrounds and designs. It goes on sale more often than not and it’s worth a read. (3-7 hours)
Janis is 13 years old and lives in a madhouse. This place is where society sends those with mental disorders, such as Schizophrenia, depression, personality disorders, and in Janis’s case, a lack of magic in a magical society. This story has multiple endings with one true ending, leading to its prequel An Octave Higher.

Old Man's Journey is a pleasant wordless point and click adventure in which you assist an old man journeying across islands, you are given the power to bring hills and roads closer together to speed and assist him on his adventure.

This game is very short, it can be finished in an hour and a half. Old Man’s Journey features colorful and well-drawn scenes and memorable music, I highly recommend it.

All I wanted was to enjoy a peaceful VN and take a break from some bigger games. That’s all I wanted. Purchased in 2017, downloaded in 2020, I was aware that this was an adaptation to Hakuoki. I’ve already finished that series and I was excited to play a short alternate version of it, and like I typically do, I start from the character tropes I like least to most. Starting with Heisuke; the “childish” one.

Chapter one and two, a little strange but overall no problem. The MC is notably pathetic and helpless, however. Chapter three is when I pulled all the breaks. “What? No. That’s disgusting. This can’t be right.” His entire route is the stuff of nightmares. The only thing Heisuke wants to do is ♥♥♥♥ the MC whether she wants to or not, no matter how many times you reject his advances or push him away, he always continues as if you agreed to this. This route is rapey, nauseating, rude, crude, and sexist. If not were for the fact I am a completionist I would have uninstalled and deleted this VN from my library.

I did not pay much attention to any of the chapters after Heisuke. I went back and checked out the reviews and decided that this is a revolting game not worth reading. Fast forwarding through the other playthroughs, it looks like no matter the decisions you make the endings, good or bad, are all incredibly similar. Choices don’t seem to matter except for the achievements and cutscenes, and quite frankly, spending any amount of time on this VN is a waste.

Going to start off I’m already a huge fan of △○□×, the first game of theirs I ever played was LiEat, then right on to Alicemare and I’ve been hooked ever since.

1BitHeart is a wonderful and yet sad story of a genius shut-in who goes on a quest to learn to love himself and to make as many friends as he can. There are many interesting characters for you to meet and it has a notably strong detective theme. The gameplay is very interactive and you can easily spend 10 hours finishing this up. Every area you wander to has a theme and different types of music playing and it’s an incredibly fun and cute experience. I very much recommend this game.

This is not a happy game. If you want something warm and fuzzy, then Bokuten – Why I became an Angel is definitely not it.

When I first got this game, I assumed it would be one of those warm and fuzzy VN’s (I try not to research anything so I don’t stumble upon spoilers.) but as I reached the third chapter, I quickly realized that I was very, very wrong. This game will make you sad, you will feel angry, tired, and you might even be a bit disturbed. There are no happy endings. Only bittersweet.

Regardless, it is a very beautiful and unique game.

Why am I dead at sea is a fantastic murder mystery that is heavily focused on the story aspect. You don’t know who you are, you don’t know why you are here, all you know is that you were killed by someone on the ship and you need to find them before the journey ends and they escape and everyone disappears. This story has multiple endings.

The controls are deceptively simple, you just use the “Z” “X” “C” keys and WSAD or the arrow keys to move around, “Z” to interact with people or things, “X” to possess or inhabit someone’s body, and “C” to use that individuals special skill, such as looking through pockets and peeking through doors.

This game does have some negative aspects though, during my playthroughs twice I got stuck with the stairs. Once I moved right instead of left and got stuck outside the barrier on the stairs, and the second time I moved left far too quickly and broke through the barrier on the other side, so I could walk around in the dark parts of the screen. Needless to say, please save your game often unless you are in the 4th chapter to get all endings.
Another negative aspect was the endings. Once you find out who the killer is you get a cutscene where everyone is outside the ship all thankful to be alive, but there is no info on what happens to you. No fading away into the afterlife, no goodbyes to the few you actually manage to communicate with, no nothing. You don’t show up anymore and credits roll. No idea what happens to everyone else or you, it’s pretty disappointing.

All and all I hesitantly recommend this game because of the abrupt and unsatisfying endings, If I could give it a “Meh” option I would.

Warning: If you get motion sickness easily, like me, it may not be best to play. However, there is a ship, “The Hopper.” Which can come to a complete stop in mid air and it helps you get your bearings or if you need a moment to just stop.

Negatives:

• Controls are weird, It took me a couple hours to get used to it. You can change the keys but I don’t recommend it.
• When you first start out is the worst, the further you go along and collect artifacts the more stable you fly.
• Nothing telling you what to do and where to go, which is also a positive.

Positives:

• Wonderful story
• Lovely music
• Multiple ships to suit playstyles.
• You can re-color your ship as many times as you want, and there are some cute options.
• The graphics, while are not the best, definitely do a better job than what I’ve seen in most games.
• The further you get along in the game, the easier it is to play.

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing it, some things were confusing and frustrating at first but once I got to the second area things became much, much easier. There is a collectable guide on YouTube as well as a full walkthrough if you get stuck.