Игрок 7545·Не рекомендует·4 ч в игре

I hope this review is taken as constructive criticism and not negativity... I really wanted to love this game. The art style is lovely and the initial plot and characters seemed intriguing. The attempt at world building was also pretty cool. But man. The story execution was highly disappointing. The writing was confusing. It started off decent, but after I entered the scorpion route chapters... I just couldn't get through it. It was frustrating. I'm usually pretty forgiving when it comes to small missing story aspects here and there. I just couldn't get past it here. The progression made no sense, and several times I was left reviewing the history, trying to see if I just missed something. I'd be happy to give it another shot in the future, if the writing is revised.

Игрок 7561·Рекомендует·9 ч в игре

TL:DR; Garden of Seif: Chronicles of an Assassin is the kickstarter-backed, debut title of Foxdrift Studios and it was released on October 4th, 2023; and like any good garden, I dig it! The art is gorgeous, the character models are unique over the generic styles I’m used to seeing, the character writing shines, the music is pleasing on the ears, and the plot is filled with twists and turns. What more could you want from the chronicles of an assassin? I’ve been suffering withdrawal from not reading any VNs in the last month, and most of the ones I’ve read recently were on the older side, so I thought I’d look into a fresh release, and well, Chronicles of an Assassin is just that; fresh! I couldn’t find anything rotten about it at all~ The gameplay is straightforward. You have a couple of routes to choose from and if you play your cards right, you just might survive and maybe even get a little something more. There are lots of choices you get to choose from; over 30 - some are flavor and some are impactful. Most dialogue choices lead to you building trust or betrayal with the character whose route you are on which will determine what ending you get. I really appreciate that the game tells you whenever you are gaining trust or betrayal. It also helps that the game has a fully completed walkthrough that will guide you to all the endings, super handy if you don’t feel like searching all the different combinations to see all the endings. One thing that I partially wish was done a bit differently is the exploration of the bad endings. I think it would have been incredibly interesting to see how some of the characters react to the things that happen in a few of the bad endings, but instead it abruptly cuts off, shows a cool looking card that tells you where you went wrong, and takes you back to the main menu. I get it though. The game is from the point of view of the protagonist, Iris, and then the two people whose routes you can follow, so further exploration of some of the bad endings would require adding more character perspective changes and that might not flow as well. I guess this is sort of a compliment to the writing because it means that I was wanting more! You are also able to enter a custom assassin name for Iris to be referred to. I thought that was a really neat touch and gave me an even deeper connection to a protagonist that I already liked a lot! The UI is really pretty and does something that I’ve never noticed before with its buttons. Instead of having the buttons tab up off the dialogue/text box, it has the buttons go up from the lower right side. I like this! It doesn’t block anything important from the scene and it is not distracting off to the side like that while I am reading, plus it looks really good. I want to see more VNs do that in the future! A minor but another appreciated thing is that the game is entirely playable with just a keyboard and even lists the keybindings. It’s not super important, but it’s something I noticed and thought worth pointing out. There is also a journal function that not only gives quick access to the credits and music tracks, but also has a tab for viewing unlocked in-game letters and a lore tab. When I first saw the lore tab, I was pretty nervous. I was worried that it would be required reading for understanding the world of the game. It’s not. It’s a very expansive and enjoyable read that goes in-depth about the various factions, locations, and languages but thankfully it isn’t there to act as a lore dump/do the legwork for the story; it’s an enhancement. Speaking of enhancements, the lore page comes with a viewable map of the continent where the game takes place. It’s a highly detailed, yet clean and gorgeous to look at map that gives you a better idea of the overall game world! The characters do a fantastic job filling each other in on the details of the world and factions as necessary, to a point that it feels very natural. It’s something that the reader is eased into over a period of time as well, instead of just being repeatedly bombarded with information. The writer knew what she was doing when she did her world building. The story repeatedly gives off a sense of wonder by mentioning something about the world; whether it be the name of a faction, an item, or an animal - to get you wondering what it is and then introducing you to it later on! It all feels organic/natural (which is what a lot of fantasy themed stories fail to do properly, in my experience). The story itself is pretty light-hearted, often romantic and comedic, but sprinkled with flakes of melancholy here and there. I don’t want to get too deep into it because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that there are more twists and turns than your typical racetrack! It was hard to put down, and even prevented me from getting some work of my own done because I kept wanting to read more. Garden of Seif: Chronicles of an Assassin clocks in at a satisfying 100,000 words! It took me around a total of 9 hours to read both routes. The character artist, Cutecumber, did an amazing job. Her artstyle gave the characters very vibrant and unique designs. Furthermore, the character faces in the dialogue box have a wide variety of expressions. I thought I was done seeing all of Iris’s expressions by the end of the first chapter, but nope. I’m not sure if it was who worked on the UI, the character art, or the CG Backgrounds, but there are these cool chapter title cards and a batch of them for one of the routes is that of a scorpion. I don’t know if it was intended or if I’m just seeing things, but I always see a heart-shape while staring at the top down view of the scorpion’s head on the title card, and I just think that is so cute and clever! That is good design! The CG Backgrounds were well done, always matched the current scene, and perhaps most shockingly of all, I never noticed them repeating (as in to represent separate locations, they repeated, but only for the singular location it represented) - especially to the borderline off putting degree that it sometimes happens in a lot of VNs. I’ve briefly mentioned characters a few times but haven’t given them a deep dive yet, so let’s get to that, shall we? The characters are so well written that if I was just staring at the script and the names next to the dialogue were covered I’d be able to tell who was saying what the vast majority of the time. The characters always feel genuine, especially the characters who are anything but. I loved it and had a fun time with all of them; from the supporting cast to the whole ensemble! Garden of Seif: Chronicles of an Assassin gets a resounding, “Yes, you should buy it if you like visual novels. Especially if you are starving for a fantastic Otome!” from me. The $20 price tag is very fair, but if you are still unconvinced after reading this review, then consider getting it during a sale! Personally, I normally wait for sales to buy my games, but I bought this full price and am very satisfied with it!

Игрок 7489·Не рекомендует·6 ч в игре

Разочарование. Я купилась на красивую обертку. Нет, ну правда, визуально игра прекрасна, да и идея интересная + история об ассасинах. Как можно зафейлить? Таки просто - неумение писать сюжеты. Честное слово, такое чувство, что читаю плохо написанный фанфик где очень много воды. ОЧЕНЬ МНОГО ВОДЫ. И ничего не понятно. Нет, конечно инглишь не мой родной язык, но уверяю, я прекрасно справлялась с историческими японскими новеллами и выжила. Тут же автор текста так старательно пытался держать интригу, что кажется будто читаешь бессвязные куски текста и все остальные в курсе что происходит, даже героиня, но не ты. И вместо того, чтоб хоть немного приоткрыть завесу, нам продолжают пускать пыль в глаза, отчего становится скучно. Интрига это хорошо, но без хоть небольшого стаканчика информации наступает засуха, зато автор щедро налил воды в бессмысленных диалогах. Вот читаешь ты, а в голове туман. Да и еще нелогичные какие-то поступки персонажей. То героиня предает напарника, а потом такая "ой, я передумала :(", то напарник прощает за красивые глазки. То явный враг разговаривает с героиней и та точно в курсе кто перед ней, но продолжает с ней тусить, да и еще рассказывает свою слезливую историю. Почему зачем? Вердикт: красиво, но наймите другого писателя.

Игрок 2434·Рекомендует·4 ч в игре

This was a very stylish VN. The artwork was beautiful and all the characters had very lovely designs. The cinematic cut scenes really immerse you in the world. The story, while it fell flat for me at times, was still a fun ride with a lot of twists and turns.

Игрок 2599·Не рекомендует·6 ч в игре

I've only gone through the snake storyline, but oh my goodness. The writing is so sloppy, there are more plot holes than actual plot. I've been on a big visual novel kick lately, and if I didn't get this as a birthday present, I'd be requesting a refund. There are some fun twists, but any time tension was built, suddenly there was a convenient, unsatisfying way it was relieved. I can only compare this to some of the absolute worst fanfictions I've read, and this is still somehow worse. The characters aren't even likable, which isn't even a requirement for me, I love an unlikable character when they have substance. But everything felt very flat and formulaic in a really disappointing way. Not worth the time or money.

Игрок 9129·Рекомендует·5 ч в игре

This game has great art and music and effects....great characterization and realistic characters...the two main interests are both different but both amazing in different ways. It's better to play the scorpion before the snake in terms of story progression. I loved this game. The romance brought tears to my eyes and that makes it great in my opinion. I love a sweet story with a good, exciting story and the art and music together are just a perfect experience. The music is so beautiful - I just love it! 10/10!! Worth the full price! I got 5 hours out of it with just the true ends and a couple bad ends.

Игрок 4042·Рекомендует·7 ч в игре

3/5。中东刺客题材的vn，设定有点像奥斯曼+蒙昧时期阿拉伯，但是都是那种比较符号化的元素的挪用滥用（？），作为中东史同姐我颇有微词不过就不掉书袋了。配乐很有风情，我非常喜欢。不仅有女主的pov，还有各ro的pov。 女主iris是半盲的所以在立绘上表现为异瞳。虽然看起来有什么大阴谋实际上女主真的很头脑简单+四肢不发达，女主甚至直接向陌生人坦露自己的意图，干坏事也从来不遮掩自己的标志性特征，甚至在路上走着走着平地摔扭伤脚踝，关键是女主的设定是武艺高超的敏捷刺客舞女啊！不过女主也有优点是非常不内耗并且什么梦都敢做，可能是因为脑子也不太聪明吧。 该多写的地方不多写，作者貌似不懂大家的爽点。很多情节只是给出了一个模糊的交代，但实际上描写是完全不深入的，比如当某角色坦白自己在ro和iris的关系间从中作梗了之后，情节很快就切走了，根本没有表现各角色的反应细节。 明明各角色各怀鬼胎各有自己的目的，所以在这样的前提下ro对女主的示好也太莫名其妙，感觉整个故事的逻辑是不清晰的，角色的行为动机完全不讲理，显得很诡异啊，比如遇到对方威胁的时候刀都稳稳地架到对方脖子上了直接把对方脖子抹了事情就可以解决，结果杀过众多人的女主还在大发慈悲（？）说“我们要用flirt的方式解决问题”。作者编大纲的时候可能都没过脑子吧。 目前我只打了venom的true ending，此男非常像《阿拉桑雄狮》的阿马尔·伊本·哈兰，想吃一口代餐的话打这个倒是还行。不太剧透地评价的话，关于女主死掉的前任哥，我还是觉得就保持原有的一方死亡才好，毕竟遗憾感的美丽是无可替代的，当然也可能是因为作者铺垫不足且各角色的感情都写得有点欠缺所以“竹马变天降”的部分并不有意思。相似的情节我还是更喜欢moon observatory iris的rieffe。

Игрок 8376·Не рекомендует·7 ч в игре

I really went back and forth for a while on how to rate this game; I don't like tearing down indie games unnecessarily when they're at a disadvantage in funding to triple A games, but ultimately, this is still a commercially priced title that received Kickstarter funding on top, and I don't feel that my experience with this game reflected the quality that I would expect. That said, there were some things in this game that I did genuinely like or impressed me, so I'll do a quick pro-and-con list. Pros: -Gorgeous art. I like this artist's style a lot and it was part of what got me to check out the game in the first place. The CGs in particular are incredible, and I was stopping and hiding the textbox to get a nice, long look at each one. -Fun, immersive visual effects. Not every VN takes the time to make its presentation less static, and clearly a lot of effort was put in here. -Lots of different endings. Because I wasn't enjoying the story, I found them a bit tedious to get, but I do think that the variety was fun and the death endings added some stakes to the story. -Love interest POV chapters. These chapters were by far the most interesting and immersive to me on each route. -A twist that I found genuinely interesting and unexpected. Cons: -The relationship developments often felt unnatural, both with the love interests and the side characters. (Honestly, I think with the side characters it was even worse - there's a particular part I'm thinking of where one side character repeatedly betrays Iris's trust, but this is sort of handwaved by Iris and the story and she still considers this character a close friend. I would have liked to see this breach of trust and its effect on their relationship explored more, but it fell flat with the way it was handled.) -The pacing felt off at times - the game would seem to drag on and then suddenly I was at an ending. -Some of the dialogue felt juvenile, or like the characters were trading Funny Quips back and forth without regard for how they actually speak as people. -A LOT of typos and misspellings. This is the kind of thing that I'm more lenient towards in a free or cheap indie game, but when you pull in several thousand dollars on Kickstarter, you had BETTER be hiring a competent proofreader. -For a game set in a pseudo-Arabian setting, the majority of characters are extremely light-skinned. The darkest characters in this game are the Magical Mystical Old Lady, The Bounty Hunter, and The Merchant. Maybe it's my fault for playing a pseudo-Arabian game in the first place, but I've played others that can at least give their characters some melanin. Ultimately, I think that a lot of genuine effort was put into the game, but it fell pretty far flat for my standards to the point that I dragged my feet on finishing it and it was over a year from me starting this game to actually finishing it. Most of my gripes with this game stem from the writing side, so if you're someone who cares more about the art than the story, this may be worthwhile for you, but to my own standards I can't recommend this game over many of the other VNs available, free and paid alike.