All Ashes and Illusions

A bittersweet VN that I finished a few months ago, yet it remains one of my favourite read. The settings, the characters and the tragedy it has -- just so good. Admittedly I only started entering the cave-of-no-return Yuelverse recently through his other AU stories but going to the OG Yuel was correct, it left me wanting more of his stories. I'm not one to make helpful review essays, so usually I'd just share the parts I loved the most when I played VNs. I'm a fan of ebi's writing; this story is beautifully written. The characters art in Ashes is lovely, the background and vibe are really immersive, and lastly: the BGMs are so memorable, that I think I spent an hour extra playing the music room, appreciating the lyrics. Thank you for including that in-game. This story occasionally appears in my mind every now and then even after a few months since I finished it. I find myself recommending this to some family members. It's the experience I want to share to more people.

All Ashes and Illusions was an extremely enjoyable experience. I loved watching Yuel grow up and twist into a cruel, misguided king. Yuel, the main character, is an expertly crafted, complex character. There's a lot more to Safiya, the 'love interest' than first meets the eye, too. This story is very dark with some potentially 'problematic' triggering elements. I think it's better to go into the story blind, but you might want to look into the content warnings if you're often sensitive to darker themes in stories. There's nothing horror themed about it, but there's a lot of (deliberately) uncomfortable content. I really enjoyed the dark, gripping story. There's a lot of drama and intrigue. On that topic, I played with the free adult patch enabled. That content starts coming in a lot more in the second half of the story. Honestly, I can't imagine the story without that aspect, so if you're the right age to read with the adult patch, I recommend it. The sex scenes add a lot to the story. Especially about the type of person Saffy really is. I didn't feel like they were an afterthought tagged on to appeal to audiences who prefer erotic visual novels, or anything. Some of the art is INCREDIBLY adorable. Kid Yuel is precious and Saffy has some lovely CGs. I did feel like she was portrayed looking a lot younger than what was described in the text, but this might be a case of us seeing Saffy through the eyes of Yuel, who idolises her. The music in this VN is ON ANOTHER LEVEL. It is master crafted. It's so catchy and it guides the atmosphere and tension of the story so well. I have listened to the soundtrack outside of the game a lot. It's seriously gorgeous, and has songs based in a specially-made conlang. I am awestruck at how much effort was put into the music. This is one of Ebi HIme's best, I think. This is a serious recommend for visual novel fans.

A continuous streak of wondering "how much worse can the situation get?" and then showing you how much worse it can get. Following the main character as he grows up and falls into all the trappings he vowed to avoid is very interesting and just makes you want to tell him "please stop", but he doesn't. And it's very intriguing observing where that gets him. I'd definitely recommend going into this as blind as possible after you confirmed the content warnings for yourself. Saffiya is the best, btw

Still scared to try this but I'm sure it's glorious since it started all this Yuel madness. Who is this girl? It's not gay??? /jk

As a short story/novella, this is well-written and interesting. As a "graphic" novel, however, it leaves something to be desired: specifically, graphics. Through the first act (which is comfortably 30 minutes long), there are maybe six or seven images (not counting ones where just a mouth moves or a character blinks). They add nothing to the story.

Очень приятная визуальная новелла. История абсолютна линейна, и, даже с предсказуемым финалом, однако оформление - не придраться. Остальные рассказы - были бы спойлерами. Но если любите читать - это для вас.

[h1]万般尘埃，皆化幻梦[/h1] 本作是一款剧情偏黑暗的短篇视觉小说，讲述虚构的沙漠古国因德拉的王子尤尔为了夺取乳母索菲娅的爱而引发的一系列王朝更迭纪事，流程超过2h。游戏无中文无配音，分为四章节叙事，从尤尔的童年开始到继位后不择手段，被识破后恼羞成怒以及一系列动乱后迎来终末，尤尔、塔维和索菲娅相爱相杀，不得善终。本作音乐不错，PV挺棒，CG还是老样子，感兴趣不妨读一读。 [h1]情之所钟，瓦解冰泮[/h1] *注意：↓以下全文剧透↓ [spoiler]本作故事发生在类似中东地区国家背景的王国中，残暴的王——哈里勒对一切触犯王之威严的人施以极刑，无论是自己的兄弟还是妻子。如果兄弟和妻子通奸，那么很不幸，他们都得死。亲眼目睹母亲被处刑的王子尤尔，在乳母索菲娅的教育与抚养下渐渐长大，发誓绝不会变成父亲那样的暴君…… 早在童年时期，尤尔的堂哥，背叛者之子——塔维就已经展露出生性放浪的一面。至于背叛者？自然是国王的好兄弟了。当然，塔维也看出了尤尔对索菲娅不同寻常的亲近，即使代价是挨了一顿胖揍。不久，哈里勒王认为尤尔已经到了无需抚养的年龄，便遣退了索菲娅。十几年后，哈里勒王病逝，尤尔继位…… 与尤尔关系融洽到可以随意打趣的色批塔维早就知道这位好弟弟对索菲娅的执念，但他从未想到，已嫁为人妇育有一子的索菲娅会突然家破人亡，不久便搬进艾尔法拉宫，成为王妃。打听到贫穷的索菲娅一家居然是因为遭到劫匪劫财导致丈夫与年幼的儿子惨遭杀害，身经百战的塔维想都不用想就知道是怎么回事了。王怎么能做出这种事？！愤怒的塔维在会面时面刺愚蠢的欧豆豆之过，不料被揭发恼羞成怒的尤尔气血上头，砸碎了沙拉国王二婚时进献给父王哈里勒的珍贵花瓶，一怒之下刺穿了塔维的右眼。震惊又剧痛的塔维仿佛看见了站在高台上下令处死父亲的哈里勒王，与仅剩的一只眼前的尤尔如出一辙。趁尤尔还没做出更可怕的事，塔维逃也似的跑出了艾尔法拉宫…… 胆敢向王举起叛旗的背叛者塔维被处刑后的不久，与索菲娅温存的尤尔得知了她怀孕的消息，欣喜若狂。数月后，王子诞生，索菲娅被封为王后。又过了几年，一直忍辱负重的索菲娅终于下定了决心，为自己死去的丈夫与孩子复仇。三日后，王驾崩了。群臣纷乱之际，索菲娅提出代子摄政，众人纷纷反对……[/spoiler] 通关后，玩家可以看到制作组创作的灵感来源与创作历程自述，英文歌挺好听。 [code]双语评测，认准我们： [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35263058-Bilingual-Curator/]双语评测[/url] Make Chinese and English speaker feel at home： [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35263058-Bilingual-Curator/]Bilingual Curator[/url][/code]