Along the Edge

A brilliant and very engaging interactive story with multiple branches where you can steer the plot in very different ways. Daphne', the main character, will change both aesthetically and in her behaviour due to your choices. Romance is a bit too simplified and not on par with the best [i]otome[/i] around, but overall this game is worth your time both for the story and the artwork. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3752160881

[b]My Playtime:[/b] 6.6h (100% achievement, finished the game 7x) [b]My First Playthrough:[/b] 2.9h [b]Grindy Achievement(s):[/b] No. [b]Optional Achievement(s):[/b] Yes (~22 achievements). [b]Difficult Achievement(s):[/b] No. [h1]Intro[/h1] [i]Along the Edge[/i] is a visual novel telling the story of Daphné, a woman who has received an inheritance from her deceased grandmother to live in a rural village. It's a story about choices that will shape your ending. [b]Pros:[/b] - Choices that determine your endings, with 4 endings and several variations - A lot of unique images for cutscenes [b]Cons:[/b] - Dialogues between each ending don't differ much - No auto skip previously read dialogues - No manual save slot [b]Specs[/b] AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 16GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT [h1]Should you buy this game?[/h1] [i]If you enjoy a visual novel where your choices matter, this game is for you.[/i] [hr][/hr] [h1]In-Depth Review[/h1] [h3]The Game[/h3] [b]Gameplay[/b] [i]Along the Edge[/i] is a visual novel that shapes the ending based on your choice. You play as Daphné, a woman who has gone through the darkest time of her life, where she suddenly got a chance to start anew in another place, thanks to the inheritance from her recently deceased grandmother. The story focuses on her time in this new place and the unusual events that she encounters. Being a visual novel, you'll be presented with choices all the time. These choices might or might not affect your state, which is marked at the top of the screen. There are four states in total, represented by symbols: the globe-shaped one represents science, the moon one represents selfishness, the star one represents selflessness, and the star one represents magic. The game will choose the combination of two symbols, which can be science or magic, and selfishness or selflessness, to determine which ending you get. That being said, the game won't tell you which path you are currently in unless you reach the middle of the game. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3658931887 The ending won't be determined just by those states, though. Your choice, whether it was done at an earlier or later point in time, will also give the ending a little variation. However, due to how the game is designed, these differences usually only happen in a few dialogues, making your consecutive playthroughs boring. Moreover, the game doesn't have a feature to automatically skip read dialogues, and this can make you easily miss the dialogues that you really need to read if you fast-forward them too much. There is a feature to read from the backlog, but even that won't really do much if you don't realize which dialogue you missed. [b]Story[/b] The story is told from Daphné's perspective. There is a lot to take in, especially at the beginning, where the game doesn't tell what happened to her before moving to the village, and the game assumes you already know. Sure, it might be explained later, but I wish it could be explained earlier, before the confusion starts to kick in. For those who are seeking romance, there are two men you can choose to romance. Rejecting both of them and being alone is also an option, by the way. Both men come from different backgrounds, but I found them to be similar. In games with romance options like this, the male options usually have different personalities that make them unique, but I don't feel that difference between the two characters. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3660885040 The romance itself isn't a slow-burn—it's fast-paced with a turbo instead. You sleep with them day one and then decide to marry one of them. It might take months before it actually happens in the game, but there isn't any build-up leading to that connection, especially with how busy our protagonist is. Daphné's changes are based on your choices. Whether she'll be a jerk or not is up to you, but the option is there. I like the routes where she's more civil, especially with how she makes enemies of everyone that she meets in her selfish state. This makes it easy to note which option leads to which state, though. [b]Length and Difficulty[/b] I finished the game in 2.9h. I then finished it six more times to get all achievements. Honestly, I liked the ending variation, but I also think I shouldn't play that much to get all achievements. It's just too boring seeing all the same dialogues with so little difference in each route, especially since there is no manual save to fasten the process. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] [i]Along the Edge[/i] is a mediocre visual novel, one where your choice matters. Its visuals look great—they have so many unique cutscenes that differ almost at every dialogue and every state, making it easy to visualize what actually happens in the game. The writing can be improved to make it more interesting to read, but it's still an okay read nonetheless. If you enjoy a branching visual novel where your choice matters, buy it on sale.

领的赛博鸡蛋，最大的优点是美术表现，库库截图。文本和剧情虽然比较一般，但只打一周目体验一下还不错。但是作为全成就里有一堆恋爱元素的游戏，两个可攻略对象的感情铺垫也太潦草，一个都不想要，且不能从部分章节读档，打全成就是一种折磨。一个小亮点是一些只在别人口中出现过一次的人物，后面也会有立绘，我连着四周目开出了四个小角色拜访，挺有意思的。总体评价是如果免费领的，可以体验一下，购置的话除非特别喜欢美术表现，还是不要了。

One of the best visual novels I've experienced. The writing is solid and I appreciate the amount of branching paths you can go on. I do kind of wish there were a few more opportunities where the reader had input in the story, but that's my only complaint. I love love love the artwork and it's definitely the highlight of the game. Being in an age of AI slop, it's nice to go back in time to 2016 where there was none of that. Definitely pick this one up for full price. $14 is very fair, considering all you're getting in return.

Жесс, даже тут получил титан одиночества. А вообще игра понравилась. Очень зашёл визуальный стиль и красивые арты. История оказалась интересной и держала внимание до самого конца. Также понравилась система выборов со всякими элементами вроде звезды, солнца, земли и луны. Ещё приятно видеть, что решения действительно влияют на развитие событий и персонажей. В целом получил удовольствие от прохождения и не пожалел потраченного времени.

Finally got 100% achievements! I picked up this game a while ago when it was being offered for free, and now I'm interested in checking out more games from Nova-box. I really enjoyed the art style, the soundtrack, and the story. One thing I especially liked was how carefully you have to choose your dialogue options. It made every choice feel meaningful, since each one affects your stats in different ways. Overall, I had a great time with Along the Edge. Great job, Nova-box!

凯尔特魔幻小故事，画面音乐还可以，剧情也就那样，感情线没什么深度。

Приятная музыка, симпатичный визуал, особенно, если аниме стиль уже набил оскомину. А вот сюжет не особо увлекательный - ведьмовство, проклятье, семейные дрязги. Вообще новелла очень меланхоличная, размеренная, не каждому такой темп придётся по вкусу. Забавно, что новеллка получила награду за лучшую эмоциональную игру. Ну если под эмоцией подразумевалось уныние, то да. За фул прайс однозначно не рекомендую.

И что это за ♥♥♥♥♥♥? Это же типичная визуальная новелла для тех, кто любит кликать и читать, а не играть. Сюжет банальщина: девушка Дафна в тупике, получает в наследство дом во французской глуши и внезапно оказывается в последней роду ведьм. Уникальность? ХАХАХАХАХАХАХАХАХАХАХ, твой выбор меняет не только сюжет, но и внешность героини типа глубокая механика, но по факту меняет картинку. Графика да, рисовка как в европейской комиксе, но это просто попытка скрыть гемплея тут ноль: никаких боев, никаких QTE просто сиди и читай простыни текста на 80000 слов. 60 концовок и 450 иллюстраций звучит круто, но по факту ты просто перебираешь варианты диалогов, как в дешевой книжке-выбиралке, Системные требования смешные, но это потому что там нечего нагружать, кроме твоего терпения. И да, недавно ее раздавали бесплатно в стиме, и даже халявщики оценили на 89%. Это просто скучная бродилка по меню для тех кому лень играть в нормальные игры. Если хочешь почитать возьми книгу, а не это

Good