Diamond Mirage

[h1]Lewd Shiny Nipples, the Game[/h1] [i]Harem. Sex Slaves. Yaoi. Fantasy. Elves.[/i] It kind of feels like sex slaves, a staple of written erotica, appear in yaoi fairly often; and coupled with a fantasy harem setting full of beautiful elf boys, it has all the makings of a dirty guilty pleasure of the best or worst trashy erotica kind. In that vein, [i][b]Diamond Mirage[/b][/i] started pretty strong, but then lost steam halfway through giving me an overall mixed impression. The reason I say it starts strong isn't (just) because of all the sex scenes - and sure enough you're thrown into the action right from the get-go. The moment you open up this VN, you're greeted with an obedience training in the form of graphic sex scene with BDSM bent. The fantasy setting can be viewed as a potent fetish fuel providing some needed distance for enjoying certain kinks guilt-free. Like sex slavery. I guess the appeal is in finding freedom in submission, freedom from choice etc. with romanticisation as the flip side. And that's certainly a part of it, but it surprised me how much the game didn't sugarcoat things. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2518863321 This fantasy world, full of different elf races, is nicely drawn and even though the exposition can sometimes feel tacked on, the world building is convincing. Humans are evil slave owners (at least those shown) that collect other species/races like things and objects, forcing them into servitude (their most prized possessions being pleasure slaves). Our innocent protagonist [i][b]Ellyn[/b][/i], a rare crystal elf of ethereal beauty, was captured from his idyllic magical space and thrust into the decadent and depraved world of harems, orgies and humiliation. This first part of the novel unfolds carefully with lots of tension oozing from almost every interaction, and is indeed the strongest. It manages to make you uncomfortable and fill you with anticipation, just like Ellyn who, in his purity, isn't sure what exactly is going to happen to him (he thought he was gonna pour drinks, poor baby). But [i]you[/i] know, and that's what makes every lusty, dirty look and comment directed at him that more sickening and repulsive. There's a lot of emphasis on how these filthy rich old men treat slaves like toys, replacing them with newer 'models' when they get damaged or they just get bored of them and want something new and shiny; how they breed them like animals; how they boast with their newest, rarest acquisitions. This is all conveyed mostly through casual conversations between Lysander and his slaver partners, and reading about it wasn't any less disturbing than if it were depicted visually. But things were explicitly shown as well. From the tense scene of Lysander closely inspecting his new merchandise and assigning them different roles, to orgies where he lets his business partners taste his new shiny things - like poor [i][b]Kilie[/b][/i], the precious faerie boy. Called winged beauty, and then in the next moment, a winged s*lut, he was born into slavery and trained to obedience. He's used not only as a contrast to the still defiant Ellyn, but to show what awaits him. There's a great description of what it means to become a pleasure device: adapting and growing numb to things; being stuffed with potions/drugs to make you compliant but also enthusiastic; never truly being awake but that's ok, cause things feel less real then. Yes, like I said, this part is very strong. But, our protagonist wasn't really shown going through all these stages to become the perfect pleasure device. That would make this VN way more disturbing, but also more truthful. We were basically shown the beginning and told the end result. This is still yaoi and erotic fantasy meant to be titillating and not just traumatising, and that's ok. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2509904278 What is shown is Ellyn being trained by his caretaker and love interest - [i][b]Veros[/b][/i]. Now we come to the usual uke-seme dynamic. In a clear case of opposites attract, Ellyn was drawn to him from the moment he saw him - a pure crystal elf, a snowflake, and a dark, dangerous dusk elf, the kind Ellyn's elders always warned him about, which just made him even more curious (duh!) "Just how innocent you are?" - was the first line Veros said to him. Veros is a 'Master' in the BDSM fashion and yet a slave himself, barely keeping the grudge underneath his stone-faced mask. Although appearing as a cold bastard at first (of course!), it was obvious from the start that he's an ally. [strike]Spoiler[/strike]: You can enjoy Veros guilt-free. He's the good guy! Almost all the sex scenes Ellyn engages in are with him and they have a potent sexual chemistry and tension, catering to a power dynamics kink. Ellyn's reaction to him is despite himself, awakening some confusing desires. His first time was a climax of that tension and a highlight. But there's a big missed opportunity at a later stage, after mutual opening up, where I expected a full blown romantic sex scene, and yet it was only hinted and not shown. Why not show the only completely consensual sex scene? But I suspect it's because overall, this second part of the VN seems rushed and tacked on. It's like it literally lost steam (in every way ;P) with the sudden escape plot. I admit, it was a 'yes moment', but it kinda felt like I was in a different novel. From the tension filled erotica, equal parts uncomfortable and sexy, to the fast-paced, plot-heavy escape plan, it's like the latter was added as an afterthought. Resolution with Veros was too easy and conveniently came after a lengthy exposition, aka his story, in the middle of the plot momentum, instead of being organically tied. Similarly, the good ending was kind of rushed, that I was like, 'that's it?'. Normal ending is more interesting. It's worth mentioning that there are no routes here as there's only one love ineterst. So harem setting, but no harem structure. I don't mind that actually, but I was expecting Kilie's route and maybe even a [i]Safana[/i] friendship route. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2521609282 One interesting thing: there's an optional m/f sex scene, and I think it's the first time I encountered one in a yaoi game (ymmv). The excessive in-game trigger warning, especially when no such thing was present for numerous m/m scenes strikes me as overkill. I can't help but think there are 2 phenomena at play here: 1) Some people are ok with rape and dubious consent with male characters, but need trigger warnings for the female one (um...) 2) Some yaoi fans absolutely don't want to see an m/f scene ([i]het is ew[/i] in action), but a simple option to skip it would've been enough. Meanwhile, visually it looks very pretty. There's a contrast between extremely beautiful backgrounds with colourful ornamental quality and lewd CGs dominated by sketchy drawing style. There's something about their unfinished quality that makes them even more smutty? Sprites are always half-naked and their provocative outfits showing off their lewd, pointy, shiny nipples, somehow make them even more naked. Overall, it's a solid BL game that could've been so much better if it either stayed a harem erotica exploring the world of decadence, or if it more organically expanded the story in the second part. As it stands, it's worth looking into as a not-so-guilty pleasure if you're into harems and gay elves. [h3][quote][b]Reviewed by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40848670/]Drugoja In The Dreaming[/url][/b][/quote][/h3] [b]Curator copy via [i]Otome Sekai[/i][/b]

That's an interesting question if I recommend [I] Diamond Mirage [/i] xD The story is quite dark, one should carefully look through the warning list on the store page to check if they are going to be ok with the contents. Such games are my guilty pleasure. Seeing pretty screenshots in my activity feed I thought I'm gonna indulge in some explicit yaoi submissive journey as the story is mostly about slaves. Plus, the main characters are elves, my favourite fantastic creatures ever. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2554580179 And actually the first evening when I was playing the game I got what I wanted. The initial scenes were just perfect, pure pleasure, feast for my eyes and ears. I usually turn the music off as it distracts me from the plot but not here. It fits the story ideally. Sometimes I just left the game idle, was surfing the Internet enjoying the game music as I would listening to my play list. That's just something so rare for me I'm sincerely grateful. And the visuals are exceptionally gorgeous in this game. The elves sprites are so handsome (except one female char) I was practically drooling. Especially the dusk elf. He joined the list of my favourite game characters. When I first saw him I gasped. Simply breathtaking! I applaud to the artist! And the natural backgrounds were so peaceful and relaxing. Contrasting to the main story of slavery. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2554517715 It's not the first game I played where you can experience non-consensual sexual relationship, but besides it's not real I could always justify what was happening, I didn't have any remorse. I could pamper some sadistic part of mine in particular because the “victims” after a while enjoyed that coercion. At the beginning innocent chars despite being forced also succumbed to that natural carnal desire. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2554516229 But quite soon the game stopped being what I expected it to be, what I experienced before. It turned into really dark story full of injustice, despair, pain... I sincerely suffered with all those slaves. That was not what I wanted to get. I wanted to see submissive types forced to accept that kind of hidden deeply but so much wanted desire. Nah, nothing like this here. It was painful and frustrating. It was even funny how differently the story felt each evening I was playing it xD first—BxB sexual content, second—pain and suffering and the third evening—escape and different endings. Anyway, I find it a good thing when a story turns out to be surprising and unpredictable. The game was definitely a unique experience. Though, there were some things I'd like to be done differently. My main complaint is that (and I still don't understand why it was presented this way) all CGs in the gallery are open at the very start of the game. So, I was deprived of an exciting opportunity to unlock all the juicy details. I try to skip the screenshots, reviews, guides of the games I haven't played yet because all of them are slightly spoilerish. I'm especially grumpy when I see a game with a complicated walk-through and the guide is made with the CGs. It spoils all the pleasure. And here.. the very devs did that. Honestly, I'm still shocked and a bit upset about that. WHY T.T The game has lots of tags xD One of them--'Choices matter'. Welp, actually first evening I even thought this is a kinetic novel. You get some options only during the final escaping scenes. And the result is so obvious, as you were said about the safe route, that I find that tag a bit mocking. So this game is mainly focused on slaves' harsh fate. That's presented quite vividly. A dark story indeed, unfortunately without any soothing conclusion. The endings are too sudden, short, abrupt.. Despite some typos and other imperfections (e.g. hyphens instead of dashes...) I really enjoyed how the story was written. Intimate scenes included. That's why btw I felt slightly disappointed not to find any similar content scenes, during their happy ending, for example. And when the chars were still in the mansion and made love because they wanted it, no one forced, some short moments that could be so healing for my wretched soul... Nothing, as if one was offered a choice to skip that and leave only anguish and pain. A question even occurred to me what was the message the devs wanted to deliver, what they wanted to create, for their readers to experience. And I imagined some cunning chuckle and the only purpose is to make the players suffer. Thank you very much I did xD What a waste of pretty art. I'm half joking here. In any case, I'm definitely gonna miss those handsome elves, the whole art in general. Thank you for this unique experience. The game is really one of a kind! [table] [tr] [th]Find more in a [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/readingnook/discussions/0/3061869473054778147/] Reading Nook [/url][/th] [/tr] [/table]

Yes, I would recommend this! I was very surprised by just how much this game tugged at my heart. It was an emotional roller-coaster from feelings of rage to despair at the protagonists (and others!) horrible situation and culminating in audibly begging the game for a good ending.. Do we get one? You'll need to play for yourself and find out~ For the most part the game was more story than choices but, given my mental state mentioned above, I was fine with that.. Though my neighbours may have heard me scream "Please let me kill him!" a few times.. It kept me interested, I wanted to know what would happen next. I was rooting for the characters. For me these are all signs of a good story. Short version: Good game. Good story. Good feels.

I am technically recommending this visual novel, but barely as I only recommend it if it were on sale, given the current state. In general, I feel like the game is simply unfinished, but what is there is mostly okay. The story might be disturbing to some as it is primarily about the forcible rape of a male slave and his transition into a willing participant. It's a decent 4 to 5 hours but has completely rushed and unsatisfying endings; there are a few, but the choices that determine those endings don't occur until about the final 15 minutes of the story. I'm not convinced the multiple endings added anything of value to the story; particularly with the way it was implemented. The art style is fairly unique and some of it is nice, but much of it is also quite lazy; like they were just quick storyboard sketches thrown in. I did not encounter bugs or crashes, it ran fine; though it could probably use some sort of a chapter select system; only manual saves are available. Overall, I liked the story but I think if some of the images and the ending had a little more time and care put into it; I'd be more enthusiastic in my recommendation.

what the ♥♥♥♥ am i playing

Diamond Mirage was a beautiful game! The art is divine, and the story is entertaining and well thought out. I loved the world building, and I'd absolutely love any DLC or other games the developer might offer. The world was so well made, I'd love to play an RPG set in it! The world needs more yaois like this!

Gay elves

я очень жду пока завезут русский язык

I'm glad I went back.

I gotta admit... These Developers sure know how to make one hell of a tense af story. Just like with Xissai: The Temple of Snakes... Never thought I'd be so happy for [spoiler]revenge[/spoiler]. (GOOD ENDING ACHIEVED. WOO! Thank you limited amount of choices! You were really straightforward. Phew!) First of all: [u]Check out what you are getting into.[/u] Not many people can stomach such content. If you are good? Then these authors sure know how to make you intrigued... It's one of those "dark stories" where you know you probably shouldn't look, but at the same time... Can't look away and need to keep going. Although in this case -> The story will plague your mind to a point where you need to come back and finish it. At least for me. I [i]needed[/i] to see the outcome. Through all the pain and suffering... I shall [i]persevere[/i]! It's SO GOOD when stories make you feel! The reason for all that... Is because I can't talk about the story lol. Like it will literally [i]ruin[/i] the stuff they had set up. What I can say is... Love the artwork. The different elves. MC/Veros and others who definitely stood out. Definitely [i]loved[/i] the good ending. Heh heh. Just like with "[spoiler]revenge[/spoiler] ending" in Xissai... Except it wasn't as drastic. Ah yeah... There is another ending and two mini-endings. Hmm... Well, definitely something to check out in the future. Although I am pretty certain I will end up at the same ending. Again. (Damn you dark haired males with your charismatic and dominant personalities!!!) Great game though. Good for a thrill. Thanks you. ^^