Welcome to the wonderland, magical girl. Kewl, what do we do here? You kill other magical girls... because reasons. Slightly different from the Alice in Wonderland I remember, I guess the entry to this world is not following the rabbit, but taking your life (I think?). Granted decapitation is not too far away from the stabby stabby and religious undertones, give or take. Strangely the game looks very inviting with the visuals and chill soundtrack, but the subjects are potentially sensitive, not that I personally take the fiction seriously. Be aware of suicide themes and criticism of religion. I assume there is a bit of a social commentary on the religion not being all that inclusive, but honestly I was here for the pretty colors and cute art panels, most of the human condition and philosophy went over my head.
For a free visual novel it's put together pretty decently, takes about 40 minutes with multiple endings (so closer to a few hours to fully explore), and I thought the artwork was very enjoyable. The only thing I think you could have done better is maybe having more panels showing the locations, you have an interesting world but you don't really get a good look at it because the characters are blocking most of the panels. Maybe a few landscape shots, or a few empty rooms of the places to set the tone would be nice. I don't like when VN games linger too long on dialogue panels, which is probably 85% of the game, but you had some close character panels to break it here and there.
I liked the characters and the dialogue for the most part, it's a little heavy on the religious deconstruction and other cerebral topics, you have to read between the lines to understand it, or at least make an educated guess. I don't want to get too deep into my theories because it might be a spoiler, but I think the general theme of the game was being brought down by expectations of the religion or society and finding your way through to the other side, perhaps changing your perspective and what you thought was the standard, possibly by finding common ground with like-minded individuals. I didn't fully understand why the connection between the queens was integral to the fabric of the world and other characters that were within it, maybe someone smarter can explain it.
[h1]Pros: [/h1]
(+) Has about 90 minutes of content between the endings, not bad for a free VN, relatively good amount of unique panels (again, by free standards at least)
(+) I thought the idea for the world was interesting, granted it might trigger some people, but I don't take it too seriously personally. Maybe the writing was a little too brainy all the time, could have been a little more casual here and there, but I liked some parts of the narrative and dialogue
(+) Not too many art panels, but I think the art direction overall was good, and it nicely contrasted a dark narrative with cheerful vibes
(+) Some custom UI art
[h1]Feedback: [/h1]
[u]World Building/Art panels:[/u]
- I just thought the game needed a few panels to set the themes for the locations, you trying to describe this world with opposing sides, but we don't get a good look at any of the places, almost every shot is the character dialogue panels or close shots, needed a few location panels for thematic reasons.
[b]Overall Thoughts: 7/10 [/b]
While the game is getting a bit of hate from some curators for having LGBTQ characters, I prefer to focus on the quality of the experience, and I don't get offended by fictional stories. I thought it was an interesting and slightly edgy narrative with dark undertones about religion, inclusion, and social expectations (maybe?). A little strange overall with something to think about, but not badly made, better than many free VN games out there, probably like a $5 game as it is.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
