Errant Kingdom

Tl;dr: the game is fine, just play as The Nomad. First of all, I'm a person who likes to play a visual novel once and be done. I usually don't feel the need to explore other romances and routes. This one intrigued me though and I fairly enjoyed the different roles I could pick and how they differed from each other basically being completely different stories. I played two of the three roles of the game The Knight and The Nomad, and the Nomad is the way to go if you really want to experience the full story. The Knight was a bit of a confusing mess, I have to admit. In the second part the completely unknown characters would jump out of nowhere and the narrative would treat them as if I should know who they were. It is incredibly distracting, and as much as I'm able to forgive such errors in a free game, this one did cost money. I think this is the biggest problem of the game for me and kind of spoiled my experience, If I played as The Nomad from the beginning I'd really enjoy it, even though there were still some narrative problems (maybe because there was just a lot of Raiden and I really enjoy Raiden, what can I say), some plot threads that were abandoned at some point which was probably caused by the difficult development process. But I've played much worse visual novels. I think this game has a great potential. The art is absolutely beautiful, the characters are fun and I actually love the MC (though I'd prefer if there was more showing than telling how good they are at their profession). The writing is anachronistic for a fantasy medievaluesque, but I personally did not mind (someone might though, so fair warning). The banter between the characters themselves and the MC was really enjoyable and funny. I look forward to the polished version of the game, I think it is worth the wait and I'll definitely play it when the developers update it.

Writing this review after my first playthrough as a human nomad who pursued Erik, may come back with edits after finishing the other routes: I want to say that the recommendation of this does come with some hesitation. If you're coming to this game specifically for the romantic subplots, then I probably wouldn't recommend. There were definitely a lot of moments that made me giggle and kick my feet with pretty much every love interest, but romance is really put on the backburner near the end of the story and the epilogue I got wasn't enough to satisfy me in that regard. I do have to say though, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters in the story very much to the point that it was exceedingly difficult for me to choose anyone. With all of that being said though, I feel that it is important to specify that the last chapter or so of this visual novel felt rushed or maybe just... thrown together maybe? Really it feels like the creators had a bigger vision and didn't get to flesh it out. I will also say one thing I didn't particularly like was that I *felt* like an outsider during my playthrough. I think that's at least partly intentional because of all the backstory between all the characters and it was so interesting to learn how everyone's lives entangled, but I found myself not wanting to trust some of the love interests (might have to do with me playing as nomad) or even just feeling like I didn't belong in certain scenes or with certain people. You are also really just Thrown Right In from the beginning which threw me off a bit. Outside of all of these things though, I think this story has a lot of potential for enjoyment, I was fascinated by the lore and the love interests, I very much appreciated the diversity and representation within the characters, and the CGs were all gorgeous.

This is a great game. I understand that there weee negative reviews - a lot of them, but at this point, the bugs have been worked out and I’ve found it require enjoyable. The game is fun, characters engaging. Admittedly, the bar was set pretty high wit When The Night Comes, but this was still excellent and very replayable. Give it a chance; I promise you won’t be disappointed.

TINHA TANTO POTENCIAL! Sim, voce pode me perguntar, "então porque voce esta colocando esse jogo como recomedado?' Bom vamos la, não me entenda mal, o jogo não é ruim, porem ele poderia ter sido muito mais. Comprei o jogo enquanto ele ainda tinha um acesso antecipado, joguei os 5 primeiros capitulos e ate ai, tudo perfeito, o jogo estava incrivel, personagens, cenario e protagonista otimos, porem foi ai que os problemas começaram. A demora no lançamento completo é algo que nem vou me prolongar porque ja tem muitas pessoas nos comentario falando sobre, mas o que realmente mais me incomodou foi o quanto o jogo decaiu apos o 5 capitulo. Não sei se devido a tantas reclamações os desenvolvedores apressaram tudo para lançar mais rapido, mas senti que apos isso o jogo inteiro foi uma correria mal construida. toda a historia decaiu em um grande nivel comparado aos primeiros capitulos, como disse antes não era horrivel, mas como eu tive o ceu primeiro, eu obviamente senti a perda no final. Tudo foi muito superficial, os relacionamentos não tiveram um bom fechamento e a historia terminou de forma abrupta e nada satisfatoria, foi apenas um grande "ok, nada demais" Outra coisa que me incomodou muito foi a mudança de artista dependendo da imagem, sempre que uma aparecia ou era algo muito bom e condizente com o resto do jogo, ou um traço completamente diferente que em minha opinião não era nada satisfatorio. Não me leve a mal, não estou querendo criticar o traço de cada um, eu entendo que existem estilos diferentes, porem na minha opiniao quando se trata de um jogo tudo tem que ter um equilibrio, não acho legal essas mudanças de traços repentinas que deixam tudo bagunçado e nada linear. No fim, eu gostaria que houvesse uma opção neutra, mas como não há e eu nao odiei o jogo a ponto de dizer que eu nao recomento, eu vou deixar como "recomendo o jogo, porem esteja ciente dos contra e compre ele apenas em uma promoção"

While I will recommend this game, I do have some cripes. The music does not do favors to the pacing of a scene. Not that the music is bad but it feels more like I've put on a lo-fi list for white noise than anything that adds emotion to what's going on in a scene. This is more heavily felt during action scenes. Compared at least to Lunaris Games' other title When The Night Comes where the pacing and use of music felt better. (I will note that I have only played the remastered version, I have no idea what the older version was like) I don't know if Lunaris will return to this game one day after the troubled development around it, but I think this would benefit from bit more shine and touch up -- voice acting would be a nice addition too. As it stands right now, the game has a lot of variants between the three origins you can pick, which race you are, and the romance choices and that gives it replay value.

Absolutely had a blast playing this game! Played the entire thing in two sittings because I HAD to figure out what was going on. I loved the characters and the story had me hooked. Would def recommend 10/10

So if you played When the Night Comes there are some stark differences. This is a much more mature story in that there's depth to the lore, characters and honestly moral quandaries that I didnt expect. The game is mature but less, "detailed" if you will for some of the romance scenes. But honestly - the relationship bonds and love interests feel more fleshed out - it felt like I was seriously invested in Raiden's story, and more than that the MC was interesting, albeit annoying at times - (Nomad) - but absolutely hit the spot for that spy motif I love in fantasy genres. This is beautifully done in that respect and hits some typical fantasy beats, while also having some unique lore directions I didnt expect. While I do feel for example the romance with Finn (WTNC) is a bit more satisfying in some ways (mostly because of DLC outcomes) this is a much broader, more intense story. It felt like my choices had serious implications and I appreciated that. Could there be more? Absolutely - but some of this game really reminded me of DAO and thats a HUGE compliment to the story crafting and investment in character. I enjoyed the interplay between characters. Special shout out to Raiden (rascal is his middle name and I love it) and Roux - I actually found my friendship with Roux and their story as well as that particularly touching outdoor scene - it really made me emotional and I loved it. So thank you for that. Congrats on making this stoic fantasy lover actually emotional. I know theres alot of huff about the studios development but I look forward to the revamp of this title to come and of Call Me Under. CMU is already on my wish list :) Give this one a whirl guys, you wont regret it!

I really wanted to like this game but I just can't. I knew about it for a long time, played demo and was excited to see it finished, but I was not able to enjoy it after the release. The story suddenly becames really rushed and unpolished after the first few chapters (which I liked but it did not last). It feels like the developers just wanted the game out and done with. In the later chapters writing turned out to be very confusing - some characters which I never saw before turned up without any introduction and explanation and treated like I already met and knew them. The choice between human and half-fey character did not play any role at all (why is it even there?). Romance feels forced and kinda meaningless, any scences with romance interests can be safely removed and story will remain the same. There are exactly two choices that changes something meaningful in the game - one is the romance interest choice (we can choose anybody, completely independed on ours previous interactions with characters, and ro is suddenly in love with the protagonist without any prelude) and ending choice (there are two endings. Just two, for all the characters). I don't know, maybe if there was only one role for the protagonist instead of three and fewer love interests, the developers would be able to focus on polishing the story and romances more, but right now it feels like it started great, then authors were not able to do it properly and jumbled everythig together without much care and thought, to just finish it. I feel really sad about this game, it could be great (the start was so promising) but now as it is it is kinda bad. Oh, and half of the pictures in the gallery did not register for me and were locked still after seeing them during story.

I'd recommend if it goes on sale, and similarly to a previous reviewer; I wish there was middle ground for reviewing. I played the demo, and waited for it all to be out before doing a full run through... I've only done one play through, and I'll probably go back to it but, somethings felt a little jarring? The characters are great, as they always are, but I cant help feeling the final product ended up being rushed... There were places where... dialogue repeated itself, like idk if this is a bug or if it's something that wasn't picked up on. There was one point where, as a shadow romancing Erik and Maja, the main character said they spoke to the latter about the relationship, but that never happened... not even within the narrative text, no dialogue; as a reader, I just had to assume they did have that conversation, but there was no mention of even SEEING them. That ended up throwing me off; I can understand that the role of shadow, lore-wise, makes it difficult for them to talk to Maja, but why mention a conversation, about something as central as a relationship, that never came up? The previous game from Lunaris Studio was great, and similarly structured without feeling rushed; however, after picking the romance in Errant Kingdom, the story had weird flow. There was a lot of days blurring, and it felt like very little interactions with the ros beyond the plot. I was romancing Erik and Maja, and while I did see Erik more, I believe it was because, spoilers; he ends up being a very integral part of the story, if that wasn't already obvious. Maybe the choice of ros changes how often, and the role you end up playing, but even without that; it felt like a weird mix between a rush to the finish line, while the narrative said days were passing with nothing going on. When done in moderation, it's not too bad, they've done it in their previous game, but it felt like I read 'the days blurred' far too many times for it to feel like a natural progression of time. Patches are still being put out, so I hope some of these concerns get sorted out, but if not, then I would recommend waiting for a steam sale or something; here's hoping Call Me Under takes the things that weren't as well done in this and improve.

+ Loved the art, loved the music. Loved the character designs and the world building. Loved the humor. ~ I had some problems with the CGs not showing up in the gallery and the skip function didn't work for me. And I was wondering why does Steam show you two "Play Errant Kingdom" options when you hit the play button? - Why I wouldn't buy it again: The really bad writing of the plot and the romance. I did a "Halfling / Knight" run and romanced Raidan. Especially the pacing / storytelling of the last game part was lazy. - Plotholes: Two characters that just popped up (Roux sister and the leader of the vipers) and the game assumed my char knows them. And what happened with Nazir? - Lazy writing: The tournament that you win after shoving a single other knight off their horse. The final fight – all the MC does is running from a to b to c. The mages present threw stones at the „boss“. With magic, yes, but.. just... why? All the time I was thinking „Stop telling me how awesome my char is, just let me do something!". The plot is a lot of running around, telling alot but now showing. - There were no decicions that felt like they actually changed anything – and even when I outright choose to not do stuff (like giving the three creepy tarot sisters the hairlock) the game just ignored my choice and did follow through with the plot. Same with not romancing chars. I really didn't like Maja and choose to distrust Livia - and the game simply threw stuff at me that totally felt off bc I was as rude as I could with the two of them. That I could even choose the romance with them after not being nice to them once before was irritating, too. - The „romance“ - that simply wasn't there bc of the „fade to black“ writing style - was really disappointing. Main sellingpoint to me for this developer were actually the really good written romances in „Before the Night comes“. Here the MC was a bystander – they were either to tired to even talk to their LI or the game just didn't let them talk to Raidan. Everyone gets more time to speak with him than the MC.. totally not what I expected. The two polycouples didn't click with me this time sadly. Sorry for pointing out so many things I didn't like. I just hope it helps others to decide if they want to buy this game or rather buy another one. I would have paid the money for a 0.9 Demo or a clearly stated "Unfinished / Unpolished 0.9 Version" of Errant Kingdom just to support the indie studio. But buying something that looks like a finished game - which Errant Kingdom clearly is not - made me really disappointed.