Galaxy Princess Zorana

It's really good! My friends and I play it as a group and we like to figure out what kinds of depth there is to the game.

A life/political sim in the vein of the same dev's [i]Long Live the Queen[/i]. As the crown princess of a space empire, you're thrust onto the throne after the Emperor dies in a tragic accident and have to consolidate support before somebody assassinates you. Made in the Ren'Py visual novel engine, so it's no surprise that most of the game is interacting with an array of characters. The writing is absolutely on point here, as everyone you meet has a unique personality. They're not just pretty faces, though. Your major objective is to secure their support in your bid for the throne. Most of the time, this means doing them a favor. Sometimes this favor involves babysitting their kid for a few hours. Sometimes it involves capturing a dangerous predatory beast from planetside. Sometimes it involves reading and commenting their extremely dirty M/M fanfics. In nearly all cases, it involves skill checks. Skills are the other big part of the game- there are over 40 of them, some more useful than others, and a hard time limit of 30-ish turns means you can't be the best at everything, so you need to prioritize what's most important to you. Fortunately, most events permit multiple successful approaches. Does this work as a game? Mostly, yes. After a few runs, you start thinking of it as a big puzzlebox. You need to plan out your travel route and your skill development to hit the right nobles when you have the skills to meet their requirements, in addition to following subplots which advance at certain times. You can really get into the weeds with strategy here. If I had a problem, it's that the story kinda gets lost in the shuffle. The main storyline essentially becomes a series of vignettes. Subplots abound, but aren't always easy to devote time and effort to following, especially since most of them don't have full resolution until the epilog. It's still fun, though. It took me several times, but I did manage to finally become the empress, thanks to a lot of strategy and note-taking, and when your plans come together, it's a rush to see them go off. Absolutely worth playing if you dig lifesim games, political sims, or figuring out complex game-length metapuzzles.

during turn 20, it may get harder for her to make the right choice(s) and hold on until turn 21

A really fun time management game with great writing and cute art. I resisted the urge to just follow a guide like I did with Long Live the Queen, and it was rewarding to finally get elected!

I’m ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ horrible at these types of games and will 100% rely on a guide because my working memory is ♥♥♥♥. But god, they’re so fun lol

i love kxenia

A very complex game. It might be quite straight forward at first, but depending on the routes you take or skills you train, you might encounter surprising changes. I might need to use a guide to find the true ending, but overall the game is very fun. A worthy sequel to Long Live the Queen.

I've played quite a lot to Zorana (not only with Steam). It's quite a good game. But very different than Long Live the Queen. Long Live the Queen was a political visual novel/RPG. Zorana feels more like a political boardgame/RPG with a light VN dimension. The universe / wold making is very interesting. The story is still quite good, at least if you replay to get all the secrets. But compared to LLTQ, I have to say I have two complaints : 1/ Except Zorana herself and one or two exceptions, most characters are pretty shallow, particularly the electors. You don't have the occasion to really bond with anyone, even people following you in your spaceship, that's quite disappointing. 2/ The skills progression seems a bit more frustrating than in LLTQ. You don't have cluster bonuses anymore, which makes progression slower, while there are fewer turns during a run. This means you can't max out a lot of skills and have to plan very, very carefully your skills progression. Due to these two flaws, I still have a preference for LLTQ. But it is still a good boardgame/RPG/VN, quite unique, and I recommend it nonetheless.

A charming fun life-sim

Fun stat raising, rich story & lore