Games of the Monarch's Eye

I cannot in any way recommend this game. Cons: - Forcing a nonsensical ending that ignores everything that has happened before the last choice is just bad writing. - Railroading is bad. Is this bad writing or just a lazy author? Or both. - If the writer wants the player to select a specific R.O. then don't give any other alternatives. - There are key choices where the consequence result in closing off entire game play options with no sign posts or effort to give the player actual agency. Effectively saying choose "left or right" , but we're not going to tell you what lies in either direction or why you would want to go one way rather than the other. Again this is bad writing or being lazy or both. - Stats may have some hidden role, but it's anyone's guess what that might be - if they are not disregarded entirely. - It is still a mystery after a second play through what the player can do, if anything, that meaningfully influences outcomes in a way the player intends. - How to play the 'games' and what the consequences are of the player's choices (let alone stats) are not explained. And they don't make sense. There is a definite sense of railroading going on. - If the author only wants the player protagonist to make certain choices then they should be writing a book not a 'game'. There's a basic rule for a successful game in this genre that this game repeatedly breaks: If a choice is given it needs to be honored and ideally in a way that leads to the player's expected results. Pro: Interesting premise.

[h2][i]Games of the Monarch’s Eye[/i] is an interactive novel with a vivid, immersive setting but lacks depth in politics and relationships.[/h2] You play as a former citizen of the city of Varze, having returned after an absence of ten years. What has drawn you back are the Games of the Monarch’s Eye – a series of competitions to become the Monarch’s top dog. There’s just one problem: you competed ten years ago and lost to your childhood friend and rival, who’s the current Eye of the Monarch. Will you be able to defeat them and claim the title? Do you still want to? And how will you deal with the two warring factions of Varze, whose conflict has only grown worse in your absence? [u]A railroaded 6 out of 10 for me.[/u] It’s been a while since I picked up a [i]Choice of Games[/i] adventure, but the premise of this one really intrigued me. I was very immersed at the start; the author has a talent for vivid descriptions of the world they’ve built by invoking all five senses. The city of Varze – and other locations later on – felt incredibly alive. The customization of the MC was extensive; I love it when you can even choose details like a favorite drink! However, everything involving politics and relationships seemed a lot less well-thought out. That’s why no matter what I ended up achieving as the MC, the conclusion and wrap-up of the story rang rather hollow. [h1][b]Pros[/b][/h1] + The world and setting + Great descriptions of food, drink, and architecture + The competition aspect is genuinely exciting + Lots of customization options for the MC beyond stats [h1][b]Neutrals[/b][/h1] ~ A single playthrough takes about 2 hours ~ Plays well on the Steam Deck ~ Five ROs from five different walks of life [h1][b]Cons[/b][/h1] - Feels railroady at times - Little variety behind different choices - Romances / relationships lack depth - Abrupt ending The setting and the competition were no doubt the best part of [i]Games of the Monarch’s Eye[/i]. It was fun to get to know the other competitors and make choices about whether to be reluctant allies, snoop for info on their weak points, or backstab someone you made a deal with. Not to mention participating in the Games themselves! I think I would’ve liked it if the game had fully focused on this aspect. However, there’s also the backdrop of politics. There are two warring factions: the Artisans (craftspeople) and the Merchants (who sell everything the Artisans make). The main issue here is capitalism and class; the Merchants want more stuff for fewer wages, and the Artisans feel underappreciated and oppressed. The Monarch oversees it all, but might not have enough control of the situation before it all comes to a head. I felt like neither faction was particularly well-developed beyond what I just wrote down as a summary. The de facto leaders of the Merchants and the Artisans are also amongst your fellow competitors and romance options, which gives you an opportunity to get to know and/or sabotage them. Unfortunately, you have very little reason to care about them and their conflict. The way you can influence the conflict appeared VERY limited, as well. Regardless of your actions or personality type, it seems the story will eventually lead to rather sudden and heavy violence; you can only influence how everything is resolved afterwards. You cannot stop certain events from happening. And so, [i]Games of the Merchant’s Eye[/i] suffers from a classic Choose Your Own Adventure problem, which is that it gets a little railroady and fills in certain blanks for you. The same goes for the Monarch, who is also a possible romance option. The game pushes rather hard for you to like or at least find the Monarch intriguing. You cannot truly diverge from that path, despite having been away from your city / country for ten years. [spoiler]Nor can you overthrow the Monarch and offer a different solution to the Merchants versus Artisans problem.[/spoiler] Another classic CYOA problem is matching stats with options. Most of the time, you can intuit quite easily which option matches which of your stats – save for a few ridiculous moments where it seems impossible to know what’s what. As an example, I like playing silvertongued rascals who suck at physical strength and try to charm their way through. Funnily enough, I completely bungled the competition around charm and absolutely ACED the strength competition. Both times, I focused on picking options that seemed to match the ‘Eloquent’ stat or flirted shamelessly with my competitors instead, lol. Whereas I liked all of the romance options conceptually, the romances themselves also needed more depth and a little padding just like the political conflict. There was just so little… development? The (violence-induced) ending was also rather abrupt, which gave the romances even less time to cook. I specifically chose to romance my brooding rival, but despite the fight and the betrayal AND a ten year gap of not seeing each other, they seemed awfully ready to accept my courtship. Where’s the yearning? The angst? [spoiler]Though your rival has a lovely speech about how they feel about you in one of the competitions (10/10 honestly), you only have one short conversation together about your fall from grace ten years ago. Your rival indicates that they do not regret what they did (i.e., ratting you out), you get to say whether you regret your cheating or not, and… that’s that.[/spoiler] Now, I also don’t think it’s necessary to include a lot of smut or borderline smut for CYOA romances, but some of the banter could get pretty damn forward and ridiculously suggestive. This made it even funnier when any serious romantic moment that could lead to more got a VERY OBVIOUS no-no. I kid you not, it’s sudden stuff like, [i]“Let’s just sleep tonight”[/i] or [i]“Let’s wait until X”[/i], etc. Bro, what’s going on?? We have privacy, a bed, we’re already down to neck-kissing and undershirts. You were talking about slamming me down on my back big style just one fight ago! Anyway, I think there are better CYOA and [i]Choice of Games[/i] interactive novels out there. I very much wanted to love this one and I think it was very solid in terms of setting and the competitive aspect. If the romances and the politics had been a tad better, I might have been able to recommend it. I felt like it needed a bit more length and agency from the MC. [spoiler]For example, being able to influence either faction’s coup. The faction relationship meters are already in place for that. Or overthrow the system entirely; I still can’t believe we don’t have that option![/spoiler] As of now, it’s lukewarm. Mostly because it has everything that I love very easily, but still managed to drop the ball. If the setting and the competition appeal to you and you care a little less for the romances and the politics, you might still enjoy it.

Another below average CoG game... Despite its potential, this game ultimately left me feeling numb. The characters lacked depth and charm, making it hard to connect or care about any of them. The faction war, which should have been interesting, felt superficial and inconsequential...more noise than narrative weight. As for the romance options, I found them entirely unengaging. I skipped the romance paths altogether, not out of oversight, but because none of the ROs sparked even mild interest. What disappointed me most was the absence of any real sense of adventure or tension. The story trudges along a rigid, somewhat predetermined path, offering little room for meaningful choices or surprises. And just when I hoped the finale may redeem the story, the ending arrived...abrupt, unsatisfying, and devoid of emotional payoff.

A clever sci fi story which is more of a find a right path tale than an rpg. The tale increasingly bogs down in a woke swamp of political correctness.

fallout 4 ahh dialogue options hyped up because the art for this game actually looked good, rather than the corporate stuff that CoG loves smartest thing in the story is how the demo ends at the perfect time for you to spend your money buy it if you have nothing else to read but dont bother if you have better CoG games this isnt an RO game, even with the option enabled (frankly dont bother) worldbuilding seems cool with interesting stuff that I wish was explored more, but unfortunately is not if you wanna have fun just cheat and pick the weirdest options

文笔很好，开头前五分钟就把我彻底hook住了。是这几个月我玩下来，质量最好的 COG 之一。两个主要派系之间的斗争刻画得非常到位，各有各的主张，不是简单的黑白对立。浪漫部分也写得很有意思，非常有那种高强度flirting之间的tension. 问题在于，不知道为什么，这款游戏给我一种“为了醋包饺子”的感觉。主线剧情才是唯一重要的，一旦推进到终点就赶紧结束，结局更是莫名其妙。让我想起到写作文时字数凑够了，就赶紧结尾的那种感觉

Writing is decent, but it's so shallow that I barely get wet.

So-so