Guilded Hearts

I received Red Embrace in one of the itch charity bundles a few years ago, and have casually kept up with Gallium Games releases ever since. I love their romance visual novels with unique characters and fun settings, from vampires to Prohibition. As an MMO fan, I knew I wanted to pick up this VN and was happy to know that Gallium Games were the devs! So far I've only finished Casper's route, a route that led me down a path I wasn't expecting but that had me hooked from start to finish. I'm a very fast reader, so I'd say that each route would take about 2 hours at regular speed. Update: Sped through all the routes to the "good" endings. I assume there are bad endings as well but I don't know if I'm strong enough to play through them haha. Each character was just as unique and had twists and turns throughout their route. So far, there's are no routes that I didn't enjoy, and I would love more content with these characters. Definitely worth the purchase! Update #2: If you run this game using Proton Hotfix on Steam Deck, it runs perfectly. [strike] The only thing that I didn't enjoy about this release is that it's completely non-functional on Steam Deck. I love reading visual novels in handheld mode, but this game gives you the "missing executable" error when trying to launch on that console. Hopefully this will be fixed in future updates! [/strike]

In the online fantasy mmorpg Lost Heroes you can raid with the gang, have a pint at the local in-game tavern and even find romance in [i]Guilded Hearts[/i]. [h2][u]The Story[/u][/h2] You (main character can be renamed but the default is Julian) are a college student who dreams of working in the games industry. You are also a huge fantasy fan into the popular online game Lost Heroes and your class in-game is a sorcerer. You can have four love interests that you meet around the online mmo Lost Heroes. Archie is charming and flirty. Casper, your roommate, is an extrovert who is playful, fun and a theatre student at the local college. Guillermo is arrogant and a snob that comes from a well-to-do family and lastly Verdant who is quiet, reserved and caring (and is also your online buddy who plays Lost Heroes with you). Each character has one ending and no bad endings so no matter what you decide your ending will be good and [i]very happy[/i]. The point to save is also very obvious when the game asks you who to pursue and lists the 4 main romances as options. Save at this point to replay alternate routes after your first play-through. 🌶️ Spice Level - HOT (if you play with the nsfw settings on). There is the option to skip the nsfw scenes if you want a mild experience. There are triggers in the game too such as abuse, homophobia and alcohol but it is not shown, just talked about. [h2][u]Settings, Features & Gameplay[/u][/h2] Settings & features include; audio controls, text speed, adult content on or off, text skipping options, display and resolution options. There are also accessibility options for closed captions and open dyslexic fonts. The text is easy to read and there's lots of save slots. Extras include a unlockable cg gallery that clearly labels sfw and nsfw art, and the credits. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3448505640 ⭐ I had an image of Verdant posted but took it out so not to ruin the spoiler as to what he looks like (my bad). I realized after I put it in and apologize for not thinking of it sooner. You can customize the main character right from the start with options such as name, skin colour, hair colour, eye colour and shirt colour. As well as your in-game (in game profile picture) and screen name. [h2][u]The Visuals & Audio[/u][/h2] The main character art in this novel is nice, anime style with cell shading (it feels like the illustrations were done in Illustrator). The characters do have facial animations and do switch poses from time to time. The backgrounds, to be honest, I do not care for in general. I have never been a fan of photographs as backgrounds but that is more a personal preference. However the in-game art of Lost Heroes is nice, more cartoonish. The sprites they play as in the game are adorable and the main character's pet fox is too cute. The music is lo-fi instrumental for the most part and relaxing. There is no voice acting in this game however there are some nice ambient sounds mixed in like doors opening/closing, typing on a computer or message pings when you're in chat with each other. [h2][u]Overall Experience[/u][/h2] The writing is really well done. I loved all the routes and all the characters. Guillermo’s route was the most predictable but Cas’s really took me by surprise. All the stories are heartfelt and don’t shy away from some really tough and triggering situations. On the artwork front there are not a lot of cg’s to really unlock except the nsfw ones if you're playing with the spice turned up. Most of the tame ones are shown on the store’s page. So I do wish there were more of the special moments to collect. Overall some great stories and a recommend from me. 💗 [hr][/hr] [i]This game was purchased by me for my personal library. On occasion I share my experiences with the groups I write for to help bring attention to games I’ve personally purchased and wish to give more exposure too. [/i] [quote]Please follow our curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/4680120/]Otome Lovers[/url], if you'd like to see more reviews like this one! [/quote]

After playing all the routes, I have found I enjoy this VN. It may be short if you compare it to VN's from bigger companies, but Argent/Gallium Games never disappoints! I do like the fact that they bring in some real life scenarios, especially some topics that should be taken seriously. The overall interactions between the characters are really good, and consistent between the different routes (except the interactions that involve the MC depending who you're pursuing). My favorite routes honestly are Guillermo and Archie. As far as how the game runs... on my system it ran very slow and sometimes even crashed. I couldn't always load a save either. However, I attribute this to the fact that I'm using a laptop meant for minimal usage (typing documents and stuff like that). On my desktop, the game runs smoothly. I do wish there was a way to start skipping without having to open up the menu. I'm not sure if that is due to my laptop or if it was a part of the game itself. I like being able to hit a button and have the read text skip. I cannot comment on any audio, as I never play with audio when I play my games (except Chess of Blades). The art was enjoyable. I liked how consistent the art was with the sprites and from scene to scene. I did find some cases, however, where the art in the sprite window was deformed. It made it amusing seeing that, but I don't think that's what they were aiming for. The text in the game was easy to read, but when it came to the cell phone texts, a little of the text was cut off. Sometimes that would distract me from what I was reading, so it took me more time to focus on the words instead. I also found some of the abbreviations or "text speak" unfamiliar to me and caused me to be confused on what was being said. That may just be an age thing though. Overall, I would definitely recommend this story to other people. It's going on my list of VN's I love to read. It definitely has re-read written all over it in my book.

Очень сырая игра. Сюжет куций, арты грубые, будто нарисованы за пол часа. В целом артов очень мало. Персонажи неплохие, даже симпатию вызывают, но сама история провисает. На фоне других продуктов от этих разрабов все плохо. Может, конечно, у меня были завышенные ожидания, но я думаю хотя бы парочку красивых артов за такую цену можно было организовать.

It is - as usual from the Studio - a well-written game with diverse characters (mean it mainly personality-wise but ethnicity-wise too), in entirely different life situations, emotional ups and downs and huge character-developments for everyone. I also love that I can resonate with a lot of their problems in their personal lives and this game once again can make me feel very invested in how their story will develop. They really put a lot of work into this game too and it shows. I honestly recommend it to everyone who likes the genre.

It's a nice little visual novel to pass time with; the routes are short and simple (only takes 1-2 hours) and the love interests are very cute! My favourites were Guillermo and Archie, [spoiler](I felt a little guilty pursuing Casper and Verdant since they get together in most of the routes)[/spoiler] There were some parts in the writing that I felt was rather awkward and rushed, but overall, I did like it a lot. The visuals for Lost Heroes were great, and the art was nice. I also really enjoyed the little bit of customization given.

A solid visual novel. While some plot lines felt predictable it didn't take away from the enjoyment of the characters at all. If you need a small escape these boys got you. I really appreciated being able to switch to an easier to read font in the accessibility options. Verdant is top tier.

I've been a fan of Argent Games for the longest time and unfortunately had not had the chance to play any of their Gallium games. Until now! Loved the MC to bits and the customization was nice for a little personal flavoring. Highly recommend if you are someone like me who can't spend a lot of hours playing a game in one sitting! The length of each route I played so far has been perfect! The characters are written so well and the stories and emotions are very relatable wither they have happened to you or not. I don't review games like ever BUT whenever I rec a game to anyone anywhere it has to do the following: If it made me cry the good kind of cry please play it thanks

i honestly love how deep it gets with each character route. I love all characters but my personal favorites were Casper and Verdant. How bringing awareness to people who have HIV+ was informational (to me) was really cool and allowed me to do my own research. I could even find myself relating to certain situations as well. Loved the game!

This is a very heartfelt game. It's not very long and as far as I know there is only 1 ending for each route. It's a great game to play if you want an immersive story without having to worry if you choice will lead to right ending. While it's not very long (Played all 4 route in about 8 hours of game time.) it's the perfect game for playing in between large games or when you want something light and easy. The story's have great depth and touch on serious topics but don't get dark like some BL VS do. I grabbed it during a steam sale and so glad I did.