Hearts in Hades: Divine Passion

[b]Note:[/b] An awesome friend gifted me a copy of this novel. ^^ [h1]A hot, passionate story where there's more than meets the eye. XD[/h1] [h2]Introduction[/h2] [i]Hearts in Hades: Divine Passion[/i] is a text-based, fantasy romance CYOA (choose-your-own-adventure) novel written by Lidia Molina Whyte and developed and published by Heart's Choice. You take on the role of the daughter of Hades, God of the Underworld, and Persephone, Goddess of Spring. As well as being the Goddess of Nightmares, you serve as a messenger on the Messengers' Council, with Hermes as its leader. There are talks of a political marriage between you and Ares, God of War, in order to strengthen the alliance between the Underworld and Olympus. Along with these negotiations, Leukas, a city in Hellas, has been the target of the gods, as you're being pressured into sending nightmares to its citizens while they sleep. Then, there are talks of the Giants causing trouble. Can you navigate these tremulous waters and successfully resolve all these issues while possibly finding the love of your life? As for the gameplay, you make choices as you're reading the novel. While a few choices don't affect the direction of the story (like the MC's name, appearance, etc.), the majority of them affect the stats that your character has as well as her relationships to others. For example, certain choices may influence how physically strong or smart your character is, while other choices may affect the MC's relationship with Hades and Persephone or potential romances. Speaking of romance, there are three possible male routes: Ares, Morpheus (the god of dreams), and Theron (the lord of Leukas). Several Steam achievements are available, but they won't count towards a user's global total until the game is out of "Steam is learning about this game". [h2]Review[/h2] It has been a very long time since I last played a CYOA, but every once in a while, I enjoy indulging in a good story that I can totally immerse myself in. Also, I wanted to read a story with some hot, spicy romance, and [i]Hearts in Hades: Divine Passion[/i] definitely delivers on that and more. I like how the story starts off, and it doesn't waste time in getting you to create your character and whatnot. (I named my character Melinoe on every playthrough, for easier reference.) To avoid misunderstandings, I should note that the MC will always be female and that she can only romance guys, so for all intents and purposes, the story is otome. Although romance is a part of the story, there's actually more than that aspect. Depending on the choices you make, you can uncover something nefarious going on with the Messengers' Council or figure out that Leukas is being blackmailed into giving more worship to the gods. Regardless of the choices, it seems that the ending is the same, as I never got a bad ending in which Melinoe dies. (There is the possibility that she can get injured, though.) To be fair, I may have been smart with my choices, so there might be the possibility of bad endings. As for romances, I like all three possible choices. With Ares, despite him being the God of War, he has a fondness for baking and he dislikes bloodshed. It was a surprise to discover this side of him, and I liked having him as a romance option and as a friend. (Yes, it's possible for the romance options to be friends with Melinoe, if you so choose.) As for Morpheus, well, he's the rival who wants to get under Melinoe's skin. However, that kind of attitude can lead to hot, spicy romance, and I liked that. :o Also, he has a bit of backstory, which can make you feel sympathy for him. With Theron, he was my personal favorite. It feels like a tragedy when a goddess falls for a human since those romances don't tend to end well. However, your choices influence who you are. In regards to the gameplay, I liked that the choices make a difference. For the most part, it's fairly obvious which choices can influence certain stats. Also, if you want to learn more about stats, you can check up on the stats page in the game that explains more about them. All of the achievements are obtainable, but I'll admit that a couple of them can be a bit tricky to get. I did make a [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3669695110]guide[/url] in case anyone would like some help on getting achievements and whatnot. XD (Now, here is where I'd normally go into the art and music. However, because the game is entirely text-based, those aspects are absent. Still, I'll note that the writing is very well paced, and I only noticed one typo in my playthroughs. Also, there was a bit of a coding error on one of the pages, but it didn't cause any game crashes or whatnot.) [h2]Conclusion[/h2] Would I recommend [i]Hearts in Hades: Divine Passion[/i]? If you're looking for a story that has multiple routes and hot, spicy romances, you enjoy CYOAs, and/or you enjoy getting all those Steam achievements, then it's worth checking out. For the asking price, it's a good deal, especially if you want to get all the achievements and try out all the possible romance routes. (It took me a little over 4 hours to get through one route, but my reading pace is on the slower side. XD) [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7593237/]Otome Rakuen[/url] team up to give readers highly detailed, thorough reviews of hot romance games.[/quote]

A hetero-romance between gods in the greek mythology. The story is really good. It does something fresh (but not entirley new) with the source material and provides new characterisation to various gods. Despite having three conflicts and two villians the pacing remains on point. The romances are tied very well into the story and despite no option to remain single never feel forced. They can progress fast or slow, depending on your choice and never feel rushed or forced. Hoever, there is something big that keeps this from beeing perfect: the love interests characters. They are nothing but a bunch of extrem clichéd archetyps. Morpheus is every jerkass-bad boy stereotype roled into one, including daddy issues and sad backstory. The human king is underwhelmningly bland and the fact that the MC can fall in love with him over constantley spying on his dreams is rather creepy. And Ares is a kind, domestic, sweet, wholesome hunk that abores violence. While inteesting in theory it turns his job as god of war into an informed attribute and makes it seem wierdly out of place. Like if Poseidon had hydrophobia. It also kills pretty much any tension over the protagonists arranged marriage with him. Despite the clichéd love-interests, its a great story. And if you dont mind clichéd archtypes, its an exellent game. The price is completly fair.

Really enjoyed Morpheus. Bickering, back-and-forth, that's my vibe. Antagonistic starts to romance are some of my favorites. Other two were kinda not really catching my attention. Theron could be interesting in a longer story of different tempo. This one didn't give him enough developement time. Ares is prime friendzoning target. Zero attractiveness for me. Political elements were a pleasurable surprise. Romance media too often gives woman absolutely no way of doing anything, so this was refreshing.

Although I am not interested in men romantically or sexually, I quite enjoyed this story. I approached it as a fan of Greek myth generally and also of the terrific Fields of Asphodel from Hosted Games, with the mindset of "I'm Persephone and I just hope my darling daughter Melinoe finds a decent fellow." Of the options available, there are: Ares, the childhood friend who seems to prefer domesticity and baking over his day job. Morpheus the absolutely worthless piece of ♥♥♥♥. Theron the mortal man who ... does whatever it is mortals do. Anyway, this isn't the most convoluted plot but Ares seems like a decent enough fellow and I certainly hope Melinoe and Aphrodite become good friends - the Goddess of Love has had a rough go of it and could use a friend. I liked this quite a bit. If I have any specific complaints I wish there could have been more opportunities to interact with people (mortals and gods alike) through shaping their nightmares.

I'm currently in the middle of my first playthrough of Hearts in Hades, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience. If you're looking for a well-balanced IF, this one is definitely worth your time. Just a heads-up that you play as a female MC with male LIs. The story and pacing are excellent so far, keeping me hooked without feeling rushed. I also appreciate the balance of choices and mechanics. There are plenty of stat-based decisions, but they aren't punishing or frustrating. And even if they were, there is a checkpoint at the end of each chapter which lets you restart the chapter if you want to try a different path. The three LIs are all endearing and likeable. In terms of romance, it definitely ranks among the better-written titles out there. While it might not completely blow every other IF out of the water, it delivers the solid quality I've come to expect from a Heart's Choice.

The writing is positively exquisite, some of the best I've ever encountered with these games.

Good

It's witty and entertaining with plenty of steamy scenes if you will it! Very nice read and excellent replay value. Definitely recommend.

I actually really liked the plot and all the ROs !! was hard to choose which one so might have to replay it and do everyones endings <33 would def recommend especially since its such a good price <3

Enjoyed my time with this. Well paced, reasonable length. I didn't know Greek mythology all that well but wasn't a problem - the story conveys everything you need to know