Heartspell: Horizon Academy

I'm a long time otome/visual novel fan and I had no idea how badly I needed something that had all of that plus the added twist of match 3 gameplay. I am absolutely in love. Seriously. This game has me in a chokehold like you would not believe. I loved the art, the story, the fresh worldbuilding around the familiar "wizard school" concept, the fact that I didn't catch the final twist [spoiler]revolving around our resident, good boy[/spoiler]. I absolutely loved the characters. Their personalities were all extremely distinct. The voice acting was top notch. I went into the game figuring I'd be a fan of our sweet, reliable Riley. Then Morgan and their unrepentantly self-important, dickwaffle behavior grabbed me and didn't let go. Really, the only things that bothered me were related to gameplay. I understand [spoiler]the "chosen one saves the school" scenario[/spoiler] plays a part, but [spoiler]the player character felt like they were too BAMF everywhere, all the time, especially considering they're introduced with very little magic skill, fresh from the human world. Even if you choose the "I use magic" choice in the intro, the player is still treated/presented as a newbie.[/spoiler] And while I liked the ability to have multiple relationships gameplay wise, story wise it felt awkward to go woohooing characters back to back with it having only minimal effect on how those two characters interacted with each other. If it effected them at all. (I felt especially conflicted with Heron and Typhon.) Playability wise, it would also be nice to be able to restart a match, but that might also just be me who closes the game entirely rather than risk failing a match and hearing the characters be disappointed with me. All in all, I loved it! And would absolutely be interested in seeing what a second year at Horizon would look like.

Great game. A must play for anyone who appreciates puzzle games, visual novels or dating sims. The game has more or less three parts puzzle, visual novel story and dating sim. The puzzle I would give 4 out 5. The game includes a wide variety of spells you learn from different characters and unique challenges with every character so it never feels old. Story I give it another 4 out 5 starts off with a strong hook and there are few pleasant twists and turns. The world is flushed out and feels very lived in. There is stuff happening beyond the main story that really makes the world feel alive. The dating aspect is where the story really shines 5 out 5. None of the characters feel hollow, shallow or 2-dimensional. They are all well developed, with beautiful art. Every character has their own artfully crafted story that forms a piece of the overall plot. Best part is every character interacts with the other characters and has their own relationships with them, A must play for anyone who enjoys puzzle games, visual novels or dating sims.

so far, im like the story, characters, and the match 3! i really like the character designs and the voice actors did a great job, and the puzzles are fun, i do struggle on some... well just amara's until i got a banish spell so progressing is much easier for me. i also enjoy unlocking new spells, really encourages me to hangout with every characters instead of one which made me learn more about them and their stories/lore! for the romancing part, u can like openly romance everyone, some here and there, or just one, its up to u! nywy, i really like this visual novel with match 3, especially the romance! i enjoyed every part it :3

Absolutely amazing VN! Awesome voice acting, gorgeous art, entertaining match-3 puzzles that aren't always easy! And the stories are so good! You might think they're your run-of-the-mill ones, but there are some unique ones that really impress me! Definitely in my top 3 favorite VNs!

This game is a little gem. Don't miss out on it! The production values are astonishingly high for a game made in Unity, the characters are all incredibly well-written and voiced, there's representation for everybody (be aware of this. If you're against "woke" games - this one is not for you.) Everybody has different pronouns, you get to choose your own pronouns at the start of the game, and you can romance anyone regardless of gender. In short, this game takes a lot of effort to give you as much freedom as possible. You can also make the romances - which are all lovely and sweet and well-written - as spicy as you want, as all the "riqué" dialogue options are specifically marked. A special shoutout has to be made to the voice acting, which is just delicious, especially for the character of Morgan, who *cracks me up*. The match 3 element of the game can be a bit hit and miss, as it often seems to rely more on luck than on true strategy to get through a puzzle - but if it becomes too much of a hassle, you can always turn the match 3 off and just enjoy the story. In short, this is a game that goes out of its way to make sure you have a good time. I absolutely adored it throughout my entire playtime.

Entré por los puzles y me quedé porque tiene una historia muy interesante que te va transmitiendo poquito a poco. Me encantan todos los personajes y que no tengas que elegir solo ligar con uno se agradece, también está la opción de no hacerlo, por lo que es apto para todo el mundo. No soy muy fan de las novelas visuales, pero esta me ha enamorado. Reseña completa: https://cozykis.kisworld.es/analisis-de-analisis-heartspell-horizon-academy/ [b] Más jueguitos indies [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44960983-Jueguitos-Indie-Cozy/] mi mentoría [/url][/b]

I really enjoyed this! I am glad I made it past the initial introduction/prologue, which I found to be written a bit clunkily. But once you actually get into the character stories, the writing shines a lot more. If the very beginning of the demo put you off, push through it until the end of the demo, it DOES get better. There is a good variety of characters that you get to know here, and seeingeach character's backstory and what makes them tick was really enjoyable. You absolutely can boink everyone if you want with no limits which can be fun (and a lot of the steamy scenes are VERY fun), but you can instead just be monogamous or romance no one at all if you wish. Going through every one of each character's moments will at the very least lead you to a platonic friendship with them however, and you have to do that in order to get to the narrative finale event. So there's no ♥♥♥♥-disturbing/evil runs here. You WILL, goshdarnit, discover the good in everyone if it's not initially apparent. Woe is you! Even if you choose platonicism, the moments still feel meaningful, and characters do remember what choices you make in previous encounters, which makes everything feel more personal and prevents the encounters from feeling like completely pre-destined vignettes. As far as gameplay goes, you have to complete a match-3 level to complete each character interaction. The matching game starts off quite easy, but in the mid-late game it can definitely be a bit tricky, ending up taking multiple attempts to pass. Which IMO is the perfect difficulty curve for a game like this; it hit the goldilocks zone for me of never feeling insurmountable, while also not being a complete cakewalk. Nothing bad narratively happens if you fail, you just have to start over once the encounter appears again. The voice acting is generally quite good. My only big personal gripe is I find the narration distracting. I'm much more used to visual novels where only dialogue (if anything) is voiced, and I prefer to read narration at my own speed which is much faster than the narrator's. I eventually got used to ignoring the narrator but for the first little while it was quite frustrating. I get that it's great for accessibility reasons so I'm happy it exists, but I just wish there was an option to turn it off without turning off all the other character voices.

A fun, lovely game with various, lovely characters to talk to and romance (if so desired). They have their own storis and personalities and it was a lot of fun to get to know them and what they brought to the table. The world building is very fun and the story and romance and friendship was well written and well thought out. I will play though again soon. I loved this game and wish there was more to play because it was so fun, but the ending was great! Would absolutely love more for this story one day and otherwise I look forward to what the developers make next!