Heartspell: Horizon Academy

At first glance, this may seem like a normal "match-3-game-with-attractive-graphics-to-cheer-you-on" game, but it's not. It's so, so much more than that. In fact, you could even turn the match 3 elements off if you so choose (although I feel like they do serve as a nifty design element to represent more and difficult/varied spellcasting). Heck, the game has all kinds of accessibility features, which is amazing (A+!) But the sweet spot here is the characters. There are so many of them, all interesting, and they all have such varied and complex relationships with each other (which you can affect and/or join!). One small dialogue shift in one encounter may open up a whole new set of branching options in other encounters. Once you get to the repeatable encounters, even some of the options there may change from time to time, giving a delightful variance to what could otherwise be seen as repetitive in other games. The story is nifty - I admit I figured out the plot twist somewhere in the middle, but I didn't figure out [i]all[/i] of the plot twists, and each new one was a delight. If anything the only complaint I have is that there's no more - I'd love an entire series based off MC's school career, from start to finish. I'd also love the chance to design and name/pronoun my MC, but I understand why that's not the case here - and at the same time, it really isn't a con in this game. In fact, I completely forgot that I [i]hadn't[/i] given my char a name or pronoun early on in the game - it's really hard to get neutral writing like this to feel natural and yet the game does it just fine. It never feels forced. Do yourself a favour and give the game a try. Enjoy it for the match 3 elements, or just ignore the match 3 elements and let yourself enjoy the story - there's a mode for everyone as long as you like magic, cuties, and an engaging story.

This game is just perfect. Seriously. The gameplay is actually good, and you can make it optional if you can't handle it. (Amara is INSANE). The characters are fun, the plot is actually interesting, with twists, and all in all? I spent 12 hours marathoning this game plus and regret nothing. This is a 5/5, and I wish I could buy it for everyone.

A lovely little gem of a game, that I might have never known about if I hadn't clicked on a random old YT video. (Thanks Crispy's Tavern) Played a run 90 % Story. Checked out the girls' romances (sans Amara) and befriended everyone else. Ended up utterly smitten with Miko <3. I know being able to date everyone is a big selling point of the game, but why do so if the perfect girl literally jumps right into your arms. <3 Currently doing a Wizard run to check out the Match 3 stuff more. Will stay true to my moth girlfriend forever and transmute all the chaos gems I find. :)

I expected that I might like this game and its cute cast of characters, despite not being much of a match-3 person. What I wasn't expecting to have happen was to be so compelled by the Ember-Dawn relationship arc that I [url=docs.google.com/document/d/1cmb8CisKryjyo5PPL_urjg2a34NHQ7hJiekNey5Tl7s/edit?usp=drive_link] wrote an alternate version of "Stacy's Mom/Dad" about it [/url] despite having ZERO songwriting experience. So...yeah. This game's wonderful. 11/10, would get powerfully smitten again.

Fun. Good voice acting and interesting story.

Well made match-3 gameplay combined with a light-hearted and entertaining visual novel.

I loved the game! Fun cast and it's very impressive to have everything, even narration, be voice acted.