This was my first ever game on the "Hosted Games" platform, and I quite enjoyed this experience. My favorite parts have to be the setting and characters. The world created by the author is unique, detailed, and consistent, which is extremely important for stories about magic worlds hidden away from human society. If there's a lack of creativity and originality, you may as well just find something similar that's written by a more experienced and professional author. But if the author creates all kinds of new ideas and isn't able to keep them detailed and consistent, you risk causing too much confusion and breaking immersion, which you do NOT want to do in a choose-your-own-adventure written in the second person. Thankfully, the Keeper series does maintain this balance pretty well in both this part and the sequel (which I recommend playing as well). I enjoyed being able to read into different aspects of this world and the people and creatures that inhabit it, getting to see what kind of jobs, traditions, and daily activities people in a world like this may have. The messaging system was a fun way to sprinkle in extra information and some comedic relief, the classes and their professors were unique and interesting, and the different forms and properties of magic were interesting, well-defined, and detailed.
I also enjoyed the options for different races. They each help provide a different experience, which gives it lots of replay value. And they don't just affect your skills and abilities, but relationships and dialogue too. Different race options can also unlock different story parts as well. I enjoyed the Drakaina a lot, especially going into the second game. Another option that can change your experience is your choice of whether you have both of your parents or just one, and what relationship you have with them. It seems like a relatively small choice at first, but becomes much more throughout this part and especially the next, and that's something I didn't realize until playing around a bit.
However, the experience certainly isn't perfect either. Some of the story beats felt too obvious, and the antagonist doesn't seem to have any sort of clear motives, nor a grand plan besides 'destroy the city because bad guy'. And no matter what kind of personality you have or choices you make, the game always has to find some way to get you onto the main plot somehow. In my first playthrough I didn't have much interest in all of the saving the world business when there were so many other fun or interesting things to focus on. Classes, friendships, magic, other activities, all of them were much more interesting to me. The world was so charming and I was having way too much fun just living a normal life at magic college to bother with the plot going on. And it didn't really help that the game pulls you back and forth around a bunch of things all the time because the game would direct you in one way before snapping back to something else, making it harder to focus on any one thing. There isn't much personal reason for your character to be involved in the plot until the end when your friends are at stake, you discover your true place in this world, and after what happens to your friend during the ritual (I'm trying to keep it vague enough for those who haven't played yet, sorry). Thankfully, these problems are mostly resolved in the sequel, as you're already in neck deep and you have valid reasoning to be doing what you are (even though you're still allowed to try to resist your calling). Still, just getting thrown into a situation I was mostly hands-off about was jarring at first. There were also a few minor quirks in the writing that made it feel off at times. The most prevalent for me was that any cursing typically felt like it came out of nowhere. Thankfully it wasn't used that much (I think Astrid was one of the only ones I heard curse, at least that I can remember), but whenever it was used it felt unnatural or forced, and it stuck out in a weird way. Or sometimes your character will give the same sarcastic or rude response in certain set dialogues, even when it's out of character for the personality you've been building. However, those are smaller quirks in the grand scheme of things.
All-in-all, I really enjoyed the experience of playing through this story, and I was very excited when the sequel came out as well. It's not perfect, but it was entertaining and it left a lasting impact. And while I don't want to use price to evaluate the worth of the experience, I do believe that at the low price and with a free demo, there's no reason anybody should pass up on this experience too. If it looks like something you'd be interested in, I recommend giving this a try.
