Kiss the Demiurge

海外の制作ですが、日本を舞台にした百合ゲーです。 一般的には知られていないが魔法が実在する（らしい）という世界観。 主人公はエージェントで、魔法に関する事件を解決するためある学園に潜入します。 そこで出会う、魔法マニアによる怪しい部活の人々との交流がメイン。 基本的にコメディですが、後半はちょっと違う雰囲気になります。 ヒロインは4人おり、途中の選択肢でルートが分岐します。 開発元の名前にYuriと入っているだけあってちゃんと恋愛要素あり。 ビジュアル面では、立ち絵がかなり個性的。 百合なシーンでは、多くはないものの美麗（どうみても絵柄が違う）なイベントCGもあります。 言語は全編英語。 正しい文法を守っている綺麗な英語なので日本人にも読み易いと思います。 特に難しい専門用語などが出てくる話でもないので、英語の勉強もかねてプレイしてもいいかも。

[i]I received a free copy of this game for my curator, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32080131/]Games for Hopeless Romantics[/url].[/i] So this game turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The art (except for the excellent CG art) is very rough; the script itself could have used an editing pass (especially in the later parts of the story, where for whatever reason ending punctuation becomes less common as the story goes on) and the plot concludes a bit abruptly. But the story itself is very gripping in a way that mostly makes up for the game's flaws. One thing that could be either a dealbreaker or a feature for readers is that the MC, Minori, starts off as extremely unlikeable. She lies to and manipulates the other girls for the express purpose of blackmailing them and crushing their dreams. A lot of the humor, especially in the early parts of the story, comes from the mismatch between what Minori says and does (normal friendship stuff, more or less) and her true thoughts and feelings (which are much ruder). To be honest, I didn't actually think it was especially funny, but I was interested enough in the story to be willing to sit through it even though the humor didn't hit for me. Partway through the story, we encounter a major twist which completely and totally changes the trajectory of the story; it's no longer a darkly comedic fantasy about the dangers of magic and doing bad things for a good cause, but a [spoiler]psychological drama about struggling to cope with trauma[/spoiler]. The game deals heavily with themes of mental health/mental illness in ways that could be distressing to some readers (Minori [spoiler]becomes actively suicidal after the twist[/spoiler], and all of the heroines have their own issues that they're dealing with). It's all played for drama, but not in a way that feels exploitative, and still allowing the characters space to be complete, rounded, interesting people with both strengths and flaws. Of the individual routes, I think Tomoko's is the strongest in that her plotline most closely mirrors Minori's, allowing them to be foils in the ways that they're both similar and different. The issue with the plot ending abruptly is more pronounced in Akane and Chitori's routes, although they're both still enjoyable as well. Overall, I'm very glad to have been given the chance to read this VN, and I look forward to seeing what the developers make next, especially if they're able to add more polish that this game is currently lacking.

[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34294631/] Follow Far2close - Visual Novel Playthroughs Curator Page [/url] [b]Kiss the Demiurge[/b] Developer: YuriEureka Publisher: YuriEureka [h1]Intro:[/h1] Magic contracts, a secret organization to prevent magic from manifesting in the normal realm, a hellish land called Makai where demons roam, is this your usual story? The question we face is whether the things we see are real or not. We are thrown in the shoes of Minori Nakahashi extinguishing a fire demon at a high school, and she contacts U.M.I. to report the situation. She finds a poster regarding the Magic Club in a different high school and decides to transfer there to join then dismantle the club from within. However, things don't go according to plan. Minori still retains her morality and struggles from within to even harm the girls in the Magic Club. Eventually she will develop feelings for Chitori, Akane, and Tomoko, but how far is she willing to go to accept them herself? [spoiler] All of it is a delusion, magic isn't real, Makai does not exist. It is all in Minori's head. Severe trauma can cause delusions and we witness that with not just Minori, but the rest of the girls. [/spoiler] [h1]Pros:[/h1] [b]1.[/b] I thought the story was neat and how it tackled life after experiencing severe trauma and it's lingering effects. [spoiler] One point that was cool to see was Minori experiencing that everything she thought was all just a delusion she made up. She did not bear to realize that she was the one that killed her own mother until that point. The great part about that section was that we are experiencing it ourselves as well. We all saw what was going on, the fiction she made up with Makai, UMI, and having dangerous magical powers. When it's all shown to us that everything was a lie through normal means such as the holes in Minori's wall. To the other girls, the holes in the wall are easily caused by being punched through and the phone calls Minori makes are all just a silent phone. The walls of our facade break down and we watch it with utter sadness. [/spoiler] [b]2.[/b] The characters are well written and possess their own sins that help both Minori and whichever chosen girl develop over time. Personally, Tomoko's route is on par with Minori and resonates the best; I'm not saying Akane or Chitori are bad, they just deal with a different type of mental downfall. I like how Chitori is shy and afraid of the world as she deals with [spoiler] the aftermath of hardcore bullying. [/spoiler] Akane is a hardcore chuunibyou due to [spoiler] her parents losing faith in her and Akane has come to terms that she won't be successful as her peers. [/spoiler] [b]3.[/b] The CG art by [url=https://lianquanter.artstation.com/]Lianquanter[/url] is great and the characters can be seen in their full detail. [h1]Neutrals:[/h1] [b]1.[/b] The music is royalty free but it does a fine job in helping the scenes they are in. [h1]Cons:[/h1] [b]1.[/b] We know Akane, Chitori, and Tomoko as characters; however, there is still some mystery behind Minori. How long has she been doing this [spoiler] delusion? [/spoiler] How active is she as we saw in the beginning? Does she go to most tragic events and investigates? There are still a lot of questions regarding Minori that we, the audience, just don't get answers for. [b]2.[/b] The sprite art and background art is vastly different from the CG art. The sprite art can be deemed as subpar with a small variety of different facial expressions and a small handful of outfits. They do not possess different poses as well. If prefer visual novels with a majority of high quality studio art, this may turn you away. Luckily the artist [url=https://twitter.com/MrFeshershist]BULKVANDERHUGE[/url] acknowledges this themselves and I know that they're getting better over time. The recent art on their pixiv shows their improvement. [b]3.[/b] I believe a custom GUI can help not only the theme of the visual novel, but accessibility aspects. This happens mostly in Minori's room, Grandpa Nakahashi's room, or the beach, but the white text on the UI can blend in with the background. It can make it hard to see where the buttons are due to this. [h1]Conclusion:[/h1] Kiss the Demiurge is a GOOD story with well written traumatized characters, but the sprite/background art may drift you away if you are looking for higher quality visuals. [b]Score:[/b] 7/10 GOOD

Gonna be a bit of a longer review for me since I wanna give lesser known titles more love. [i] Kiss the Demiurge [/i] is a roughly 9-10 hourish three-route slice of life, romance, and light fantasy kinetic yuri visual novel [spoiler] though technically that fantasy moniker is false [/spoiler]. I will somewhat admit that, judging from the general vibes of the game, I went into it with slightly low expectations. I mostly picked it up because it was gay and had "Demiurge" in the title (I'm a religion nerd), and it was on sale. However, while I can't say my expectations were blown out of the water, I was actually very pleasantly surprised by this vn! the tl;dr is that if you like yuri, you like kinetic vns, and you like all your characters to have a healthy heaping of mental illness, I'd pick this up [b] Negatives [/b] Since I usually don't have much bad to say about something regardless of any grievances I might have with it, I'll start there to get it out of the way —A few plot points felt weird or out of place. —Characters occasionally seemed somewhat ooc, moreso when they were featured in routes outside of their own. —Chitori's and Akane's routes felt like they ended a little abruptly. Tomoko's ending didn't feel perfect or anything but it felt like things concluded a little more substantially. —Some grammar issues which could probably be fixed with more thorough editing. —Some repeat scenes in different routes weren't skippable, presumably because they featured a single line that swapped out the characters. [b] The good ♥♥♥♥ [/b] —Characters: All of the characters were delightful, in my opinion. There were a few lines from some chars that irked me or felt like they didn't fit every now and then, but for the vast majority of the vn, I loved everyone. Our protag, Minori, is probably the stand-out. Her personality is just so fun and fascinating. I'd honestly wonder what a vn where Minori wasn't the protag and was just another character would be like. All of the three main girls are also great, to the point I can't even really pick a favorite. Even Minori's family—Takashi, Kasumi, and her father (Shin'ichi maybe? His name is said once but I forget)—were interesting. I'd say the characters are one of the vn's strongest points. I will probably remember them all for quite a while. Minori's backstory especially is so SO fascinating. —Also all of the four girls are mentally unwell and that both makes for a ride but is also very intriguing. —The Twist: Huge spoiler warning but I have to mention it: [spoiler] basically for most of the vn Minori is convinced that she's a hidden mage and that only the other girls are delusional and that she sent her parents to "Makai" (which means world of spirits or underworld in Japanese I believe) by accident and is trying to retrieve them, but it turns out she's just traumatized and deludes herself with these ideas because she actually pushed her mother off a cliff. [/spoiler] There were lots of hints early on, but I honestly did not expect this twist, and it reframes SO much. Even if you can predict it, the scene where it's revealed is so so good. —The lore/magic: All of the magic stuff—Makai, the UMI, demons, contracts, banishing, the sweetened hair—is all interesting. [spoiler] Even if it is just Minori's delusions. [/spoiler] —The banner art and CGs seen in the routes were done by artist 'Lianquanter' and are absolutely GORGEOUS. —It's very gay. [b] Stuff that is technically neutral but the reviewer likes [/b] —The spritework done by BULKVANDERHUGE is rough, and not quite as charming as something like Ryukishi07's (though speaking of, the writer Maria's prose style reminds me of him in some ways which is another bonus), but I honestly enjoyed it! The expressions are good and they're still very charming. —The BGs are also quite rough, but I actually love the style of them. Something about them adds to the atmosphere and vibes of the vn so well. —The music is all royalty free—a chunk of it from a Japanese artist called "watson"—but most of it is used well! These tracks weren't just hastily slapped in to avoid hiring a composer. Not only are the tracks chosen just nice to listen to, but the developers specifically made it so the first and second halves of the vn used mostly different tracks to reflect a certain change. —The only choice is making the decision for which girl Minori will pursue in her goal to stop them from using magic, triggering their route. Some may not like the lack of choices, but Minori is so well-characterized that it makes sense for there to be almost no decisions for her to arbitrarily choose between. A very solid vn for a good price. I look forward to what else this team puts out.

Kiss the Demiurge is a fun yuri visual novel about magic and girls trying (emphasis on trying) to perform it. I just completed my first route and I'm excited to jump back in for the other two. While I noticed a few typos, I thought the writing was thoroughly engaging, and the contrast between the protagonist's thoughts and spoken dialogue provided a lot of humor.

The game lets you play as a covert agent in a world filled with magic and gave me a lot of laughs! The plot slowly deepens as you play and has a super crazy twist. I really enjoyed it! Also it's yuri, so everything is amazing.

Really good story. I wasn't expecting to cry from it. Albeit, yes, it's obviously not a high-production, high-quality product, but it definitely delivers an interesting story. Short and to the point, doesn't dwell on anything but doesn't go all over the place. The only complaint I can bring up is the ending felt a bit short, but the rest was good. Will update with other routes, only done the Akane route currently. [spoiler]I was not expecting a twist at all and it was a good one for me. It hit me well[/spoiler].