Lock & Key: A Magical Girl Mystery

Very great game about retired magical girls and the consequences and responsibilities of handing off the mantle of protector of the city. I did cry a few times. The game touches well on the mental repercussions of young girls having the very heavy responsibility of defending the lives of many, and having to kill, growing up without any mental help. The twist was very well telegraphed and foreshadowed, having played through the game multiple times getting the other endings I caught a few things that points the player towards the big twist of the game. The descriptions of the scenes and dialogue was amazing, had me in tears, and in dread in all the right places. I very much enjoyed reading through the story and seeing how the 4 endings differed. The music was fantastic and amazingly well placed through out the game, and the visuals are so pretty and haunting. Having played the original demo, the updated sprites are such a cute improvement, with the added shading and rendering, the slight changes in some of the poses, the sprite work was also great and had me laughing my butt off a few times. The UI and data base telling us a little bit about each of the important characters and locations was cute. I liked reading about each character and how their powers worked.

I really had a great time with Lock & Key! Despite its shorter length compared to the other VNs by Studio Elan, it's still a fun time with a lot of moments that made me giggles, made me scream WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥ so many times, and made me cry. Sherri and Kealey are great protagonists as they embody a very grounded experience of a lesbian couple who has been together for over a decade. They bounce off with each other really well, they have great communications with each other, and most importantly they trust each other when facing internal struggles and the murder mystery. Ruby is a really great newcomer character and sort of acts like a social commentary on our hope towards the younger generations. She's hot-headed, insecure, naive, and tech-savvy, but most importantly her heart is in the right place. It's a good trait that can lean her towards the good or bad endings very naturally (also Jude deserves more screen time and they both need to date each other uwu) Nina is a very complex character to discuss because of how well-written she is. It'd take an entire day to discuss everything about her. All I can say for her is that it's always an exciting moment with her, and... #STANNINA All these characters blend in with the great storyline that flows so effortlessly and accompanied with amazing soundtracks that also invoke some sense of nostalgia towards the 2000s stuff like The Sims 1 or 2, the mall vibes when those buildings used to be alive and festive, the 2000s RPGs, jazzy coffee shop music, and most importantly the 2000s mahou shoujo series like Tokyo Mew Mew, Shugo Chara, and Precure The only major gripe I have with Lock & Key is that the save slots are too tight for the amount of choices we'd have to take. Being confined to only having 27 save slots without any additional three quick saves really makes it difficult for people to save some of their favorite moments to go back to later on. I know I struggled with it, given that almost all of the save slots were for the ending-altering options and I only had literally one free-for-all save slot by the end of it. Some people may also be overwhelmed with the numerous dialog options here, but this issue wouldn't be as overwhelming if the game could have more save slots. Another smaller gripe is that Lock & Key could use some ambiance SFXs to keep the game alive, even during quiet moment without a BGM. There are only two moments when the game went very quiet without any sound effect or soundtrack that caught me off-guard a bit. Perhaps ambiance SFXs or a little bit of clicking noise when clicking through the story would help break the awkward silence. Again, not a dealbreaker by any means, just something that I think would help improve the experience. Overall, Lock & Key delivers a nice package of fun, drama, and contemplation. The characters will hook you up throughout the story while the soundtracks and overall vibes from the visuals (CHICAGO IS CANON TO THE STUDIO ELAN LORE!111!!!1) will keep you seated comfortably all the way to the end. Thank you to Studio Elan and the people involved for creating Lock & Key!

Lock and Key does a amazing job with how they wrote their characters really getting you invested in them! I love the conversations with each character had together especially our two leads their romance was written beautifully! The art was stunning and the music really had me invested in key moments! This is my first vn I ever played and it is a wonderful introduction! If you love magical girls, yuri or both would highly recommend! (I love you Nina please marry me)

Just started playing the game and it's genuinely so fantastic already!!! I cannot say this enough, the writing is amazing. The Magical Girl theme doesn't prevent the game's topics or writing from being mature or properly fleshed out in any way; if anything, it gives it a lovely, light touch while also hinting at the purity and hopefulness that keeps the world afloat! The characters all have their own flavours and feels that you can tell apart from the get go, while also proving to the audience that they're more than just their first impressions. Their dialogues feel real and well-lived, like they're stories that were already experienced by someone, and it helps you remember that this is essentially the human experience, it's so good, it helps you love the characters and appreciate their hopes and struggles in a deep way The art and music are beautiful, alongside the writing, they mix into great storytelling that does let you get immersed in what you're reading!! The introductory scenes had an amazing, striking feel to them that set the scene for the rest of the game, even if the art style is different ( which I also really appreciate, I love it when a prologue has a different feel from the rest of the story ) There's topics that the characters would face at their ages, and it just feels like such a good way to navigate the feelings and worries they're going through, it's so so great. I'm not even halfway through the game and it's already had me in tears ( full disclosure I am a crybaby ) because it touches me in an important way. I cannot wait to see how this situation impacts all of their separate struggles and how they'll all move forth together to work through them

good

This was really cute and sweet and gay

Nominated this game for the Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award because it's just that good! Genuinely gripping and interesting, and the art is incredible!!

Very good!!

The beauty of magical girls, this game is one of Studio Elen's best!

Good story with fun characters! I really enjoyed it!~ I <3 Nina!