Made Marion

0/10 can't pursue Tuck against literally everyone's better judgement

I'm probably going to update this review many times over as I continue to play the game, but since I've played the Common Route for Sherwood, and am in the Common Route for Nottingham, I just feel like I HAVE to say something about how amazing the Nottingham Common Route is. I guess because I knew so much of the Robin Hood legends already, I wasn't too surprised or drawn in by the Sherwood Common Route, but the Nottingham side is DELECTABLE. I find myself incredibly curious about the going-ons, and so extremely excited to get to do Geoffrey's route!!! I know it's the last one, and I will probably be waiting forever with baited breath, but his character introduction is so good, the idea that I can be a spy and all the political intrigue, it's just *MWAH* perfection. I'm so excited. I'm barely into chapter 2 of the Nottingham Common Route and I'm already so hyped! I can't wait for more! ~~~ I just finished the first chapter of Robin's route, and it is really phenomenal. I love the characterisation, and the more we get to read of Marion, the more I love her. I'm also really enjoying the queering of gender roles in Marion's behaviour and values, and how she's exploring that more with more time in this safer space. And Robin, who I immediately didn't like too much, is growing on me quite a bit. I'm loving their plot here! Ahh, it's just so good! Also, the little animations are awesome, the music is so perfect and that, coupled with the sound effects, make for a ore immersing experience than I expected, I'm really enjoying it. And, I don't know if it even needs to be said because it feels so obvious, but the art is sooooo beautiful. It's just gorgeous. I'm appreciating how the artists play with light and shadow, especially since light and shadow are so highlighted in the writing and worldbuilding. It's so good. Have I mentioned that it's good? It's SO GOOD! ~~~ Sidenote: Can I just say how awesome the game overs are so far? The one I found in Robin's first chapter had me shrieking, I was so flabbergasted, BUT it was also such a fantastic way of giving worldbuilding context! I don't know that I've ever been so happy to make a choice that ended up ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up so badly!

*Contém Spoilers* Ok, vamos lá... O jogo é muito bom! Eu realmente me encantei com a música (amo Greensleeves!), com a história e tudo mais... Mas achei que teve pouco romance e isso me decepcionou um pouco. A história tava muito mais focada na ação do que no romance. Talvez porque demorou tanto pra acabar que se perdeu um pouco no romance. Eu estava maratonando esse jogo e senti que depois daquele [spoiler]festival do Solstício[/spoiler], que eu tava esperando TANTO pra ter mais romance ou um beijinho (que acabou não acontecendo), acabei me decepcionando com a falta de mais ROMANCE. Aí a partir disso senti que a história acabou perdendo um pouco o foco e ficou se arrastando, enrolando com mais ação e plosts... e nada de beijo! Também fiquei decepcionada de não ter a cena do [spoiler]casamento do Robin com a Marion[/spoiler], que eu tava esperando tanto! Esse pra mim teria sido o ÁPICE da história! Mas acabaram focando mais no [spoiler]retorno do rei[/spoiler] no final. ;/ De qualquer forma, é um bom jogo e me surpreendeu bastante. Gostei muito da personalidade da Marion e ela já se tornou minha heroína. <3 Outra coisa que também me chateou foi a [spoiler]morte do Layton[/spoiler], apesar dos pesares. Poxa. Além do inglês excessivamente formal que me fez ficar o tempo todo usando o Google Tradutor! A minha língua materna não é o inglês, mas eu não tenho problemas ao jogar outros jogos ou outros otome games, visual novels, até porque o meu inglês é bom... mas tem uns jogos como ESSE que quer usar uma linguagem excessivamente rebuscada, o que foi um tiro no ko0 pra conseguir compreender o que tava acontecendo. Mas enfim! Apesar de tudo, é um bom jogo.

I've had my eye on this game for a while. When I first saw it I was put off by just one route (Robin) being available, but seeing John/Will's routes released I went ahead and got it. So far Will is my absolute favorite and Robin my least. I'm stupid excited for literally all the rest. Layton's being last to release makes sense but doesn't mean I won't pout about it. The main choices you're making in this game are the love interest and which of the two route themes you want to pursue. The other choices tend to be flavor or dead end choices. While I actually wasn't a fan of those initially, after completing more routes they started connecting some plot-dots for me and growing on me. From the context of more choices it can feel limiting, but having Marion as an actual character instead of a silent blank slate makes up for it to me. There's a lot more plot happening alongside the romance that I also really appreciate. And the romance routes themselves are heavier on the communication side of things which was a breath of fresh air compared to some others I've tried. I understand people who feel this is too high a price for unfinished content. Reading through the dev updates and breakdown of the process and decisions, I personally don't mind supporting the endeavor especially after the recent updates. Plus I just really enjoy the vibe and story that's building up. Certainly helps that the milestone route CGs and overall character designs are consistently lovely without being overly sexualized with 16 pack abs and shoulder boulders. (My only dislike I will say are the explicit CGs because they're a different art style and I really prefer the main game's art style.)

I became aware of Made Marion sometime in early 2024, after Early Release had started, but only with Robin's route available. I kept checking back ever so often, dithering, on whether it would be worth getting it in early access, especially at this juncture, given that my preference is for the Nottingham routes (and I really want to play Geoffrey's, which will be the last one to be released; although really, really, I want to play Tuck's, which means waiting for the DLC [spoiler]and tbh, I'd quite like there to be a King Richard route, and maybe I'm interpreting too much into the Light and Shadow DLC title, where Layton is obviously Shadow and who would be more Light than the King, but I would absolutely adore it, if he also became a romanceable character somehow.[/spoiler] and thus probably 2029 or 2030?) So what am I trying to say with all of this? I think simply: [h1]If you think that you might enjoy this game, if you played the demo and liked it, but haven't bought it because you're waiting on other routes... get it anyways, because it is so worth it!![/h1] When I bought the game in late April, I thought to myself, ok, I'll play the route that appeals to me the most so far (one of Johns, [spoiler]although had I known how much more Layton & Geoffrey I'd find in Robin's route, I probably would've started with that xD[/spoiler]) and then space the other ones + a re-run to get the alternative ending for that character (& factoring in that there's approximately 1 new route released every year) out to maybe 1 every 6 months or so, to not get too bored of the overarching narrative and keep the pace going until all main routes are out and the DLC comes. Well dear reader, not so. At this point, I've gotten both of John's endings, one of Will's and one of Robin's (with each full run-through taking somewhere between 3-4 hours). Even despite the fact that they are all taking place within Sherwood and centre around the same part of the story + interlink with each other, they are substantially different, and certainly different enough that within the span of a week I wanted to play several of them. You learn different bits and bobs about both the world and the narrative with each and every one of them, and extrapolating from John's two different chapter 4's, the two different endings per character are [i]very[/i] distinct. If you are wondering what the advertised centring Marion's decisions and giving her the power to drive the narrative means - for my very first run-through, I used > 40 save slots, for decision making alone (and then I lost count, because only the first 9 save slot pages are actually numbered), i.e. you do get to make lots of choices! [spoiler]And even though I sometimes found it frustrating that the choice I would've personally picked at that point in time was barred to me, because I'd committed too much to a certain path to make that choice in the moment, I can appreciate the narrative idea of it no longer being congruent with the character narrative I'd built up with previous choices.[/spoiler] In general, the choices felt representative (as in, I'd probably have picked one of the two/three options even if I could've picked anything), which to me is always a huge bonus, because I don't enjoy being shoehorned into actions that I never, ever would've picked otherwise. I could certainly spend a lot more time gushing about this game, especially as the art is very gorgeous, and the accompanying music & soundtrack delightful and make the play experience so much more enjoyable, but I think the review as it stands probably already makes my very positive opinion clear enough. [h2]tl;dr:[/h2] this game is worth every penny, even as it currently is in early-access. Even routes of characters I'd never thought I'd want to romance are enjoyable to play, and I can't wait for the further routes to be released over the next few years. 8.5/10 for the moment, but that might go up as I get to play around in Nottingham ;)

Superb art. I liked the relationships between the characters themselves and between them and Marion. None of the characters so far felt juvenile (taking into consideration their ages and circumstances), the writing is solid.

I’ve been interested in this game for years and finally got around to getting it! I highly recommend it, it’s obviously a huge labor of love and has a ton of charm. It’s slightly more mature than your average otome, which is nice. The art is GORGEOUS, and the writing is compelling too! I disagree with the folks saying the price tag is too much for what you get. Three full storylines, plus the extras, make it more than worth it for me. That being said, I’m really looking forward to playing the other routes as they come out.

Loved it! Specially how you can see different events unfold from differents perspective depending on the character you choose to romance.