Magical Diary: Horse Hall

Suddenly...Im addicted to this game

Got this game on sale. Enjoyed it, but i do wish that it continued beyond freshman year. Hope that more years will be added in the future.

As someone who likes romance in my video games, but not in a way that is painfully overindulgent, this game was a somewhat nice surprise. Don't get me wrong- the romance is a big focus but I really liked how dark it could get and the school/gameplay mechanics. Like other dating sims, you're given a class schedule and get to choose what classes to attend which impacts your stats and abilities. These can be used during exams, which are a sort of point-and-click dungeon crawler adventure. These exams were really fun and I'd have liked more of them. I also like that your character's friends have big roles to play and feel like they matter more than just being added as accessories. I will say this, though... I wish the character creation had some hair options unique to your character. You're only really given what other characters already have, so your character is bound to resemble someone and that takes the fun out of the customization. For my first run, my character romanced Damien. [spoiler] This was easily my favorite part. It's really messed up at points and subverted my expectations for the genre. The writers really leaned into letting him be manipulative, dangerous and abusive and I love that you can let your character fall for it. Even more than once! The different ends are also really interesting and afterwards, I found myself pondering what was real and what wasn't. Honestly, even though the possibility had crossed my mind, I didn't actually expect him to attack the MC the way he did. It's certainly a good romance route for those who like their romances a bit twisted (like moi). [/spoiler]