Magical Diary: Wolf Hall

I've been waiting for this game for 8 years. Not sure if that meant I judged it more harshly for the build-up, or more gently for nostalgia, but I do know one thing - I had a lot of fun. I've only done one play-through, playing just for fun and giggles, exploring the system. I know there are tonnes of secrets for me still to find, and achievements to chase, and characters to learn a lot more about than I do now. I'll be replaying this a bunch, because it's worth it. The game never tilts into 'hard' territory, like some sims. I didn't keep a notebook next to me to track what events happen when, or how to best rack up points in certain things, or how to min-max my character. I didn't save-scum to avoid failure. The dungeons offer more challenge than the game's predecessor, but are still relatively simple to puzzle out. Gaining the attention and attraction of your desired crush seems pretty straightforward. The game is still a visual-novel plus; it's not trying to make you work hard for your goals, it's just trying to tell a story and let you be in control of it. The art is all new, and super adorable. I wasn't a super-fan of the art in MD the first, but I loved this. Cute, warm, and bright, it's very easy to look at. The background music is all very familiar, but I do enjoy it nonetheless. The first time Grabiner's accompanying music came on, I remembered how much I loved it! If you haven't played MD, it's super easy to jump in - everything is well-explained, and there's a glossary of terms to keep you from getting confused. If you did play MD, well; you know why you're here. It's everything you want. There are more spells than before, though you'll recognise plenty. There's all the secrecy and shenanigans. But now you play a clever native to the magic world, rather than a starry-eyed newbie, and meeting old friends and enemies with these new traits is positively delightful. Big old thumbs up.

Let me tell you straight away: I am a huge fan of good dating sims. There is hardly any title (with English translation, of course) I have not played no matter how strange, amateurish or ridiculous it was. So, it is hardly a surprise that Magical Diary: Horse Hall is in my list. And not just some list, oh no! The one with most favorite games in this genre. Now imagine my delight when I first saw the demo for the second installation – Wolf Hall. Usually I am not very keen on games that force me to play as a male character, but this one was an exception from the very beginning. I would go for it even if Hanako Games wanted me to be a charming horse [i](speaking of which, there is actually a mobile game where you have to date a horse, but this is a story for another day)[/i]. But I digress. Now it is time for the all-time favorite – the wall of text with detailed pros and cons. Yay! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2007228903 [h1]Good, very good, and a bit of confusing stuff[/h1] [u][b]As always, I start with the story.[/b][/u] You will play as a young man who has just come to the USA. To see the majestic sights, maybe? Nope, to study magic! In an actual school for wizards. During your stay in the prestigious Iris Academy, your character will face a lot of challenges, the hardest of which is keeping your secret identity safe and sound from the ever curious fellow students. Compared to the simple girl from Horse Hall, our Wolf boy has more privileges and can even try to become the class president. Along with Minnie, of course. If studies and club activities are not enough, there is always the pressing issue of romance. Or maybe you would rather just be everyone’s friend and forget about the humdrum events of the dating scene? The choice is always yours. All in all, Wolf Hall has a pretty intriguing and elaborate story with special secrets and even more amazing events. While the writing is equally good in both games, I can easily say that the second part of the series took a step forward in many other aspects. [u][b]What about characters?[/b][/u] Some people who remained unseen during events of the first game now got in the spotlight and can be properly romanced. While others have been left for the Horse Hall drama. The best part is that each character feels unique and special, so romancing/befriending them was a really pleasant activity. Just keep in mind that not all of them have a happy ending. Another curious thing is that some people are called *main* romance and others are considered to be *side* flings. But what does it mean story-wise? First, in some cases you can be in love with two people at the same time (as far as I understood at least), but will have to make the ultimate choice at some point. The second type involves special events for particular characters that cannot be triggered if you are going out with others. These are even trickier and will require a lot of preparations – one girl needs a special club, another one will be waiting for you during detentions, while the third person will be running all around campus. If you thought love is an easy affair, you could not be more wrong! Anyway, to cut a long story short, Wolf Hall really shines in the part of attractive personalities and well-thought-out relationships. Everyone can find their one and only, but it will not be a simple stroll in the woods, trust me. Even better: you can get to the route you want and then destroy everything with just one wrong choice. Or not even destroy but start moving in a completely different direction. As far as I remember from one of discussions, William’s route has more than 4 outcomes alone (one of which leads to a fling with a completely different person)! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2007229221 [u][b]Speaking of the gameplay, it has both benefits and drawbacks.[/b][/u] Basically, we have three distinct features here: management, dungeon crawling, and visual novel with choices. The studying process itself will most probably feel quite repetitive after several completed playthroughs because it is always the same – choose class, study some color of magic, learn new spells, rest, repeat. But it is worth it; after all, there are various endings to achieve and different paths to take. Some events will always run in the same way, but others can have a new outcome depending on who you romance or not, what classes you focused on, etc. Second, about the dungeons. I cannot but mention that they have been worked on for sure, and puzzles are more interesting now. There is always more than one way to solve them. Sometimes the answer will be obvious from the very beginning and sometimes you will need to apply some creativity. The only sad thing is that dungeons are always the same for any playthrough – if you have completed it once, you already know what to expect. And the last but not least, the reading aspect. There will be a lot of text along with the interactive parts; more specifically, it makes 60 or even 70% of the whole gameplay. If you are as crazy about visual novels as I am (or even half of it), rejoice! You have found the goldmine, my friend. Ok, now that we have dealt with all the major features, [u][b]let us talk about something really eye-catching – the artwork.[/b][/u] This part has changed the most compared to the Horse Hall. It has become better, more detailed, I would say. If you have spent a lot of time on the first game, it will take you some time to get used to the second one – but it is just so interesting to see familiar characters with an updated design! Background are as beautiful as ever with partial animations here and there (flying lights and similar things), and graphics in dungeons were polished. All of this is supported by really nice music track. Now, in the end of my long review I would like to mention one thing about writing that actually confused me at the very beginning. I have been thinking about new ideas regarding pronouns for some time now; in my humble opinion, *they* is not such a good option because this pronoun is used in many other cases and does not convey the concept well enough – not in the text at least. A new word with the same weigh as *he* or *she* would be a good solution to this issue, no? Horse Hall already had this feature (thanks to the developer for pointing it out in the comments!) and introduced a new term - *e*, and Wolf Hall continued this tradition. It is a pronoun that wizards use when they do not know the person’s gender or it cannot be identified [i](Blaise, for example, is both a man and a woman and neither at the same time)[/i]. At first, this word looked alien. I needed some time to get used to it, and, to be honest, I cannot say that I have accepted it completely, at least not yet. However, I really like the general idea. Oh, and very-very small note: there were occasional typos and missed words. My Steam friend lovenliberty did a great job at catching and screenshotting them. If other players do the same, I think developers will easily remove all problems with the next updates. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2007226094 [h1]My Verdict[/h1] Would I recommend Magical Diary: Wolf Hall as much as the Horse Hall? Definitely! 100% yes. I had no doubts from the very beginning that this game will turn out splendidly, and I was not disappointed with the final version. It has improved many features while also saving everything that we liked so much about the previous part. If you are looking for a unique dating sim that will not be easily forgotten even after several years, if you want something with a great replay value, if you cannot live without a good story with charming characters – then you just cannot and must not miss Magical Diary: Wolf Hall. [h1][url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/32296668-Casual-Game-Reviews/] More reviews on our Curator Page[/url][/h1]

Let me start with the fact, that I loved Horse Hall. It's a really fun game, regardless of its (minor) faults. Characters were complex, lovable and believable in their actions. Same with main character. Sometimes choices felt extremely limited (Like one route that was impossible to get terminated, regardless of how unsettling it got - but that's not important for this comment) So, everything Horse Hall was, Wolf Hall is...not. Yes, overall, aesthetics of the game itself improved, backgrounds are more complex and there is more different locations and complex scenes. What suffered though, is the characters and the story. My main issue is the playable character. As people before said, not only his story feels unecessary, and frankly somewhat incoherent, but he is, in my opinion, not a very sensitive creation. People said that the game is "inclusive of other cultures" - and it's true, about some. Others are treated as decoration, pulled from the context of their meaning and connections. For someone coming from one of said cultures, it's pretty clear which ones were important for creators to honor, and which ones were treated as exotic curiosities. I also feel that the game is somewhat...puritan? It feels all the characters that are depicted as being capable of more casual relationships end up demonized and turned evil. Freedom in love life is met with contempt and while consent is presented as being important and valued, characters don't seem to be allowed to give it very freely in healthy, informed and happy enviroment. There is also the fact that playable character doesn't get much of freedom in expressing an opinion. In many situations, he seems to be only given the kind of answers that agree with sense of morality of the characters he talks with. In rare cases where he is allowed to disagree, choosing "wrong" answer is met with very hostile reaction. There is little respect for difference in values and opinion. He can be "with" someone or "against them" only. Another thing that is a serious downgrade to me, is lack of variety in interactions. Some characters provide multitude of scenes. Many don't. One learns little about their interests, opinions, strenghts or weaknesses. Sometimes they feel as if they were replaying the same scene over and over, just with different dialogue. It gets to the point, where it doesn't feel like them having a main personality trait, but like them having no other personality traits whatsoever. Certain characters straight up lack their previously established personality. [spoiler] For example, every interaction with Donald seems to be him planning a prank or getting a detention. Every interaction with Virginia and Ellen seems to be one stealing the others food.[/spoiler] Last thing I wish to point out is the fact, that playable character seems to have very, very little impact on people he interacts with. It seems to me, that he can manage to get with the character he likes, or not, and that's all. His suggestions, advices, actions and reactions seems to change very little in characters worldview. Even on romantic routes, he feels like backseat passenger, rather than part of the solution. Things seem extremelly set in stone, and that's especially visible through many scenes that happen in identical way, regardless of characters actions. So, in short, is this game worth playing? I personally enjoyed it, to an extent. Dungeons system and spells system is awesome and seems like big improvement there. Same with magical items avilable. It's not an utter failure, just considering the fun game Horse Hall was, it could have developped in far better direction.

I waited three years for this game, so I guess a review is due. [b]Do I recommend Magical Diary: Wolf Hall?[/b] Hell yes!* But what's with the * then? Well, there are some things you should probably know about this game before you purchase it. It's a redo of the first game (Horse Hall), set in the same first year, with the familiar characters of Donald, Virginia, Minnie, William, Damien, etc, but without the female protagonist from Horse Hall. Instead of her, there's a foreign exchange student from the Balkans (Most probably Croatia) whose rich parents made a deal with the school to offer him a unique experience at a completely new surrounding without the luxuries of his home. The following year at Iris Academy will be exciting, with lots of ups and downs, new friendships, new knowledge, even romance! And it is up to you to decide how it all plays out. The average playthrough should be around 10-11 hours, although you may probably see it took me 14.5 hours for my first try. The game offers a lot of unique choices, beautiful art, breathtaking music (seriously, I can't stop listening to the soundtracks, especially americana!), some interesting dungeon designs (there are 8 dungeons/exams in the game). Unfortunately, there's a massive downside to the storyline that really made me feel disappointed, and that's.. I'll try to explain it. The first half of the game (up to the Christmas break) feels so alive, there's always something happening, something going on, a day can't pass without there being an event, like a prank from Donald, hanging out with William, the class president election, etc, etc. But the second half of the game (from the Christmas break to May the 1st) feels incredibly empty. A single conversation on every fifth day, one event in a month, 4-5 dungeons crammed together in a really close span to fill up the emptiness.. The first part took me like 10 hours and the second like 4.. It just made me a bit sad. Don't get me wrong, I totally love the game, and still 100% recommend buying it at full price like I did, but it's just something to note. Overall it's an another great game from Hanako, 100% must get for every fan of Magical Diary or of a magical school ideas.

I really want to like Wolf Hall. I've been waiting for this game for years! Unlike the wonderful first Magical Diary, this one is lacking. The writing is lacklustre, the main character is a horrible douche, the romantic interests are shallow and uninteresting, and even Damian is... boring. The writing is the worst part. It feels like the game is written for a much younger audience. The main character's status as a "foreign student" unaware of American traditions is painful. I'm European, and I'm not a native English speaker, and I've been to the US a total of 3 weeks in my lifetime, and even I know more about the country than the main character. It lacks the love, the heart and the believable characters that made the first Magical Diary so great, even though it's reusing nearly all of them. Such a shame, and a let down for a sequel to one of the best virtual novel roleplaying games. Get the first one instead.

I played the first game years ago and finally got around to playing this one and sadly I was disappointed. It's all the same characters but it's also the exact same story. Which is just... I just can't think why they would do that. I already know everything that's going to happen. All the surprises are ruined. They tried to make a mystery with the character you play as but I find that just really cheap. Why would it be a mystery to myself? I should know the secret. They try to flesh out the character with personality traits, but you don't choose them. You choose a conversation option and somehow the game twists it into a personality trait, but it doesn't tell you what the trait is. And forget about changing it because that one thing is just your whole personality now. I somehow chose a scheming personality trait for being curious about something on my first playthrough. The dating options aren't that great. It's mostly the same options from the game before so nothing new to discover with anyone. And there's no real choice impact for the second half of the game. By the second half you're expected to be in a committed relationship route, which is standard dating-sim whatever, but the game just becomes a boring slog if you're not. Go to class, sleep, go to class, have a meaningless convo or be told some news, sleep, go to class. The magic system tries to portray itself as "choose what you're best at/what you want" but then most tests are impossible because you need a spell from another class. It's fine having some features in the story locked because you don't have a certain spell but a couple of exams I couldn't get around because I chose the colour of magic the exam didn't have a solution for. Overall, it's the same game with a new coat of paint. But it's not even a good coat. If you're curious about the game I'd suggest just getting the first game or replaying it. It's not worth the money.

I played the predecessor, "Horse Hall" (from now on HH), years ago and several times on different routes, so getting "Wolf Hall" (from now on WH) was a no-brainer for me. Nonetheless, I will write my review also for first-timers. WH is not a sequel in the sense that it takes place after the events of HH. It's more of an alternative timeline, a "what if the player was male and in Wolf Hall instead of female and in Horse Hall". Both games complement each other and one game teaches you background information about events that you don't learn in the other game - this goes both ways. While playing, I remembered many of the events from the first game. All the old characters are there again and lots of new ones. A nice detail is that they kept dialogue and speeches that you experience in HH when the player themself would not influence them. You can practically imagine that your old character from HH is sitting just a few seats over. [h1]So what is is about?[/h1] Magical Diary is one giant Harry Potter fanfiction, except it isn't. It's a magical high school full of wizards and witches and people who are part human, part otherworldly being. We have a female hippie-Dumbledore and even a Snape-stand-in who is, unsurprisingly, a fan-favourite. Unfortunately, that's it for teachers in HH, while WH gets a librarian and a really nice bird woman (who is, to my great dismay, not a major character at all, as we are told she teaches second year - Devs, get her a bigger role in the next game! Make her romanceable or at least give her a friend route!) So you go about your student business - attending classes to get stats, joining one or more clubs, socializing with your schoolmates and experiencing various festivities, traditions and random or not-so-random events. You can start (and lose) a romance, make friends, flunk exams and even get expelled. You learn people's (dirty) secrets and even if you don't mingle with a particular person, you might get glimpses of his or her storyline because well, it's a boarding school and life takes place in front of everyone's eyes. Exams take place in form of a small first-person dungeon crawl, where usually your goal is to reach the exit. Depending on how good your stats in the five different colors of magic are, you may have several options of achieving this. There are skill distributions that will make you fail certain exams, but that's not horrible. You don't need to pass them all. Protip: Save your game at the beginning of each exam to try around and find several ways! [h1]What this game does better than HH[/h1] 1. Training dungeons In HH, your only opportunity to see how your spells work in the dungeons were the exams. WH allows you to enter a training dungeon once per week to see your spells in action. 2. Spell descriptions In-universe descriptions are nice, but it helps to know what a spell does from a gaming point of view. Spells now have much clearer descriptions ("does this for x turns"). 3. Shows flags This is my personal favourite besides the new character sprites. When something happens because of a choice you made earlier or a stat you have high or low, a pop-up will inform you of that fact. This makes it easy to selectively do things differently on the next playthrough and explore all possibilities. 4. Dungeons are more detailed You can individually examine or target with a spell each and every wall, object, creature, floor or obstacle. It feels just much more neat and gives room for many details in puzzles. 5. Dropped the "cute" and "weird" stats While these two stats served a purpose in HH as an indicator of your personality, you couldn't raise them intentionally outside of events. WH uses flags instead, which feels more natural and is also more flexible, from a storyteller's and also programmer's point of view. 6. Each character now has a personalized sprite instead of a common base with individual faces Self-explanatory. 7. Better interface It's not much, but it feels more polished. [h1]Graphics[/h1] The graphics style has changed for the better. While there ARE voices speaking out that they liked the old style better, the sprites are more individual and more polished. They convey a great amount of personality. The backgrounds are good as ever, which is not a surprise because they were recycled from the first game - why not? They were great to begin with and it's the same place. Simple, but nicely done effects are displayed when a spell is cast, which is a nice indicator. [h1]Sound[/h1] Sound consists of several very recognizable music tracks that play nicely in the background (exactly the same music for both games), spell sound effects and a few atmospheric effects for creatures or events. Quite minimalistic, but fitting. There are no voices, but you can't exppect a fully voiced game for this prize and honestly, I wouldn't want voices because, call me narrow-minded, but for me, English voices and anime aesthetics just don't go together well. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] You begin each week by setting your schedule. Each day from Monday to Friday you can study (more mana), train (more HP), attend classes for 5 different magic categories (unlocks new spells) or sleep (reduces stress). High stress causes you to fail your intended daily goal more often. The gauge goes up to 100, but more than 20 already bears a quite high risk of wasting your day and only accumulating more stress. On Saturday, you can either study or take the coach bus to the mall, where you can visit several shops and spend your (really scarce) pocket money as well as unlock a few events. During dialogues, you will often get to decide between several options. These decisions and your stats will determine the storylines you get to experience. Sometimes the difference is just a few lines of dialogue, sometimes it changes the whole rest of the game for you. One playthrough of WH took me 10 hours, additional runs will be shorter as you can hold down CTRL to skip already seen dialogue (and ONLY already seen dialogue, so you will never miss anything you haven't seen already by doing that). [h1]Would I recommend it?[/h1] Yes. This is obviously not a real RPG, but it has some elements. It is, first and foremost, a visual novel that heaviliy utilizes stat-raising to send you on your route and present you many, many little sub-plots. The exams are puzzles rather than dungeon crawls. If you want to play it, you have to read a lot. If you want to stream or LP it, you have to read A LOT aloud. So, who is this for? - Harry Potter fans - people who like character-driven slice of life stories with fantasy - achievement hunters and explorers However, I recommend that you play HH first. The sprites may be upper-level amateur quality, but you get used to the style. More importantly, you play HH as a wildseed (the equivalent of a "muggle"), so you can experience the world as someone who is just learning about everything. In WH, your character is supposed to know his way around. Another reason to start with HH is that WH will introduce you to a few characters that you WILL miss once you play HH. Just saying. [h1]The Future[/h1] I had a short chat with one of the devs in the forum who said that games about later years instead only the first year are unlikely, because the students get virtually all the cool spells in their first year already and this game system wouldn't work for second or later years. I agree that making the game last all three years would make it too long, and omitting powerful spells like teleport, mind reading or fireballs just because this is only the first year would limit the puzzles and also feel unsatisfying for the player. There are four halls left (Hawk, Snake, Toad, Butterfly), so plenty of possibilities there. Maybe the existing storylines are exhausted? In that case, rewind a year or two, or fast forward! William as a freshman, or Ellen and Virginia as third years. As long as the owl witch gets a bigger role (hint, hint).

This review is written for people who probably never played the original Magical Diary. The setting Hogwarts with less danger (maybe) and anime flair. Small amount of character customization (hair is basically the biggest differance) which is all rendered into kiss CGs which I think was an insane choice XD Every choice you make will shape your character's personality and have the possibility to effect future events. The gameplay is stat rising (doesn't effect romance and relationships) magic. You use the spells you learn to past dungeon exams which all have various solutions to them to accomodate people that learn different types of spells. Failing exams are exceptable and you can still get through the whole game if you only get through a few of them. Definitly recommend for VN and dating sim lovers :3

I love Hanako Games. This one's been a serious miss for me, which just means I'll be looking forward to their future releases. They definitely haven't lost me as a fan, but this one is worth skipping. The story is really, intensely episodic, meaning the plot will not go anywhere. There's nothing to investigate, no dark force to rise up against, and there is no mundane intrigue, either. It's nearly impossible to mess up romantic routes, and there are otherwise very few interpersonal goals to strive for. Nothing much happens. A story-based game really needs intrigue-- we either need a goal to be assigned to our protagonist (like Elodie trying to survive to coronation in Long Live the Queen), or the player themself needs the freedom to structure their own personal goals. In Magical Diary, we are moved from scene to scene, while the player has little ability to choose their own goals, and we can only watch the protagonist react to various unrelated mundane scenes (and not cute/cozy scenes; just going to the Mushroom Club and being told you can't pick mushrooms, or someone knocks on your door to tell you class is canceled, or someone else knocks on your door again to tell you class is canceled, or a third person knocks on your door to tell you that you'll be having a conversation with a fourth person in three days). So often, I thought I felt a conflict coming on. When Luke says he's having trouble casting magic, and then he demonstrates his magic in private with no issue, I thought for sure somebody else was maliciously interfering with Luke's magic for some foreboding reason. This was not the case. (The reason I thought that was because true conflict had not happened yet.) When Donald is falsely accused (and apprehended by the school!) for setting a fire somewhere in the building, it felt like such a satisfying and exciting escalation of conflict (a conflict! something to solve! an adventure!), but for some reason, this was resolved the next day, and the other characters inform us exactly how it's resolved. The plot is told through hearsay and these are not plot beats; they don't go anywhere. You do get to choose romantic routes, but once you choose the route, the story just kind of steers you to where that character is, and it's virtually impossible to lose the romantic route after you've chosen your person. Not much agency for the protagonist or the player. Most good dating sims capture a cuteness in courtship as you nervously navigate the preferences of the love interest, but that doesn't really happen in Wolf Hall. But the best part of the game is so obvious: collecting spells and performing magic exams is so much fun! You're plopped into a dungeon at the end of every month and then you need to puzzle your way out using your magic. If only the dungeon exams took up more of the game! But to be honest, I'm really disappointed that the spell-casting/dungeoning mode never activates outside of exams. I really thought that we'd be facing some kind of real-world danger by the end of the game. Maybe there would be a coup in the school, some conspiracy would be exposed, and prom night is foiled unless you take the lead with your wand in hand in a beautiful adventure! Well, all I can say is, if there's a third Magical Diary game... I'll definitely still play it. To the creators: Don't give up. Your next game will be amazing. To those considering playing: There are other games by Hanako and Spiky Caterpillar. Try those out first. If you run out of games, and you still want more, play Horse Hall/Wolf Hall.

I'm guessing it's meant to be a laid back slice of life story. It's well written and characters are thought out and memorable enough. But you start as a stranger who can't share his real name or real circumstances and only stay for a year, after which you'll move back. So everyone you meet has deeper connections with others than you do, and there's little point in trying to build bonds - you're even reminded by others that it's pointless to do so. you can't take em' along or break to them that you lied about everything. So you're left as a bystander watching everyone else have fun and lead lives while you live your weird little year amonst common people. Even winning the election to class president alongside a local, you're left out of the loop, lol. But if the relationship part is not really a thing in this visual novel with dating elements, surely the magic school thing gotta be interesting? Or at the very least endearing? Well, it's boring, tedious, and feels hollow. And although there's some events that check if you know certain spells, it never feels like you're adding anything of value or accomplishing anything of relevance besides breathing in oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. Pretty much like regular school life. But maybe i can get myself to finish it and will have to revise my review...? I had more fun with the predecessor of this title.