MDF: Magical Defense Force

As a disclosure, I’m friends with the devs, though I bought this with my own money and I will be quite honest that this doesn’t heavily color my takeaway. I just think that this is solid work that deserves more of a push. MDF is the linear kind of VN, no branching paths or stats. It’s also not as flashy when it comes to some other indie VNs like say Scarlet Hollow or Necrobarista, it’s in Visual Novel Maker so it’s a rather humble endeavor after all. This humility is a strength though, because the game focuses on what it needs to and does so with polish. The game has a whole bunch more unique art than the usual indie VNs, having a good deal of scenes that aren’t just character portraits gabbing at each other in empty rooms. Fight scenes, for one, are mostly all drawn out and the requisite magical girl transformation sequences are actually animated. MDF also puts real effort in its backgrounds, giving a sense of place and having a bunch of background characters that gives its setting depth and charm. The music is quality too and it really adds well to the atmosphere. Another of MDF’s strengths that makes it rather unique amongst VNs is that it has as a very serialized episodic structure. Each chapter is more akin to a TV show episode such as its influences of magical girl anime and tokusatsu than more common VN structures of traditional chapters, branching paths, character specific routes, etc. Reading through a chapter even takes around 15-20 minutes or so which lends to that episodic TV feel. It avoids one of my recurring issues with VNs that they fall into from time to time where their pacing is just an absolute slog of characters just constantly reiterating plot and character beats. This game currently covers nine chapters which is around the halfway point of the “first season”, the last chapter ends on enough of a climax to feel like a good stopping point for now while the rest is still being worked on. I admit I’m in a position where I know where the game will go because the whole narrative has been worked on and finished for quite some time. The first arc is a bit of slow burn in a sense, it does all the setup and fleshes out characters well , and as I said its briskly paced, it’s just that some of the character arcs are spread out some so that the first nine chapters don’t cover them all, which is fine. I do genuinely think MDF deserves enough recognition to be a name in the indie game sphere because there’s real passion and dedication here and I would like to see it all play out because it deserves it.

An overall entertaining package with a quick-to-enjoy cast of characters. Starts off similar to a lot of anime and manga, lighthearted monster-of-the-week, and starts to move more in-depth to each characters' struggles.

If you've been looking for something to read and relax to, MDF is a pretty good choice. The whole story revolves around a loser named Frank trying (and failing) some to get some modicum of normalcy after getting wrapped up in the not-so magical world of magical girls. It's pretty funny and the characters are endearing. It's starts off as a parody of a the episodic "monster of the week" formula and then evolves and gets more complex later on. It's a fun story with great ideas and good art, go for it. Note: if you have trouble running it off a Steam Deck, go to compatibility and either use Experimental or GE-Proton.

Fun little novel about magical girls. Tons of interesting characters and art.

excellent story so far with very entertaining characters. Very nice art throughout the story as well

Really amazed with how many art assets it has. It's an entertaining read and I really enjoyed it. It's like 9 bucks but that's about what it is to buy a book so it felt justified with how many drawings and how long the story is.

I've never been much of a VN fan, but MDF definitely opened up the avenue for me with its clever comedic timing and lovable characters (Yuri my beloved). I can safely say I audibly laughed several times at every chapter, and each one left me wanting to see what was around the corner. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next set of chapters and wholly recommend MDF to anyone who loves magical girls and the 90's anime aesthetic. Edit: I should clarify I played a build before the steam release, hence my hours looking strange!

DO you like fun and amazing story telling with a good magical girl setting but also want the charaters to be like any other cast of funny and somewhat knowing what to do, then this is game is for you. MDF: magical defense force is an great game where you are seeing Frank being an normal and not really caring about anything is now trying to not help out the MDF girls and wanting to help but is being forced to help and in each chapter you meet each new Magical girl that has own powers like fire and water but they somewhat know how to use there powers the art style is also really nice and amazing and each chapter is also amazingly funny with a size meaning of life and each chapter also feels like watching a Saturday morning cartoon the charaters are also funny as well and each one does bring something to this story as you read and know info of this game so this game does get a 5/5 and its really fun to read and enjoy and i can't wait to see what happen next

As someone who generally isn't a big fan of visual novels, this game impressed me with how many things it does well. The characters, while goofy and over the top, do have a surprising amount of depth to them, especially when you reach the later chapters (Yuri and Hizatchi in particular are the GOATs). It'd be easy to just have static portraits and maybe a couple of CGs and call it a day, but MDF has tons of hand-drawn art in each chapter to help sell both the impact of action scenes and the goofiness of more comedic scenes. This is definitely an indie project worth checking out.

I went into MDF expecting a lighthearted parody of the magical girl genre. And while that's definitely the main thing going on, there's so much more to it. Characters are way more 3 dimensional than first impressions would have you believe. Incredible drawings are paired with great sound design and superb scene descriptions to bring still images to life. And the music is fun and always fits the vibe. The whole experience was just fun. You can tell the dev team put their heart and souls into this game. Would def recommend.