Midnight Caravan

The English translation is bad, but not so bad that you can't work out what it's trying to say. Feels very railroady in parts. At one point I met a gambler who owed me money, I was given the choice to allow him to work for me to pay off his debt, or beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of him as a warning to others. I didn't trust him, so I chose the latter, at which point he responded by offering to work for me, and the text informed me I accepted. Why did the game pretend I had a choice? But then I reached a point where I became a butler to infiltrate a mansion and I was presented with three options for entering some hidden area. All three options were locked, I didn't have the prerequisite traits, items, or companions to continue. There was no "Guess I can't go in" option. There was no game over, just a screen with three locked options and no way at all to continue or backtrack. To be honest though, I was kind of glad. At that point it was the excuse I needed to give up on a game that wasn't much fun. Even disregarding the translation issues, the writing leaves a lot to be desired. It's trying so hard to build the atmosphere of a gritty, amoral revenge tale, but every character is unpleasant and untrustworthy. I wasn't invested in anyone, especially not the main character who I'm supposed to be identifying as. What's that joke about the pizza cutter, all edge, no point?

Midnight Caravan is an indie Visual Novel set in subsequent period of Napoleon’s death at the city of Rome. The game presents a choose-your-own-adventure type of gameplay where you have to determine what kind of life has lived the game’s protagonist, and, therefore what is going to happen during the story, whom will he get acquainted to and what kind of consequences will it cause. The adventure is composed by substantial narration accompanied by well executed sound effects, enticing soundtracks and lots of background images creating a book resembling involvement. This game offers a system built on four fundamental characteristics (fame, coins, health and suspicion) which are necessary for the character’s survival and will affect some of the choices that can change the flow of the story. The story is divided in acts, which at the conclusion provide you a small summary of the occurred events in each part of the game and eventual gain or loss for every characteristic. The art is based fundamentally on occidental art currents with a heavy use of black and white palette, while other colors are used only with specific characters or sceneries. The heavy atmosphere of the game is well rendered with the absence of colors. As per art style, the background music works really well at letting the player feel the dull atmosphere surrounding all the place and the situation of the game. The OSTs are mainly composed with the use of piano and do present a fair accompaniment for the game’s art style. Recommended to public enjoying dark atmospheres and semi-realistic design. Not recommended to a player looking for a joyful experience and anime-based character design. [code]To find out and discover interesting VNs, indie games and more navigate through my Curator Page! 🩷 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44707415-Gyepi-Types/][b]Gyepi Types[/b][/url] 🩷[/code]

This game has an awesome concept, but the overall execution isn't all there, and I'm going to blame that on the game still being in early access. I played this for a couple of hours and loved the decision making and in depth story/characters, but I did have a few issues. I had to reload my save multiple times because the game wouldn't load the next day, I also had to start a new game as I couldn't progress based off the previous choices I had made. The art style is amazing and it has a lot of attention to detail, I really like how so far all of the characters seem very diverse. Overall for the price I would say its worth checking out, its a fun experience, just needs a lot of polish and maybe some less repetition when starting a new game.

[h1]If you are into novels about revenge, betrayal and conspiracies, this game is definitely for you. [/h1] [i]It is a great interactive book with charming illustrations and accompanied by orchestra music that help to create a special atmosphere. Midnight Caravan is full of diverse characters and well-made plot twists. I was consumed by the mysteries of the game and spent a considerable number of hours digging through this intricate web of lies and connections in order to unravel the story. Midnight Caravan is situated in Italy in the time directly following Napoleon's death. It is an enigmatic setting indeed. Outlaws hide in the shadows and form groups among a world filled with chivalry and strong religious beliefs. Philosophic themes and historical references make the story writing clever and enjoyable. The story twists and turns until you seemingly get your answers only to have your friends become foes. You can never predict if or when you will get stabbed in the back, leaving you with even more unanswered questions. Whether you find the answers to these questions greatly depends on choices you made up until this point. You are given full control to forge your own path where every choice matters. I am happy to confirm that every choice and every friendship you make really does matter. You have the option to start your story with your desired background, whether it is an exiled nobleman or a battle-hardened soldier. Some of the people and choices weigh heavily on the story but you will never know who they might be in advance. I had some pleasant surprises as well as many characters I began to view in a different light as the story progressed. The game has elements of resource management and relationship building. The developer offers a huge number of random events which can greatly help or hinder your progress. Sadly, there is one visible downside with event system, many choices can be locked if you fail certain events or missed the ones that occur randomly. I ended up locked out a couple of times and had to restart the entire game. [/i] [u]I would suggest keeping some important events in the main story instead of having them appear by random chance. This would help make the experience rely less on luck and prevent your story ending after only a few short minutes if you are unlucky enough.[/u] [b]The game is still in early access, but the developer is highly responsive. Together we managed to sort out some of the game elements for a better playthrough. Midnight Caravan is amazing for the price![/b]

[i]Midnight Caravan[/i] is a choice-heavy spy role-playing game made in the iconic choose-your-own-adventure style. It is set in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, in Italy. You play as the leader of a travelling caravan who decided to return to Rome after many years of absence. The caravan is a den of illicit activities, focused on prostitution and gambling. Although you had a normal early life, your reputation was ruined at one point by a mysterious man, named Cassini. You've been running away from him ever since. You thought you've finally escaped, but your past is catching up to you. The game is divided into three acts and it was difficult for me to win from my first playthroughs. There is only one savepoint. Every act is divided into several turns, each turn offers you multiple choices to make, which may affect the four main stats: Fame, Coins, Health and Suspicion. If you have too much Suspicion or you reach 0 for the other three stats it's Game Over. During your adventure you may gain new companions, traits, special items or join factions. [i]Midnight Caravan[/i] is very easy to dislike when you play it for the first time. It has an over-the-top story with an incredible lineup of characters, including crime bosses, cardinals, princes, princesses, rebel leaders and so on. While fun, you'll have to suspend your disbelief if you want to make it through. The weakest link in the plot is the mystery behind Cassini and his motives; it's an inaccurate protrayal of politics, to say the least. Also detrimental are the grammar mistakes and the bugs. The most serious bug I encountered was the game forcefully exiting to Windows when I should've received a Game Over screen and access to the Main Menu, instead (it doesn't happen always). The grammar mistakes are grating, but the level of English used is good enough for you to push through, generally. The art, music and setting are the good parts of the game. I would call the idea of leading a caravan full of criminals in 19th century Italy "romantic", and the art/music complements this feeling perfectly. Another strong point are the amount of choices you get to make. While you won't necessarily receive total freedom, especially when it comes to fixed main story events, most of your decisions are respected and are permanent, including life or death choices/mistakes. Unravelling all the options you have and their consequences is part of the game's charm. Considering the difficult to believe, but engaging story coupled with the grating grammar mistakes and the occasional bug, [i]Midnight Caravan[/i] just barely makes it into my recommendation list, thanks to its attractive art, design and wealth of choices. While you may find a lot of worthy things here, I can't guarantee you will want to finish the game, so you should take this into account if you decide to purchase it.

A choose your adventure visual novel with lots of choices, a beautifully handdrawn art style and although none of the text is voiced, the music more then makes up for it. First impressions. The story is very intriguiging and it's made to be played multiple times. Not just the main storylines gets attention though, events and sidequests are treated with the same respect. Conversations feel natural, which is a rare trait in videogames, even of this type. Because there is a survival element and probably multiple endings. Some events appear to be random, which is cool, every playthrough is different. Though it's not badly written I already noticed numerous small mistakes in the text. At one of the very first mayor story sections the situation and therefore the choices I was presented weren't clear, leading me to restart the game entirely. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come. The game crashed after my first death.

I'm not thrilled with this game, but it is one that I think we should support. The text is extremely wispy and difficult to read. Be sure to look long and hard at that seventh "diary" screenshot above because that's the exact text you're going to be reading for *hours*. Whole paragraphs. Your eyes will hurt. But if you can get past that, the artwork is fantastic and the story is actually quite interesting, so it gets a recommend.

UPDATE: Bugs were fixed, happy with purchase still and I hope Gamera continues with their quality games! Great art, Great story, Great Music, Good gameplay mechanics.

I never write any reviews, but I'm shocked this game is still only at such small reviews so I'll throw my hat in the mix. This had been on my wishlist for ages and I never thought it'd come out, the developers actually reached out to me via FB and told me that it was finally going to be released. I bought it the day it came out and though, sure the translation does leave a little to be desired but the atmosphere, story, and art style just combine to create this really unique experience. It just has this great feeling of dark machinations turning just out of sight at every turn. If you're a fan of choose-your-own-adventures or have been looking for something that provides a unique narrative taking you from the seedy back alleys of Italy to the gilded heights of secret societies just as foul then check this out.

Pros: - The stories in game are quite well-written. Its the most crucial thing for a visual novel. - Art is pretty good. - Music choice contributes to further immersion into the story. Cons: - Minor bugs. Software and in-game errors (e.g., game could hang instead of shoeing defeat screen). - Lack of unique characters art. Summary: Since I am writing the review before the patch, I hope the most bugs will be fixed. Assuming most of the bugs will be fixed I definitely could recommend it as a worth playing and enjoyable visual novel game.