[b]Note:[/b] Although the store page notes this as well, there are depictions of blood, violence, etc., so a bit of a heads up.
[h1]Fairytales don't always have a happily ever after...[/h1]
[i]Nusantara: Bermuda[/i] is an otome, dark fantasy visual novel developed and published by SweetChiel. Although there is a predecessor to this game, [i]Nusantara: Legend of the Winged Ones[/i], [i]Bermuda[/i] serves as more of a spin-off. You take on the role of Maya (whose name can be changed), living with her family and doing her best to make ends meet. Meanwhile, the news has reported an unusual phenomenon in which an earthquake has caused the emergence of a crater in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. One day, Maya is approached by a stranger known as the Goddess, who tells her that her family will die in a car accident in the near future. However, the Goddess has the power to change their fate. In return, Maya, along with three guys who would serve as her bodyguards, has to travel to the Forgotten Isles and close the crater. Not wanting her family to die, Maya agrees to the deal, and thus, her adventure and the possibility of romance begin.
As for the gameplay, it mostly consists of choices and some of those choices can take the form of locations. Occasionally, choices are timed, so you have to hurry to make a decision or else, the game will make the choice for you, for better or worse. Also, there's some stat raising in regards to the three male interests who are Maya's bodyguards: Kahlil (the reincarnated fox), Gunther (the reincarnated weasel), and Arya (the reincarnated wolf). In addition, a few mini-games are present in the form of timed hidden object scenes and (mostly) untimed jigsaw puzzles. There are plenty of CGs and a varied soundtrack along with an encyclopedia that contains fun Indonesian and other miscellaneous facts. Of course, plenty of Steam achievements are present, but they won't count towards a user's global total until the game is out of "Steam is learning about this game".
I remember playing [i]Nusantara: Legend of the Winged Ones[/i] way back and how much I enjoyed it. Thus, when I found out about [i]Nusantara: Bermuda[/i] coming to Steam, I really wanted a chance to play and review it, and the developer was very kind to send me a review key. ^^ Without further delay, I'll first talk about the story. It starts off a bit slow since it details Maya's daily life and her meeting the three bodyguards before they actually get their mission from the Goddess. However, I didn't mind this since it helps to establish Maya's and the guys' personalities. Of course, the actual adventure starts after the group goes to the Forgotten Isles for their mission, courtesy of the Goddess. XD Of course, the Goddess has also made deals with the bodyguards. Speaking of the guys, they have quite varying personalities. Kahlil is the friendly, mischievous type, Gunther is the seemingly dangerous, cocky one (but he's a great cook), and Arya is the tsundere, angry type who loves to spend time on his laptop. I love how the guys have their own tragic backstories and there are connections to their past lives as animals. My personal favorite is definitely Arya since I can't help getting drawn to the tsundere type and he's a lone wolf, which I can totally empathize with. I enjoyed playing all of their routes, and the story itself is basically the same with them, with the only difference being how the romance between Maya and the guy develops. For everyone who's curious about the romance scenes, they're sweet and there's no sexual content or such. However, I shouldn't forget that there's a fourth option in which Maya can romance the antagonist. However, that route is locked until you get all of the other guys' good endings, at least. I believe the antagonist's route is intended to be the true route, and it was totally worth waiting, as I found it to be very emotional. Gosh, I found myself crying at the end of his route, even in the good ending. I did find it to be a bit on the lonely side, though, since [spoiler]the other three guys will never appear. It would have been nice if they had made an appearance at the end of the story or whatnot, but that's personal preference[/spoiler].
With the gameplay, I enjoyed it very much since there's a bit of variety. The timer is a bit too fast for my liking when it comes to timed choices, but if you're using a walkthrough (like I did), then it isn't an issue. As for the mini-games, it can be a bit stressful with the timed HOGs since you're not given a lot of time to find all of the items. It's possible to miss that last item and end up with a game over ending. With the jigsaw puzzles, which only appear on the antagonist's route, I found them pretty enjoyable, for the most part. The only one I found a bit frustrating was the final one, mainly because the background color blended too much with a few jigsaw puzzle pieces. Basically, I was playing blindly to find those last few pieces, but thankfully, you can choose to play the jigsaw puzzles in relaxed mode.
The writing is fairly well-paced. I noticed occasional typos, but the story itself is understandable. The romance scenes were especially enjoyable to read. Before I forget, assuming that you're not playing the antagonist's route, there's a sweet cameo by characters from [i]Nusantara: Legend of the Winged Ones[/i]. That made me squeal with delight, and it was nice to learn what happened to Tamara, the main character from that game.
Regarding the art, it is absolutely gorgeous. The backgrounds and sprites are drawn and colored well, and of course, the CGs are especially done well. They're totally worth unlocking and viewing in the CG Gallery. ^^
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3367207408
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3368369541
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3368944344
I should note that since there is some violence, some of the CGs may have bloody scenes and whatnot.
As for the music, there are a variety of tracks, and they fit perfectly in the scenes they are placed. They have that adventure, fantasy vibe going on, with the exception of the tracks early in the story since they take place in the modern world. XD There's no voice acting, but honestly, I think it's not necessary since I found it such a pleasure to read the story.
Overall, would I recommend [i]Nusantara: Bermuda[/i]? If you're a fan of otome visual novels and dark fantasy, you definitely need to check out this game. Having played a lot of visual novels, this is one of the best games that I've played this year, and I'm a bit sad that it's gone under the radar. Hopefully, this review has given a bit of insight into this game, and more people will check it out. Also, it's totally worth the price point, especially if you play all the routes. It took me a little over 36 hours to 100% complete the game.
Finally, I'd like to give a major thank you to SweetChiel for the review key. It was such a joy and pleasure to play this game, and yes, I will always have love for my sweet, tsundere, lone wolf boy Arya. ^^
[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7593237/]Otome Rakuen[/url] team up to give readers highly detailed, thorough reviews of hot romance games.[/quote]
