Peace of Evil

I’m a fan of MangaGamer’s games and have been for a while, therefore I jumped at getting the chance to experience [url=https://www.gamepitt.co.uk/peace-of-evil-pc-review/]Peace of Evil,[/url] one of their recently published titles. The artwork simply left me stunned and I couldn’t wait to get to know the girls better. While MangaGamer is well known for the high-quality games they usually publish, I have to say that Peace of Evil left me with a sour taste in my mouth as it didn’t live up to my expectations. It’s important to note that Peace of Evil is currently incomplete and it’s not exactly clear whether the developer, Tamaya Kagiya, is intending to finish it in the near future. The full story can be read over on their Discord, but it appears it started life as a Kickstarter, which was fully funded, then someone left before it was finished and took the money. The remaining staff pieced together what they had completed to try and create a finished product, but it really isn’t. It has a very short playtime and some rather obvious omissions, clearly due to the premature ending of development. That being said, I’ve played through the game, as it appears on Steam today, so I’ll provide a review based upon the current build, regardless of its rocky past and what’s happened. The story takes place in a world full of so-called ‘hybrids’ which look like humans, but with animal ears and tails. The main character, Aeric, which is one of the hybrids, becomes the emperor of the city, Crance, after successfully raiding its previous one. Aeric tries his best to make the right decisions by not letting himself become influenced by outside factions – until his friend introduces three stunning foxes to him. After he starts to spend more time with them and gets to know the three girls a little better, he starts to unexpectedly lower his defences and show another side of himself to them. The storyline starts off very cliche as my first impressions of Aeric was that he is your typical ‘cold guy’ who surprises you at times with his sweet side. Although I am sure we are all used to a love story like this, where the guy just starts off cold, the character development started off quite decent as even I was surprised to actually see him complimenting one of the girls. And most importantly, it all felt very genuine. That being said, it was actually quite heartwarming to see him slowly but surely opening up to others and being able to protect his girl – if he has to. I absolutely fell in love with all of the girls within Peace of Evil. Every girl was very unique and different from one other, there will definitely be at least one girl you can’t help but adore, as I did. One of the foxes has a rather strong personality and refuses to lose against a male in any way, yet she is still cute in her own way. Alternatively, you could pick the intelligent girl or the outright cute one if they are more your preference over the strong-minded fox. I really enjoyed that even though every girl was so different personality-wise, they are all still extremely cute and have their own adorable scenes depending on the player’s choice. Peace of Evil has two different choices within the game which will affect the scene afterwards and more importantly, which girl it will happen with. The description for the game, on the storefront, said there are multiple endings, which I could tell immediately was clearly the intention here. However, as aforementioned, the story is incomplete as of now – this is my biggest disappointment with the game. The ending we did get wasn’t done very well as it feels like the game got cut off all of a sudden and without any warning. When the credits started to roll, I was left really frustrated and confused. Moreover, the story doesn’t even progress far enough for Aeric to be able to somewhat develop feelings for a specific girl, so it feels like this game is basically just an introduction to the characters. While the art is really pretty, as well as the backgrounds, the game got quite confusing with its written text and scenes, as they simply didn’t match up at times. The lack of varieties of the sprites and backgrounds were a big problem here. When the text described Aeric as naked, his sprite was still fully clothed, but that’s not all, there are multiple scenes where the scene was ‘supposedly’ happening at night, yet daylight backgrounds were used instead. This could have been simply avoided by matching the text with its scene more appropriately. When it comes to grammar, Peace of Evil sadly has quite a few conjugations and plural problems. I have to admit, I am usually not very picky about game translations, but I would expect a visual novel to get at least proofread so you are able to avoid simple grammar issues like these ones. With that being said, it doesn’t get to the point of not being able to understand what the writer wanted to say, but it gradually started to affect my immersion. While Peace of Evil had an interesting premise and could have been a very sweet love story, it was already over before anything could develop at all. It’s such a shame that this game got dropped halfway, released in this incomplete state and, more importantly, it feels like Peace of Evil didn’t even get proofread properly. Although I really enjoyed reading through the interactions of its characters, even though it was only for a short while, I would recommend avoiding this game for now unless you don’t mind playing an incomplete game which might very likely never get completed. 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Let me start by saying that I have a burning hate towards reviews that begin with the words ‘I tried to love this game, I really did’. It is an irrational feeling, but I just cannot help it. However, this visual novel is the unique case where I have just nothing else to say. So, why did Peace of Evil disappoint me so badly? I was looking forward to playing this game, I gave it a chance and tried not to judge it too harshly. However, no honest reviewer in their right mind would post a positive review about an obviously incomplete story. I still do not understand why developers decided to go with this version instead of taking more time to actually finish the game, but there is nothing I can do about it. Anyway, read the part below to see what you can expect from Peace of Evil and decide whether you would like to buy it or not. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1772311024 [h1]My critique[/h1] It would be a lie to say that this visual novel has no positive features. [u]Here is the short list of things I liked[/u]: [b]First,[/b] Peace of Evil has lovely artwork that was one of the things that caught my eye immediately. Most characters look really nice (except for some small details here and there) and you can easily tell one girl from another. The backgrounds are also amazing and work well with sprites and the overall design. All in all, I could easily call this visual novel an eye candy. Bu-u-ut…but for one very important issue that I will mention a bit later. Also, an important note: some CGs vary in quality quite noticeably. As if some of them were drawn by a different artist or in a hurry, actually? [b]Second,[/b] I loved almost all music tracks. The opening song was pretty good and the tune in the main menu was definitely up my alley. Piano and oriental motives were also easy on the ear and created just the right mood. Combined with good artwork I have mentioned above, the mix could make this visual novel a very enjoyable experience. [b]Third,[/b] the story has a very interesting premise. [i]The world has been almost destroyed because of human greed and violence. Three days of pure hell have decided the faith of the Earth that has drastically changed – the Age of Man has ended. A new world emerged ruled by hybrids who were created before the disaster and blessed with immortality and supernatural prowess. However, this peace did not last long.[/i] Personally, I love postapocalyptic settings like this, so it got me hooked almost immediately. Oh, and the main character is both unique and fascinating (I admire level-headed and determined people like him). https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1772324930 [u]Now, it is time to talk about bad features.[/u] One of the most important flaws is that behind the bright cover you will find a mediocre writing. While the story itself sounds quite interesting, I have some major problems with how it is told. The text feels heavy and sometimes even a bit overwhelming. The same words and phrases can repeat within a span of just two sentences, which makes me think that the author might have been either too lazy to actually look for synonyms or at least not motivated enough to rephrase what he wanted to say. Another issue is that I noticed typos and strange words, as well as lots of grammatically wrong structures – for example, reported speech, conditional sentences, prepositions, tenses. As a teacher, I always cringe when I see such things in visual novels. To cut a long story short, all these issues spoiled the whole story for me. By the way, do you remember my words about the good presentation? Well, I can easily take them back if you ask me about the user interface design. It is just barebones of what you could expect from a visual novel. At least I have not seen one without even the simplest text settings for ages! There are only five options to select from and four of them are connected with music and sounds. You can neither change the text speed nor the font size/style, or at least I have not found a way to do it – and this bothered me immensely. There is no setting to choose a fullscreen mode or a window one, no skip button or adjustments (well, at least you can use the usual Ctrl as a replacement), nothing! Not to mention that the whole user interface design is extremely minimalistic – as if developers started working on it but never actually finished. And the last but not least: an abrupt and illogical ending that clearly proved my theory that this visual novel is incomplete. Even if you enjoy the story, you will never actually find out how it should have ended. It is obvious that a lot of plot lines were just cut off, the romance does not feel fulfilling, and the outcome of each *route*, if I can even call them like this, is strange to say the least. Just imagine getting to the most interesting part and then – hop! – boys and girls, this is the end of our story. This is beyond frustrating! And of course the game’s overall unfinished state also affected the characters: some girls had interesting personality, but I refuse to accept how their routes led next to nothing. There is some character development too, but it does not really matter because we most probably can see only half of what it was supposed to be. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1772333837 [h1]My verdict[/h1] The good things about Peace of Evil do not make up for the major flaws I have noticed. It brings tears to my eyes when I try to imagine what this game could be; but it seems that this dream will never come true. With a heavy heart, I have to give Peace of Evil a negative mark. If the developers finish the story in the future, I will most probably change my opinion. However, for now I do not recommend buying this visual novel unless you are ready to deal with an incomplete ending and questionable writing. Also, keep in mind that some scenes (at the beginning of the game, for example) can be quite disturbing and deal with adult topics – if you expect a light-hearted fan service and nothing else, then no, this is not exactly the case here. I will end this review with the phrase I hate so much. Yet, there is nothing else to say. I tried to love Peace of Evil. I really did. [i]P.S. Ah, there is actually one more thing I must mention, mostly a neutral remark: the scene with the Pig King was disgusting. If that was the author’s intention, then honestly he did a great job – I felt incredibly uncomfortable reading it.[/i] [h1][url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/32296668-Casual-Game-Reviews/] More reviews on our Curator Page[/url][/h1]

You would think they could have had at least one native English speaker read through this before they put it out. The grammar and sentence structure are so terrible that there was no way to enjoy the story in my opinion. I refunded it.

This VN isn't finished. More like a demo or an Early Access game.

I'm going to have to give it a no. The English is average at best, but the developers are garbage that treat their Kickstarter backers like crap. Not only have they not given any update on the game for months and out of nowhere they release it! Even worse, they released it cheaper than the lowest Kickstarter tier. But the worst part is, they did not tell their backers and it took several extra days for backers to get the game. That is unacceptable. And then the game itself became so, so mediocre, when the original Kickstarter looked quite nice. It's like they stopped caring. Furthermore, the game lacks several standard visual novel features, such as skip and auto-play. If they're in the game, they're not mapped to conventional standards. At least the OP Music is decent, despite the fact they don't seem to sync it properly with the video as they intended. In short: 1: Very Mediocre Game. 2: Lack standard features. 3: Music is good/okay. 4: Crappy Epic Games like Developer.

There, unfortunately, was a lot to like here, but, sadly, the visual novel stopped abruptly, leaving too many loose ends unresolved. It was like the makers had some kind of deadline to keep and put the game out there whether it was finished or not.

I really enjoyed the story and characters, but as soon as you reach the route split you get credits and return to the main menu. I wish we actually got a full story instead of the first two chapters (with no news of finishing the story). If money isn't a problem this is an enjoyable and interesting story, but when you add in the rough English translation I have a hard time recommending the game. It's close to being a really good VN, but falls short of being a recommendation. *Update* They are working to get a writer to finish the game, I'll update my review again after I see the complete product.

The game has no ending. As soon as you get to what appears to be the route split, the credits roll and you are sent back to the main menu. I would not suggest this game to anyone, unless the developers go in and finish the game, which is unlikely.

This is a ripoff. It ends abruptly with no warning. Not even bothering with two words to the player before sending you back to the title!

It feels like the developers were sick of working on the game so they slapped together what they had and threw it up on Steam to make a quick buck before the reviews came in. Cons: The game ends abruptly with no conclusion. The English translation is...just terrible, really. Conjugation. Plurals. Etc. There are only two choices in the game, neither with long term effects. (Personal preference?) (An overly long dating sequence was probably originally meant to be a third choice.) There's a strong dissonance between the art style and some of the dialog/story. The story is bloated, meanders, and has many superfluous characters. The developers didn't seem to know what they wanted to make or for whom. Pros: It's got some pretty character design, I guess.