Stars Arisen

I loved reading through “Stars Arisen.” I felt like each of my choices added something to the story or allowed me to influence the narrative meaningfully, both of which helped keep me invested in the marvelous universe described in the game. What’s more, even though I disliked many of the characters at first, they all grew on me over time, and although I sometimes disagreed with their methods, I almost always understood where they came from. The romances, however, fell a bit short of the mark. At first, none of them really appealed to me, and although that changed once I got to know some of them better, I never felt like my chosen love interest and I got a satisfying conclusion, but that could’ve been because of the choices I made with the overarching story, and if so, good. It would imply my decisions did indeed impact the outcome. Overall, this game offers hours of fun with very few downsides to hold it back. (8/10)

Странное дело, казалось бы интересный сеттинг, древняя магия, политические интриги, плюс возможность фактически играть за божество (ну, почти). И все же игра такая унылая. Реально денег жалко. А она при том дороже, чем другие игры от этого издателя. Ни один из любовных интересов не вызвал симпатии (скажу больше, они раздражали. Призрак вора самый адекватный, но даже с ним мутить неохота). Еле дочитала даже один раз. Другие текстовые квесты зачитаны до дыр (или хотя бы раза 4-5), этот повторно читать не буду.

Hmm, this one is OK. It is a bit more removed from being in the story, so to speak, in that you are focusing more on other people, groups, and situations. Unlike Heroes of Myth, where the focus was more on your character and how they were handling a past situation that had already occurred before the story started. In this one, there is still a large backstory / before the story element, but your character was not actually involved in the events per se, just living the repercussions of those events. TBH the story just didnt pull me in the way I like. It felt more like a game, than a novel with choices. Still there is plenty of staging and dressing, it just feels more like well crafted displays and props rather than anything else. All in all the writing is extremely well done, and every character is interesting plot wise. Relationship wise, well it misses the mark for me, but maybe you will find something/someone you like. For the asking price this story is a fair deal.

Loved the game! I recommand it!

Incredible story with intricate characters. Choices are very impactful and branching.

I really enjoyed my time with this one. Definitely in the upper tiers of the genre, with great writing, plenty of meaningful choices and relationships, several rounded characters with sympathetic ideals... 10/10

玩过的IF里能稳定前三的一部，这个作者真的蛮会写的，她的新作specters of the deep的demo也挺有意思的。经典龙王归来类爽文，主角的妈是暂时落魄的神，主角和一个幽灵踏上夺回神力的冒险旅途，中间有假扮路人潜入高塔以及参与政治投票的路线。Romance不是故事侧重，除了一直跟在身边的Vivian以外对别的角色都没有很大印象，感觉都挺路人的。

To be honest, I was slow to warm up to the MC in this game, as it felt I was being railroaded onto a certain path with preconceived opinions. However as you get into the story the options to develop your character, what they believe, and how they think become more varied and the decisions you make do carry consequences and influence how the game pans out and what sort of ending you get. You are sent on a mission and as you investigate the circumstances you find yourself in you are allowed to change your mind if you want. Without revealing any spoilers, your character grows and matures because of their experiences, but this is no child growing up, its an intelligent 25 year old adult who has grown up apart from society and is faced with social and political views they did not know even existed until confronted with them. How they cope with the contradictions to everything they have been taught, and carry out their mission is up to you. There were several developments I did not see coming that could be described as throwing a spanner in the works. You will need to play the game to find out. Most of the options and choices presented to you are reasonable, and only a couple of times did I feel that my MC was being forced to act differently from how I thought they should behave, and i was relieved that the option to change my mind was present up until the finale. The writing itself is solid, intelligent, and the author keeps up the air of expectancy and tension right until the end. There appears to be far more to read than in the usual IF games, I've done one run-through and while it did not take 6 hours (I had to leave the game at one point without shutting down) you will certainly not be able to race through it like you can with the young adult IF games. If there is a category for adult fantasy and magic, this is where this game would fit. Yes, you can romance some of the characters, and I think there may be an option for the obligatory sex scene or two, which you can simply ignore if you are already juggling too many schemes to further complicate your life. There are plenty of opportunities for a rematch to further expose the parts of the story you have not yet discovered and explore the other pathways you ignored. One nice touch is that at the end of every chapter you are given the chance to replay it, or go on to the next one so you can rescue the bad click that took you somewhere you didn't want to go. I think this is something most fans of this genre appreciate. Despite the slow start, I have enjoyed this game and am off for my second run-through, and if you try the demo and like it, then you can expect to enjoy a game that does not seem rushed at the end, and has an epilogue to tie up the loose ends. Another nice touch.