Well, like other reviews I feel a bit torn here, I generally enjoy Winter Wolves' work very much but I do think this is probably the weakest one I played yet.
The main story is quite weak and the writing often had me confused, it also doesnt really cover things that I felt it should, nor answer questions it poses, even the titular beastmaster princess, while being more or less the main character, has little to do with the plot, much less her beastmastery skill. Overall it felt pretty incosistent and half baked with interesting intrigue but poor payoff and several awkward or straight up nonsensical moments in between.
That being said, I would say that this time around the main plot wasnt really the focus as it serves more to introduce and add depth to the characters and your relationship with them and in that, it does well.
The romanceable characters are likeable and interesting, I do wish there was more interactions in general but I did enjoy spending time with them and by the epilogue, which are excellent, I felt invested and each of them did leave me with its own variation of happiness.
As for the rest, music is swell, backrounds are pretty (except for that one with the desert that looks like it went through some ridiculous filters) and the CG's are fantastic.
Sadly that doesnt extend to the sprite work itself, as the characters in CG's look very little like their sprite counterparts, they look oddly unfitting to the backround and especially to the sprites from older games like Toobar, but even to the redesignes of old characters like Myrth and Rei, they look like characters from different games. This bothered me especially on the male MC as he often looks quite dumb with his huge chin and eyes too close together. Im not sure if this was artistic decision or if there was a simply different artist working on the sprites this time around but while the desgins themselves are alright, the sprites took me a long time to get used and are, in my opinion, easily the weakest in any of their games. And jesus, the blood and crying effects...
Overall, this is more of a side thumb than straight up enjoy, especially given that other people might be looking for different things, I had a good time overall but if you are in this for the main plot or lore of Aravorn this will be a weak entry for you.
Other than that, recommended, im looking for the next WW work.
