The Confines Of The Crown

The Confines of the Crown is definitely a dated game - it came out in 2015 - but it still has some charm and is quite a fun, short game for a fan of otome. The game follows Madeleine, handmaid to prince Oscar of Oceandawyr, who accompanies him to the kingdom of Gwellinor for the princess' debut. She is seeking a husband as she's coming of age and Oscar is one of the princes vying for her affection. The other are Nazagi and Gaston, princes from vastly different kingdoms. On the night of her party, princess Cassidy is kidnapped and Prince Oscar is blamed. Through a series of different routes, learn more about the secret behind Cassidy's disappearance and grow close to a prince. My ranking: [spoiler]Oscar < Dolores (good ending, not the route) < Callum < Gaston < Nazagi[/spoiler] I can see the baby otome genre in this game... It's so nostalgic. The art is great, I love the CG art, and the sprite art is fun and colourful. The characters' faces have a few expressions and their sprites also move. I liked the ability to go back through the gallery to look at the CGs but they were also not sorted by character, theyre just in four pages of images. This game is quite unexpected - it reminded me of Nightshade in a way - probably with the fighting (MC is competent in combat and very athletic), but it also just had some twists that I would never have expected to see in an otome. (major major spoilers) [spoiler]For one, a couple of the endings are non-romantic - like Madeleine doesn't end up with the guy! And there's a secret trans character, which floored me[/spoiler] It was very refreshing and a delight! The game also has bad endings, but there's no CGs for these, just a short scene leading up to the end. I, unfortunately, found that the best route was the first one I did (Oscar) and I proably would've liked Callum more if his route didn't feel so insta-love. The common route/overlapping storyline segments don't lend any romantic development to the story between Madeleine and Callum so I had a hard time believing a make-out sesh in the prison cell in front of Dolores was warranted. Gaston's route was funny, but more a plot-development route and Nazagi's ended in a way I didn't like. It was clear the game only had a few "True" options for Madeleine, which I suppose does play into the whole "confine" thing in the title haha. The music was fine, I ended up muting it as I felt like it was distracting and the pacing of the story was decent albeit a bit breakneck at times. It was a good length at 6 hours and I got this game from the Valentine's otome bundle on fanatical so it was $2. It's cool to see what was out there in the past around otomes and what I didnt know existed when I was new to the genre.

It distracted me from buying more p0rn so it's decent.

A thrilling adventure!

Needed gay representation

Very fun game. Story rich.

Another gem I bought on a whim while it was on sale and totally worth it. It's another game where I'm yelling at my computer because I'm like how could you do that to the MC! Definitely entertaining and I love the MC because she's so cool.

There's good replay value in this - though there are a fair few story-lines to pursue that aren't romantic so if your only interest is in otome, maybe pass. If you want a strong female lead and intrigue with a dash of romance, go for it,

同样是玩的时候碎碎念了很多但现在也没什么特别想说的一款游戏。女主很不错，有能力有脑子，够冷静，行动力也强。 非常值得一提的是流程并不算长，而且展开嘛……一来蛮好猜的，二来有点固定，基本就是走个流程，没什么自由度可说。给好评是因为我还挺喜欢Callum线的，呵呵，love love+++ 游戏内容从头到尾的总体构成是：序幕+开头播片+正篇七章+尾声（进结局）。前四章的展开应该都差不多，从第五章开始各线之间的展开应该就比较不同了，而且不同线的标题还不一样。 一周目是锁核心线的，核心线是什么意思呢，就是真相大揭露的路线。Callum线必须二周目及过后才能打（看了看其他评价，好像说Dolores线也是？）。 最后说些个人喜好相关的，它这个可攻略对象安排怎么说，我只能说Oscar、Callum和Dolores是理所当然，Nazagi和Gaston则是意料之外（）因为不感兴趣，后两者给我一种强烈的“你谁啊”感。

I actually enjoyed this game quite a bit. I bought it a very long time ago but never played it. It has a lot more action and intrigue than many of the visual novels that I have read, and it was a welcome break from the standard romance centered novel. I did have one very big problem though. The entire mystery concerning Cassidy is VERY problematic. On one hand it is a great plot device and adds a unique spin on the game. On the other hand the implication of said mystery presents quite a few disturbing complications that are either completely glossed over or not even discussed at all. The ramifications of these complications are handled with equal superficiality. Apparently the writer doesn't seem to think that there are larger issues to be discussed because a happy ending is a happy ending, end of story. We're talking about real deception playing out on a grand scale, and it isn't even properly addressed. Despite my enjoyment of the game, it does present some larger issues that should have been explored. The end result of some of these could even have played into a great potentially BAD ending.

英文全通尽量无剧透的评测如下： 世界观的继承法理是反向萨利克，女有男无，女主Madeleine是穷困小贵族的次女，机缘巧合帮了闯祸的小王子Oscar一把被国王任命为王子贴身侍女，王子长大成人即将结婚，女主也开始为自己卸任之后的职业前途考虑，故事从参加邻国公主Cassidy的成年礼开始 虽然人物设定表面看很日系乙女套路，事实上剧情悬疑成分重，有多次反转，加上另外一些要素让我认为这个游戏其实与其说是乙女不如说是带有恋爱要素的悬疑视觉小说，人物塑造优秀，文笔不错，音乐好听，CG不抱什么期待的话还有点小惊喜（？） 流程不长，英语阅读熟练者大概5-6个小时可以不跳过全通，总体来讲是一个让我屡屡感叹“2015年的洋妞居然能如此放飞”“啊这设定好白左不过居然写得可以”的游戏，不愧是女王万岁制作组怎么说 1. Oscar，青梅竹马阳光少年，开场好感基本拉满，正统乙女剧情没啥好说的，大概也是这种王道系路线的角色通病就是没有很明确的记忆点，这条线相比之下我对Duke Pherod的印象更深一点 2. Nazagi，神秘冷淡美人，由于个人能力过于牛逼这条线女主在解谜方面并没有发挥多少作用只管等着他给结论就是了，主要是敲他的冰壳子，HE结局是让我感慨洋妞可以这么放飞的吗的第一个点，但很合理，显然不是作者放飞XP一拍脑袋而是慎重考虑过人设和剧情导向的结果：政治婚姻和爱情是不挂钩的（说实话有些小妹妹在一个剧情大背景就是准备政治联姻的游戏里要求什么这不行那不行的真的没毛病吗建议有病吃药 3. Gaston，过分热情的花花公子，第一眼觉得有点油，在后半的某个情节里只用一句话一个动作就反转刻板印象好感度拉满了，这条线也是我认为这游戏不应该视为乙女游戏的原因之一，具体原因剧透不谈，另外这条线开始对Cassidy有了比较深入的描写所以在Callum之前推掉会比较好 4. Callum，一言不合就动手的暴躁老哥，其实单以结局的理想化程度来说也是一种正统乙女路线，但这条我认为比Oscar更好，两人更相配，互动有张力，非常符合HE成就描述You've met your match 5. Dolores（百合线），刺头女仆，剧情上其实和Callum线共通，只是选项差别和最终的结局剧情而已，大概因为这两人都是和最终真相牵涉最深的人所以并在一条线，性格乍一看并不讨人喜欢，但整个游戏下来她的人物塑造应该说和Cassidy一样是最用心的之一，属于一种剧情笔力的体现，有趣的是通篇看下来我认为她其实可以算是女主的一个对照角色 从人设深度和剧情来说推荐攻略顺序12345或者12354，汉化补丁有但不推荐，排版非常差劲，加粗隶书就算对2015年的游戏来说都有点太古老了，原则上还是推荐锻炼英文阅读水平或者至少使用翻译器吧