The Divine Deception

The second game I played by Themisian (I'm not exactly sure of the chronological order). The production remains basic, which will probably put a lot of people off, but I'm of a mind that, in a game, story / gameplay always trumps graphics / audio. The writing in this one is not as good, and while I enjoyed it at first, in the end it felt both lacking direction and structure and yet also strangely linear and restrictive. I attribute this to the game's rather unique design where you pick and choose what order to play the chapters in. While this seems cool at first, a game this long inevitably struggles to make this work, and ultimately it feels like the intention was still very much for it to be played in a specific order. Certain things get spoiled, you get locked out of gambles, and the game even tells you off for refusing to play it properly. Additionally, it felt like you didn't really have enough clues to be able to guess at the big plot twist at the end, which felt kind of contrived and absurd in my opinion. Overall, an interesting concept with some good moments, but a game perhaps too ambitious for its own good. 5/10.

Not bad but nothing special

Fantastic game with great twists and political commentary. Really makes you think. This game is criminally underrated!

Honestly, I am not happy that [spoiler] Laverna never existed at all [/spoiler], but the game with its complex plot and really thrilling situations is still awesome. The side characters are very awesome as well. They are all unique and get funny, cool and dramatic moments with other characters, which gives the story a lot of heart (Yi is the coolest by the way). The ending was slightly disappointing because [spoiler] it was too short and ended quite abruptly [/spoiler], but the main part of the story (the seven decks) was so good that I don't even care that much. Great game.

Muy buena novela visual.

is good

Drawn in by the gambling mechanic, but ended up boring and hard to follow. Some shoehorned in minigames fall flat as well.

Another banger

Really enjoyable game. Great writing, and fun gameplay. Loved seeing the multiple storylines unfold. It reminded me quite a lot of Shibuya Scramble, which I absolutely loved. If the premise sounds interesting to you at all, definitely check it out!

An absolutely stellar mystery VN which juggles gambling, political intrigue, detective mystery, and thriller near perfectly all while handling a very interesting cast of characters. The story that unfolds keeps you guessing throughout and as the finale draws closer the way everything falls into place really makes this an impressive feat of mystery writing. Cannot recommend enough to anyone who enjoyed The Zodiac Trial or other VNs of its ilk! Also game has Lara which makes it an instant 10/10 Lara best girl