The Many Deaths of Lily Kosen

This is a very wonderfully well done horror visual novel game. You and your friends are being hunted by something and you must do all that you can in order to make it out alive. The game loop is like : encounter the threat, deal with threat, building trust/getting to know your friends more/earn their trust, repeat. The game play loop may be simple, but it's the conversations with the characters that is the meat of this game. The dialogues are well written and you came to care about your friends/these characters by the end of the game, wanting to keep them alive. Recommended to horror visual novel lovers. If you like this visual novel I would recommend another horror visual novel called Gwan Moon High School, and for something in a different genre, the horror RPG Maker adventure classic Corpse Party. There are multiple endings/fail endings depending on your decisions throughout the game. A solid 8/10 for me. I had a great time playing this.

The game, for being made by one dev, is really well made and really full. It has hours of gameplay and the stories are as funny as they are creepy! Would totally recommend for anyone who love visual horror novels !

Utterly captivating little game (With an entirely necessary amount of bread-related trivia.)

I've been looking for games like these lately. A blend between genuine horror and cozy camaraderie. Kinda like Corpse Party but with a more ...western influence, I guess. TMDoLK scratched that itch, but left me wanting more. Not in the sense that the presentation was poor or anything. I loved the story, and the length and execution are great. I just haven't found any more VNs like this. I actually found this game on TVTropes. Namely due to how the characters speak like how people do real life. They pause, they stutter, they backtrack and sometimes lose their train of thought. It feels pretty organic. Completely unlike some other VNs where, say, the average character can gracefully segue into flawless Shakespearean prose at the drop of a hat. As far as villains go, the one here is done well. Probably my favorite part of the game. They're an interesting combination of terrifying yet snarky. They'll usually steal the show (and possibly a life or three) every time they show up - which is balanced enough for them to be an actual threat despite not being particularly difficult to temporarily deter. Basically Chucky, but the character deaths and victories are less contrived. The story wraps itself up comfortably (assuming you get the golden ending), but there are definitely enough loose ends for a sequel to be made, [spoiler]though Lily, or at least her corpse, probably won't play a role this time around. May need to change the title[/spoiler]. Here's hoping the dev capitalizes on that because the writing is great and I'm looking forward to more from them. If there was one criticism I had, it's one that was observed in another review: the story follows a particular order in a rather rigid way. So if the characters die too "late" or in an odd order, the writing struggles to compensate. Which leads to mood whiplashes and characters seemingly being forgotten about 2 minutes after they died despite how close the group is. But this is something that can really only be addressed either with a larger team or a massive amount of conditional storylines. From my understanding, this game was mostly a one-man undertaking, so concessions need to be made to keep the plot moving without worry too much about what-ifs. ...Actually there's a second criticism. The games soundtrack could have used a bit more variation. Or a second opinion. The music is alright, overall. But some of it is far too bombastic for the game. Let alone the scenes they're played in. *Cough*Gabriel's JRPG battle victory-esque theme being played seconds after one of the friends die*Cough* Anyway, tl;dr. if you're considering playing the game, just take the plunge. This is actually one of the very few games I've bothered to get all achievements for. And with the game's price being as low as it (currently) is, it's an experience more than worth the asking price.

This game has to be one of the most amazing horror games I've ever played. Great art, great story, timed choices, good plot, good backgrounds, good world-building, good characters, unique characters, straight to the point exciting, fun stat management that's not too difficult, not too twisted or difficult of a game yet two hours in, meaningful choices, funny dialogue, and a lot of nice friendship moments as well as dead ends and a very long story for this kind of game. I like how there is no wasted dialogue or scenes for the sake of fluff just good old fashioned visual novel style horror gameplay like those good old RPGmaker games like Mad Father, Misao, all that free stuff online like vgperson and the stuff on steam right now. I have been playing these games for years and this one really stands out for me. This isn't on Steam but Netflix has a lot of good shows sort of that give you this excited, mysterious feeling while we wait for more amazing games like this to come out. This game really is a work of art. I love the character design as well - Lily is so perfectly designed. Great job to the developers and buy this game at full price - it's highly affordable so thank you so much for making this affordable!!! AMAZING!!! 10/10. Made my day!

I really adore this game. It's so well made, and the characters are very charming. There's a lot of replay value going through and trying to get all of the possible dialogue, and it really tempts you into doing so by creating small mysteries you really want the answer to. The "stress level" mechanic that controls the outcome of the game is very clever, I like it a lot. Gives you a bit of a challenge with enough guidance to not get frustrated. If you're on the fence at all about buying this one, I urge you to pull the trigger and get it. It's so cheap for such an entertaining story, especially one that has clearly had a lot of love put into it by the developer. I'm at 8ish hours of playtime while writing this, and there's still more routes I want to go back and try. How can you go wrong with more than 8 hours of entertainment for less than a cheeseburger?

That fact that this doesn’t have a lot of people playing this is crazy!!! Honestly the first time playing this you got me good because I didn’t think I could die and completely start over. Making a crossover story because of how influential this game was too me.

The Many Deaths of Lily Kosen is by and large an enjoyable game. A horror visual novel that follows you and your friends dealing with the result of past decisions that have now spiralled out of control. It's a game I received a key for for free during the 2025 choose wisely festival, and had a blast playing it then, though there was no input from the developers for the context of my review. The primary mechanic of the game is stress, and each conversation you have with friends can lower theirs. Of course it's not just your friends stress you need to worry about, but your own as well. Of course, your friends aren't going to want to burden you with their problems, so it's not always going to be so obvious how well your friends are coping with the events of the game, and this is both the best and worst part of the game. There are moments of stress checks throughout the game, where characters will die should their stress exceed a value. While I can understand the friends stress levels being hidden, the fact that your own is as well feels more trailered to fit the gameplay, as your characters responses and reactions seem to remain constant, regardless of their own stress level. I can understand it, it makes the game more tense, but also, I would imagine that I would have some understanding of my own levels of stress. This leads to the game feeling like it has almost Sierra style softlocks, which while understandable, can also feel a little annoying (though this is also not helped by streaming the game and voicing characters, so it has taken me about 17 and a bit hours so far). Thankfully, the game does (as many do) employ the ability to skip through conversations to the next choice, though with no branching path like situations that are prevalent in FMV games, going back through dialogue choices can feel a little tedious. If there were a way to know your own characters stress - be it a number, narrative change, or even visual change on screen - it would help a lot. Is it worth playing? Very much so! It's really well written (well, except one specific sentence that was something along the lines of a slightly clunky 'bloody pulpy blood'), with characters that each feel unique and have their own stuff going on. The sound design feels spot on and the characters are all well designed. It might be a little long if you are streaming the game, but with sudden unexpected deaths being quite brutal, I could imagine implementing polls for decisions could be a fun way to keep up engagement, and with each character having their own personality, I'm sure everyone will have their favourite. Similarly, the ability to load from a game instead of going to the menu would be a nice quality of life improvement (or not having to wait for the logo to fade in each time you hit the menu screen - it doesn't take long, but it still can add up!) Though not without its faults, I would have no issue recommending the game to someone looking for a challenging horror visual novel with a neat mechanic, and am certainly interested in seeing the next games that Too Many Teeth create next.

I really enjoyed this VN! The characters each had their own unique voice and personality, the art was beautiful, and the main "stress" mechanic of the game was a really cool/interesting system. Once the story got its hooks in me, it did not let go and it did not disappoint! Do yourself a favor and check this game out! :)

Lured by the siren song of "mention of messed up happenings on adjacent TvTropes page" I've played The Many Deaths of Lily Kosen, or "Rirī Kōzen no Kazukazu no Shi, Mate" as it's known on the other side of the pond and found myself pleasantly surprised by the awkward charm. LK can be cleared in about two hours of steady reading, ballooning to a bit more if you get got too many times and reload compulsively to get all them scenes. LK keeps it simple with four friends dabbling with the supernatural and trying to survive the consequences of their own actions in what I'd affectionately dub an Aussie Animeland, a comfortable vaguely western haze where teenagers dressed as petrol-wielding banchos try to find their place while adults are conspicuously absent. The setting tics are more amusing than anything though I'll get *spoilers* about that later. Most of LK revolves around your friend group trying to cope with shared trauma caused by bad jokes and near death experiences. The writing is the bread and butter being compulsively eaten by our protagonist and LK takes a good crack at a relationships values system that smartly holds the numbers close to the chest. There's a loop of world building and chances to chat with friends followed by conflicts that test the power of friendship. If you or your friends feel weak and alone then somebody is probably about to die! My notes settled on being able to beat the game by talking to so and so X number of times and building myself up X times by scene Y but sometimes my values slipped and getting all the scenes(i.e. talking to somebody the most that you can in a run) requires paying attention to character personalities and saying the right things. Supporting your friends always provide a little help, actually caring about them and showing it does more and is key to the elusive Everybody Lives ending. A story where choices matter! The art is good with some extra charm in the full art spreads, properly dedicated to horrifying violence. The soundtrack is decent though some tracks felt out of place, likely due to chat prompts that lead to the scene that plays that friend's theme and well, Gabriel's theme tends to be a little goofy as a prelude to a horror scene(fine after one though.) My only objective gripe with the writing is something it's praised for: realistic dialogue. The cast are stressed teenagers gathering new trauma rapidly and two of them are nerdy introverts, they're going to be socially awkward. While I agree with the praise it gets - that is to say- well perhaps- you know, it just- it goes a bit too far. Yes, the dialogue is endearingly dorky and shy. Keep that, but the game could use an editing pass to speed things up, especially with some conversations being redundant at heart. "I wanted to talk to everybody about our problem." "I've brought you here to discuss my intention to start researching our problem." "I have begun researching our problem", all interspersed with three people doing stutter step chatting. And Victoria, of course. Roughly every fourth line of dialogue could be tossed and some of the early reading is a chore but still LK is well done and things pick up nicely once the horror is introduced. There's some overlap in character voice in the writing but everybody is mostly distinct, especially the coquettish malice of our antagonist. The humor is definitely unique, though not bad. As a fan of VNs and horror I'm no stranger to the likes of Corpse Party leading good horror with the most awkward nonsense you've ever read in your life. If nothing else Too Many Teeth clearly dedicated a lot of time and polish to the personalities and character relationships, a fine core for a VN with a tight cast. The only mechanical issue I felt was a desire for a quick load button rather than returning to the main menu each time. *Spoilers* I'm always a fan of extras for getting each death. Maybe a few arts to spread among them, a little skull checklist? Although LK smartly keeps the mystery mysterious I feel some things should have been explained. Kalnash's regeneration has a strong implication at first of reviving in a coffin and clawing out over a year, good horror that, but quickly becomes "whatever the plot wants" as it accelerates to minutes between scenes. There's a great decision to imply that Lily's spirit is trying to help the party without confirmation, just tossing in my praise there, and the hidden dialogues that you only get for things like being the sole survivor or playing with the name entry easter eggs are a nice touch. The story functions well enough with the absence of adults but strains disbelief with characters often leaving broad daylight scenes covered in the blood of a knives out killing. We can forgive anything Kalnash does as they invoke supernatural fog, darkness, etc but perhaps the protagonist should have had a few decisions to make to not be noticed and catch game overs for suspicious behavior. Wouldn't it be wonderfully chilling to be locked up and have Kalnash drop in, all smiles? *Spoilers* *Spoilers* If nothing else I'd absolutely want the sole survivor ending to take a darker tone. "... their families gave me dirty looks when I attended all their funerals..." Sorry, I can't buy that! The protag was last seen with 1-3 people who go missing and are discovered mangled? Simple fix there, have Kalnash's vengeance be completed by killing almost everybody and protag's life being ruined. Prison, mental ward, suicide, hell I really thought there was a danger of being the next one possessed. LK plays up a lot of concern about how easy it becomes for the protag to kill and how they feel in the moment but ultimately drops it. Lastly while it's talked about a lot, certainly enough to inform the rest of the story, but actually reading and making decisions in the scene where Kalnash first possesses Lily and she's originally murdered, as well as the panic of the coverup would have been a powerful late game flashback. Feels like a missed opportunity. *End Spoilers* While I waited for a sale LK is a good $4 game, a fair asking price and a fine first effort that definitely gave me interest in their next game. Short and sweet, it's endearingly awkward and does a little bit of horror just right. Victoria best girl.