The Siege of Jeomdo

Beautifully illustrated, and the storyline is engaging. The game gives you choices that seam to have real consequences, and I'm honestly curious how bad things can get if you choose wrong. If you enjoy narrative-driven games like Citizen Sleeper, Roadwarden, or 'Yes, Your Grace', this is definitely a good buy. Props to the team!

I'm not massively experienced with visual novels, but this seems like a really nice middleground between something simple and familiar while still being fresh. I'm really enjoying the setting so far, and the writings really good! Honestly I'm especially enjoying something as simple as the main character being much older than is typical, I've always been a sucker for playing as an epic elder but especially in a story heavy genre like this the storytelling is completely different. We need more games like this, I'm loving being an old man with a loving family and regrets! I also have to point out the art and music. As you'd expect for the genre they're really good, but it's also really unique. Personally I really enjoy seeing fresh artstyles rather than the same ones over and over, this game really sticks with its theming and draws you in with immersion. Also Ashvinder is best boy

Fun game that blends a classic visual novel with management elements. The game is well polished with a charming art style. The story is well paced and the various scenes don't overstay their welcome, while characters remain distinc and believable. If you haven't played games in the genre before, this one may be a good entry point!

A Gem in the Rough Let's get this out right up front: If you like narrative games and visual novels, The Siege of Jeomdo is an experience worth the time and money you'll spend on it. The story is compelling and the characters are endearing enough to hold your attention for the about 10 hours of play time that a complete playthrough will get you. The art and music are very nice, and despite the tension of the narrative it's quite a relaxing game. In the game you'll assume the role of a retired commander who - perhaps against his better judgement - is drawn into organizing the defense of a otherwise defenseless island village against the depredations of a tyrannical empire. You'll have to manage your preparation carefully: juggling supplies, resolve, characters, and most importantly time. Choices through the story feel weighty and there is room for different outcomes (I got 9/13 achievements on my playthrough). There are a number of bugs I ran into, namely continuity errors which - given the nature of the game - can really rip you right out of the suspension of disbelief. I only experienced one big one, but to avoid spoilers I'll give an example of a small one: at one point of the story you are prompted to make a decision on whether you want to get dressed before responding to fresh commotion outside. I chose to get dressed, and narrative described me doing so, but the rest of the scene played out as if I hadn't. As of this review, the game is getting regular updates though so I expect these to be smoothed out sooner rather than later. A bit more problematic I think was the payoff of the various actions you are given the opportunity to do throughout the course of the game. I was able to pull of a successful defense pretty handily, failing only one check during the second act. And I was able to complete many of the different tasks that were optioned. Yet it still felt as though I had wasted a fair number of resources on things I didn't end up needing. And there were some tasks I felt that became pretty useless not long after they were introduced. I don't expect these to see much adjustment in this area, but it's good enough for at least one playthrough. It might need more fine tuning to entice replays. All in all, I very much enjoyed my time with the game. Full disclosure: I know one of the devs who worked on the team for a span. Everyone involved should be proud of their accomplishment here. You delivered a good product and a work of art. I'll be watching for future games from Studio Hip Sword in the future!

The Siege of Jeomdo is full of heart and soul that make it an easy recommendation. The hand-drawn art style is striking and charming, unlike any other game I've played. The characters are vibrant, some endearing, some... less so. The story of their struggle is engaging and you feel the pressures of being under siege accutely, with the difficulty of maintaining your resource meters and accomplishing tasks increasing significantly the longer the siege draws on and the more the butterfly effects of your previous decisions ripple outward. The gravity of your decisions weigh upon you until the end of the game; not only will choices that you made hours ago and haven't considered since come back to bite you at the worst time, but the game also saves immediately after decisions are made to prevent the player from save-scumming on decisions which yield an immediate negative outcome. The design of the Siege of Jeomdo puts you in a position where you must make difficult decisions to either stand by your principles or buckle to cold, calculating pragmatism, then forces you to stand behind those decisions and suffer what consequences may come. The ways in which your choices influence the course of the story is done pretty seamlessly, so in some cases it can be difficult to grasp how a current scene has been shaped by choices made earlier in the game. One thing I'd love to see is an NG+ that pulls back the curtain a bit more and lets you backtrack or shows you the decision trees in play, giving you more freedom to experiment and see all the variety that the game has to offer without needing to do multiple consecutive playthroughs.

10/10 cannot recommend this game enough No game has made me more stressed then the combat sections here i thought my heart was gonna leap out of my chest

A nice little game that can be played in one lengthy session over a few hours. It's more of an RPG than your average "RPG", insofar as this is a game where you actually play a role instead of just watching number go up. Although the basic game system is self-explanatory, some things may go over your head during play and at first it can be confusing to understand in what ballpark the two main resources, Supplies and Resolve, should be, but personally I managed to (very roughly) figure it out on my own and win on my first run, with only some seemingly-close calls. The theming is nailed really well and the characters, if somewhat larger-than-life, are very grounded and balance well their respective gameplay role with their storyline. The story has quite the drama and really sets the mood/stakes for each of the battles against the Gonchurians, which is important since text is the main way you interact with the game world and thus suspense must be created for each of the game's checks on your strategies and management. This lets the game pack major plot pendulum shifts even within its short runtime (with each of them often accompanied by a similarly sizable gameplay challenge). My only gripe is that the game ends far too soon: after the final battle, the characters only comment shortly when one would expect a lengthier denouement, quickly transitioning into a canonical SRPG-style credits-&-results screen. You will have to find the most enjoyment in the journey itself, but thankfully I did. I didn't find any technical issues, aside from the fact it was quite easy to accidentally move away from a dialogue you weren't done reading (exacerbated by the abrupt screen changes). Since before playing this game it had been a long, long time since I played anything like a visual novel, but this was a breath of fresh air (particularly in how it avoids giving into common tropes while staying simple and genuine) and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

A charming artstyle and engaging story come together to create an overall very enjoyable experience. Poor pacing is a familiar trap that many visual novels fall into, this is not the case for Siege of Jeomdo. This is a tight narrative experience where each decision you make feels appropriately weighted, and the way the narrative manages the complex branches from these decisions is impressive. The music works well to immerse you in the setting, and I found the character art in particular quite endearing. There is an impressive number of different character sprites for a game of this size, with a variety of poses and variations to boot. This is an easy recommend for visual novel fans, or anyone looking for a short, enjoyable narrative game.

Art looks nice and story seems interesting so far.

A great game with an amazing unique art style. I have really been enjoying playing through The Siege of Jeomdo, you can really tell the creators are passionate about their work. The writing has managed to make me terrified that I had made the wrong decisions as early as the first battle and the amount of effort that has been put into all of the art work is truly impressive.