The Specter's Desire

I played both of the creator’s previous games and liked both of them this one however is the best one by far. The structure of the story is great so is the central mystery and the characters are great and well written. Generally, this the central game in the story reminds me of the Manga Liar Game which has similar types of games but the number of games through the story is great. If I had to try to find a flaw in the Visual Novel, it would be that sometimes it could drag on a bit. All in all I would recommend it for all mystery fans and people who like stories with a central game like Liar Game or Zero Escape but without the Sci-Fi.

I am likely not going to finish this game, but even the 9 hours I've spent in it have been a blast. The only reason I'm stopping is because at this point my brain simply can't handle the amount of different things to keep up with the challenge, but I am very happy that I tried!

Feels good so far, might update the review later. The only issue I noticed is an ability to lock your progress in the chapter 3 if you dont do actions in a rather specific way. I had to load and look into the game files to find the way through.

Another excellent game from Themisian. The more narrative five act structure really lets the character's stories play out in front of you, and the voice acting is amazing. It takes a bit of commitment to get through, but it's a solid mystery.

Having played the previous entries in the shuffled deck collection, this VN was a step up. Incredible writing, intriguing characters, fun puzzles, really everything you look for in a VN. If you're on the fence about buying this, do yourself a favor and pick this up, its honestly criminally under priced and you wont be disappointed with the product.

this was a very enjoyable vn!

What a crazy game. Themisian's third effort, it really feels like they went all out for this one. The game is longer, the story is more complex, the minigames are off the charts. Above all I have to applaud the sheer ambition of this game - it must have been a hell of a project for a small dev. I really enjoyed the first act, and in particular its finale - the dawning realisation as you slowly create the map of purgatorio was really something. In addition, compared to the divine deception, this game has a dizzying array of minigames, most of which I found to be quite fun and appropriately challenging. However, it did feel like there was a gradual decline in quality as the game went on, and later acts were not as enjoyable as the first. Also, it really felt like the game expected, at times, for you to be some kind of unhinged genius. I don't consider myself such by any means, but I've always had a sharp analytical mind for logical problem solving, and my grades throughout my life have been pretty stellar, so I like to think that I ought to be in at least the top 10% of players in terms of being able to solve puzzles in videogames. Certainly I don't usually have too much trouble, and I normally refuse to resort to guides. But this game, oh boy. The poker puzzle where you had to make hands for all the different players was a nightmare. Some of the maths puzzles completely stumped me - this is coming from someone who tutors maths for a living. At one point I almost had to abandon the game half-way through, because I got completely stuck on a puzzle and even after caving, I couldn't find the answers online anywhere. It must have taken me over 3 hours in the end, but I perserved because I loved the game's story. I don't know who your playtesters are Themisian, but in future maybe find some people with an IQ lower than 200. I did very little save-scumming, and looked up as little as possible, and as a result I ended with like -50% sanity or something stupid; the game stopped updating Colton's mental state long before that. It's really a testament to how good the writing is that I persevered. I played through SO MANY locked room mysteries. They are still stupid, by the way, and this game has only made me hate them more. I know you love them, but please, for the love of god, in future use them in moderation, like maybe 1 or 2 per game. That being said, in spite of all the complaining I just did, I still thoroughly enjoyed this game and completed it to its (rather better than the developer's other titles) conclusion. That should probably tell you everything you need to know about it. Definitely not for everyone. 7/10.

Best game in the series IMO.

This is a hidden gem, a true contender for the best visual novel I've ever played. The writing is immaculate, the mysteries are engaging, and once the plot really gets going and character introductions are over, it'll leave you hooked at all times. My fiancee and I voice acted through this game blind together, and we had it as our main activity together for the past couple months; this game is LONG and does not overstay its welcome one bit. All 120 hours we played, we enjoyed. The puzzles are challenging but rewarding, and are all fairly intuitive. There was only one point where i felt at the moment "man that should've counted", and even at that point I understood exactly why it *didn't* afterwards. That's impressive for a game with over 50 puzzle situations and shows incredible design. Are the backgrounds mostly just blurred photos? Sure. Are the voice lines sometimes mixed a bit too quiet? Yeah. But this is a low-budget production, and the writing more than makes up for any potential complaints I could ever levy (which, I don't even mind these; the voice-acting is well done and the backgrounds have a sort of charm to them that I don't think could be captured any other way). I've heard this game contains plot points from the devs' previous games set in the same universe, and if anything, what was revealed to me makes me want to play those games more. I'll probably just do that, next time I have three months of free time to spend and not as immense of a game queue to spend it on. This game was that good that even after all this time I still wish I had more. I truly have nothing actually bad to say about this game. I love it a lot and want to recommend it to many people. I hope these devs get found by the public, someday. They deserve it.

An amazing experience all around! The story and characters are engaging from start to finish. The overarching mystery is a delight to ponder and scratch your head over, and has a satisfying answer. The huge variety of puzzles and hidden objectives to seek are fun and never feel overly unfair. The game is shockingly long, but never feels like it's dragging its feet; there's not one dull moment. I liked the character designs, and the voicework was a lovely touch. The Specter's Desire easily shines among its bigger-budget peers.