Trials of Kokoro

Beautiful visuals and the characters are really compelling and different from one another. Combat is interesting too.

TL:DR This is a real hidden gem of a game, absolutely deserves more attention for the excellent design, story and love poured into it. Even if you don't like visual novels you may like this one. This game...it must have come from a very talented, passionate and I daresay a warm hearted soul. Though its impossible to judge someone's character based solely on a game there is definitely a special type of gratitude that must exist in the mind of someone to pen a story that attempts to flesh out its characters the way this game does. Typically in doing a review I would focus on the mechanics that make the game but because the story and what I would call the design philosophy of the game is what gives it its heart, the best way to sing its praises is to touch on these things. Its worth mentioning here that kokoro means heart in japanese and that is part of what drew me to this game to see if it could deliver on such potentially cliche or corny premise, I must say it did for me and then some - it surpassed my expectations which is saying a lot. I've played my fair share of games but visual novels usually turn me off. The story like any good book is engaging to the point of not wanting to put it down, I was fully immersed in what would happen next while also being hooked by the combat and rpg build crafting. It appears simple on the surface but there is an attention to detail that rings throughout including the design of skills and how they interact with each other that give a far deeper experience than might come through on first glance combined with the various choices on build, itemization and combat approach make for one of the best and yet most accessible strategic rpgs I've played. The are several difficulties to suit your level of challenge or if you are just there for the story ,which is worth it, but I love well designed challenge and this game's battle system will give it to you. I started a second playthrough 70% into the game just to revisit previous choices, I hate replaying most games and can barely be bothered to finish the majority but this was awesome. I couldn't quite place my finger on it but I realized the combat felt different than normal the dev revealed the game isnt really based on rng, the opponents are programmed to respond to your moves with a great deal of variation in each enemy and combat setup. Apart from the very first section most of the enemies aren't recycled either, they are often treated as one-off unique characters with their own entry and backstory in the bestiary even the unnamed ones and apart from possibly the very first area (and thats still debatable) re-skins arent really a thing. That's a mad level of dedication that only shows the level of care that was put into this game. Normally, saying this would by hyperbolic but this game isnt just a game - its a piece of art and love letter from the dev. No story is truly original but this game has unique elements, but mostly just brings together different elements that you *may* have seen elsewhere and executes them very well. I could continue to gush about how I came for the combat (loved it) but stayed for the story but, ultimately, its best to encourage you to experience it all for yourself. There are things I could quibble about if I really tried or was in a particularly bad mood but I'm not! :D I've never done this before but I give this game a 10/10. Moving on to play the devs first game on steam eagerly waiting a sequel or the dev's next entry. Well done!

A wonderful gem of an RPG. The battle system is the highlight, first time in many years I've felt engaged in "standard" turn-based combat. No random battles, so each battle is carefully crafted to challenge you, often in new ways. You can change the difficulty at any time, as well. The overall story is standard, but heartfelt. In many ways, it felt like playing a good D&D campaign. It's about the characters, and they are wonderfully written. There's also some great world building, hopefully get to see it pay off in future games! Can't forget to mention that the art is beautiful. It is billed as a visual novel type game, but it's a linear story, with the split between writing and battles/preparation (felt like) 30:70. The pacing felt perfect to me. Previous review: Clearly a lot of effort put in, very neat so far. Wanted to get in a review during the summer sale, but I'll update once I'm finished Small update: Love how tactical the battles feel so far. The removal of random battles means each battle feels very finely tuned. Lots of different enemies and interesting challenges even in the intro act. Do note that you can lower the difficulty if you're not (yet) great with tactical fights.

Supercool game. Great storytelling, cool characters, good tactical turnbased combat! Yay! Edit: Yes, it's actually stunning how good this is. I'm enjoying this game SO MUCH. It's obvious the writer has looked into himself and others, based on the writing. His understanding of human nature shines through and it makes an already awesome game even better. Besides that it's filled with great values, like protecting those who care about, questions about meaning etc. Superhighly recommended. The turnbased combat is really nice as well, as is the variety of equipment, the ways you can build your characters, the skills etc.

I can't say I ever played a Visual novel Rpg before, never knew this was a thing tbh, but I really am digging this one. It is a great looking game, combat seems to be pretty straight forward, which to me is a great plus, sometimes adding a ton of mechanics just to say you have them is a drag.... so yea I am really getting into the overall plot of the story. Looking forward to diving into it a good bit more and if anything changes I'll update my review but my first impressions of this are pretty positive.

I really liked this game. It was pretty linear but despite the combat looking like something you might find on RPGmaker.net, it manages to be unique every other fight or so (Usually the boss fights) and the story is sweet. A fun way to kill 10-12 hours if you like the gameplay.

game good.

A cute, well written game with a catgirl in it. Game is a lot of fun with plenty of modes no matter whether your casual or hardcore.

About midway through this and I'm having a wonderful time. I should start by saying visual novels usually aren't my jam but the developer has reeled me in with a great plot and some fantastic characters. The game is super polished, and the story flows really well. What really won me over though is the combat. This is hands down some of the best turn based combat I've encountered in yonks, balance is great, all skills are useful and it constantly keeps you on your toes. Its exceptionally well designed. Would highly recommend this if you're a fan of visual novels or traditional jrpg's. Just an all round fun time.

Full disclosure: i know the Dev IRL and have played his previous games. I did not receive the game for free., Trials of Kokoro is a turn based game that uses an action battle system. It is an rpg/visual novel on rails. ToK is the follow up to ToG and is a complete departure from the previous games playstyle so if you played the first its important to know that. I enjoyed both styles, but preferred ToK's style more in most ways. I played on the second hardest difficulty and so my review will be based on that experience. Im going to stat with the strongest part of the game in my opinion. Combat. Like it ToG every fight (mostly) that you are in matters. There is no grinding, no mindless button mashing. Combat is approached in a thoughtful manner, and each fight sans a few specific fights in a later chapter, are fun and challenging. I enjoyed learning the fights, figuring out how certain skill interacted with certain mobs, and experimenting during combat to see what i could get away with. The fights are tight, but forgiving enough to allow for adjustments on the fly. There are three battle types: Stand alone fights, Chain and Boss. Stand alone fights are what you'd expect, no need for real detail about them. The chain fight system was really cool, it basically was fighting waves of enemies that that got stronger, but felt that the player was heavily in the driver seat on those by the last round of the fight, since buffs persist, and would have liked a little more balance/challenge along those lines. Boss battles were fun and generally had unique mechanics to them as you would expect. Most were tuned tight, but again with enough wiggle room, especially moving into late game, to not get overly punished along the way ( i did die on a few of them though so that was cool too). I will say that i felt that there was a bit too much hand holding with explaining mechs in each fight, and would have preferred it to be a bit more vague in the explanations. Overall, battle was fun and engaging with room for exploration and the healing/rest system was a cool add too. Music/Art/Presentation: I thought this was great. Dev took great care in choosing and plotting out all these things. Overall i dont think I'd change anything here. Like a really great comic book/manga with a back ground score. Story/Pacing: This was my one gripe about the game, but let me explain. It was mainly the pacing that caused me issues, due to it being jarring/sudden at times. And sometimes story was delivered and packed into spots that seemed odd. I feel like adding an extra act in the middle just to break up some of what was going on would have helped here maybe? Or it could just me being picky. i dont know. Thats not to say i didnt appreciate the story though, because despite having some tropes, Dev did subvert my expectations with multiple characters. Which really was the strength of the story. There were three characters whose story lines were very cool conceptually and made me smile. Looking forward to the third game when Dev gets around to it. I dont really like point scores so my take way is this: Time well spent, never felt like a chore, had me wanting to play again when I couldn't, and would play again happily.