Truth Universally Acknowledged

My favorite part of this game is the quirky and whimsical setting. This is one of the most imaginative stories I've ever read, with each line rewarding you with a new delightful fact about this universe. The worldbuilding is quietly delivered too- I love how no one makes a big deal about a fruit tart that teaches math, books that come to life, and travelling to school by umbrella. The setting and writing feels magical, completely unburdened by genre expectations, and full of love. I was also really charmed by the characters and their dynamics, especially Talay's love triangle between Kit and August. Talay is super lovable and sweet and surprisingly messy, and Kit (my favorite love interest so far) has a super interesting combination of being so competent in everything but still so unconfident about having his feelings returned. The art is obviously also really beautiful. I'm never tired of looking at this game's backgrounds, there's so much visual splendor to take in and details to notice. The main things I wish were better in this game were: - More polish in navigating the different story paths. It would be nice if you could see which scenes you already saw, and if you could skip to the decision point in each scene if you're replaying it. However this issue is lessened by the fact you can skip to any point in the story flowchart at any time, which is really nice if you want to see multiple endings. - More clear indications when you've reached a dead end. I was surprised when I was dropped back in the story flowchart after reaching my first dead end and thought it was a bug. My guess is some of the endings end more abruptly than others because of game scope considerations, but even just having just a "the end, return to story flowchart" screen would help ease this friction.

I can't understand how anyone could look at these ChaseFOX drawings and not be amazed by the colours, lights and charm. It's not only the art, but the magical world behind it that's really lovely and strangely free of evil. This is the third game I've played by this dev, and unlike the others, it's less linear, with lots of branches. You make decisions by picking one expression here and there. Truth Universally Acknowledged is longer than the others, which usually last 30 to 40 minutes. It took me about 45 minutes to complete one branch, which is probably a quarter or a third of the whole game, but there are no animations. You should definitely check out this one and the others, because they're really something. [quote] [i] Check out [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44959158-Critiques-Sans-Frontiers/] our curator page [/url] to discover more interesting little games like this one. [/i] [/quote]

Ad the gameplay is really simple, I actually the system feature they have! Using the emoji/expression to trigger the certain scenes is really interesting. actually is does feel harder to choose because you don't know what expression will leads to. that's what I really like it! I ireally love the artstyle, At first I thought it kinda reminds me of Van Gough but the somehow it reminds me of rococo art period. The character interaction is really fun watched as well and I really the love the narrator too! they have personality! My favorite route is Kit! I had very roller-coaster reaction on his route the most. I'm looking forward for the merfolk game! cons: - nothing much except I got same bug few times where I can't click anything (especially on the start menu) but it went okay when I restart the game.

Came from the youtube announcement of mermaid game and had to check the previous one first! At the start it was kinda hard to get used to the chapter jumping and the whole emotion-based branch map, but I got the feeling for it in like 10 minutes. After that was jumping around checking on all of the side-ends I've missed. Kinda miss the "skip" button and dialogue log, but it's understandable for such scale. I didn't actually expect that I would start giggling~ Was smiling through the chapters even though I was genuinely confused before the Episodes 4-X, the characters really picked it up from there. Due to my personal preference, Kit was the cutest, but I got a good laugh out of Courtney too XD I actually got warmed-up to all of the love-interests and side-characters both! Narrator is a star! ^^ A separate thank you for the unique artstyle, gender-neutral MC and light background music! Thank you, this is a cute project, will follow and wait to see, how your personal style develops further! <3

Very silly. The story is all over the place, but has its own charm to it. The artwork is what really sells the game.

ChaseFox's art is so beautiful and unique, I can tell so much love went into it. I've been following their visual novel games since CARROT. The interactive branching timeline in this game is fun, and the fantasy magic school world the characters live in is very colorful. I do wish there was a fast-forward dialogue option, or else the ability to press Space/Z/Enter to move forward instead of left-clicking that next button. I like the ability to customize the MC's clothing. --------------------------------------------------------- The MC is a huge angsty mess and makes me wanna tear my hair out. 3 of the 4 love interests are similarly obtuse, avoidant, or socially awkward AF. It's very real but it's like watching 5 grasshoppers desperately jumping at each other but narrowly missing each time.

"There is slow burn and there is your novel, where is the fire?" - Very Pretty Boy

I would recommend Truth Universally Acknowledged for people who want to spend a few hours in a pleasant atmosphere. It's a sweet and bright game, with lovely art (every background image would make for great desktop background!), and it's easy to play through with its fully open scene diagram. I did find the narrative somewhat lacking. It's a bit too fluffy for my tastes, the scenes ended up blurring together, and the emotion choice system didn't add a lot for me. I enjoyed the narrator, and while I didn't dislike the other characters, I didn't love any of them either. I haven't played other games in the series, so it's possible I could be getting more from the story, but I wouldn't recommend it for someone coming to it fresh who wants to focus on the narrative.