When The Night Comes

I would leave a mixed review if I could. I don't want to refund the game as I did play through it in full (Omen's route) and I want to support small studios making inclusive games. Now, my expectations are high for fantasy visual novels due to having played some real gems. I did skim the reviews before playing and my overall experience ended up being what I predicted. The best way I can describe playing this game is that it's like riding on a moving walkway in an airport. Did I have a bad time? No. There was some nice scenery. Did I have an exciting time? No. It was a flat ride and I could see my destination ahead. Other negative reviews hit the mark in that the main storyline is very linear, with no real twists, and the 'bad guy' is incredibly easy to guess (and in my opinion, not very interesting). The story beats between the introduction of 'the problem' and the resolution feel pretty lackluster. All in all, the storyline isn't BAD, it just isn't very unique or gripping. My main point of contention is that player agency in the game feels lacking. I get the impression there aren't really branching paths in the plot and that the only major deviation is something that occurs at the VERY end. This choice appears contrived solely for the purpose of having more than one ending, and I was asked to confirm my choice no less than SEVEN times before things happened. There is also a serious case of blank slate MC where you feel 'born yesterday.' If you like to lean hard into roleplay and already have your OC in mind, it could work for you. But I personally felt as though I was the personification of a slice of plain bread. There were no options where I could add some semblance of personality, every dialogue option felt like a variation of the same milquetoast sentiment. This also extended to the romances, where I agree with other reviewers that it felt like there was no believable reason WHY anyone would fall in love with our MC. We just flirt with someone 5 times or so, and suddenly we are the love of each other's life. The story being set in a 3 week period (one week even timeskipped!) also contributes to romance feeling rushed. That said, the writers did a good job detailing romantic exchanges- Omen was very sweet and being with him was cozy. The sex scene was very short and vague, but not a big deal- only so much can be done with a non-specified MC. For the 6 love interests, my main gripe is that they all feel too surface level and easy to get along with. I am not a fan of the 'conga line' style of writing where we meet all relevant characters in a row at the very beginning of the game. At least lead us from one location to another with a bit more flavor or minor quests. Also, there weren't really any 'rough starts' with the characters- I chose some slightly ruder options, saved and went back, and the conversations turn out the same. It seems like there isn't really a dislike/like mechanic. The game is written with every character showing up at every plot milestone, so it isn't possible for someone to 'bow out' of the spotlight, so no one can refuse to get along with you. For one example, I did not flirt with Alkar the entire game, but was offered the option to get with him AND Omen at a certain point- it felt awkward having him spectate a romantic moment with us because the writers only made one scene for mono/poly routes. It also feels like the 6 are sort of 'engineered' to like you and due to that, it's obvious they are trustworthy. When you start the game, everyone is telling you 'trust no one' and the vibes just don't really pan out like that. One character immediately takes you in, one says 'whatever you need, I'll help with,' one is kind of rude to you but then IMMEDIATELY apologizes and now you're buddies...etc. Even the character who is supposed to be the 'broodiest' one and has a line like "Stay away from me, people near me get hurt" approaches you every time without prompting. You aren't putting in effort to win anyone's regard or respect- the vending machine is broken and snacks are just spilling out. Everyone feels in your orbit 24/7 and no one really has a separate storyline or goals of their own- they are just your support squad. I really love when games let you permanently mess things up with a character, or let a character be super toxic or betray you if you didn't get along well enough. I never doubted the moral character of any of the LI's for a moment, which feels like a very safe choice. I have a minor criticism with the art- the CGs feel very similar and I was left a little bereft. I was warned about 'gore' if I chose to fight, and nothing was shown other than a smear of blood on a character's sprite- no CG. In fact, we NEVER see the monsters we fight in the entire game. CGs of most of the characters feel like the same shot and same composition- a close up of them with a gradient effect background so detail can be avoided. Only one scene of the villain's fight and it isn't very interesting. I would have liked to see more scenery changes, far out shots, and monsters. I know budget can be a big limiter but I think they can exercise more creative freedom. All of these issues mean that the game doesn't feel very replay-worthy. I feel like I went about as deep as the game goes. Near the end of the story, I was speed reading (sorry to the amazing VA performances!) and just wanting to get the game over with. I'm normally the type who wants to see every LI's route, read every flavor text from dialogue options, etc. I just don't want to with this game. Ok, so I had a lot of criticism, but I only criticize when I see a lot of potential and want the creators to improve. It comes from a place of care. So, what DID I like? The VA work was wonderful, each suited the character well and there were no weak roles. Piper's laugh was especially cute. The background art was lovely and had great ambience. As I mentioned, little intimate exchanges with the LI (Omen, at least) felt very touching and seem to be the writers' strong point. Character dialogue was solid, I never felt like someone was being too trope-y or 'cringe.' Interactions between close characters or characters with shared history were believable. Overall, I probably spent 12-15 hours playing. I got the game on sale for about $9. It failed to impress me and I would not go out of my way to recommend it to others. But if you're here debating whether or not to buy it, I think you'll have a decent enough time. Get it on sale and go in with tempered expectations.

It's been a while since I've last felt this content and overjoyed with a game!! I've been holding off on buying this game, god knows why. It's a perfect blend of The Arcana x Dragon Age series, I LOVED IT. Crime & mystery, romance, magic and a vampire in a graveyard. The voice acting.. good god, I was NOT expecting Fenris' VA to pop out on me in a random steam game. And August.. sigh. I'd jump off a bridge for him. Tbh, I guessed the villain mostly at the start, but still had a lot of questions about it which was fantastic and kept me super into the story till the end. Fantastic writing. 10/10, come get ur vampire fenris

This game is soooooooooooooooooo good, it needs to come back for a very, very, very long sequal. where they're all married and have kids(??) or another mystery to solve!

Если бы разочарование (среди визуальных новелл) имело форму, то оно бы приобрело форму "When The Night Comes".😐 Я "пробежался" по одной ветке, связанной с вампиром Финниганом, но даже в ней(если отбросить основной сюжет) кринжа навалено, как коровой дерьма на лугу: в самом начале новеллы, ваш будущий любовный интерес пытается вас убить и казалось бы, ну и что тут такого, мискузи, как говорится, всякое бывает, - а то, что это изначально показывает, что персонаж нам не доверяет (поскольку в новелле происходят ОЧЕНЬ ДЕТЕКТИВНЫЕ события, разгадку которым вы найдете тут же😁) и его доверие нужно заслужить, как и ему ваше. И это логично, разве нет? - Но по мнению сценариста/сценаристки - нет. Опустим подробности и о том, что Фин, на момент встречи с нами, кем бы мы там ни были, УЖЕ состоит в отношениях с другим предполагаемым любовным интересом ГГ (колдуном Эзрой) и по "сюжету"(которого, СПОЙЛЕР! тут нет🥳) вроде даже и не против вступить в веселый тройничек, причем, с полный покер фейсом на лице, что его хоть как-то это смущает, да это вообще никого не смущает в принципе, ни главного героя/героиню, ни Эзру у которого еще до нашего прихода уже имеются отношения с Фином. И отсюда вытекает следующая проблема: практически все любовные интересы для ГГ, УЖЕ имеют свои собственные любовные линии(Кроме Августа и Пайпер), из-за чего ГГ и собственно мы, как игроки оказываемся в позиции той самой Раисы Захаровны из кинофильма "Любовь и Голуби"(Олды тут? Хотя я надеюсь, вы такое говно не проходите), а если говорить проще, то "соперницы - разлучницы", хотя эпитет мерзотненький... Как бы то ни было, продолжим о любви. В романтической новелле с памяткой *sexually suggestive content - никакого невероятно сексуального контента нет(он есть, но очень монашеский и я серьезно, причащение в католической церкви и то выглядит более сексуально) , а это, с учетом плохо прописанного сюжета, могло хоть как-то компенсировать данное упущение.🤦‍♂️ Так же, в игре нет ни одного хорошо прописанного персонажа с которым бы захотелось заводить эти самые ваши - половые отношения. 😪 Персонажи унылы, картонны и весьма агрессивны по отношению к ГГ на протяжение всей новеллы. Сюжет📜 Повторюсь - сюжета тут нет, можете расходиться дамы и господа, тут совершенно не на что смотреть. Все настолько предсказуемо, лениво и...ущербно, что вам будет не интересно буквально с первых же минут чтения этой бесполезной тратой пикселей и средств. Из хорошего, на мой взгляд, тут стоит отметить неплохую работу художницы, которая, насколько я понял, ранее рисовала для The Arcana и кое-каких новелл для Fictif.

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much. The only love interest I was really interested in at first was Alkar, but when I played his route I found myself really liking the others, too. The main story, if you ignore the romance, is quite interesting and though it's only really interesting once or twice, it can be played without romancing anyone and still be interesting. Now, despite not being convinced about the love interests at first, I ended up romancing everyone but Omen (sorry, he's really not my type, though he's definitely cute as a friend). Every love interest had their own interesting personality, and nothing felt forced for inclusivity or anything. I loved Piper and I would have loved to have a second female option too, but it was great either way! The only thing I think is missing is an 'auto' button- I would've liked to be able to toggle that and just sit back to crochet while the story played. All in all a very pleasant surprise! I ended up playing Alkar's route a second time at the end just because I love my good boy so much :)

4/5，类哨向的设定与各种超自然元素，主线没太多跌宕起伏稍显普通，并且恋爱线与主线不挂钩因此同样的剧情得反复过好几遍。然而本作文笔很优美非常值得品味，flirt自然细腻不油腻，而且作者真的很会写关系暧昧不清的氛围感，拉长某个瞬间，粘稠的、潮湿的、危险但充满诱惑力的一帧。确定关系之后的亲密感让人暖暖的，不是那种泛滥的无趣的小甜饼，做爱也写得含蓄隐晦但火热，以及还有温馨好吃的小番外。配音量在vn里算非常非常多的了，全都很好听，有da2芬里斯的配音完全出乎我意料。 但我个人觉得恋爱线要是想写polymorous的话，应该以另两个角色都更喜欢主角为大前提（毕竟玩家可是赛博皇帝啊！），而不是写得像主角介入了现有关系（尤其是finn+ezra）或者当上了闪闪发光的电灯泡，我心里多少有点膈应。这些RO性格都写得特别好，各有魅力，我只打了alkar、finn和august的线，都还蛮好味。 [u][b]下面是一些剧透。[/b][/u] alkar是热腾腾的有大耳朵大尾巴大块头的狼，狗味十足，本爱狗人士强推强推强推！！！立绘很好看，人类耳朵部分和狼耳朵部分都戴耳钉，完全帅气潮男。他一开始说主角身体太冷了，后面也经常强调他的体温很高很暖和，和主角靠在一起[spoiler]会用尾巴环住主角的腰[/spoiler]。“He smells of snow and a warm hearth”，还会在温暖舒适的cave里天天给主角煮咖啡做饭。看似很有野性很强势很bad wolf，实则被吃得死死的，很顺从很听话（在床上也是）。[spoiler]虽然他自己东西乱扔但把主角衣服都叠得很好，后面被主角要求好好放东西了甚至直接用了domesticate这个词[/spoiler]，训狗永远是我的xp。如果选了某些选项他会[spoiler]伤心地sob着跑开[/spoiler]，这太萌了。 finn这个角色很明显就是贴着芬里斯写的啊啊啊很多元素都和芬里斯完全一致，再加上gideon emery的声音，我感觉我又打了几个小时da2。芬里斯是比较sub的角色，但finn特别dom，成熟稳重且喜欢tease，经常[spoiler]一边装无辜一边听主角脸红心跳脉搏加快[/spoiler]。主角对他完全是obessessed的程度，所以相处方式就是[spoiler]overheated的主角与体温冰冷能让主角cool down的finn（这跟alkar相当不同）[/spoiler]。吸血鬼当然是要有美味的吸血play了。[b]然而这条单人线总让我陷入是不是破坏了finn和ezra的爱情的迷思。[/b]“He smells strangely like a dying summer, though I suspect his memories of sunshine are long dead.”“He tastes like peppermint, like coming up for fresh air.”这两个表述真的太绝了。打这条线的时候配音让我一直想到芬里斯，完全在吃代餐，爱上芬里斯就是如此轻易而长久。 august看起来很花花公子类型（这可是深v！），结果是意外纯情的工作狂。办公室恋情，主角和他们的设定就是最典型的哨向风味，明明是严肃且骄傲的上司，但主角勾勾手指就过来了。[spoiler]这条线所有人都会调侃主角和august的恋爱关系，很好玩。[/spoiler]august实在是很娇俏猫猫的一个人，原文用了bossy这个词，配音听起来也是黏黏糊糊的，好喜欢。但其他线的结尾[spoiler]都是主角主揽大权，这条线是把权力交给august了，我还是稍有不满的。[/spoiler]

I'm here for August.

This is one of those games that I would rate "Meh, It depends" because there's so many things wrong with it, but there's just enough good about it to where I still enjoyed the game to spend 24 hours playing it (and this is just one playthrough too, which i did improperly & plan on trying to go back and redo some choices to hopefully get a more pleasant ending. So at the very least, you get plenty of things to read for your buck!) First of all, the biggest issue I had that kept bringing me out of the experience was just how often something would be hinted at in the story, in a way that implied it would be relevant later on, or come back as a "point of interest" somehow for the investigation*, and then Never get brought up again. There's multiple instances I had where the MC would think something or point a detail out as I guess a mental note to come back and look more into it in the future? But then these would straight up just never get mentioned again. Ever. Not even by NPCs. Even when you return to these locations, it's as though the idea never even happened. The most notable moments I can remember of this happening off the top of my head are (Spoilers, kinda) [spoiler] First, Aurora's brother. The MC points out how it might be a good idea to talk to her brother when she isn't there, but this is never possible, as far as I could find out. The game teases the idea like it would help further the investigation along, like he has some details you can question him on later, but then never allows you to do anything about it. The game just drops this immediately after. It's so bad I can't even remember what the guy's name is. The second instance I can remember is the carved/markings of eyes on the trees in the woods. The MC points them out and even says they'll come back later to investigate further, but again, this is completely forgotten. [/spoiler] These were the only two times i can remember atm, but still. Unless these do get brought up and i just somehow managed to completely miss figuring them out, I have no idea. (*Which, by the way, you hardly even do. You arrive in Lunaris to investigate a series of murders, but the narrative seems entirely hellbent on making sure you can't do any of what your job wants you to do. This is Not a "murder mystery" or "detective" type game (and while I didn't come into this thinking or hoping it would be, i was still disappointed and more than a little confused as to why it would try and pretend to be this way and then completely avoid any sort of investigative gameplay.)) Ok side tangent over. On top of lead amnesia; there's so many points where the story will just. suddenly introduce a plot point as though you already understood what was going on. I think this is because the game either doesn't take into consideration that you might not have seen certain scenes/encountered people/asked questions that would clue you in on specific information, so it makes it Very confusing when the MC suddenly knows about things you never learned, or is aware of people's existences as though you'd met them or heard about them previously. Again, spoilers for moments of this happening on my playthrough; [spoiler] The MC somehow knowing who Omen's sister is, or that he even Had a sister before meeting her in Ezra's shop. This was a complete surprise to me, as I'd never even spoken to Omen more than one time prior to this scene, so I had no idea what was going on, and felt completely alienated to the MC's worries because most of them were still strangers to me! Another time this happened was with Omen's apparent allergy to sweets(?) <- i'm still not entirely sure what that was about, but the MC brought it up twice (maybe more) in Alkar+Omen's romance route, even though I never learned about this. [/spoiler] Again, there's definitely more but that's all i have rn Something less significant (and definitely more of just a personal nitpick than anything) but I found it a bit immersion-breaking when the "Codex Update" notification popped up every time new information was added to it. It's small, but always grabbed my attention when it showed up. I wish there was a way to perhaps change the notification somehow, maybe make it smaller or not show up at all? I'm not sure, but there must be a way to make it less intrusive! Another thing with the UI (-ish) is text size. Unless there's a setting i'm missing of course. But an accessibility option to enlarge the text in the Codex would be such a relief. I shouldn't have to screenshot and then zoom in just to read the words. As far as what i enjoyed about it; I think I found more enjoyment out of the concept of the game than the actual execution. I think the writing itself (specifically as far as character writing & character's interactions go) is the best selling point. It got quite a few laughs out of me from some of the jokes (even if a lot of the things the MC said weren't anything I would ever say, some of it was still pretty funny). I particularly thought Ezra was the most funny and got the most smiles out of me. Each of the character's personalities are all fairly unique to each other and I didn't find myself getting any of them mixed up (unfortunately happens more times than you might think in visual novels...) Their tropes are pretty clearcut and personalities are easy to read.... Which could be seen as a bad thing, as they are also very predictable and never once surprised me or made me think "wow what an interesting thing to say". I rolled my eyes the most at Finn and Alkar, and skipped Omen's dialogue the most. Which might sound strange considering the only romance route i did WAS Alkar+Omen, but it's hard to explain. They, in a weird way, were only truly interesting to me when they were Together. In the same room. Both Alkar and Omen are extremely boring outside of this, but when together they bounce off of the other more organically. I didn't come into the game knowing who I would romance, but I absolutely kept going "Not you" over and over again every time I met someone. (Especially with Finn.... I can respect people who are into it, but I did not like him at aaaall.... The only good thing about him is his voice actor. and his prosthetic is cool too actually.) So eventually when I met Alkar, rather than going "OH this is the one!" I instead sighed and felt a distinct "Well. I have to choose /someone/...", and our dear lycan boy was the only one that stood out to me the most as far as personality/tropes go (What can I say, I like a good edgy outcast who's secretly soft.) so I chose him. Omen is so forgettable on his own, I'm not even going to touch on him. (P.S. I did get the Bad End ([spoiler] I took Harry's potion because it was the only option that actually seemed interesting [/spoiler] so it could just be that I haven't spent enough time with Alkar & Omen enough to get more attached to them, but... Oh well. I'll update later when I finish their normal route.) Basically, the story is okay, the characters are also meh (the most compelling characters to me were Piper and August, and i didn't even romance either of them!) so, for its price, i think it's fine. There's plenty of reading to do, but at that point I would honestly just recommend you watch a playthrough of whoever's route you prefer, or get the game on sale. It feels wrong to give this a negative review, but I genuinely believe the game is so unpolished and rushed and lackluster that I don't think it's worth it, even with the word-count and amount of characters & story endings.... I will likely only play it one more time to get a better ending, as I don't personally feel interested or curious enough to try and see the other character routes. Get it on sale if it still sounds fun for you, and I really hope you find more enjoyment out of it than I did!!

August的恋爱线也太好品。。。。我真的不行了，从高中刷到b站的August全流程就深陷其中啊啊啊啊想着上大学一定要玩。。。但是现在才下载游玩。（我错了，但是August设定也太完美了。。。不论是像猫猫一样傲娇还是说情话都让人血脉偾张。。就是现在国内也太冷了完全找不到粮吃太难受了。戒断反应好严重。。。