Who Murdered My Empress?

I like how the game has a unique spin on the villainess trope with a different cultural background setting.

우선 너무 지루하고, 게임이 프레임이 떨어지는건지 느려지거나 버벅이는 현상이 있음. 그래서 환불요청함. 그리고 게임 특성인지 모르겠는데 선택지가 거의 전무함. 내가 캐릭터 이름, 특성, 설정할수있는게 하나도 없고, 이야기 전개가 너무 따분함

i haven't even finished one playthrough in over ten hours, but i am so in love with this game :D the main character is the best written MC i have ever read

I finished the main story and his POV 😭! I don’t even know how to put this into words… I’ve played so many otome games, and no matter how good they are, there’s always something that feels… missing. Something that doesn’t fully come together in the end. But this game? Everything just blends so perfectly. The romance, the mystery, the overarching plot… it doesn’t just tell a story—it completes itself. Every part fills what the other could’ve lacked, and it makes the whole experience feel so… whole And the love development… The way it starts from strangers, to deep conversations, to slowly understanding each other, to love… then distance, pain, and finding each other again... I’ve never experienced something like this in an otome before🥺 This story really is a ride… just like they said 😭 And at times… it 🔪 in the best way possible. It feels so carefully written, so intentional, so complete. I’m honestly still in awe🥹 This game is truly a gem✨

I bought it thinking it was a regular otome game :D But really there is only one romance path but it really was so great. This is proof that quality over quantity that you don't need several romance opinions as long as you have one great route that makes up for it. This VN left me experiencing every emotion you can have at some point. It's so well written and a rollecoaster of emotion. I was really never bored. Also for the ones loving all the food you get learn from Piofore here we are introduced to a lot of Vietnamese dishes so that's cool. PS: For the ones wondering who the male lead is it's [spoiler] Van Huyen (aka the guy with the long purple hair) [/spoiler]

An enjoyable political thriller, a loving tribute to Vietnamese culture, and a romance whose outcome I didn't see coming. Was definitely worth unlocking the three special scenes too. Strongly recommend for anyone looking for a coolly logical protagonist that discovers love, a harem of himbos and schemers, or detailed and stunning artwork and sound design

This is my first ever visual novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I was intrigued by the theme of Vietnamese history and time travel and decided to give it a shot. And boy was I in for a ride! The novel is well-written with great pacing, thoughtfully-developed characters, and lots of plot twists and dramas to keep you hooked. The visuals and artworks are tasteful and classy, and I appreciate the attention to detail the team put into creating the historical architecture and costumes. The good visual effects truly enhance the experience, with intricate backgrounds and vibrant colors that bring the story to life. The character designs are expressive and beautifully rendered, adding depth and personality to each character. Additionally, the sound effects and music are impressive. The background music complements the historical setting perfectly, immersing you in the time period. The sound effects are well-timed and enhance the dramatic moments, making the experience even more engaging. Overall, this visual novel is a thoughtful blend of storytelling, art, and sound, making it a truly captivating experience.

The best story driven game I have played in a long time. Stunning art, beautifully written. If you are thinking of getting it, just go for it! An amazing experience 10/10.

Warning: My English grammar = 0. I will be honest here. Normally I won't give thumbs up to a game I wouldn't say I like it only male lead. But since this is the first game ever about feudal Vietnam setting that I've waited for too long, I don't want to discourage the dev. The game price was quite expensive for a single-route game - even my foreign friends thought so. It's because most of the game assets (sprite, bg, music) are original and the developer spent their own money to create this game instead of doing crowdfunding. This makes the game less of a competition to plenty of games out there in the same price segment that have multi-route, more dashing visuals, with partial or even full voice acting. The game visual is not enough to charm players to dive into it regardless of the high price or the fact that there's only 1 route. No special elements that will attract players (highly customization, so the player could self-insert OR freely imagine their OC, customize the love interest and/or the love interest will change depending on the player's choice, collect evidence and make deduction kind of gameplay). And no demo, either. There are so many elements that make people hesitant to give it a chance. I also wonder if the character's name was written in Vietnamese order or English? Vietnamese name formula is [last name] + [middle name] + [first name]. For example: Nguyễn Thị Mai - Nguyen is the last name, Thi is the middle name, Mai is the first name. There are also double-letter last name cases like Vũ-Phạm, Đặng-Trần, Trần-Lê, etc, and double-letter first names. Example: [Nguyễn Lê] [Tường Vy]. In this case, if we just want to call them by 1 letter, it would be [b]the first letter for the last name[/b] (Nguyen) and the [b]last letter for the first name[/b] (Vy) I think most of the character's name in the game is a double-letter first name. I brought this up because Thanh Tung called the Empress as Le Le, which made me wonder if I had been calling her name wrong (I thought her first name was Le Pham - Pham for short, so it should be Pham Pham?). I also wonder if the dev liked Chinese novels/movies and decided to use their way of using nicknames in the game because Vietnamese didn't double the last letter of our first name to use it as a nickname at all. I feel reallyyyyyyyy weird to read it in a game setting in Viet Nam. Not just the nickname. Even their names sound like Chinese people who immigrated to Vietnam (dân tộc Hoa). [What I like about the game] The music is very good, from the trailer to the in-game BGM. How the dev innovated legends and myths to create a cohesive story that comes together. How the dev smoothly input culture elements. The wiki. Although, it is such a pity it is not in-game. Personally, I like that wiki more than the game itself. The poem, though I can't feel much of its beauty as English is not my mother language, this is the first time I played an indie game with an original poem. [And what I don't like/neutral about it...] The items are even prettier than the characters. The credit in the trailer lacks aesthetics, and the input/output timing isn't good. Some items feel a little too big... The food should have just a portrait like the items instead of putting it on a card. Why do we have a food card gallery but not a CG gallery?????? Why would they wearing the name tag like... in a maid/butler cafe??? I'm the kind of person who will immediately turn off to any character that is "true route", or "male lead". I'm playing a game so that I can choose the love interest I want. So if there is only the dev OCTP, I prefer reading comics instead. I don't like how the dev put the other guys' moment after the main CP confirmed their love. It gives me a bad taste, especially how Mai reacts to that. I won't be against it if this is a reverse harem / poly kind of game, BUT IT'S NOT. It is such a pity that the outfit design for Mi Tien feels more like Thai/Cambodian costumes than Vietnamese. This is not a criticism btw. I know this game is set in a fictional world, so the dev could freely create however she sees fit. It just... I'm a fan of Hung Vuong - An Duong Vuong era costume, because I like the tribal style AND because the outfits of this period hadn't been influenced by China yet. Personally, I would prefer if the costume was closer to the original look, like how Mị Châu trân bảo thi khúc (a Vietnamese comic by Rensuri, drawn by Nguy Thuy Ngan) portrayed it. Why the hell would a king from a big country PERSONALLY travel to a small country that they look down on??? Either the king from the smaller country has to come to the bigger one, or the bigger one sends their ambassador only. As for the plot, it's not much of a mystery to me since it already spoiled almost everything in the trailer. [spoiler]And even if not for the trailer, I already know who murdered the empress since there is only 1 male lead, the trailer just added more clues for what this story is about. It didn't take me long to figure out Vu Huyen's true identity, either. I knew since the moment they said Le Pham beheaded the whole Shangpai royal family. His body is too muscular like he had martial training. He said he got the four arts skills because he had to learn to service his customers, but it does not explain how he has sword skills at all.[/spoiler] I'm also not a Red String of Fate kind of plot fan. To me, current life and past life are separate. Because we could be reincarnation as anything. What if you married the person who was your mother/father in your previous life? Mai personality feels more like an emo teenage girl in her rebellious period than an adult. It feels ridiculous to see she got attacked less than 5 min after she got praised for her "critical thinking" and "problem-solving" because she didn't listen to her superior. Because if our actual polices were this dumb, they'd have been severely disciplined by their superior. I wish the dev didn't describe her as such and just let the player judge her by themself. Not to mention, she didn't show such quality through the story either. And I feel like the dev created her to be a female Conan - an unrealistic character with too many skills. She can read ancient languages, even though she is a police, not a historian? She didn't come from a rich family, so it was just illogical to acquire a skill which isn't work-related and costs a lot of money. Especially something as obscure as studying the old language. The same to horse riding. Still, I have pity for this girl after knowing everything. Since you already know about these red strings of fate, Mai, I recommend you to get cut of it fast. (Did you know that severing the previous life's predestined relationship ritual is nothing new to us Asians? I was even surprised at how no one told Mai, [spoiler]or her doppelgänger[/spoiler], that she had a predestined relationship that long.) And no. I completely understand why Vu Huyen did what he did. But dude, [spoiler]after 219 lifetimes you had to kill her, and you always swore it would be different in the next life (it's not). You think if you are not from a royal family things will different, and things still didn't change, it's time to let it ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ go like how Mỵ Tiên gave up her curse? When you spend that much time with one person and everything is still the same, it means it's not the right person for you, and you need to let each other go for god’s sake![/spoiler]

I love this game!! I saw this developer is working on a new game, excited to see more from them because this game was the perfect mix of romance and mystery, I really liked the writing. (I hope Thang Tung extra content gets added, I am looking forward to coming back and replying this again) <3 <3 <3