Wicked Willow

A queer af, witchy game about a young woman named Willow who has just discovered her powers. [u]Praises[/u][list][*] 4 female romance options, 1 male romance option. [*] Trans representation. [*] Excellent artwork/animations. [*] Progress Chart. You really don't need a guide, because the game autosaves checkpoints for you, then you can go back to a branching path through the Progress Chart. [*] Encourages having empathy for others. [*] Criticizes capitalism repeatedly. [*] Criticizes the US's f*cked up healthcare system. [*] Over-the-top, amusing outcomes.[/list] [u]Complaints[/u][list][*] Protagonist is a bit annoying. I get that she's emotionally scarred from things in her past, but that doesn't give her the right to be a b*tch to everyone. [*] Sometimes things escalate way too quickly. Not enough build up to some conclusions in the story. [*] I know that Shadow isn't really a cat (he's a guy trapped in a cat's form), but like, this is super duper important: [b]You can't make a cat be vegan.[/b] You will without a doubt -- with 100% certainty -- [i]kill[/i] said cat. They're carnivores and one's vegan beliefs don't change that. I get that they were trying to be funny with Shadow, but they also don't make it clear that you [b]cannot[/b] make a real cat vegan. Some fool could play this game and come to the conclusion that it must not be a big deal. [*] Perpetuates the stereotype that a lot of atheists don't believe in a deity because something bad happened to them. No, sweetie, most atheists are atheists because of lack of evidence for a deity/deities/higher power/wtfe. [*] Some typos.[/list] The game was fun and so very queer. Despite its flaws, I enjoyed it and liked how many branching paths there were. I recommend it to all the queer folk and allies.

I've played the first 10 minutes - The VN doesn't hook me. Nothing's there to keep me entertained or interested in the story or its characters. The protagonist has to say "♥♥♥♥" every 2 minutes or she's not cool- Any 'twists' can be predicted as soon as they're introduced, and the characters don't seem interesting at all. Maybe the writing gets better further into the story, but at this point, I cannot do anything but wince at the dialogue. I'm sure that some people put a lot of time and effort into making this visual novel (like the art), but I can't recommend it, especially at this price point. The art and voice acting is quality, but the writing is just bad.

The writing and dialogue feels extremely unnatural and forced, which makes it hard to become invested in what's going on. DNF and unfortunately cannot recommend.

The main character is too ♥♥♥♥♥♥. She is constantly yelling at everyone. It's really annoying, I couldn't like her, and I couldn't get into the story. It was an option to mute voice acting. If I could mute just her I would have been able to enjoy the game, but I didn't want to miss out on all the voice acting. But I don't want to play as a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ girl who constantly yells at everyone and says "whatever" all the time.

I cannot contain how amazing this game is. I had the best time playing it and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I found myself impatiently waiting until the next stream so that I could play more. I have even gotten all but one ending. Firstly, as a streamer doing a visual novel I was pleasantly surprised to find the whole game to be voiced! Of course the acting is spot and the voices add so much to the characters. Not to mention the artwork is stunning. The characters, the details in the scenes and choices cards are all incredibly done. So lets talk about the story. I have to admit that every time I felt I knew where the story was going it took a completely different turn and surprised me. That alone gives it an A+ in my book. It also touches on some serious topics, things that we need to address and do something about. I would love to touch on the range of emotions and topics but I don’t want to spoil an ounce of this incredible game. I experienced more emotions than I am used to while playing a video game, honestly. It challenged my own views & judgments. It pushed me to make difficult decisions and see the consequences out. Magnificat. I cannot recommend this game enough. I recommend it for everyone honestly. You like a great story? Play it. You have a friend who is LGBTQIA+? Play it. You want to play an amazing queer witch game? Play it. Want to support an indie developer who put together a great game? Play it. Whatever the reason, play this game and see all eight amazing endings. https://realwomenofgaming.com/2020/10/09/wicked-willow-review/

This is a beautiful, short visual novel with loads of replay value, an increadibly relatable cast of characters, and a decent message to boot. Fully voiced, with plenty of big and small CGs and no shortage of surprises. To really fully experience it, I'd recommend you use the beautifully-integrated checkpoint system (which even makes sense in-story!) Well worth the price of admission, and then some. The only real criticism I can levy at it is that the actual dramatic reversal happens a bit quickly a bit too cleanly - but this is not Tolstoy, after all.

TL;DR This is an amazingly high quality visual novel with full voice acting, a plethora of gorgeous character art, & a story that even after 3 runs still has you going back for more. 100% recommend to anyone who enjoys a good magical story whether you're into visual novels or not. My more meaty review; I'm a big fan of visual novels/dating sims & had played a decent variety before this one. I couldn't tell you WHY I originally bought it, but when over a year later I booted it up for Pride Month I was kicking myself for not playing it sooner. This is a saphic dating sim that is clearly made with ladies playing the game in mind. Much unlike some earlier titles within the genre that focus more on what men who think lesbians are hot would want. Without getting into too many spoilers, the best & sometimes worst thing about this game is that you never really know what choice is going to impact the story in a large way. I beat the game multiple times JUST trying to romance 1 specific character, failing time after time because the traditional formula for dating sims is NOT the rule here. Some choices you make are straight forward, and will impact the story in the way you might expect. Whereas others, seemingly simple or otherwise, can alter the entire course of your run. This can often be frustrating in any choice based game, & so you may want to do the time old tradition of saving at every choice you make. This is totally doable, but the game implements its own choices "tree" that allows you to navigate which choices brought you to certain places, making the desire to look up a guide for That One Ending almost unnecessary! Pacing. admittedly, can somewhat become an issue due to the way choices are handled. Each run I did had wildly different pacing, some of which was downright uncomfortable. Though this is mostly an issue caused by us, the player, as with real life, you can't always know what choices will lead to chaos. Just know that if the game starts off, and you're feeling like you're on a roller coaster? It'll calm down real soon... if you want it to. I will say that the cast of characters (very few of which I will mention due to major spoilers) is entirely made up of passionate characters. If there's one you're not a fan of, well, prepare to brace for impact. Most of the main cast is present in every single run, & avoiding a character you don't like might be harder than you think given the interesting way choices work throughout the game. Willow, the main character, is NOT your average visual novel protagonist. She is no self insert, and she has a strong personality, opinions, and will that can often surprise you or even go against YOU the player's wishes. You'll either love her or you'll hate her, but regardless you won't be able to deny that she's a well rounded, fleshed out character in every route. This game might let you live out a fantasy of your own, but ultimately it's Willow's life & Willow's story that you're grounded too. I can't possibly bring myself to spoil endings & romance options, but what I CAN say is that there is, undoubtedly, somebody for everybody. Finding them, and figuring out *how* to romance them is ultimately the hard part. On my first run, the character I hated THE MOST was the one I accidentally ended up romancing. TO be fair, all the signs were there that I was on track to romancing them, I simply didn't realize I had no way of backing out of it once Willow made her thoughts on the character clear. For all those reasons, I must say PAY ATTENTION! This isn't just a magical romance story, it's also a mystery. Most of the primary plot points are foreshadowed very, VERY early on. If figuring out how exactly to steer your version of Willow is important to you, for story, romance, or otherwise? Read very carefully. Or, rather, listen! As I stated at the start, this game is FULLY voice acted! This means you can put the game on "Auto" like a traditional visual novel, and simply let the game "play itself". The only things that aren't read out loud are any visual texts such as newspapers, however the characters will immediately discuss the primary contents of items such as that in case you can't read them or don't want to. This makes it the perfect game to just sit back, relax, & have a good time. If you're a content creator, it's even better, because you can focus on talking about your own thoughts and feelings instead of knocking your voice out reading a literal novel. Overall, I'm insanely impressed with the quality of this game, despite the occasional pacing issues & the one character I could live without. PLEASE get this game! You won't find another dating sim with this kind of quality put into it, indie or otherwise. $20 is a STEAL for visual novels of this caliber!

Really enjoyed this, got all the endings and had a really good time exploring all the path options. I liked all the characters and found a few especially relatable. good bunch of gay love stories, solid sapphic yearning and bittersweet endings A++

Very fun, witchy, queer game with diverse characters voiced by actors with similarly held identities. Storytelling is compelling and the art is so fun! High replay value too! Check out Wicked Willow today!

Absolutely love this game! Great Story, Beautiful Art and amazing full VA! I'll absolutely be trying for the other endings and achievements. TF is an incredible Dev, Very kind and active!