Wicked Willow

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.

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.

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!

This is my first review, so go easy on me. Wicked Willow is a beautiful choose-your-own-adventure visual novel starring the titular Willow learning she is a witch with magical powers. Less game and more observation of events as they unfold, I found Wicked Willow to be a delightful interactive story, but not without its flaws. Let's break it down! Story: Being an interactive novel, the plot is the main feature of the game. And without giving too much away, there are intricate threads told in a "what happened in other timelines" sort-of way. Think "Community" Season 3 Episode 4 (Remedial Chaos Theory) or the movie "Sliding Doors". Most of the story lines end with Willow (read: you) being told to try again and starting from the beginning of the story. The plots are well thought out and not too many events are out of left field if you accept the universe in which the story is set. The ORW concept feels like an Omniscient Council of Vagueness (look it up), but it helps move some of the plot elements along, so I was good with it. Setting: The setting surprised me. I thought it was modern, with the look of the streets and buildings and schools... the focus on soy-lates... But actually, the game is set in the early 1990's. May 1993 is on a newspaper. Willow brings up Janet Reno, who was sworn in as the US Attorney General in March 1993 being in a newspaper. No cell phones. No flat-screen TVs. Willow is a few months away from turning 21, so she is in college, junior college, uni? I thought she was in high school until she started talking about weed and drinking. There was one scene where she was intimate with someone and it almost sounded like the partner was worried about the noise reaching people down stairs. I thought "people down stairs" would be relatives until I realized the issue with Willow's parents. Audio: Now on to the TRUE stars of this story, the voices. The voice acting is amazing! Direct, sultry, meek, soft, purrfect. Everyone sounds reasonably like their character should and you can't tell if the lines were recorded separately or with the talent together in the same booth. Strangely, the Schoolteacher's voice sounds a lot like John O'Hurley. Actually, the only real gripe I have with the game is the audio levels of each voice talent. Some voices are louder than others, like the mastering wasn't smoothed to make it sound like the characters were in the same setting together. If we take Willow's voice as what the environment should sound like, Shadow's voice sounds like he is in an audio recording booth closer to the mic while Avery sounds like he is standing a few more steps away from the mic than everyone else. BUT! Don't let that bother you. Actually, I hope you read this after giving the game a chance, because it certainly deserves one! Art: The art is gorgeous, sexy, and quite entertaining. Check the screenshots and the previews and you'll see what I mean. Hell, the screenshots and previews are probably what enticed you to check out this store page. It certainly enticed me... Gameplay: I completed most of the plot threads in about 4 hours. Understand there is MINIMAL player input here, but that doesn't make it a bad "game". It's more like a voiced web comic. If we are talking about game play, then you should really be pleased with the "Auto" and "Skip" features. Auto makes the story continue on its own. To make good use of this, go into Preferences and move the "Auto-Forward Time" slider all the way to the LEFT. It makes the game progress as though it were an audiobook. It's perfect for putting the story on and letting it play while you nibble on snacks. As for the "Skip" feature, you will be required to play through the game more than once to get the different plot lines. You can skip any portion you have already done before, which is VERY good if you want to fish for different choices. You cannot skip stuff you have not yet completed, but when you see how fast the function zips through dialogue you have already completed, you will be thankful you don't have to sit through the axeman scene over and over again. If there's any gripe to be had here, it's that the scenes don't move like they do in the preview. Everything is static except for the scrolling dialogue. In the end, there's a handful of life choices that all lead to different endings, so grab some popcorn and enjoy them all! LGBTQ: You can't acknowledge this game without acknowledging the LGBTQ aspect of it. The game was featured in the Summer of Pride Steam event! Let me say love is love, lust is lust, partners are partners, and anyone can be with anyone. Now that that's out of the way, for a game that touts its LGBTQ, there was not very much of it. I was interested in seeing more long-term intimacy change or soften Willow's personality over the long term. Unfortunately, all the relationships are short lived and barely indulged. Some of Willow's various partners are quickly tossed aside for different timelines of the game, and there are no scenes of intimacy. If you are looking for sexual situations, this story is not for you. This is in stark contrast to the visuals. The game's ladies (except for Willow) are fantastically busty, certainly drawn to raise your body temp. The one or two men in the game are drawn to differing degrees of handsome, too. Certainly, this was done either to the artist's taste, or to the target audience on the sales charts. It drew me in, got me to spend, and then let me down with the lack of developed intimacy. HOWEVER! Let me close by saying this minimally interactive story is a WONDERFUL trip into the life of a young witch learning how to exist in a world she barely understands. Certainly a coming-of-age allegory that is fun to insert your thoughts and reflections on your own youth. If you strip away the magic, it's still a story of interpersonal relationships gone right or wrong, based on your decisions. I think the bigger thought is how few decisions actually change the course of her existence. We, as the player, make hundreds of choices in a given day, but how many of them actually affect the outcome of our lives? This game shows you that the 10 or so decisions you make could possibly affect the existence of the world itself.