Women of Xal

WoX delivers an enrapturing story with the use of unique lore and fantasy elements, complex characters, and beautiful setting. [b] Pros [/b] [list] [*]Lore & setting! [*]Magical scenery [*]So many CGs!!! And animations!! [*]Xuna. Liz. Proxis. Velvet. [strike] But actually Culiver and Naxia have my heart [/strike] [*]Xjena, the protagonist, is very likeable. And cool. But also not cool sometimes. Just like me. [*]Expansive playthrough. There's lots to discover! [*]Selfies from Xjena that make my heart throb. Also Culiver. And likely others, idk. [*]Poly, queer romances! [*]Witty, charming writing that made me laugh more than once [*]Black cast, Black dev, and largely POC team behind the game! [*]Some of the animation sequences were just... chillingly good. [*]Punching. You get to do it. More than once, if you like. In general, the menu options are great. [*]big hat [/list] [b] Cons [/b] [list] [*]Stat raising stuff. It's not the main focus, but just knowing that I have different stats to balance means I'll have to use guides [*]Inconsistent art. Some CGs are super high quality, others aren't. I felt like Mannah had the cleanest, best developed sprite, whereas Hilde was a bit crispy. Lots of people prefer anime-style art (yours truly NOT included), so I worry that might impact the sales as well. [*]Not romance focussed. I'm hoping this will change with the addition of dates, but this felt much more 'dating-sim, raise stats, go on dates, bingo bango you're banging' rather than 'otome romance where we make a deep connection and irrevocably change each other'. Personal preference, obviously, but I want to smooch Culiver... and see it! [*]Some characters felt better developed than others. Xjena's personality and actions felt very realistic and well-written. Culiver felt more like a trope :( my boy deserves a bit more nuance (and screen-time). Yexa was one of my favourite characters because I felt like her complexity was really well-written, even if I dislike her. [*]Number of characters. This goes off the former notes. It's really hard to develop so many characters with so little time! It's a bit overwhelming at times. This also means that many sprites don't have much variation and I end up staring at static sprites for a time. [*]Big spoiler [spoiler] The neutral ending concerns me a bit, but this will depend on the final release endings. If WoX never gets a sequel, I feel like I'll never really get an ending (with how it is currently). There's no quiet moment with my SO(s), no heir announcement... WoX should feel complete without a sequel, not like I've just finished episode 1. I don't mind a cliff-hanger, but we need a conclusion to the the game. I'm really interested in seeing the other two endings, I hope at least one provides that feeling of conclusion. [/spoiler] [/list] [b] Early Access stuff [/b] [list] [*]The large amount of missing content towards the end makes the end feel insanely fast. I don't think I was able to properly enjoy the major twists/plot points because the plot went so quickly. [*]Missing date scenes! I'm really interested in knowing how the addition of these alters the game [*]Missing animations. This didn't really bother me, I never feel like animations are needed in a VN. I think the final game would be good with some CGs instead, but I understand the creative direction behind the animations. [*]Bugs! Usual stuff. Sometimes my stats would increase or decrease for no reason. Xjena liked to appear at the top of my screen. [/list] [b] Final notes [/b] WoX needs active social media pages, up-to-date character pages (it's really hard trying to keep track of everyone!!!) and information (a lot of the Tumblr info is out-of-date). WoX has tons of art: posting it, tagging it correctly, boosting the Steam page, and continuing to engage with followers can make a big difference. People look at art, not walls of text [i]glances at this post[/i] WoX is a beautiful game and experience. I'm looking forward to see what changes come out of early access, and I'm hopeful that it will get the recognition it deserves ♥

EA Fantasy VN + good art + interesting characters/story = Unique VN with a lot of choices that determine your story. Different endings coming in future updates. Currently 10+ hours long and 12 routes. [h1][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35180752-3-point-play/] Follow our curator for similar games [/url][/h1]

First and foremost, I backed it on kickstarted back then and followed closely since. Welcome to Xal, an universe (their people call them canvas) different of ours, dominated by powerful women (called matriarchs), when one of the most powerful of them wants to retire, decide to summon 6 aspirants to choose the next matriarch, this is the story of one of them, Xjena. Welcome to a game of thrones/dune style story of betrayal, politics, and sometimes love? But there is more, always there is, but I don't go to spoil it because as any VN its forte is the story. Gameplay wise is a VN, as simply as that. I am in love with the world building (I know devs have some kind of TTRPG). Music is superb. But as a "flaw" would loved subtitles on CGs.

[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34294631/] Follow Far2close - Visual Novel Playthroughs Curator Page [/url] Women of Xal Developer: PlotTwist Studios Publisher: PlotTwist Studios [b]Pros:[/b] [b]1.[/b] The story is definitely interesting but how it is displayed goes hand in hand as well. Being one of the candidates for the seat of the Matriarch, you must go through training, whether it being studying various subjects or intense combat. Along with this, you have the ability to see events in your dreams and whether or not you use this to your advantage can help decide your fate. Climbing the political ladder is one thing, but when things go wrong such as assassination attempts or other drastic events, circumstances become much more grim around you. You also have to balance your love life in all this, if desired. [b]2.[/b] Several of the characters are quite unique and memorable, each containing a lovable personality that may win your heart. [b]3.[/b] There are various branching paths, thus leaving you with many options in how you want your story to be. [b]4.[/b] It includes small animated cutscenes that are voiced along with a large library of CG art. I found the selfies section cute. [b]5.[/b] The music is diverse, there are some jazzy tracks to give that calm feeling along with some harder,more intense tracks to emphasize the intensity during combat events. [b]Neutrals:[/b] [b]1.[/b] With a large amount of options to pick from, with branching paths to account for, a guide would help out a lot when striving to get a specific route. [b]Cons:[/b] [b]1.[/b] There are a LOT of characters which is absolutely fine, however it can be a problem to get to know the secondary characters that get introduced midway/late story as you may or may not encounter them as much to understand who they are properly. [b]2.[/b] I believe a glossary would be quite helpful, especially when there are a vast amount of characters and lore to account for. Without one, it'd be a bit hard to keep up with all the terms, people, and other factors. [b]Conclusion:[/b] Women of Xal shows potential in giving a cool fictional political story along with neat characters. There may be some drawbacks due to being Early Access as of the publishing of this review. [b]Score:[/b] 7/10 GOOD + EARLY ACCESS

So far a very interesting and engaging dating sim adventure. The art style is quite unique and makes good pair with the dreamy fantasy setting. All characters are written in a distinct way, and their moods / backstory kicks in in realistically during the story, blending together with the choices you make during the game. Choices that fit well in the narration, which is very well made and offers peaks of fun, sadness, wtf moments and some unexpected plot twists. Because of this, the story is worth a replay, not counting the different romances that one may miss or fk up during the gameplay. Everything is pretty detailed and important clou scenes are also well animated. Writing is on very good levels yet clear even for non english speakers like me, replayability aswell, 1 or 2 romances/characters feel a bit off...but like irl, not everyone is a special person :) I did my best to not spoiler anything. a must play for the dating sim adventure games enjoyers. Solid 8.

This game has so many layers to it... the plot twists... the stakes riding on your decisions! I am in awe. I went through so many ""bad"" endings to get to the 'true' good ending but having to work for that ending made it so much more satisfying. Not to mention that the ""bad"" endings still had brilliant content, and I enjoyed playing each time as there are so many different decisions to make. And so many people to woo.... *heart eyes*

Overall, it's a really solid otome and VELVET BEST GIRL. I am begging the dev to keep this SFW - I love being able to bang my beauties and gents without the actual explicit scene. I don't need to read it/see it to know it happened. The game did just release so there are a few kinks that I'm sure will get worked out, eg I ran into a bug whenever I tried to talk to Axay in my office but forgot to get the error code to report and was too lazy to go back and get it. The Good: Soundtrack, characters, sprites, and writing. Velvet was my favorite but Launda is a fun little brat and Proxis, Culiver, and Artimis were great too. There were enough clues in bad ends to figure out how to get the true ending without a walkthrough, and a satisfying twist leading into the true route. Not my favorite: It does drag in parts and honestly the lore is so involved it got in the way of the story a few times. Ex: training and school scenes/increasing stats with books. I also think the animations are a bit unnecessary/the abrupt change in style is a bit off-putting. Oh and the story [spoiler] doesn't end - need to wait for the sequel for that[/spoiler]. It is a good read though, and so many characters to befriend/do/date that at least one will be to your liking!