Stars and Snowdrops

Cute short (romance) fantasy VN. Pros: Cute princess with customizable appearance and personality, cute steward/adviser, cute (optional) romance. YMMV: The game is very short (~30 mins w/o procrastination and AFK-ing to 100%). However, it's also cheap. Cons: The game is also very laggy. 100% CPU utilization. Even Steam froze.

While this short story takes place in the same world and is loosely connected to Embers of Magic, Brilliant Shadows, and Pale Spectrum, it isn't necessary to have played those to understand this. However, I think people would probably [i]enjoy[/i] it more after having read the main two VNs, because all the world building is done in the other stories. Regardless, this story is short but cute. It refers to the royal family, a princess -- likely an ancestor of Prude's (a main character from Brilliant Shadows and Pale Spectrum) -- who has come to a remote location to hide from the commoners' rebellion. Thanks to the current King -- the princess's mother (yes, her [i]mother[/i], because in this world the ruler is always a King) -- the common people are suffering from severe poverty and often taking abuse from nobles. The one helping the princess is a dragon who can take human form and they can cutely come to like each other depending on the player's choices. [u]Praises[/u] [list][*] Play...

While the voice acting was really good and the plot had potential, a dark skinned overweight princess couldn't win me over. Being overweight, having a dark skin and being non-binary doesn't describe you as a person. I wanted to see their real character traits, I wanted to see where the story takes me, I wanted to see some character development. It ended before it even began.

In Stars and Snowdrops you play as Her Very Spoiled Highness, or Princess Kovi. You are dropped off at Snowdrop Keep for a “vacation.” After being duly informed by The Advisor Frel that that is anything but, you must find a suitor, or a decent advisor, to go back home. While Stars and snowdrops has its negatives, I’m very impressed with its soft music tracks, artwork, and in particular, its voice acting. Even in more expensive VN’s that’s not typically an option I get to experience, and it was very well done. The sprites are animated, there is a small amount of character customization, and while the story was interesting, Kovi was a bit of a brat and I’m a bit baffled how quickly she and her love interest fall in, well, love, if given the option. The story is about 20-30 min long and if you have any interest at all in playing the game, for $1.99 I say go for it.

It's super short and super cute. The (few) choices don't really matter and barely differ, but the art is pretty and the voice acting is outstanding. It reads more as a short story that wants to be told with minimal gameplay invovlvement, so I treated it as a charming little bedtime story. Skipping already seen dialogue, it took me 40 min to get all achievements. I didn't get any crashes, but I also played it on the steam deck. Controller controls were a bit iffy. I couldn't get to everything in the menu with the joystick, and it was annoying having to up up up down down down between the skip button and the choice selection. On my desktop PC (linux), I couldn't get it to fullscreen on the screen I needed.

While some small VNs by Ithaqua were clearly prologues to bigger projects, or were tied to their existing franchises by a shared universe, this seems to be just a short, cute standalone story. It shows a spoiled princess of a fantasy kingdom having to choose a suitor, as a peasant rebellion and deteriorating health of her mother might force her to take up reign. It this she is helped by Frel, a mysterious adviser to the crown... The VN looks beautiful and vibrant, is pretty funny and has full, well-executed voice acting. It's tiny (20-25 min), but the writing and production quality make it satisfying enough. One thing I can complain about is how choices, apart from the last two, do not matter, and some are completely pointless – it would probably be better if the game had less of those and focused more on fleshing out the story. But still, it's a nice, short distraction for $2... Why not? ------------- PS If you're interested in quality visual novels, check out [url=https://store....

This game is made to push an ideology with a poorly written plot.

It's a sweet little title! If you're looking for a long time, this isn't it, but as a cute treat on a Sunday afternoon this does the job beautifully.

I've never been happier about holding hands with a non-binary dragon person.

This is honestly a hidden gem! I adored everything about it. The voice acting, characters, music, and overall aesthetics are great! It's sadly short, but definitely something I would recommend!