Days mean nothing in the maw of forever. The wait is over. The Pristine Cut is finally here. For those of you who aren't aware, The Pristine Cut is a free upgrade to the base game, that among other things: Expands the game by roughly 35%. This means thousands of new voice lines, over a thousand new illustrations, and 17 tracks of brand new music.
Completely forgot about this but I’m excited to update and check out the new routes.
I highly recommend this game, even if, like me, you’re not a fan of text/dating Sim type games. It’s a strange horror/dark fantasy type of game with a lot of heart.
That’s the same as any early access game I suppose. They tend to release one chapter a year. The next one is imminent, though likely Q1 next year and it’s the largest chapter yet. I’d recommend picking it up on the next sale regardless.
Yeah. I am not the biggest fan of VNs but last year-ish Cado at Remap did a stream where they did a run of this and I went from “Ugh, VN bullshit. Ah well” to “I NEED THIS”
(Un)fortunately, it feels like every single time I sit down to play it I hear there is another major new update coming. So… here is to finally getting to sit down and see even more of it.
Is this game fun? I have seen lots of recommendations for it but the name of the game along with some of the art has me worried it’s going to be deeply uncomfortable. To anyone who has played it: how would you describe the mood of the game?
Pre-empt: Everything I say is in regards to the original release. I have not played the pristine cut.
It is definitely intended to be deeply uncomfortable. It has a very “cosmic horror” vibe to it, while playing on themes of relationships, love and romance. Both the player and the princess will die, repeatedly, in sometimes gruesome ways, and sometimes absurd ways. Body horror will happen. You will read descriptions of flesh and bone seperating. But despite all that, it ultimately is an emotionally endearing experience.
It’s good, but not great. The story is impactful and meaningful, and it does a great sort-of incidental meta commentary on literature.
An opinion which I find most players don’t share with me: the ending was incredibly weak, to the point that I felt it really detracted from the experience, which led me to my “not great” assessment. It has a bad case of “the only decision that matters is the last one,” which isn’t the way I like these seemingly heavily malluble visual novels to go, and none of the endings feel genuinely satisfying. Worse, my first ending set up for something of a second attempt towards a “golden ending” of sorts, only to pull the rug out from under me and just kind of… end, instead.
The storytelling is great, the writing is engaging, the voice acting is fantastic, the art is gorgeous… There’s a lot to like about the game, so I don’t want to make it sound “bad,” because it’s quite good. It just sold itself to me as a kind of “choices matter” game, where I’d find myself digging for information and answers, so I can learn more and make better decisions on multiple, short playthroughs. I hoped to eventually either discover everything I want to discover and feel good about my explorations, or use my growing knowledge to find the “right” ending, whether that’s a “golden” ending or an ending that I find satisfying and rewards me for my effort. But, for it’s variety choices, it’s not really that kind of game. It is, at its heart, a linear game, with some variation in the experiences you have between where you start and where you end up, with a couple choices in the last moment determining which page you flip to before the credits roll.
Maybe I expected too much, and the problem is with me. I can’t deny that my opinion could be based on a failure of expectation. But, I restate, it’s good, but it’s not great.
Wow! Thank you for the detailed response, based on your comments and those of the other responder I’ll probably pass on it for now, I’m deeply uncomfortable enough on my own thank you.
Who knows though, it may still end up in my library later when it goes on sale. I have a bad history of that.
Wow. That’s a hard question to answer without giving spoilers - but I will try my best.
The mood changes based on the choices you make. I always feel this overall sense of seriousness because choices do matter. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s serious, sometimes it gives you a good scare jolt, and sometimes it’s very gory.
I’m not big on gore, but it isn’t gore for gore-fest sake.
I’d suggest playing the demo, but they’ve taken it down.
I’m picky on my horror media, and this is one of my favorites.
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She skewers you.
Heart. Liver. Lungs. Nerves.
Wow nice! I will re-play it then!
I highly recommend this game, even if, like me, you’re not a fan of text/dating Sim type games. It’s a strange horror/dark fantasy type of game with a lot of heart.
Agreed. Insanely good game.
Recommend picking up their other title Scarlet Hollow too, phenomenal game.
Should I play Scarlet Hollow now or wait until it’s complete?
That’s the same as any early access game I suppose. They tend to release one chapter a year. The next one is imminent, though likely Q1 next year and it’s the largest chapter yet. I’d recommend picking it up on the next sale regardless.
Yeah. I am not the biggest fan of VNs but last year-ish Cado at Remap did a stream where they did a run of this and I went from “Ugh, VN bullshit. Ah well” to “I NEED THIS”
(Un)fortunately, it feels like every single time I sit down to play it I hear there is another major new update coming. So… here is to finally getting to sit down and see even more of it.
Is this game fun? I have seen lots of recommendations for it but the name of the game along with some of the art has me worried it’s going to be deeply uncomfortable. To anyone who has played it: how would you describe the mood of the game?
Pre-empt: Everything I say is in regards to the original release. I have not played the pristine cut.
It is definitely intended to be deeply uncomfortable. It has a very “cosmic horror” vibe to it, while playing on themes of relationships, love and romance. Both the player and the princess will die, repeatedly, in sometimes gruesome ways, and sometimes absurd ways. Body horror will happen. You will read descriptions of flesh and bone seperating. But despite all that, it ultimately is an emotionally endearing experience.
It’s good, but not great. The story is impactful and meaningful, and it does a great sort-of incidental meta commentary on literature.
An opinion which I find most players don’t share with me: the ending was incredibly weak, to the point that I felt it really detracted from the experience, which led me to my “not great” assessment. It has a bad case of “the only decision that matters is the last one,” which isn’t the way I like these seemingly heavily malluble visual novels to go, and none of the endings feel genuinely satisfying. Worse, my first ending set up for something of a second attempt towards a “golden ending” of sorts, only to pull the rug out from under me and just kind of… end, instead.
The storytelling is great, the writing is engaging, the voice acting is fantastic, the art is gorgeous… There’s a lot to like about the game, so I don’t want to make it sound “bad,” because it’s quite good. It just sold itself to me as a kind of “choices matter” game, where I’d find myself digging for information and answers, so I can learn more and make better decisions on multiple, short playthroughs. I hoped to eventually either discover everything I want to discover and feel good about my explorations, or use my growing knowledge to find the “right” ending, whether that’s a “golden” ending or an ending that I find satisfying and rewards me for my effort. But, for it’s variety choices, it’s not really that kind of game. It is, at its heart, a linear game, with some variation in the experiences you have between where you start and where you end up, with a couple choices in the last moment determining which page you flip to before the credits roll.
Maybe I expected too much, and the problem is with me. I can’t deny that my opinion could be based on a failure of expectation. But, I restate, it’s good, but it’s not great.
Wow! Thank you for the detailed response, based on your comments and those of the other responder I’ll probably pass on it for now, I’m deeply uncomfortable enough on my own thank you.
Who knows though, it may still end up in my library later when it goes on sale. I have a bad history of that.
Wow. That’s a hard question to answer without giving spoilers - but I will try my best.
The mood changes based on the choices you make. I always feel this overall sense of seriousness because choices do matter. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s serious, sometimes it gives you a good scare jolt, and sometimes it’s very gory.
I’m not big on gore, but it isn’t gore for gore-fest sake.
I’d suggest playing the demo, but they’ve taken it down.
I’m picky on my horror media, and this is one of my favorites.
It’s going to stay on my wishlist but I think I’ll sit on it for a while Thank you for your response!
I love the new “Memories” feature. This update has really improved an already amazing game.