two littol visual novels

ive been trying to write a twin peaks blog recently but i keep getting annoyed at the show and what i have to say on it which is not a state i wanna be writing in. so here’s two games i played that i liked. first up;
 

of the devil is a pretty simple sell. it’s ace attorney, but more sci-fi and more women and an overarching gambling theme. it’s cute!
 

lets get into the “theming” of it- gambling. you accrue chips by doing well in court and picking correct dialogue options- sorry, not quite ‘correct’ and more ‘social lubricating’ options. I think this is a good representative of the characters’ values and understandings of her interactions with the world- there is a reward in making people more comfortable and correctly figuring out what they want to hear to get through conversations with the most success. the game rewards you for picking up, reading, and doing basic critical thinking on bits of worldbuilding scattered about- chips from interpreting information and then being able to incorporate it successfully into future conversations and cases. all of this is good, thematically relevant, fun, and it’s nice to get a pile of chips that add to a counter to spend on treats. i played the first chapter on ‘high roller’, which limits you to a single save slot and stops you from save-scumming during trial scenes which is a VERY fun way to play, it made the entire thing feel more tense and made me think more carefully- and my god. the reward for winning on high roller. im on top of the world. now lets get into the annoyances with the systems.
 

a lot of the interactions with ‘stakes’ (heh) in the game are framed around gambling. the house you’re betting against is the state, and you’re just trying to get what you can and hopefully get out with a ‘profit’. fucking up in court and messing up in conversation (represented by a slowly rising ‘blind’) will burn up your chips. the issue comes in that- you’re not reallyyyyy gambling. i had about 200 chips by the final case of the first chapter, and i had kept expecting to need to run into situations where i bet some of them- a risk or reward for different choices with rewards or consequences depending on if they were bad or not. there’s the automatic blind that punishes you for getting things wrong but the chips only get used for buying little phone charms after the end of a chapter- despite all of the gambling and poker visuals they don’t really come into play. which was annoying! i had thought playing good would mean i could bet more and win bigger at key moments. but this is a really minor complaint i just wanted to be able to play conversational poker more actively through mechanics. moving on!
 

as a whole, i like the chapter that’s there. it’s nothing particularly unique and i figured out the mysteries of the prologue and first chapter pretty early on (i don’t usually ‘solve it’ when playing murder mysteries, so i was pretty happy with the simplicity). i think the reason is the game is bad at hiding its hand when it doesn’t want you to think certain things are important- it can’t really misdirect your attention from the clues it wants to “a-HA!” you with later when the chips are down. so if you can work backwards from those details then it’s pretty easy to figure it all out. not exactly a bad thing because i don’t particularly value the a-ha’s as much as i do the characters contextual reactions.
 

so lets talk characters. morgan’s the standout- you’re in her head the most, and i think she’s easily the star of the show. every trait about her makes her a grand protagonist in a storied line of human can-openers. her personal story being interwoven with cases and victims is constantly giving and reframing bits of herself that she allows to show and that slip through unintentionally- its fun and engaging to read her reactions as much as it is to read other characters through her. the antagonist prosecutor emma is a really good foil in that she’s got exactly the same drive in a way that grinds right up on morgan- hold on. i’ve distracted myself. anyway. serra also very cute and a deeply charming sidekick (i think her visual effects are incredibly cute- the way her eyes and barcode glow against the lighting of scenes is gorgeous) with a lotta heart. i wanna buy a little serra plush and figure and charm so bad. i like the brat cop, she’s very cute and fun and tinged through with a bit of ‘sad’ and a lot of ‘pathetic’, which is the ideal way a cop oughtta be written. the other one’s so paint-by-numbers he made no impression lol. the judge wavers wildly between unbearable and charming.
 

there’s plenty of eye-rolly references, but luckily for the most part one-and-done. if i see another line of red text in this video game i’d be miserable. however: i had a good time. the cast is good, the cases are fun little logic puzzles, and the aesthetics have a lotta charm for me. the monogatari text screens being more than a one-time gag did jumpscare me, though. overall: check it out! maybe wait for another chapter or two but im really happy with what’s out right now and would happily check in whenever another one pops out.
 

game #2; technically a demo but it’s soooo freaking good.
 

raining city: millions recollections is a new game from devs that made recent fave of mine ‘the chrono jotter’. coming in hard and fast with an incredible weird little supernatural world of such a bigger scale than ran ibuki’s mental illness adventure my jaw was on the floor through most of it.
 

the main dame lyu xuan (or luxuan? [the translations imperfect, w/e, it’s a rough demo]) wakes up emotionally deadened and with a hole in her hand worth an inconceivable amount of supernatural currency. the worth of it is immediately proven- she wakes up recovered from a hole through her chest and quickly dies a second time from a horrific and GORGEOUS rotting wood creature- as some of her uncountable riches tick down a notch and she’s painfully restored to life once more. incredible opening, incredible art, incredible characterization, and an incredible plunge into the deep end of a confusing world that she accepts so matter-of-factly everyone around her begins to worry about her mental health (ran ibuki’s uncaring schizophrenia moments had me cheering at luxuan’s solemn soul- i think the devs are just so good at writing weird and unique little women).
 

so she’s (somehow- amnesia! it keeps happening!) the richest woman in the supernatural world, unsure of who to trust and who just wants her money, and with a hand full of money that will forcibly keep her alive until she has the opportunity to spend it. and it’s incredible- the creatures she meets, the weird laws and systems surrounding her she takes to with ease, and the women she meets (flirts?) with while sizing each other up are so evocative. the creature designs are stunningly gorgeous- the weird dog-thing that half-resembles her but has a horrific maw where its eyes and brain should be is so...cute. the game carries the vibes it goes for PERFECTLY. with EASE. and the map you explore, the people you text, the little snippets of scenes in this island city, all of them add so much character and atmosphere in a rather short demo.
 

when in cars or large rooms, the game has an echo for characters voicelines- something that threw me at first but immediately begins to feel so natural and fitting for the grounded fantasy of all of these adults in some way involved in the barely comprehensible for their day jobs. there isn’t much game there yet, because it’s a demo, but i’m so excited for this game. maybe more excited than i’ve been for a video game in years. everything i encountered or unlocked made me cheer to a whole new a degree (yuri stalker! weird little journal luxuan keeps with judgmental notes on everyone she encounters! choices to steal or avoid mystical items beyond understanding to grow your wealth even more [and maybe get an even bigger target on your back!?]). i love it. its so completely my shit in the same way the chrono jotter hit me right where i wanted it to. i cant wait for more. goated game demo. you should check it out imo.