Recent reviews by BitteDanke

I love this game. It's a perfect example of how games can be compelling without action, and instead draw the player in with an extremely well-written and strong narrative. The main game mechanic is the time loop feature, where you can go back to the beginning of the day and try things again, but with more knowledge and items within your arsenal this time around, of course. So as you experience Groundhog Day over and over again, hopefully you can achieve a little bit more each time.

I was impressed by how the developer utilised ancient myths, history, and philosophy to create a mystery story that honoured well-known story concepts, yet felt fresh at the same time. The use of all of these different areas added to the richness of the themes. Perhaps the foremost philosophical issue that you're faced with in this game is trying to determine what is right vs what is wrong. A good narrative-driven game usually allows you to make choices that affect the course of the narrative, and the choices that you have to make in The Forgotten City will make you pause and consider your responses very carefully, often due to the ambiguity of which answer is the right one to choose.

The game isn't too difficult - all it asks is that you pay attention to the dialogues with the different characters so that you can slowly piece the central mystery together.

I've played a lot of visual novels but I believe that Cinderella Phenomenon is in a league of its own. There is so much to love.

All the characters are fully fleshed out (even the background characters) with their own unique traits and storylines, so that starting a new route with a new guy is always exciting - not all visual novels are sophisticated enough to be able to work around the tedium and repetition that often exists when playing alternative routes.

The focus isn't all on the romance either, which I personally believe adds more complexity to the story - we aren't just relentless pursuing romance for the sake of romance (in fact, all guys will end up falling in love with you regardless of what choices you make). There are elements of compelling mystery, intrigue, and action interwoven into the plot. This visual novel keeps players guessing up until the very end of the route, but even then, not all the pieces of the overarching plot will fall into place until all routes have been completed, adding to the replayability again.