Recent reviews by LongTimeNoSiege

It's not as good as it should be, but it's still Dragon's Dogma.

Maglielle needs correction

If you only play draft it's ok.
If you want to play any other format, stay away. The monetization makes it impossible.

It bears the head of a ♥♥♥♥!

Crab Hampions

You can't fix her, and that's a good thing!

The best multiplayer shooter of the last decade.
You'll never play it because the game is totally dead.

coomers OP nerf plz

Let me start by saying that I played the download version of Gahkthun before the Steam version was released, hence the lack of play time.

Gahkthun is one of the absolute best Visual novels on Steam, and the Steam version is completely uncensored (the sex scenes are more part of the story rather than being pure smut like many adult VNs). However, if you go in expecting a typical school romance story, you'll probably be somewhat disappointed.

Gahkthun is part of a series of games that all take place within the same universe that are loosely based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. They are (roughly translated) Celenaria of the Blue Sky, Inganock of the Brightest Flame, Sharnoth of the Deepest Black, Valusia of the Shining Light, and Sona-Nyl of the Violet Shadow. Gahkthun does make references to many of the former games, but it's not a direct sequel to any one of them. In addition, Gahkthun has an in-game encyclopedia that explains some of the lore and the world the story takes place in. Gahkthun does make a lot of direct references to Inganock and Sona-Nyl, so it might be wise to play those first if you care about continuity and are able (the former is fan-translated; the latter is not). However, the encyclopedia makes Gahkthun a good starting point and no prior knowledge of the series is required to understand the story.

For returning readers, Gahkthun is exactly what you'd expect from the series, although as someone who has read the two fan-translated titles (Sharnoth and Inganock), I'd say that in terms of quality it fits comfortably between the two. It's less meandering than Sharnoth is while still telling a similarly compelling love story, but it's no masterpiece like Inganock was either. However, the many references to Inganock are wonderfully done.

The series and its author, Hikaru Sakurai, are known for a particular writing style that could be described as poetic prose. As such, there is a lot of use of repetition in certain scenes (which can be off-putting to readers expecting detailed shounen-style fight scenes) and a focus on each chapter as an individual story. The latter point also causes contention with some readers, as many major characters are only focused on for a single chapter until their arc is finished, then mostly disappear from the story afterward. The cast is still well-written, fleshed out, and likable and the style of storytelling makes Gahkthun and the rest of its series quite unique, but if you're the kind who doesn't like characters exiting the story once they're not longer relevant, you might want to give it a pass. For those looking for a very atypical VN with a focus on believable characters and romance in an alternate history fantasy setting, Gahkthun is a must-read.

The soundtrack, while very short for the length of the game, is one of the best in the medium. The music perfectly captures the feel of the setting and the atmosphere of the story in spite of the frequent re-use of many tracks.

As a final point, the localization is quite stellar. Unlike the fan translations of previous titles, the translation work for Gahkthun captures Sakurai's style quite magnificently, to the point where it only very rarely feels like a translation rather than an original work.

This was the first Early Access game I ever purchased, and it will be the last. The game has been in EA for almost 8 months now and it's not even close to being finished. Instead, they're taking their time to add a cash shop to the game, and already talking about weapon pack DLCs before the game is even officially released. If this is "Early Access done right" then I shudder to think of what "Early Access done wrong" could be.