Amarantus

God, I love this game so, so, so, sooo much. I'm a huge fan of the visual novel genre overall, and this does what a good VN does and way more! The storyline is so interesting, and the characters are incredibly compelling. The character sprites, CGs and backgrounds fit the vibe perfectly while also just being so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gorgeous. It's a really well-polished and engaging game overall. I have a few qualms with how the plot ended, but that's mainly because I wanted more of it (lol). I cannot emphasize enough how good this game is and how much fun I had playing it. It's funny, heartwrenching, and just plain beautiful to look at. There are some utterly marvelous, poetic, hard-hitting lines in here too... If you're considering this game, please buy it: it's truly, utterly worth it (and I wish there was an actual fandom too, there's so much good stuff to talk about and not enough people talking about any of it). Honest-to-god one of my favorite visual novels that I've ever experienced.

if i think too hard about this game i'll explode <3

I love this vn so much. I was initially interested in it because of the art style (which is genuinely gorgeous) and then I found out about the potential for disaster relationships and I couldn't throw my money at it fast enough lol. [spoiler]Shout out to the Ari/Marius/Raeann dynamic in particular; chaotic-stupid power level off the charts and we love that lmfaoooo. 1000% would kill and die for them again <3[/spoiler] The characters all have such vivid personalities and so much heart that by the end even characters I didn't end up interacting with too much were still tugging at my heartstrings. On top of that, basically every choice really feels like it matters. Currently partway through my second playthrough and although I was initially going to rush through it to see a different ending, I truly immediately got sidetracked by curiosity and I'm so glad for it because it ended up being a super fascinating route. And I love that I can't even call one choice better than the other. This really doesn't feel like one of those vn's where there's a "right" way to do things, it's just up to who you are and how you wanna do things, and that's honestly the most powerful move for a game imo. So much fun. Can't wait to get back to it and let this game destroy my heart more <3

I was surprised how much I disliked my limited time with this game. I returned it after spending two hours trying to understand what was going on. The art is great, but a visual novel relies on its writing and the writing just didn't work. This story suffers from having the protagonist know too much that isn't shared with the player. Information is provided in weird snippets of dialogue that are frequently incomplete (or interrupted) to presumably add mystery and conflict which ends up just being annoying. When I did get information I still didn't get enough. Exposition is provided in long segments of dialogue that were tremendously boring, and the limited choices i did have to interact with the NPCs led to nothing interesting. The positive reviews of this game confuse me - I feel like we weren't playing the same game. I'm sure if I played it all the way through something interesting might happen, or I might figure out why I care about any of the characters other than just being told I care about them, but honestly I'd prefer my (deeply discounted) money back. It just wasn't worth it, even at 50% off its normal price.

Much more intricate than the simple YA-ish adventure it appears to be on first glance. Not that it's deceptive or only wearing its genre as a mask to be cast off—quite the opposite!—rather, Amarantus is patient, layering complex themes under familiar tropes and trusting the player to put the pieces together. Crucially, the design fits the storytelling: since the game demands at least two playthroughs, the narrative is tightly structured over just a few impactful scenes, and there's an option to fast-forward through any text the game knows you've already read. The art is lovely and evocative; the writing demonstrates an impressive range from goofy Australianisms to unexpected emotional gut punches. Clearly a labor of love by a small team—well worth picking up. (Arik probably should have read Lenin before trying to stage a revolution though.)

Alright, I suppose this game isn't for everyone. But if you suspect it might be for you, *please* do yourself a favor and give it a shot. And do at least two runs, to get the full story. Personally, I loved this game enough to write my first-ever Steam review just to recommend it. Every character is The Character of All Time™. There are so many lines of dialogue that I screenshotted and sent to myself because they devastated me, made me laugh out loud, or evoked some mysterious third emotion. I bawled through the entire ending(s). I got my heart broken! When was the last time a game let you try romancing a character only to fail miserably and suffer for it? At the same time, the romance scenes I *did* get gave me butterflies, and they're all the sweeter because I knew I wasn't entitled to them just because I gave Character X enough gifts to make them love me. Amarantus might have the best romances I've experienced in a video game! And they're not even the point of the game! The platonic relationships are just as touching! AAAAAA I think this is also the kind of game that rewards multiple playthroughs and close reading. It's not impenetrable by any means, but it doesn't lore-dump or overexplain itself either. There were *very* small details that made me go, "Huh. That's weird. Anyway, probably just in my head," only to have my suspicions confirmed later. Definitely recommended if you like piecing things together and feeling smart for figuring stuff out, lol. I genuinely think every line of dialogue and every detail in the sprites is there for a reason. I was also pleasantly surprised by how reactive the game is to your decisions. Keeping things vague because spoilers: there were early choices that made me think, "Well, surely that's a terrible idea that will result in an instant Game Over screen." And they didn't?? Instead, I got new, long scenes I never would have expected, and I had to live with the decisions I made (and the impressions they left on my companions) for the rest of the run. How great is that? I guess not everyone hears "you can make horrible mistakes! you can be painfully rejected! you can suffer deliciously!" and thinks YES PLEASE, but some people have the same brainworms I do and *will* get it. Hopefully. And again, the pain just makes the victories and wholesome moments all the sweeter. Also, special shout-out to the soundtrack: it's SO GOOD. As a post-rock fan, I'm absolutely in love with it. Sometimes I boot up the game just to listen to certain tracks. I loved the sound design in general, and coupled with the sprite and text animations, they communicate so much that other visual novels would simply leave to description. You can tell when a line is hissed, shouted, or whispered; you can infer how a character feels or moves through a space from those cues alone, without being explicitly told. Anyway, tl;dr: I want to hug every single character, I want more people to fall in love with this game, I want to play more things made by the devs <3 Give this a try!

How do I even begin to describe my obsession with this game?? It teases you with fascinating little tidbits of lore and worldbuilding that constantly leave you wanting more. It has some of the sweetest, most intimate romance scenes I’ve ever seen written. The characters are all interesting and layered, and sometimes they’re annoying and frustrating and that just makes me love them more. I could go on! This game has such delightful attention to detail in every aspect, you can really see how much love and care was poured into it. I will say though, this game is not for everyone. I understand the people who find it slow and confusing. The game throws you straight into the story without any exposition. Characters often speak in vague, roundabout ways that require some serious reading between the lines, and sometimes they reference things that you won’t have context for unless you’ve played other routes. This makes your first playthrough somewhat frustrating, as the game makes you feel like an idiot for not understanding things that other characters seem to think are obvious. On the other hand, it makes successive playthroughs incredibly rewarding. As you can tell from my play time, I am utterly addicted to scouring through this game’s dialogue for new insights into the world and characters. This stuff is catnip for me! In conclusion: Play Amarantus. Surrender to the brainworms.