Ballads at Midnight

I am an avid visual novel/otome game player. (My steam library/playtimes should speak to this.) This is the first game that I found to be so vastly unusual in the genre that I actually told my partner, who is not into such games, that this would be THE ONE they had to play because I was positive they would enjoy it. I wasn't wrong. Pros: The voice acting! I must say, while sparse, I enjoyed the voice acting. I'm normally a sound OFF type of person but this was pleasant. The characters and writing: The characters have may have snark and sass, but they also have deeper feelings that they portray. They are people in positions they didn't want to be, much like life is for some of us. They have their own motivations and personality. I truly loved this. The endings: You get to make choices that affect the characters and ending. I would say these choices are blatantly obvious, but still it was nice to see the choices did something. The Cons: I'm sorry, I didn't enjoy the singing. :/ And I do feel bad about that. But I did like the song itself! The Middle: This could go either way, but I wasn't thrilled that it ended. There was not really any romance, and I was fine with that, I personally like the lead up rather than the lovey-dovey. I also can go either way on liking long or short games. This may be too short for some. However, knowing this was made for a game jam already told me it wouldn't be very long. (It is however VERY polished for a game jam and is a delight.) Overall: You can't please everyone when it comes to VNs, but I would recommend this in a heartbeat to anyone even on the fence. I've played through all the various options and love this game myself. Plus, it's free, how can you be mad about that?

I really liked this game! Positives: - Loved the dialogue: it was witty, romantic and the characters were both smart - Loved both the MC and Lucius (and their yearning/bantering) - the character art was beautiful and the backgrounds were good (my favourite was the blood moon) - I liked the lore! The middling: - the voice acting was great, don't get me wrong, but it was weird how it only happened in a few scenes. The line delivery was very well done (except during the song) but it left me wanting more. I think I'd have prefer it to have been either fully voiced or not at all. The bad: - I found it ended quite suddenly. (I had the become a vampire/ break the curse ending) I would have loved it if we had seen them have a proper romance scene or at least do the ritual together/ leave together. I missed some oof at the end. So actually I just wanted more of this story and didn't want it to end.

优点：画风很好，配音也不错（说实话很惊讶于免费VN还有配音） 不算是缺点只是个人喜好：剧情和女主人设不是我的菜，开了个头就走了，而且感觉有些地方设置发展得太生硬了比如[spoiler] 押囚犯的看守居然一路替女主带着她的鲁特琴[/spoiler] [spoiler] 女主人设： 一开始连选三次flirt+看女主趁机偷匕首以求逃跑我已经默认女主是个精明人了（再加上人设简介说“years of undergoing difficult journeys and indulging difficult people”&“has a strong sense of insight”） 结果遇到吸血鬼就开始超赞panic 一边panic一边又虽然吸血鬼提议用我的鲁特琴换我一条命但是我一定要保护我的music区区老妖怪怎么懂我的琴对我的意义 在我的视角里不可避免地成了我以为她是个聪明人结果是个小笨蛋的落差感 [strike] 不过转念一想如果不是小笨蛋也就不会在看守有马+草原地形选择逃跑并狠狠失败了吧，当然也可以说这是为了突出女主有多绝望(绝望到放弃脑子)或者应对 though not necessarily in that order，但还是emmm [/strike] 剧情： 因为Mr吸血鬼相对好说话（准备随便找点理由放人离开）我开始对Enemies to lovers有一些很不好的猜想（即，要么这个Enemies纯属女主误会，要么男主是被迫给坏人打工的） 强调了这么多次鲁特琴和MUSIC，我还可以猜到后面有女主用琴声治愈男主，两人敞开心扉 猜到这一步已经开始感到无聊了……这不是dark这纯粹是童话啊 [/spoiler]

nice

Amazingly written. I loved the dialogue options that were full of personality and the MC and Lucius are both charming personalities.

3/5

Well written with an intriguing plot twist if you play your cards right.

Ballads at Midnight is a short visual novel that surprised me with how much personality it manages to fit into such a small story. I play as Abigail, a sarcastic travelling bard who gets exiled to an abandoned castle where she expects to be eaten by a vampire. Instead, Lucius turns out to be more bored and lonely than hungry, and he makes her a deal. If she performs one ballad for him each night, he will eventually let her go. I really like that setup because it gives the story an immediate reason for these two characters to keep talking while slowly changing the relationship between them. The writing is easily the strongest part for me. Abigail and Lucius have a lot of banter, and I like how their relationship develops from suspicion and hostility into something much more personal. Abigail is not just there to react to Lucius either. She has her own personality and is usually confident enough to push back against him, which makes their conversations much more entertaining. The humour also helps keep the darker parts of the story from becoming too heavy. The whole thing has a nice balance between romance, comedy and more serious moments. The choices are simple, but I think they work well for this kind of game. I get to decide how Abigail responds during important conversations, and those choices can lead towards different endings. I like that some decisions have consequences later instead of every choice simply changing one line before the story continues exactly as normal. There are five endings to find, so there is a reason for me to replay the story after seeing one ending. Being able to save freely and skip through text I have already read also makes going back for different outcomes much easier. The presentation is another thing I really enjoyed. The hand drawn artwork fits the medieval fantasy setting extremely well, and the characters have enough expressions to make the conversations feel more alive. The music also works nicely with the story, especially because Abigail is a bard and actually performs songs during the game. There is partial voice acting for Abigail and Lucius as well, and I think the voices add quite a bit to their personalities when they appear. I do wish there were a few more CG illustrations for the bigger romantic moments, because some scenes feel like they deserve more visual emphasis. The main weakness is the length. A first playthrough can be finished in only a few hours, and even though the different endings give me a reason to replay it, there is still only so much story here. I understand why it is short because the game originally came from a game jam project, and I would rather have a short story that feels complete than one that has been stretched out for no reason. Still, I came away wanting more time with Abigail and Lucius, especially because their relationship is easily the most interesting part of the game. I also think the game is quite focused on its central relationship. There are not loads of characters, huge locations or complicated gameplay systems for me to explore. Most of what I am doing is reading dialogue and making choices, which means the writing has to carry almost everything. Thankfully, I think it does a good enough job that I never felt like I needed a traditional gameplay system added just for the sake of it. The free price also makes the short length much easier to accept, especially when I can replay it to see how different decisions affect the ending. Overall, Ballads at Midnight is a really charming visual novel that I think gets the important things right. I like Abigail and Lucius, the sarcastic dialogue, the gradual romance, the hand drawn artwork, the music and the different endings. It is short and I would have liked more artwork and more time to explore the characters, but I think adding too much would probably have taken away from what makes the story work. For me, it is a simple and focused romance that knows exactly what it wants to be, and the fact that I can play the whole thing for free makes it even easier to recommend. Rating: 7/10