Degraman: Act I. Vincent

Either you give this game a chance or you miss something out. First things first: If you don't like horror (psycho horror especially), mystery, surrealism, red flags and a good utsuge - this might not your type of game. This game unfolds itself after you play a great amount of endings (routes, at some point it differs, on choices) and reveals a story that is disturbing and pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up. Except that the amount of endings are a bit too much and my wish for a route order, I enjoyed the wild ride. I love good utsuge, mystery and horror and I can recommend this game to everyone who wants despair and psycho horror at it's finest. There are not a lot of such truly dark Otome and less very well written, so I am even more happy for this one. 8/10

[h1] [/h1]

This was way better than I expected. It keeps you on your toes and transformed so much throughout the story and did well developing the characters relationship.I'm only sad it ended.

"Degraman: Act I. Vincent" is not a game, it's an e-book that's been dumped on Steam masquerading as a game... except it's not a full e-book either! This just like the first chapter in some godawful fan-fiction and the "author" expects you'll go pay money or something to get the rest of it. This is never okay. As an advertisement for a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature any notable gameplay, it's just a lot of clicking through badly written dialogue that would never have been accepted or published in print, which poses the question, "How did something this badly written end up on Steam?". When someone hoping to become an author is unable to get published in print, they spend $100 and dump their high school fan-fiction onto Steam, under the guise of a game. The e-books this is advertising are a set of stupidly overpriced LGBTQIA+ friendly fan-fictions designed for mobile phones. Ugh, there's just so much wrong with this it's not funny... But let's break down why this is so bad! Charging money on Steam, for an e-book, designed for mobile phones, is just wrong. In fact the author of this garbage mobile phone e-book wants to be paid just for the advertisement!!!! Visual novels/e-books are tedious at best... imagine the best novel you ever read, be that Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or 2001: A Space Odyssey or Twilight (if you have terrible taste in literature), but then translate that to a format where the words dribble out and you have to click your mouse every time you wanted to read the next sentence, instead of just turning the pages. You'd think it was garbage. Now imagine that experience, but with much worse writing (because if these guys could write professionally, they'd be published authors and this would be on shelves in bookstores, and they wouldn't have to pay Valve $100 to self-publish this on Steam), and you have your average Steam e-book. One of the chief problems with failed authors polluting Steam with non-game E-books is that E-books can easily just be presented in a web browser... there's no justification for charging money on Steam for what might as well be a webpage. We don't spend thousands on buying a gaming rig to spend money on Steam for something Chrome or Firefox could do. Despite having no up-front cost, this failed to appeal to the 130 million+ gamers on Steam. SteamDB showed the e-book peaked at less than 100 concurrent readers, they couldn't even break three figures, and now there's basically nobody reading it. Even though it's free. This is a dismal public reception, but it's easy to see why gamers rejected it. This isn't a game and it's not even a complete book, it's just a badly made advertisement for a fan-fiction. E-books aren't games, and neither are advertisements. You deserve better than being advertised to. These advertisments are harmful because they're taking up marketing and space that should more correctly given to real, genuine game developers who do the right thing and make real games for gamers. [quote][b][url=https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/16-cfr-part-465-trade-regulation-rule-use-consumer-reviews-testimonials-final-rule]Warning: Review Manipulation![/url][/b] This product features a number of fake positive reviews from accounts known to be in the business of review manipulation/paid reviews. They're all written in either Russian or broken English, appear at almost exactly the same time, very shortly after this launched on Steam, and the accounts are used consistently to write fake reviews for asset flips and other cash grabs/scams. The "Positive" review score on this should be disregarded due to this blatant, unethical review manipulation. This is done to deceive and scam gamers into paying for a bad product. Due to the 2024 FTC ruling ([i]16 CFR § 465.4, 15 U.S.C. § 45[/i]), these fake reviews are a violation of US Federal Law.[/quote]

☀️

Эта игра настолько потрясающа! Затянула меня мгновенно... Винс в саме сердце))) столько концовок, а как интересно через них по крупицам собирать информацию о том, что же тут вообще творится!? в общем, я в восторге: - от визуала, - от наполненности, - осмысленности, - от глубины истории и проработки персонажей. Немного не хватило постеров, хотелось бы больше, особенно в кульминационных точках, но это уже мои "хочушки" Иду проходить второй акт))) И с нетерпением ждать раскрытия любимых персов уже полюбившихся и новых!

Degraman — это именно то, чего так не хватало в мире отоме-игр! Забудьте про кудрявых принцев и поцелуй в 5-ой серии — здесь вас ждёт настоящая психологическая драма, от которой мурашки по коже! Винсент... Он не идеальный, не альфа-самец, он человек. Со своими тараканами, проблемами и бесконечными душевными травмами. А главная героиня! Наконец-то ГГ, которая не идеальна! У неё куча проблем, она может быть противной, у неё мама-токсик, и она влюбляется по самым неправильным причинам. И это реально, это про нас, настоящих! Музыка... я рыдаю просто от одного воспоминания о некоторых треках... Каждая мелодия попадает прямо в душу и остаётся там навсегда. Но самое главное — эта игра не врёт. Она не обещает вам сказку, она показывает, как на самом деле работают отношения между поломанными людьми. И да, будет больно. Да, некоторые концовки заставят вас неделю ходить как зомби. Но это того стоит! Спасибо, NamNorm, за то, что не побоялись сделать игру для взрослых. Не по возрастному рейтингу — по эмоциональной зрелости. Это не развлечение, это ART. Искусство, которое меняет тебя изнутри. P.S. Если ищете лёгкую романтику — проходите мимо. А если готовы к настоящему эмоциональным качелям — добро пожаловать в ад. Прекрасный, болезненный ад под названием Degraman ❤️‍🩹 P.P.S. играла сначала на телефоне

Degraman: Act I. Vincent is a dark otome visual novel that mixes romance with mystery, danger and a pretty harsh story. I play as Eve, an ordinary young woman who suddenly gets pulled into a situation involving mysterious kidnappers and people who clearly know much more about the world than she does. What I like about the setup is that I am not given a simple romance story where everything is safe and predictable. Eve is put into a genuinely unpleasant situation, and a lot of the story is about trying to work out who I can trust while figuring out what is actually going on. The choices are easily the most important part for me. The game has a large number of decisions and the story can branch into different outcomes depending on what I choose. In the Vincent route there are nine endings, with several of them being bad endings, so I cannot just make random choices and expect everything to work out. I like having that level of control because it makes the story feel more personal. Some decisions can seem harmless at the time and only become important later, which gives me a reason to pay attention to conversations instead of clicking through everything. Vincent himself is also an interesting love interest because the romance is mixed into the darker parts of the story. I never feel like the relationship is completely separate from the main mystery. There is an uncomfortable atmosphere around the characters and the world, and that makes the romantic moments feel very different from a normal light hearted otome game. I like that contrast because the game is clearly aiming for something more dramatic than a simple dating story. The artwork helps a lot too, with detailed character designs and CG scenes that give the important moments more impact. The biggest problem for me is that the story can sometimes be confusing. The game deliberately does not explain everything straight away, and I can understand why because the mystery depends on keeping some information hidden. At the same time, there are moments where I am not sure whether I am supposed to be intrigued or simply lost. The world has a lot of ideas involving mysterious organisations, strange people and a much bigger conflict behind Eve's situation, but Act I leaves plenty of questions unanswered. The developer even describes the story as intentionally ambiguous, so I know going in that I am not getting every answer here. I also think the structure is worth mentioning because this is specifically Act I rather than a complete standalone story. The Vincent route has more than five hours of content, over 40 CGs and nine endings, but there are other routes and characters planned as part of the wider Degraman series. The paid Act I content adds Cassel as another love interest and gives me a Loner route, while the free version focuses on Vincent. I like that the free version gives me a proper route rather than just a tiny demo, although I do think the incomplete nature of the larger story makes the ending feel more like a stopping point than a full conclusion. The presentation is probably where the game feels strongest to me. The dark atmosphere, anime inspired artwork and serious tone fit the story well, and I like how much attention has gone into the characters. The game is made with Ren'Py, so I am not expecting complicated gameplay systems, but that is fine because the choices and story are clearly the focus. There are also 14 Steam achievements tied to the free game, which gives me another reason to explore different outcomes instead of stopping after seeing one ending. Overall, Degraman: Act I. Vincent is a good visual novel with a strong atmosphere, attractive artwork and a story that gives me plenty of reasons to keep making different choices. I like the darker romance, branching endings and mystery surrounding Eve, even if the story can sometimes be too vague and the larger plot is clearly not finished yet. The fact that the Vincent route is available for free makes it much easier for me to recommend as something I can try without committing to the paid routes. It is not perfect, but there is enough here to make me interested in seeing where the wider story goes. Rating: 7/10