Jishogi

A really solid hidden gem of a game. The art is really charming, the puzzles are solid, and the writing really brings a good human element to it. There are some mechanics that are a bit rough around the edges but nothing you wouldn't expect from a standard RPGMaker game. The game does a really good job of giving you a character with her own personality (rather than a blank self insert) while also letting you feel like you you have agency. Since most of her personality is represented by her various thoughts and her past (and which thoughts she listened to), you can still get input from them while still making your own choices. [spoiler] In fact learning when not to listen to them seems to be one of the major themes. [/spoiler] The story does a really good job of showing the flaws in both characters and systems. From a society that chooses not to believe and brush off victims in favor of not disrupting the status quo. [spoiler] As well as giving you a protagonist that isn't fully justified but more vindictive and vengeful. And since you can see into their minds, you get that extra human element of characters having thoughts that you know are wrong and shouldn't listen to, as well as cringe fantasies where everyone claps at how right they are. [/spoiler] Big Spoilers ahead: [spoiler] The biggest issue I have with the game is that the endings feel like a bit of a wasted opportunity. They allude to things like losing memories, losing your mind, or the two of you melting minds together. None of these really happen despite there being "7" endings outside a couple. Most of them are just small variations on whether you go your separate ways, make up, and how much sexual violence you inflict on Fifield in the process. And most of the bad ends just feel kind of gratuitous which isn't a problem but there is an unlockable dev room incentive for getting all of them. [/spoiler]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hell

Fun puzzle thing. Cool story

[b]"because, you stupid ♥♥♥♥♥, you're weird"[/b] ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹🖤 🟩 decent story 🔷 that can get kinda really ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up 🔴 puzzles not my type [b]vibes:[/b] toxic [b]loops:[/b] story sections gatekept by piece capturing puzzles [b]ramblings:[/b] music is great, i love the sorta old school pc98-esque vibes to the style and everything. unfortunately i just did not like the puzzle system, i don't think they were badly designed or anything, and the narrative reason for their existence was fine. it just wasn't a style of puzzle that clicked with me or i found interesting. so i'm fairly glad that there was a way to just skip them because otherwise i would have absolutely dropped this and missed out on a good story game because there were a lot of puzzles. there was kind of a lot of infodumpy worldbuilding lore put in books too, i presume, i can't read. the stand out of this for me was the story's writing, it's strong, the two main characters are well developed, their dynamic and relationships. they're absolutely awful (complimentary). [b]verdicts:[/b] i like it, though i skipped the puzzles so [b]scores:[/b] 🎭 out of ♟️ https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3595647242

Its a puzzle game. The puzzles are quite good and some of them made me rack my brain a little. The main highlight is the story though, absolutely loved the main characters. Plenty of endings to go with too. Hope to see more from this dev.

Very underrated (There is no puzzle skip button)

A quick note before we begin: [i]Jishogi[/i] is NOT a horror rpg game like [i]Mad Father[/i] or [i]Ib[/i]. While the game does present dark themes, these themes are not used in a way that is meant to scare players in a traditional sense. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [i]Jishogi[/i] is an interesting game. The problem with [i]Jishogi[/i] is that it's trying to cater to two types of audiences that don't (in my opinion) mesh well together. The gameplay centers around chess and shogi. For the unaware, shogi is a Japanese game that like chess, is held at a competitive level. You DO NOT need to know how to play shogi in order to play this game. While it would be helpful, the gameplay itself does not require you to know the ins and outs of either shogi OR chess. You basically just click on pieces and send them in the direction that the arrow is pointing. Your goal is to capture all pieces on the other side. It's a pretty simple concept but can get VERY challenging later on, ESPECIALLY in the second half of the game. And it's this challenge that makes [i]Jishogi[/i] seem jarring compared to its Visual Novel aesthetic. Cause you see, [i]Jishogi[/i] is both part strategy and part Visual Novel. The story of [i]Jishogi[/i] (in my opinion) is its strongest point. I really enjoyed the story. And while I did appreciate the gameplay, the complexity of the puzzles and the way they functioned just didn't work for me (and I assume the same goes for many others). If you're a VN player and just want to enjoy the story, then unfortunately you're gonna have to play the puzzles. If your a hardcore strategist, then you may not be interested in the story at all. Just to clarify, I am NOT saying that strategy and VN's don't work well together. What I am saying is that the difficulty of the game is a such a large curve that it can hamper the experience for some players. (And yes there is an easy mode, though even easy mode can still be quite challenging at times). This difficulty also presents some pacing problems as one moment, you're learning about something important and then the next, you’re stuck on a puzzle for 2 hours just trying to capture another piece. Compare this to other rpg maker games, where at least the gameplay feels more interactive with the story. Like when your character has to move places or interact with the environment in order to solve puzzles as seen in games such as [i]OneShot[/i] or [i]To the Moon[/i]. Although shogi and chess are thematically part of this game, the gameplay itself does not lend to a more interactive experience with the characters. Like I think it would've been cool if there was something that tied both shogi and chess together. [spoiler]Maybe a showdown between Mayu and Fifield using their representative games? Don't know how that would work but just a suggestion.[/spoiler] Thankfully, there is a skip feature that allows for players like me to enjoy the story without the stress of the gameplay and I am grateful that the developer decided to leave this in. Speaking of story, I find it to be very well written. It is a bit confusing at first but when things are finally revealed, it feels very satisfying. Although the plot feels a bit contrived in the way its presented, the characters themselves feel like very real people. They have relatable flaws and weaknesses but also many strengths. Ultimately, the themes of selfishness, morality, choices, and forgiveness are at the center of this game and are all messily tied (in a good way) at the ending. One gripe I did have with the storytelling though is that much of the lore presented in this game is unfortunately told in long winded word exposition you find in books. While I don't hate this kind of "encyclopedia" storytelling, I'd much rather experience the lore though the characters and story rather than having it spelled out for me in writing. Some of the exposition seems unnecessary and makes the books feel very wordy and otherwise bloated. You could probably cut out half of it and you still wouldn't miss much. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All in all, you’re probably wondering, do I recommend this game? And my answer to that is... it depends. Because in all seriousness, [i]Jishogi[/i] truly is unique in the world of rpg maker games. I can't think of a single game that replicates the style of gameplay seen in this one. The closest games I could say that are "vaguely" similar would be [i]OneShot[/i] (or any rpg maker puzzle game in terms of style). And even then I'm stretching it a bit. So, if you like traditional rpg maker puzzle games then yes, I would recommend, but I say this VERY lightly. As the challenging nature of the gameplay may turn players away. On the other hand, if you like strategy games like chess or shogi (or similar) then yeah I'd recommend it. The story would just be supplemental regardless of whether you like it or not. Just a note, despite my review of the game, I can definitely tell that the creator put a lot of love and hard work into this. I’ve quite enjoyed my time with it so here’s my final say. Keeping what I said in mind earlier, I’d definitely recommend at least giving it a try if you like any aspect of rpg maker games or strategy/puzzle games in general. You might vibe with it, you might not, but for the price it’s not too bad and who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised in the end. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [i]I hate this game we play, but I still play it[/i] ~ Fifield

Welcome to the [spoiler] Tsundere [/spoiler] Witch got me acting unwise. club, how [spoiler] Tsundere [/spoiler] Witch got me acting unwise. are ya? Learned of the game from a ManlyBadassHero video. Amazing world building, I really liked digging into the witches knowledge library learning about the spells of that world. Its pretty hard to get me to actually want to read everything in a game. Puzzles are really cool, the underwater weaving and !!!pensive wind!!! musics carried me through those puzzles but the endgame puzzle music was a bit stinky.

I LOVE MY TOXIC YURI but fifield is genuinely a horrible person bruh