Your Crown Is Mine

Fun game especially in the first act. The only real gripe I have with the game is the second and third act feel a bit rushed. The first act is a lot longer and feels more flushed out that act two and three. In every playthrough I've done Act one takes more time than Acts two and three combined. They're still enjoyable acts I just wish there was more content in the later two acts.

There is yuri in it. That makes it good already.

I think this is a pretty good small visual novel, albeit not for the asking price. It's a proper otome villainess game, where you take the place of the antagonist in a web of royal intrigue and romance, with kingdom management elements on the side. I think one could criticize it for not delving deeply enough into the romance or management aspects, both of which I wish were more fleshed out. The game introduces its concepts pretty quickly; you're a stereotypically 'villain' coded girl who is quite literally cuckolded out of power, and through the power of spite plan to regain your power and potentially your romantic dignity as well. The first half of the game is dedicated to attempting to win succession in the elective monarchy, with heavy emphasis on raising sim elements like training your stats and raising your relationships with others, while the back half focuses on kingdom management and rounding out the romance. There are only four options for romance, two men and two women. Neither man interested me (One I was actively trying to destroy, the other was just a little too vanilla), but both women were intriguing, although one much more than the other. I get the feeling the creator probably played favorites, but that's okay by me. The game handles intrigue quite well, it keeps you guessing on who you can trust until just about the last possible second. The romance itself leaves a little to be desired, mainly because of the game's limited dialogue and runtime I think. There also isn't an appreciably long enough payoff after entering your relationship, I feel. Things end very quickly after getting together. Despite that, I feel pretty satisfied with the "villainess x villainess" relationship. I really appreciate how the game essentially forces you to take part in shady activities and act in many ways indistinguishable from a villain in order to succeed properly, and your love interest reflects that in a way. She appears quite obviously evil, and yet she mirrors you in a lot of ways. Depending on how you play, it COULD be that you are planning to do good through shady methods, or that you are just shady and evil, but no one could tell either way just looking at you from the outside: She is the same way, and it's impossible to tell whether she's benevolent or malicious until the end. The answer surprised me in a way that cemented the character as more complex and interesting than quite a lot of her competitors in the VN space. I didn't do the other routes; the heroine is also quite interesting as a character but a big turnoff for my personal tastes. As for the kingdom management, it was disappointing. The majority of it are very repetitive events, and a good half of the kingdom stats never seem to come up or do anything. The game sets up an interesting internal and external political situation, and asks some interesting questions, but your ability to follow through is very limited. This game doesn't directly compare itself to Long Live The Queen, but at least in my mind, the legacy of that game looms large over any life sim/raising sim with similar themes, so it's impossible to avoid comparison. I would say that this game certainly has better romance. I was lucky enough to stumble into the yuri route on my first (successful) playthrough of Long Live The Queen, but it is certainly mute, and you barely share more than two conversations with the girl; most love interests there are the same. This game has more going on in that department. But the gameplay is not nearly so complex or fun, in either the raising sim aspects or the kingdom management aspects. Ultimately I think it's a good game, and I don't really regret having bought it on sale, but I would say that the asking price is pretty damn high for what it's offering. I recommend getting it on sale if you like this type of game.