Demonheart

I bought Demonheart quite a while back on Steam when it was on sale. I tried it out immediately, but only played for about 15 minutes that first session because it was almost dinner time. I'm now up to about an hour after playing a bit yesterday (er, also right before dinner), so I thought I might as well do a write up now before I forget.

This is an otome-ish game, but you could also just call it a visual novel. It is definitely dark fantasy. I believe there are three possible romance-able LI options. You do have frequent choices to make which determines who your character is -- whether they are tactful, defiant, evil, or good. I'm not doing a walkthrough at all this first time through and so far I'm pretty squarely in the tactful side and tend towards good. Which, eh, that's pretty much how I play most games. It's why I always wind up the healer in my D&D group. Anyway.

You play a young woman named Bright. Her family is poor and she's looking for work. She has a fiancé but he's pretty obviously a jerk who doesn't treat her well and is probably cheating on her. She competes for a job with a witch/healer named Orchid in town and gets it, to her surprise. No surprise to the player though...two of the other applicants were nasty people and the third was another witch with a pretty obvious agenda.

She works there for a while and things seem to be going well, though there are some weird things, like a dead cat that isn't dead and visits from cultists. She also learns some things about demonspawn (half human, half demon, always male, and live forever) and demonhearts (humans who consume, I'm guessing, a demon's heart/flesh (where this comes from, uh, I dunno) and take on some characteristics of demons/demonspawn but who do age and die and are illegal/hunted). All very foreshadow-y, but Bright is just bobbing along in her life.

Then she finds out Orchid is pregnant, though her belly is growing awfully fast...then Orchid makes her a magical necklace and puts it on her, though Bright isn't sure why or what it does. And then Orchid cooks her a special "steak" dinner that makes Bright feel ill and pass out. All of these things appear to happen no matter what choices you pick. I did actually go back and re-try a few options because I wanted to see because, honestly, as a player I wouldn't have eaten that, nor would I have put on the necklace...

Anyway, she sends Bright away to visit her parents once she's eaten of the meal. But she makes her promise right before she goes that Bright will "take care of her son." And the next morning, the city guard is knocking on Bright's door saying she murdered Orchid and left her torn apart (i.e. like something burst out of her mid-section...dun dun dun). And, without a trial, they take her to be executed.

They go to the gallows and then suddenly she's in...hell? And there's a demon child there communicating with her through word puzzles? And that's where I am right now.

The graphics aren't amazing and feel kind of old school even though it's from 2017. But they're not bad. Just feel "80's" and are kind of grainy like the fantasy novels I read back then. That might be a conscious stylistic choice. I have no idea. I wouldn't say it bothers me, though a few of the character sprites aren't done very well. Like, Orchid is good, but the fiancé character is really odd looking. Organisation-wise, it's fine and easy to navigate. Simple interface.

I do like the alignment game mechanic where your choices do lead your character towards a path, though I'm not entirely sure yet what difference it makes in game play. I'm still very much in the intro portion and a lot of the things that happen seem like they'd HAVE to happen no matter what you pick. Like, you have to wind up working for Orchid. You have to eat the suspicious meal. You have to take the magical necklace. I'll have to try it as an evil and/or defiant character sometime and see if it makes a difference.

Will report back more after I've played farther. Still early days here. It might help when I get to the part where you're meeting up with your potential romance partners (which, I think, is Orchid's son (I guess demonspawn age at a much different rate...), the female witch that had ulterior motives, and some knightly dude I haven't even met yet).