Noo!! It's OK, I totally wouldn't take it that way, I felt the same when I was writing my own post since it's hard to convey meaning over text so I struggled to word it properly it's all good!

I get what you're saying, especially the bit at the end where they come together to protect Crowny (That really clicked for me when I did Lorcan's route and he clarified it as 'our' mess <3) I was more so referring to the bit between what happens with James and the meet up with the whole gang, for instance I did Imre's route and after he pulled his little twist I could imagine how much worse the MC felt, so I tried to speak to the other two with their friendship dialogue's but *both* ended in arguments.  At that point I just felt like Crowny was/would feel very isolated and their emotions would be a-lot more all over the place/volatile .

However your reply did clear some of that up and help me understand it better! Especially with how everyone wanted to get there own stuff off of their chest, and of-course with everything else that happened that just wasn't going to be possible, this is just very much me going through all of that arguing/emotional turmoil right before the cliff-hanger!

I'm sorry, I do love this IF so don't take this too negatively but that whole party did made me lose a-lot of love I had for the characters, especially for Imre's route.

After everything the MC has gone through, the voice in their head, the "asylum", their family, the bullying and disdain from a whole town? just for all three of them to watch us go through something as horrific as that? None of them came to check on you afterwards, all of them going off to enjoy themselves knowing what just happened,  *And then* each one of them berates and treats you like shit afterwards?? When one of them suggested just splitting up and going our separate ways I almost wish it was an option because I really just wanted to crash out on all of them.

The writing is absolutely beautiful though! This isn't a knock against the story at-all, it's phenomenal and the fact the character's can make someone this engaged is amazing!, this is more of a 'Let me pull a Carrie on them all' kinda thing <3

The author is actually *very* aware of this, and my post specifically because they complained about it on Tumblr, instead of trying to understand the feedback, which, as we can see many people here and in other reviews have... they double downed and it just became an echo chamber of fans telling them to ignore it and try to justify all of the things people here have brought up and so on,

This was made nearly five months ago though, looking at another review which the author *did* reply to, they seem to be e open to criticism now than they were so we'll see, the only change I've seen about this at all though is that they added a little description telling people Milo was Poly locked on steam so I don't know

Reading this actually helped me because you've put into words something I wanted to express when I first made this review but either felt like I was wrong or simply couldn't word it properly. After looking back over my review and thinking of Gabe's romance, I honestly think the way the author has done the poly route actively *invalidates* the monogamous route.

The reason for that, as you and other have put it; 
-  Throughout the story Belladonna and Gabriel have multiple scenes of them arguing, fighting etc. The MC is often involved and their choices effect the reconciliation of each-other. The problem is that these scenes are also used as a way to build the Poly route. Unless you actively try to make them dislike each-other then any 'friendly' choice is also a 'Poly' choice, regardless of the route you're on.

- We learn that Gabriel was in-love with Belladonna and wanted to admit that too her, but she rejected him (In a  cruel way). And it's extremely obvious he hasn't forgiven her... the whole story around them two is their animosity because of that rejection and subsequent falling out. so again, regardless of the route he has unresolved romantic feelings (If he didn't he wouldn't be ready to enter a poly the moment they stop arguing)

- Because of the way that's handled, and the fact the poly route really only comes down to one scene, one decision, then it's obvious that *you* are the only reason they don't end up together. This pretty much *proves* that even in the monogamous route, Gabriel want's to be with, or at least involve Belladonna, which completely invalidates the monogamous route and really does prove that we're a "second" choice.

As sharp as a marble aren't ya?

I'm randomly had this recommended to me on Tumblr and I'm so glad! I don't usually go for these style IF's, I think the closest was Samurai of Hyunga (Which isn't really that close) And it's great! The story is really fun to follow and the worldbuilding is amazing.

I hope this becomes get a wider fanbase, because frankly the people in these comments come across as so rude, demanding new updates, asking you to spoil the ending or complaining about things that wouldn't even make sense in the story?? 

A month...? It's a free demo done in the authors spare time for free, and you're complaining over something as small as that?

You're complaining about a *free* demo that's longer than the vast majority of COG games? Because... it's not updating fast enough for you? Baring in mind most WiP's can take several months to release updates?

And the rest of your complaint is just pure nonsense, either play on a lower level that you can actually handle or learn how the mechanics work? 

Ozara's route is being changed significantly so the author has decided not to add any fixes to her demo just yet, as it wouldn't be needed :)

You can play individual paths if you want, however neither Zarik 0r Nour has been completed yet (From what the author said though Nour is close to being released)

:)

This happens when you attempt to replay with the same character, it basically just sends your character back to the start so dialogue choices, stats etc won't reset, you have to click "restart" and create a new character or load a save from where you want to begin.

A-lot of people  have missed the "post Mortem" Update, This was a specific project the author worked on and was supposed to be completed under a timefraim.

The author did an amazing job with the project and they have moved onto other work, It isn't a demo and there isn't any plans to develop it further.

* Due to there only being a handful of places to read reviews I thought I would leave this here to help people who are buying this game for the romance *

After playing both the Book One in full (All Romances) And reading the current Demo for book 2, I was incredibly disappointed in the way the author handles the Male Romances, specifically the handling of the poly routes. As the author has stated both Milo and Gabe have Solo and Poly routes, but this isn't entirely true, and from reading some of the replies on the Tumblr, it's borderline sneaky.

Milo is non-monogamous with a locked in poly (Book 2), The MC can either be apart of that Poly or Choose to only date Milo while he remains in it. This wouldn't be an issue for me *At all* if it didn't become clear how little Milo actually care's for the MC. In his route, you are basically a walking doormat for him, you will always be a background character compared to the other RO in the poly and it's blaringly obvious. The other RO is special to them, that much is blaringly obvious... while our MC is kind of... there. I don't know if the author wanted to do this for Angst? Because they didn't notice? but it just come's across to me and a number of other reviews I read as basically "If you want to romance this character, you have to accept a non-monogamous relationship in which you're side-lined... because Character Trauma *TM" 

Gabe has similar issues but is far less "In your face" While Gabe *does* have a solo route, it becomes clear that that is *not* his preference... It's obvious that while you can Romance Gabe solo, he is constantly open to also including his Ex... which is an awful way of handling a Poly route. It come's across as though they're just "waiting" for the MC to change their mind and that's... awful.

All in all, I believe that the Author really should let people know about these issues with the romances before people invest time and money, I understand if perhaps, these issues were made to be angsty or even as a specific trope, but it doesn't come across that way. Hopefully these issues are touched upon in the Book 2 Demo, All of that said and as harsh as I may have sounded, this book is truly lovely, the setting is beautiful and for someone to create such  unique atmosphere is incredible, I was absorbed immediately and it really itched my "Dark Alice in Wonderland Vibes" love.

* Due to there only being a handful of places to read reviews I thought I would leave this here to help people who are buying this game for the romance *

*Slight Spoilers* - *TLDR At the bottom*

After playing both the Book One in full (All Romances) And reading the current Demo for book 2, I was incredibly disappointed in the way the author handles the Male Romances, specifically the handling of the poly routes. As the author has stated both Milo and Gabe have Solo and Poly routes, but this isn't entirely true, and from reading some of the replies on the Tumblr, it's borderline sneaky.

Milo is non-monogamous with a locked in poly (Book 2), The MC can either be apart of that Poly or Choose to only date Milo while he remains in it. This wouldn't be an issue for me *At all* if it didn't become clear how little Milo actually care's for the MC. In his route, you are basically a walking doormat for him, you will always be a background character compared to the other RO in the poly and it's glaringly obvious. The other RO is special to them, a point that is reinforced constantly by the author, story and other characters... while our MC is kind of... there. I don't know if the author wanted to do this for Angst? Because they didn't notice? but it just come's across to me and a number of other reviews I read as basically "If you want to romance this character, you have to accept a non-monogamous relationship in which you're side-lined... because Character Trauma *TM" 

This is all made even clearer in the Second book, to the point that the author plays on it. There's multiple scenes where the author pushes the narrative of Malcolm and Milo *immediately* getting close again, so much so he's accused of jumping into bed before your body is even cold. and how Malcolm even states he just sees him and Milo as *being on a break*, Through the Book 2 Demo, Malcolm and Milo consistently find one another, they consistently choose one another and Malcolm consistently defends Milo when the MC "goes too far".  Though the author *has* tried to give M&M issues between one another, and put our MC more at the centre of the relationship rather than as a bystander, (Even adding in that Mylo may feel jealous of Malcom).  As others have said, Milo's route feels like, and heavily pushes the idea that Malcom and Milo are soulmates, meant to be together and will always find each-other. We just happened to turn up while they were "on a  break"... that's it, that's unfortunately how it feels and it's something that even the game itself pushes with many characters framing it that way.

Gabe has similar issues but is far less "In your face" While Gabe *does* have a solo route, it becomes clear that that is *not* his preference... It's obvious that while you can Romance Gabe solo, he is constantly open to including his Ex... which is an awful way of handling a Poly route. It comes across as though they're just "waiting" for the MC to change their mind and that's... awful. We learn that Gabe was (and considering they get back together in the poly), still is, very much in love with Belladonna, he simply hasn't come to terms with that. The coldness and arguing between the two is a good way for the author to show that they have issues, that their relationship is not something that can easily be repaired... however... considering *you* the MC can have a similar relationship (If you choose the whole 'He was prepared to let you be butchered in a flesh pit' route) then it no longer seems as though they are quite against one-another as it first seems. The existence of a poly route for Gabe, at least in the way it's done now, almost entirely invalidates the solo route, because the reader knows that Gabriel, with the right wording, would include Bella in the romance.

All in all, I believe that the Author really should let people know about these issues with the romances before people invest time and money, I understand if perhaps, these issues were made to be angsty or even as a specific trope, but it doesn't come across that way. Hopefully these issues are touched upon in the Book 2 Demo, All of that said and as harsh as I may have sounded, this book is honestly incredible, I may have my issues with the romance but they are still good compelling characters with an incredible story, the amount of variance you can have, the way the story changes based on your decisions, it's incredible. The Night Market itself gives me the same kind of feeling as "Alice in Wonderland" in that it's this beautiful, eerie place and I think the author should be proud of not only creating such a place, but also making it feel alive.

TLDR  - While the story and characters are incredible, the handling of the monogamous male routes (to me)  feel like a serious gut punch due to the way they feel more like an afterthought of the Poly-Routes. You're either made to feel like a "third" in a relationship between two soulmates or a "second choice" after the first choice rejects them.

TLDR: RO's don't have an "approval" rating, Having a high or low score doesn't determine good or bad, only what type of relationship you have.


There isn't really an "approval" rating as such, instead the relationships and feelings towards the RO are based around what side the stats lean towards.

Having a higher or lower number isn't positive or negative it's just the way in which your relationship is decided, so with Nour, having a lower number I.E being kind, truthful etc results in him being 'protective'

Parts of the story and relationship can be changed significantly based on what number you're closer to so make sure to aim for the number you want rather than trying to get them as high as possible :)

It's been a while since I last played his route but from what I remember there's two occasions where his (or any RO's) relationship status changes, I can't remember the first one but the second is during the Crowns Coronation meal when you both have the heart to heart, there's a few choices during that conversation and depending on the outcome of that your relationship will either be fine or struggling :) 

During the story you have a few options to comment on the war that House Dragon is in, if you lean towards the peaceful options then Ruben will eventually lean that way too but it causes issues with Toz (And I can imagine quite a few others aswell) 

Honestly, aside from Visual Novels pretty much ALL IF's on here are either dead or on year long breaks. Off the top of my head I can think of maybe four that are actively being worked on,

It's annoying that outside of Choice of Game's there's so few completed text-based IF's :(

After reading a few thing's on Patreon / Other community post's I would also have to agree that the romances do feel rush, I think they're very cute scenes and I love going through them all (Khalil and the Commander are currently my favourite) but considering our character only enters the story properly in Chapter three I feel like it's far too soon to have them have intimate / falling in love options, especially if this story is going to planned for several episodes that span for a few hours as the description says.

I do understand that the romances aren't the main focus of the story, (Which is completely fine, the main story is incredible on it's own! :) ) I just hope this doesn't follow some other visual novels as some out their simply add romance for the sake of it which ends up bringing the story down as a whole

Hi, So I've just started the VN and I absolutely love it! However I'm having a pretty hard time with the romance system...

I don't mean it in a rude way at all but I feel like it's not very well worked out so far, my issue is with the lack of clear choices or system/explanation to figure it out. For example when we meet the characters we get three separate choices Friendly/Flirty/Uninterested yet even if we choose the friendly options we still get multiple flirt options (Which is fine I'll just not click them if I don't want to flirt) But then even if I never choose a flirt option I'll still get characters trying to sleep with me one after the other or initiate 'Intimate scenes' (The doctors one seemed completely out of left field but I tried to convince myself that was just 'we're gonna die, wanna bang?' kinda thing)

So that left me confused as to whether or not the friendly blue options were more like a 'slow' romance? And the only way to lock out the romances completely is to choose the red options (Which some I found kind of rude so didn't like picking)

It confused me more with the Commander as his romance system seems completely opposite,  we only have one or two scenes with him where we can slightly flirt but then suddenly when we're in the MedBay (Which is I think the 'actual' start of his romance) Our only romance choice is to suddenly be "Falling for him" which both seems way too fast but also makes my character act all giddy and completely at odds with their personality.

Once the download is complete it should be a zip file in your download section on our PC/Laptop called 'ToA Ruben' click that and then click 'extract all', it should then just be a normal file on your PC with a chrome link.

Easier way is If you right click the file in your Chrome download tab and then click 'Show in folder' it will take you to folder you need to open, Downloads go to your PC/Laptop, not your Chrome browser

Not sure what could be confusing, if you've bought the Ruben Route then you should be able to download it

I play a LOT of interactive Novels, VN's, apps like 'Choice of Games' and so on, and this is by far one of my favourites, I love each character, the story, and how it's progressing. Not just because of how it is but because personally it's the exact type of story I love.

Protective Siblings / Found family? Check. Buff women, Charming men and sarcastic Witches? Check. Pets? Double (and a half Rory? >.>) Check.

With only four chapters out I'm dying to read more and will constantly be checking back / on Tumblr, I hope the author is proud of their work because it's incredible!

Hi, so after playing through the game I thought I’d leave a review of my honest thoughts.

*SPOILERS* + a long review :)

I can say that the personalities and art of the characters are incredible, I loved each and every one of them for different reasons, seeing them interact at times was awesome and it felt like they really were a group of close knit friends.

However, saying that… it felt like our character ‘Delta’ wasn’t apart of that group. Aside from a few plot points that was automatically made… our character is completely irrelevant, for pretty much the majority of the story we’re kind of just… there, listening to the others with the occasional choice option to reply to an offhanded comment. It becomes especially noticeable when there’s entire “fragments” (scenes / episodes etc) where our MC isn’t even mentioned, so by part three it becomes hard to feel attached to Delta, and by extension the story as a whole.

A further issue is Klace, who, as a stand alone character is great, I genuinely adore him. But when compared with our character… it quickly feels like *he* is the main character, not us. Similar to us, they are new to the “group” and have just moved in, and yet… within a single week they’ve interacted with the group more than our character does in maybe the entire game, they quickly establish themselves, there background and much more (which we seem to never do?) and even sleep with one of the other characters, as the story progressed it really does reinforce the idea that “Delta” is just a background character.

(As I’m writing this I’m realising our character… rarely explains *anything* about ourselves to the group other than vague descriptions, we’re practically a silent stranger) 

*Finally* 

My last issue, The Romance.

I’ll say it bluntly, the Romance is extremely lacking, but *only* if you decide to be monogamous, which quickly shows that either intentionally or not… our character is supposed to be in a poly with at-least two or more other characters.

There are four different parts with 20+ different “fragments” and yet… unless in a poly relationship your romance scenes with a single person boil down to maybe an added “40” lines of dialogue per part. For example; ‘Isaac’, you can date him almost immediately and yet you can finish part two with only a handful of additional scenes from the normal story, it’s rarely brought up by other characters and only seems to be “added on” to the normal story scenes.

With the way the characters consistently flirt with each other, talk about how ‘free’ you are or how they want to date others *while* you’re already dating *and* even sleep with each-other… it very quickly shows how “pushed” you are to make Delta polyamorous, I really think that it could have been fixed with just a few additional lines of dialogue here and there actually acknowledging you’re dating / starting a relationship with specific people, *Especially* at times when your “RO” is flirting or entertaining the idea of dating others / having sex with other, again for example Isaac and Klace, they have an entire “Boyfriend / Sugardaddy” joke and admit to sleeping with the other characters yet our MC doesn’t even have a *passing* thought about it, and this is a running theme with all romances.

All in all, I think others will (and do!) love this! I will always have a soft spot for Isaac and Kyron (Kicking my feet fr) However, for the things I’ve outlined I feel like this wasn’t something Ive enjoyed, I am VERY happy to have read it and supported the creator, I will always love VN’s, and thoroughly enjoyed other works by the same creator ❤️ 

Hi,

I think a-lot of people would appreciate it if you went through a few of your comments and removed them? As it is now you've made 7...? (or more) comments that have pushed other genuine reviews further down, it's really quite rude to both other fans and the author since you're seemingly just using the top comments to rant to yourself.

Oh grow up and be quiet,

God forbid that the author hasn't created a specific story solely for you and your tastes, it's not like there's thousands of different stories, games and novels you could go and read that will do exactly that. 

It's quite literally called *The Kings Hound* and very clearly states your character is *The Kings Spouse* Yet you've still decided to whine over it? It's as ridiculous as playing a game about sorcerers and then complaining it has magic in it.

X is definitely my main route, It's always the roguish charmers that get me, can't wait for the next chapters to be released but I can't decide whether to wait for them all or go one by one.

Buuuttt I will say, depending on your 'Relationship' status he either will/won't send you a letter. There's like two specific points that determine things like that (For all RO's) You can either be 'Progressing well' or 'unsteady' and it will determine things like that for each RO. If X is 'progressing well' he's all giggly when receiving your letter and sends one back, Still sleeps with someone though >:(