Great! ❤️ – EPHEMERAL -The residents in the dark- Review

Alright, I was reading through several reviews and have noticed that people are saying the heroine, Cloé, is weak. However, I would like to argue otherwise—yes, she is naïve, and yes, she is stupid and clumsy. But it’s because of that that she is able to be so honest and pure, which is definitely a trait that’s prominent especially with Ray and Natsume. Plus, you have to take her background into account: she’s never had access to education, and she has never been allowed outside (this will be explored especially in Nagi’s route)—she was completely isolated for a good and rational reason. Alright, now, the story. The story is good and better than it may initially seem. On the surface, it’s about a girl named Cloé who suddenly receives an acceptance letter to a prestigious school and finds love there. However, the game explores themes other than love that are more serious or dark: jealousy, insecurity, discrimination by race, society, beauty. All of that are explored here, and when you mix it with love and cuteness, you have a great, engaging storyline that makes you want to read more. Plus, things you initially don’t know about Cloé’s background is covered nicely in Nagi’s route, so there are very little holes in regards to Cloé. In the character routes, I was genuinely surprised. First, you have Shiba, who loves to help other people out though he may be somewhat of an idiot himself sometimes. He is dealing with humiliation and insecurities, in short. Second, there’s Nagi, who I thought I would find boring because of all that “good student, prince-like” vibe, which isn’t usually my type, but then his route hit the feels right in me—meaning I cried in his route, though it’s not because of Nagi or Cloé necessarily, but like I said, Nagi’s route reveals the most about Cloé, and so many things from her past are explained there. Third, there’s Ray. I usually love vampires, but prideful or arrogant characters don’t normally appeal to me, so I wasn’t looking forward to him and was prepared to force myself to read through it. Yeah, no. Quite the opposite of what I thought, I really liked it: Ray is very cute in his own way, and sometimes the way Ray and Cloé interact make you smile because of how much their characters just clash. Plus, this route deals with beauty and insecurities that come with it. It’s a topic that I find may be relatable with girls—especially adolescent ones like myself, so I found Cloé most relatable in Ray’s route. And finally, Natsume. Oh, boy, Natsume. I was shocked in his route. He’s a rather complicated character despite his laziness and deliberate attempts to not get involved in anything, but he’s just not as easy to pin down. Despite his personality, he’s bottled up a lot of pain and hate inside of him, but this in turn makes him quite a dark character. However, despite his darkish character, I can’t hate him, even if I wanted to, I just can’t. He’s just too sweet and deserves all the love he can get. Also, the art is pure beauty. I have only read the first season, the ROMANCE part, so far, but the CG artwork is simply beautiful. As a whole on my favorite ROMANCE part CG set, I would personally rank it: Shiba (“best”) > Nagi > Natsume > Ray (“good”). The music was catchy too. I sometimes replay scenes just to listen to the music, admittedly, hahaha. Also, the gameplay is something you shouldn’t worry about—it’s simple and straightforward. I also like the points or pay system. With this, it’s completely possible to play the entire game for free (you get 35 points each day, and you can pay 40 points per episode), but you have the option of paying real money for character routes (getting access to all episodes at once), with $4.99 per character route, or paying for all of them with a nice discounted price of $12.99 (you save $4.99 x 4 = $19.96 – $12.99 = $6.97, which is a $6.97/$19.96 = 35% discount; that’s pretty darn good). The grammar could use some work, but it’s not so bad that you won’t know what they’re saying or thinking. It’s something you can easily overlook unless you’re a grammar nazi. However, the grammar shouldn’t be the one thing that stops you—the story is honestly great and outweighs the small grammar errors they make. I just wish they made one more route or two... that mummy, Robin, is my favorite side character, and I think he deserves more spotlight than he gets in the game, hahaha.
Review by MewLettuce-san on EPHEMERAL -The residents in the dark-.