Winter With You

Winter With You is not a game, it's an e-book that's been dumped on Steam masquerading as a game. As a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature any notable gameplay, it's just a lot of clicking through badly written dialogue that would never have been accepted or published in print, which poses the question, "How did something this badly written end up on Steam?". When someone hoping to become an author is unable to get published in print, they spend $100 and dump their high school fan-fiction onto Steam, under the guise of a game. This one has a "christmas" theme and a bunch of the developers imaginary waifu's that he dates in his fan fiction, or whatever... these things are always written like trash fan fictions, this is no exception. The images are all asset flipped/construction kit hack jobs slapped together with Live2D/cubism, so no actual artistry was conducted by the "author" here. Visual novels/e-books are tedious at best... imagine the best novel you ever read, be that Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or 2001: A Space Odyssey or Twilight (if you have terrible taste in literature), but then translate that to a format where the words dribble out and you have to cl…

Read this same story before in another visual novel and didn't like it then either. [h1]Pros[/h1] + Animated sprites + Nice background art [h1]Cons[/h1] - Incoherent, unlikable story [b]Final verdict:[/b] ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆★★ 2/10 - Awful I was searching for Christmas-themed visual novels to read during this season and Winter With You appeared among the results. I was puzzled because the images on the Store page looked highly familiar and I could have sworn I had already read through this, but there was no review from me so this couldn't have been the case. I was curious and decided to get this one. The story began simple enough, a saddened young man, Naoki, encountered a cheerful street musician Yume on Christmas and took her to dinner. They got along and he complained about his girlfriend, Miyuki, to him as he believed she was cheating on him. Around this time I realized I had absolutely read this story before, but it had been in another visual novel. The developer used to have another visual novel called Crystal Winter on Steam, which they had published under the name “Izimov A.”. Looking into it, Crystal Winter was released in December 2022 while Winter With Yo…

https://youtu.be/iAZ1YLqYL7o Stumble upon a random woman and take her to dinner after negging how she plays the guitar is a perfect way to ruin someone's holidays.

Winter With You is a quaint novel. It was really short and is fully kinetic. I thought the artwork looked nice and the minor animations in the sprites was a nice touch. I especially loved the Russian voice acting which was fun to listen to. The English was a fair bit botch but not so bad that it doesnt convey what the dev was trying to say. I look forward to seeing how the dev improves in their later novels. Overall its a nice short read that I feel people should give a chance.

Paid $1 got what I paid for. Also Russian Voice acting

Winter With You, developed and published by Aleksey Izimov, is a quiet, introspective visual novel that builds its entire experience around a single night shaped by disappointment, chance, and emotional rediscovery. Rather than aiming for a sprawling narrative or complex branching paths, the game narrows its focus to a deeply personal moment in the protagonist’s life, using that constraint to create a more intimate and reflective story. It opens with a sudden emotional setback that immediately grounds the tone, shifting expectations from something warm and celebratory into something far more subdued and contemplative. From there, the story unfolds in a largely linear, kinetic format, meaning the player’s role is primarily to observe rather than influence. This design choice removes the usual emphasis on decision-making found in many visual novels, replacing it with a carefully paced narrative that prioritizes mood and consistency. While this may feel limiting to those who expect branching outcomes or multiple endings, it allows the game to maintain a steady emotional rhythm, guiding the player through a cohesive arc without interruption. The result is an experience that feels more…