Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle

Vanillaware magic finally on PC. This digital gamebook is filled with soulful art, fantasy and rolling the dice. Remember to save, because you will die! Hitoshi Sakimoto, who is responsible for many of Vanillaware's game soundtracks, also shines here and helps create the perfect mood for an adventure. If you enjoy light reading, decision-making, and are brave enough to enter the dark castle, this game is for you! It's a shame we never got an English translation for Dragon's Crown: Treasure of Demon Island, as it is very similar to this game.

68/100 Not [b] Positive [/b] but a [b] Mixed [/b] review. Finished the game while playing Paneri the Mage. Personally I was looking forward to a deep 'create-your-own-adventure' game but instead it's an absolute fever dream of a story with decision making that doesn't matter in 90% of cases or alternatively forced deaths ("Return to Page 14") Almost wanted to give this a [b] Negative [/b] review but the artstyle, music and attention to details are good enough to pass as [b] Mixed [/b]. [h2] The good [/h2] + Artstyle sticks out positively immediately + Music is decent + Voice acting is good enough + Performance is flawless + Many rewards and secret items to find, purchase or loot + Healthy balance when it comes to combat with many options to choose from [h2] The bad [/h2] - No ingame options such as skipping already seen text or changing text speed - The game presents itself as a deep RPG with meaningful decision making but unfortunately the vast majority of decisions are in reality: "Option 1 = Continue Adventure or Option 2 = Die and Reload Save" - Sorry, but the main story once you reach the Dark Castle makes little to no sense going forward, even if you exhaust all dialogues …

wonderful artistry all around. i loved the world of veritas tales and i hope nishimura is able to continue this wonderful story

I played this game in Japanese for language practice. I'd recommend it to anyone at upper-intermediate level or above! There's no furigana (although some difficult words are written out for you in hiragana), and some of the kanji are obscure, but I loved the charming writing and had no issue making my way through the game before rolling credits as Paneri. As Nishimura-sensei had hoped, I'm glad this game granted me some bonus experience on my language adventure! The illustrations, classic-although-short Sakimoto soundtrack, and evocative writing really drew me in (although, as above, I can't speak for the English translation). The various choices are interesting and fun, and I found myself reloading again and again to try to find the best way to solve each room. The game does feel exactly like playing a gamebook with your wizard grandpa! Fans of tabletop games, Choose Your Own Adventure / Lone Wolf style gamebooks, OR point-and-click adventures (Shadowgate / Deja Vu / Uninvited, Monkey Island, Myst, etc) should get this game. Same if you loved the storytelling in 13 Sentinels, which I'd say is the closest of the Vanillaware games to this one. Note: you must enjoy reading and be …

I really enjoyed reading the story and all the surprises it entailed.

Love this adventure book game! The characters are nice and the art is very nice and fitting, combat is nice too. I need a sequel that is longer with more weapons! EDIT: Now finishing both routes! What a story, what twists and turns! And that sequelbait! I want a sequel!!! I want the new Havelock and Paneri's adventure!!