Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle

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

Very enjoyable game. Years ago I'd hoped to find something like this. Funny to see a dev from one of my favorite studio's happened to make it. Finished one playthrough and there's so much draw towards doing more. Fantastic title. Music and visuals are both great.

I liked most of it, but that ending is just such a pain in the ass. Need to either have very specific things to win it or start the whole thing over. Nah.

good

A modern version of the choose your own adventure gamebooks of old - it may seem overly simple at the start but give it time and it will reveal a well-crafted story.