All Ashes and Illusions
ebi-hime · 2022 · Visual Novel, Sexual Content, Dark, Anime, Psychological
PC
Positive95% · 41
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About All Ashes and Illusions
“Women are snakes and liars, all of them: the more beautiful, the more conniving. Don’t let your guard down, or they will ruin you.”
Yuel was only six years old when he witnessed his mother being put to death, for the heinous crime of daring to have an affair. For other women, such a folly mightn’t have been so lethal, but for Yuel’s ill-fated mother – the wife and queen of Indra’s tyrannical king, Khalil – it spelt her doom.
As he witnesses his mother’s corpse decomposing beneath the intense sunlight, Yuel’s father offers him some sage words of wisdom: namely, not to trust women. They are, in Khalil’s words, wicked and deceitful, and becoming too attached can end in nothing save disaster.
Outwardly, Yuel must swallow his sorrow, for fear of earning his father’s ire. Kings are not, after all, supposed to cry; even future kings such as him. In private, however, Yuel turns to his nursemaid, the kindly Safiya, for succour. Safiya is Yuel’s only ally in the palace: his father cold and distant; the servants deferential, brow-beaten, and kept silent through fear. Without Safiya, Yuel would be all alone...
Yet she, too, abandons him, when Yuel grows old enough to no longer need a nursemaid to tend to him.
Bereft and embittered, Yuel has nothing to look forward to, until – after a prolonged illness – his father eventually dies, and Yuel inherits the throne and the crown in his stead.
No longer a young boy – Safiya’s ‘little prince’ – but a grown man, Yuel plots to win Safiya over once more. Unable to forget about her, and unable to trust any other woman, Yuel cannot conceive of a life without her. She did promise to stay with him, after all – and, single-minded to a fault, Yuel is determined to see this promise fulfilled at any cost.
- About 90,000 words of text (approx 4-6 hours of reading)
- A kinetic story with no choices/branches
- Detailed background and character art
- A custom soundtrack
- A highly dysfunctional relationship
- Free patch that adds uncensored r18 content
- Complete and utter agony ❤︎
DLC & expansions
🎁 Complete the collection
Base game + 0 of 1 DLC at today's best prices (some DLC unpriced).
$12.99
to own everything
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
this is so peak, but higher peaks are to be seen, off to unluckily in love :D1 found this helpful
All Ashes and Illusions is a dark, very well-written VN full of complex and interesting characters. Tavi ended up being my favourite, and I also really liked Safiya. The art and soundtrack are stunning and really fit the story. I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it.
This is a very well-written VN, though it has the capability to make you feel very uncomfortable on purpose, which might not be ideal for everybody, as much as I enjoyed it. The story is very dark, but it also sets up a lot of information that is helpful for a read-through of other VNs that are directly or tangentially related to this story. [spoiler] I feel bad for Safiya, though I don't think this iteration of Yuel would have as interesting a relationship with Tavi if not for her. [/spoiler]
I was going to read All Scars and Starlight when the new content came out, but after seeing several reviews suggest reading All Ashes and Illusions first to get a better understanding, I'm glad I did. A very grim and dark story, where things just go from bad to worse. It's a change of pace from what I normally read, but I honestly really enjoyed it. Knowing the tone, I think was key going into this. I didn't expect a happy ending. [spoiler]Watching Yuel's innocent love for Safiya as a child turn into an obsession was sad to witness, but it made complete sense with his character. He was alone, and Safiya was the one constant positive from his childhood.[/spoiler] As a side note, having read other visual novels by Ebi-Hime with Yuel before, it was really interesting to me to see his origin, along with the other characters that tend to show up in these visual novels. Off to read All Scars and Starlight now!
The title of this Visual Novel is quite telling. The story is memorable, with believable, consistent characters. The art is great, the music is fitting and pleasant, and the setting was chosen well. While I cannot say that I have enjoyed said story, I do believe that was the point. Give this a read!
The most well-structured ebi-hime VN I've read, with the most stunning background art and gorgeous music from Yuzuki. It's a gloomy read, but there is some mordant humour. If you like Macbeth but wanted the characters to be prettier, look no further...
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