Eldritch Academy

[h1]Finding romance while fighting off monsters... :o[/h1] [h2]Introduction[/h2] [i]Eldritch Academy[/i] is a yuri romance, paranormal thriller (with bits of horror) visual novel developed and published by Nightshade. You're Yue Ishikami, a student at Solana Academy, an all-girls boarding school in Japan. However, Solana Academy holds a dark, deep secret. One night, Yue is woken up to an emergency and learns that Kasumi, one of her classmates, has been attacked. Letting curiosity get the better of her, Yue heads to the scene of the crime along with her friends, Akomi, Cho, and Kagami. They discover stone petals, which attach to them and become their weapons as they discover that Solana's old dormitory had its seals removed and monsters are free. As Yue and her friends are the only ones who can fight the monsters, they're tasked with the job of protecting the academy. Are they up to the task? With the gameplay, choices are presented throughout the story. Early choices determine whether Yue can pursue romance with Akomi, Cho, or Kagami or is on the alone route. If Yue is on a romance route, then the choices made determine whether she gets the good ending or the nightmare …

I've read the author's Nightshade series so I decided to get the Eldritch VNs to support them. Unfortunately the first VN is a bit of a dud and it's all because of the MC, Yue. Sure, the MC of the Nightshade was a bit bland and simple but she was cute and enjoyable when she and her partner were developing their relationship. Yue however doesn't really develop at all during the story as she starts the plot kind of a jerk who avoids one of the few people who likes her like the plague, and ends that story treating her "friend" the same way, except she may have a girlfriend by the end of it which also doesn't really work. The romance kind of sucks, which is a shame cause I know this author for their slice of life romances. They followed the bad VN thing of mostly being the same only slight changes like Cho's would have manga and cosplay stuff and feeling left out cause of her appearance while Kagami would having gaming and upset that she was issues expressing herself. I know these sound different but if you play each route(while skipping the stuff you already read) you notice that these scenes feel the same. It's not til the epilogues where the author gives you a cute short story un…

Fun lil visual novel.

MC is genuinely unlikable, hates everyone who is just being nice to her, and doesn't deserve a relationship with any of them.

Neutral

Fun story about schoolgirls fighting supernatural creatures. While your choices, for the most part, won't effect the story outside the romance and it can be a bit tedious to get every ending, I genuinely loved the love interests and their relationships with Yue (Kagami was my fave). I would definitely recommend giving it a try if you're a fan of GxG romance. (: