The game isn’t flawless, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. The plot is good, the sword is snarky, the save system is a very nice addition (although I managed not to die a single time). Characters are hit and miss, unfortunately; some are bland and some have a decent depth. I would say the weakest points are romances (it felt like they were added just to… be there; no development at all) and end/epilogue (both felt rushed, short and anticlimactic). Despite all that criticism, it was a nice read.

After replaying the game I've changed my mind and can no longer recommend this game. I've realized that none of your choices actually matter. The end just falls apart entirely - to the point where you can click whichever option you want and it magically works, even if you haven't worked on that skill at all. In the end, this is a great game that was rushed out too quickly.
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Original review:
This is a very tentative recommendation.

I was a pretty big fan of this game up until chapter 11 when the story sort of gives up and just throws a disappointing victory at you. The rest of the game has (moderately) interesting characters and actually pretty good dialogue, but instead of ending with a bang it ends with a splat. It seems like the author had a deadline rapidly approaching and threw together a hasty, unsatisfying conclusion with barely an epilogue - and the epilogue is perhaps the most important part of a choice game in my opinion.

Still, the rest of the game is good enough that I would recommend it for $5.

Personally, I loved it. Yeah there were a few times in the beginning where I felt the author was intentionally getting in my way, holding back my ruthless persona but as the story advanced that stopped. I do think the beginning could've been done better as well. It felt kinda like some Aladdin cliche with the whole street kid getting caught on the wrong side of the law and coming into the possession of a mystical artifact to save the land. I mean its not bad, but yeah I was getting those vibes there.

I'm not sure what other people consider long, but the first play through took a few hours for me.

Most of the Characters were well written and believable. The Sorcerer King however seemed like a Saturday morning Cartoon Villain in his dark viking armor.

The city landscape seemed too big a mess for me to get an immersive image for it.

The romance was... okay I guess. I've only romanced Freya and at the time of reading her romantic text, I felt it was a bit... Robotic? Emotionless? Like we were going through some cheesy B love movie script. It wasn't what I would call awful, but it wasn't what I call award winning either.

Surprisingly enough, for a COG game, this was not a liberal party pamphlet in the least. No PC platform rubbed in your face or no weird 'they' pronoun usage. The focus is on the story and people can be who they want to be, with who they want to be with, without all that unnecessary preachiness or 'Look at me, I'm X/XY/Y' business. As these stories should be.

The author did a great Job with tailoring the endings to your choices. My favorite was giving myself over to the possession of the sword which kinda felt like I became a demigod with limitless potential. Also leading a Holy Empire of the gods with my beloved was pleasing as well.


I give this my full recommendation and am eagerly looking forward to a sequel.

Average and adequate. The two main characters are interesting (as is their interactions and witty dialogue between each other ; after all, it is the main core of the game) but the supporting cast is a little blank at best. Dialogues, background and romances involving them could be erased and it wouldn't changed a thing excepted for some key dramatic events. Same for the antagonists.

The story and premices are nicely covered but in a classical way. It's overall well written but you often wished there was more. The ending especially seems abrupt. There are mainly two branches with variations.

I did liked how the actions scenes and the environment or more contemplative scenes were depicted. I think it's the positive here. The author have a knack at describing mystical and mysterious places, events or entity.

I do not recommend it because I think there's way better for someone who wants to discover CYOA (choose your own adventure) or just read them casually once in a while. But y go and enjoy it if you're used to read a ton of CYOA and the plot interests you. It's not bad.

A quick enjoyable read =) The pacing is good, the characters while not deep are easily likable and there are several different ways to go about playing the game. Infact Im looking forward to trying out the other routes after I finish this review. If you like CYAs then this one is certain to give you a couple of cozy book time hours. Highly recommended with a cup of coffee to enjoy along side it.

Game is very short.
Your decisions seem to affect only next outcome. For some reason I'm sure it'll be impossible to fail in this game.
Main character seem to be nice even if standard.
Romances seem to be rushed. At least the glimpses I seen. Not much as it looked not very well to go into them as they made practically no sense.
Not the bad game. Not the good one. Just a little story to read.

I find myself wishing there was a neutral vote. The game is not bad, but it falls apart at the 11th hour, as mentioned by other reviewers. It was going reasonably strong until then, but, without spoilers, the potential endings were just underwhelming.

Ok, so, page 1 of this game has this sentence:

Runes of some dead language follow the blood-gutter nearly down to the straight guard.

So, right off the bat we have the author of a book about a sword failing to understand that the groove in the blade is not a "blood gutter" to allow blood to spurt out when stabbing, but is called a fuller and it exists to reduce the weight of the blade while retaining strength. The guard is called a cross guard, but that's fine as he's just specifying that it doesn't have a curve so, ok.

Anyway, other than that ridiculousness it's kinda ok. However, as all the other reviews have mentioned, this story has about as many branching paths as a sword does. All the scenes and all the decisions all lead to the same climax and ending. Basically the only thing that changes based on any decisions is the epilogue. It's not the worst but it's definitely not worth $6. I don't think I'd even recommend getting it on sale, unless it's part of a bundle.

I really, really wish this game was just a bit better. Its an interesting premise with a nice world to play in, but its level of choice is just painful.

LIGHT SPOILERS

I wanted to play someone who wants to restore the gods and remove the big bad, but every time I refused to work with the old goverment the game punishes me by making me more of a slave to the sword. It just wasnt an option despite all that. One other pet peeve was hey, wanna play a character who embraces wanting to fight monsters as quick as he can to save people? Too bad also a slave to the sword

That one option is just, such a pain. It almost punishes you for wanting to play a certain way. While I can understand the theme of waiting until you know you're ready and not rushing in, its annoying as hell I'm punished for playing my character my way. Which apparently is the wrong way.