30 hours to beat the story and all side content. Game can be played offline which is where most of my playtime took place.
If you are buying this game mainly for the combat I don't recommend it since there isn't a lot of combat moments in the first half of the game. If you are here for story then I recommend the game. In my opinion your enjoyment will hinge on how well you like the characters and the world they are in.

Pros
-great story, world and characters
-good artwork
-simple and fluid combat
-good variety in character passive stats in terms of combat
-challenging and fair boss fights
-good enemy variety
-side quest add a lot of information to the main quest and lore
-custom difficulty settings

Cons
-not much combat in the first half of the game compared to 2nd half
-quest can be locked if you don't do them in time which can effect the type of ending you want
-some rewards for side quest can be under whelming
-AI teammate is pretty useless in terms of damage contribution, generally they do a good job at staying alive though
-bosses can shotgun you if you stand close

I wish i had a canto mom to be proud of me for playing this.

I was pretty sold up front on the gorgeous radial skill system and the character designs/aesthetic in general, but the characters and canto/trad cn voice over are really high-quality and dynamic too. The translation is great so far, from what I've seen of other games, this is the best I could ask for from a small studio.

Pretty heavy on the visual novel part so far, but they're clear about that in the description. The ARPG segments have been *great* so far though, so looking forward to more of that opening up. Basically seems like the type of game that if you're interested in it from the promo materials and description, it's an easy recommend. It does what it sets out to do very well.

I participated in the English translation of Noctuary. A thumb up to the dev team, you can hardly imagine how much time they have spent on the game, like, seriously, the original version of the game was nothing similar to the current one. Despite some issues, I'm sure they can fix them soon.

The reason why I'm leaving a positive review here is that I simply know how good the game is.

Give it some time, dive into it, you will enjoy an impressive story with twists, conspiracies, love and choices (and so many waifu, woohoooo!!!!!!).

I want Lura Graves and Inlixa Solar to ♥♥♥♥ me in the ♥♥♥. Chu-chu!

It's got heart, but waaaaaaay too much talking and cutscenes at the start. I feel like I'm reading a visual novel more than playing a game.

Edit: My bad, this is a visual novel! So fellow neanderthals coming into this without reading, manage your expectations and you'll do fine! Still a recommend overall

For me personally, this game is an eye-opener. In one way, the game shows a really painful aspect of life with options of either escaping from the reality or dealing with it, sometimes in the most unpleasant ways. In another way, it shows the parts of life that might not be obvious or seem as important at first.

While everyone may experience the story differently, at certain parts of it, I was left with a strong sense sadness due to how relatable it was to life. But among the sorrow, there was also something really nice.

This is one of the games I see as a hidden gem. It's highly immersive in art, story and music. It doesn't have a fully voiced story and parts of the English translations can be improved, but overall it is worth giving a try.

I happened to come across this game and was immediately drawn in by the visuals. I bought it because I thought it was going to a be a fun and cute Visual Novel, but boy was I wrong (in a good way). I was absolutely blown away with how beautiful and well written this VN was. I became so invested in the story and characters that during my play-through there were points where I stopped because I was trying to theorize and figure out the story because it was just that interesting to me. Visuals, story, characters, combat; this VN has it all. If your looking for a good, well written fantasy VN which JRPG elements, then this is the VN for you.

What I enjoyed:
- Amazing story. I'm a sucker for stories that have a lot of character focused content, world building, side missions, etc. So for me, this was a really fun experience.
- Nice pacing. In the beginning it just felt like a nice fantasy slice of life, but once you get into the second half, the story becomes a lot more grim and the combat is more frequent, which was a nice change of pace because they don't just lore dump and throw you into countless combat sequences.
- Everything is explained very well. Having the important notes pop up during dialogue was very nice and helped to clarify a lot of things. It also just goes to show much work the creators put into developing the world.
- Gorgeous visuals, both in character art and the interface.
- Amazing soundtrack
- Nice voice acting.
- Unique/ customizable combat. I was honestly shocked at how well made the combat system was for this game, considering it is a Visual Novel. I've played other Visual Novels with combat features and they were just so horrendous to play through, but this was enjoyable to fun to play. Especially the bosses, I loved how they all had unique ways of fighting.
- After you get one of the main endings, you easily get access to all missions/side missions so you can go back and play what you missed or get the other endings.

What needs work:
- Though the story did have a lot of twists that caught me off guard, there were some things that were just a little too predictable. Especially if you payed close attention to the opening that plays in the very beginning. It spoils a few parts of the story and made some big reveals near the end not as impactful, but still it didn't have a huge effect on the story.
- Continuing with the accidental spoiling bit, be careful when reading archives for characters. Some archives unlock before you actually see them play out in game and spoil what's supposed to happen next. This happened to me with Wishia and Fancia, and kinda ruined some events for me because I already knew they were going to happen.
- A few typos in text. Not a big issue but can be annoying because sometimes these typos were just the wrong person being mentioned, which made reading near the end a little confusing.
- Wish for more playable characters. Once again, not a huge issue since the story does revolve around Alina and Fancia, but it would've been nice to be able to play from another characters perspective during combat. Also it would've made sense story-wise to play as someone else in some instances.
- While the combat was good, in order for it to be fun and not torture you have to at least have the Max HP setting on. It was almost impossible to play without it because of how much damage enemies do.

Overall, I had an amazing experience playing Noctuary. I'm kinda sad I finished it because now I can't really play it anymore, but that's what makes this game so fun and special.

Totally 9/10 for this game, the fighting system TBH not very attractive or interesting especially for the final Boss fighting I think which needs to be improved.

GP:
-Story rich and multi-ends which can satisfy your need.
-Charming characters, you can meet more than 30+character w/t similar and I think there must be someone you like and you can download the art book when you finished the game.
-VA, the Cantonese for the main and side characters are very fit my desire, give you more impact in brain to feel it as Real
-Music are very relaxed most time which give you a movie feeling when you playing and you can download the Soundtrack for free if you buy the game which has more than 90+ music

Need to improved:
-Voice lines are non-continuous which just a little confused, when you play silence for a while and a sudden voice appear just makes me uncomfortable
-Battle system as I said in the beginning, I just not like the BS although there are many weapons can be used for two main character, some weapons are OP but some I think not good(Just IMO 'cuz I'm a story mode player)

Hoping can play another similar game from the supplier.

I really like the story of this game. While it does have quite a lot of cliches, it still managed to surprise me many times throughout the game. This game loves foreshadowing, and most of the payoffs did pretty well.

This game has one of the best character designs I have ever seen in any game. Each character has their own unique characteristics and charm. All characters in this game have their own story missions. And I absolutely love every single one of them. There are around 30 characters in the game, yet every character is alive and distinct from one another. I can remember every single one of their names and stories.

This game has THE best UI I've ever encountered in this genre. It's intuitive and modern. Although, personally, I think some text can sometimes be a bit too small on the steam deck.

One of the biggest issues I usually have with this type of game is how repetitive the battles can be, but this game absolutely nails it. While you will still encounter the same enemies multiple times, each stage presents different challenges. There are tons of bosses, all with unique animations and skills. Also, there are stages where you'll need to sneak into enemy bases or navigate through mazes. By the way, if you're also using a controller, you may want to change the button mapping a bit. I wouldn't say I like the default setting.

Overall, this game is very story-focused. If combat isn't your thing, there's also a story mode. If you still find it too challenging, there's even a "cheat" option where you can basically use your skills at no cost.

My only minor complaint with this game is the lack of english or japanese dubbing. Which is fine, and perhaps I just need some time to adjust. It does have a cantonese dubbing though.

You know that feeling when you're engaging with some kind of media, and it feels like it was made specifically for you? Like how the controls feel just right, or how a song speaks to you unlike any other. Well, Noctuary was this kind of experience for me. This game exceeded every expectation I had going into it. Just from opening up the game and going into the menu, you can feel how much love was put into it. Like, did they really need to create different instrument arrangements for every menu screen with the main overall motif?

This is my first visual novel, and I'm glad that it turned out this way. The first chapters feature almost no combat and a lot of exposition, so it can feel a little slow, but after certain plot twists, it picks up its pace and never lets go. It is a deceptively dark story with a fantasy world I fell in love with. I really hope they do something more with it; there is so much potential for what can be done, considering we know almost nothing about the land of Darkness. It was really interesting reading through bits and pieces of lore and worldbuilding to come up with your own theories and conclusions. The translation is sometimes rough, but it doesn't affect the overall narrative.

Gameplay is simple and fun. There are different strategies you can come up with using different Blessing Flower effects that can, in some cases, drastically change your play style. The 3D environments are really nice and pretty, and the bossfights were a spectacle to look at, although some animations in cutscenes were kind of stiff.

The art is simply gorgeous. Every character has an exotic and interesting outfit that accentuates their personality. Every beacon background is wallpaper worthy. All the CGs are exuding passion and I'm really glad I can rewatch them in the gallery.

The soundtrack for this game is outstanding. The devs were also generous enough to release it for free on Steam (the digital artbook is also free). Voice acting was also of very high quality. I played in Cantonese, but both options are good. The sound design was not as good, hearing the same "tablehit.mp3" was funny at first, but then I got used to it, so nothing too egregious.

Overall, if you are into VNs or just like good high-fantasy stories with a unique and refreshing world, I would highly recommend it.

9/10

Cantonese.