Bloodholic

Disclaimer: I have only played the game in english and I was one of those that requested a translation even if it was an automated one, just so I could see the story. Bearing in mind that this is a free game, I'm recommending it for the effort, the music, the artwork, the menu and text styling. The developer describes it as short, but it isn't (perhaps a language barrier issue). It takes roughly 4 hours at a normal speed which makes it closer to a short story but not a short vn. Let's start from the easy part; artwork, menu, text styling (including boarders) and the music. I fell in love with the sounds of this game! I could really just leave it playing on the background for the most part and I'm secretly hoping they'll make an orchestral soundtrack as dlc. The menu itself along with the menu button while playing the vn, the boarders and text font/color are all great as well! They even help with the immersion to the story feeling, a mystery with gothic notes. And here comes the bad part.. First of all, let's clear out some smoke and talk about the elephant in the room... The translation. It's awful. Not just awful and full of mistakes but, it even has imaginary words, anagrams (wired instead of weird) and I'm guessing native expressions directly translated so they make no sense in english (you might be able to guess the meaning of some with a bit of luck). Secondly, the story itself... It has some good moments, but for the most part it's an utter mess and the conclussion isn't satisfying at all. It's also confusing but in a bad way because it doesn't properly connect. Add to this the random moments that are fillers, it creates a sense of "why am I still reading?" instead of achieving what it was meant to, the "oh... I want to know more!". Lackluster in character development and uninspiring as a plot. It gives away the ending unintentionally too soon even though this wasn't the intention. A lot of things are left unexplained and I'm betting you won't want to be seeing half the cast. In the end, I was disappointed with the direction it took and the endings it has. One more thing I REALLY wish to see changed (except from a better translation of course) is MORE artwork; it takes too long from scene to scene so you might become bored, it's too stale at times due to its lenght (~80.000 words) Why am I recommending a vn with such a bad story? For four things: the free pricetag (it's not a waste of time or money), the art, the music and the effort that has gone into it. I want to see this dev evolving and learning from this experience because I feel there is something here. He/she is talented. From what the dev said in the steam forums, the group has dispersed and he/she is left alone so I'm not asking for miracle updates here. But why not for a future project? Regardless, I'd give this one a shot! If not for nothing else, I guarantee you, there will be moments you will laugh your heart out with the translation and at the same time be happy with the sound effects. Cheers! And here is to hoping for a really good future project! For more reviews, follow my curator https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44864435-Mewesome-Reviews/

English translation is done very poorly: unneeded spaces in middle of some words, female characters being called "he" sometimes, so things not being translated at all and sentences that just don't make any sense or simply give you brain damage while you're trying to understand what do they meeeean. Has some decent artworks, but also has some backgrounds that are just photo of some place, where some of them do have filter to make it look like it was drawn and some others don't. Two achievements were broken on release and I'm unsure if it was fixed or not (those achievements were just instantly grated on first start of the game). With this translation I've ended up just hypertapping through the story.

If you like killing and brave girls in a unique world, it really is what you have always been looking for. Although it still lacks some improvements and more focused ideas. It's honestly worth it and it's all about seeing where it takes you.