Graces: Posthumous Wish

Very atmospheric visual novel. Visuals, music, narrative, even sound effects - everything is of high quality and combines into a deeply immersive and satisfying experience.

UPD: finished the game and what can I say, I had an absolute blast. Worth mentioning are memory section, which allows you to jump to certain parts of the game and shows how to get other endings, legends, which explain some lore elements and might shed light on some ingame moments, and scenes, where you can have a laugh seeing some story bits presented in a humorous fashion.

This was a great spooky horror story, I enjoyed it a lot! I can recommend this easily, there's a lot to like about it.

The first thing I have to comment on is the art. It's of a very high quality, and there's a massive amount of it. All of the main characters have multiple poses, expressions, and outfits, there's dozens (maybe over 100? I wouldn't be surprised) of detailed CGs, and there's a whole host of cut-ins depicting little things like a rusty pair of pliers lying in the grass or a locket caught in a fence. Every important event has a CG, and every item which gets commented on in the most incidental way gets its own cut-in; it's all very immersive.

The VN itself isn't particularly long, but there's a massive amount of art to go with it. You'll probably encounter a new CG every 5 to 15 minutes, and the CGs are all gorgeous. In terms of the sheer amount of art, this VN has better production values than some big budget Japanese VNs I've read: it's impossible not to recommend based on the art alone.

The story itself, meanwhile, is enjoyable enough. Graces is, at its heart, three spooky horror stories featuring one recurring character (Mitsuki) which gets wrapped up in a broader framing narrative around a young girl, Aki, who's trying to figure out why Mitsuki disappeared and whether she was cursed. Each of these three horror stories features a different protagonist who was close to Mitsuki, and these protagonists all have their own reasons to dislike her. These three scenarios have three different bad endings (are you sensing a theme here? This game loves the number three), but each scenario has a 'true' ending. You don't need to read all the bad endings to progress in the story and piece together what really happened to Mitsuki, but you do need to read them all if you want to get all the achievements, which can be a bit fiddly.

The framing narrative is a little convoluted, with a lot of twists and turns, and some endings don't really make chronological sense (there's one ending in particular where one character is signifcantly older than she should be based on the pre-established timeline), but this is clearly a deliberate choice. The VN has a character profile section which gets updated based on which of the four main endings you get, and if you get the more chronologically confused ending the profile of the character who gets aged up says something along the lines of "this shouldn't be possible" lol, so it's nice the devs recognise this.

Each end is unique and satisfying, and it's recommended to read all of them to see the various ways this story can play out. Tonally, the focus on spooky horror stories reminded me a lot of Higanbana by Ryukishi, and I think anybody who enjoys stories about ghosts or curses will have fun here.

The English translation does feel a little awkward at times (there's a few places where words like 'the' or 'a' are ommitted), but the tenses are all correct and it's easy enough to read. I've read translations of Japanese VNs which were much worse: this is 100% serviceable and the character dialogue is all rendered convincingly in English. The TL isn't flawless but it doesn't feel stiff, and I think you'd have to be especially nitpicky to take a genuine issue with it.

There's also a lot of fun symbolism in this VN, and in the art in general. The main character, Aki, is obsessed with the number three (she believes that three misfortunes befall her every day), and it's a theme throughout the VN. Aki has three dolls that she cherishes, Mitsuki was cursed three times by three different girls, there are three short horror stories to read with three bad endings, and there's a wish-granting flower in this story which has three petals. The characters also wear clothes with triangles (once you notice it you won't stop noticing it), which is a nice nod to overall theme of threes, and there's an achievement for reading this VN for 3 hours and 33 minutes. There's a lot of attention paid to the little details in this VN like this, and it's where the VN really shines.

Overall, I enjoyed this VN a lot. It's worth checking out for the art alone, but so much love and care went into it that I'm sure people will stick around for the story and all of the symbolism, just like I did!

Bound by Fate and a Mysterious Flower: Anocoris

I was very thrilled not only to buy this game but to play it finally, and my end verdict is that it's amazing.
Warning to people who are easily disturbed by violent content, bullying, suicide and general horror.
I first thought it was a generic mystery visual novel but it turned out to be a VN that is a bit light hearted than Higurashi.

Story: Carefully Written
I admire good stories and this one is very carefully thought out, it can make you spin and be clueless about certain events and characters for a while, but at the end you can get everything figured out. Strong elements of childhood neglect, trauma, suicide, bullying so reader discretion is advised. You follow the life of a neet called Aki who likes a plushie bear, she gets fascinated with rituals and horror stories on a creepy pasta like website and decided to test one out, but things spiral out of control since she gets convinced she is cursed, her only friend "Tomo" LDR friend btw is worried about her and both of them together tries to unravel an insane story line following some other characters who are important to the story. The story can be a bit confusing at first, but it is a fascinating read about how to overcome peer pressure, stupidity, overthinking and etc. Each grace seems to teach you an important lesson which you will never forget. The VN do feels like an investigation into urban legends which many people find interesting. The story is dark and tragic, and makes you feel very sad at the end.

Characters: Excellent Characterization
I thought the characters are memorable and gives out an aura of mystery when some were introduced. I did like Aki's character she is adorable, I do not like Mitsuki, i understand her circumstances but what she did to another chara in my opinion is not forgivable and I keep my stance. I do not like Fuyumi either but I admire her courage to do anything for her goal, Haru is the character I like but she is also not that smart, but I admire her strength. I feel each character indeed personify a certain quality us human possess (also shown in the intro song), there are many side characters here and it's interesting how EVERYONE takes part heavily in this one signal story that snowballs to the other.

Gameplay
Pretty much basic VN mechanics, nothing major surprising. No bugs and it was all smooth.

Art and music: OMG LOVE IT
What first attracted me to the VN was the art, after a long time I see some good art, it's so pretty to look at and well polished. I would buy every VN just for that art lol. Even the chibi characters are so cute, I also appreciate and applaud how the devs took to very small details of the art, like traffic lights, rooms changing when things get more suspensful, the chalk board, the petals animation. Love those details, really added a lot to the viewing experience. The music is also good.

Achievements
Straight forward and easy, nothing much to think here. I just followed the memory paths and it's all there. However with minimum options its a bit tricky to unlock the other endings so don't get confused.

Extras: Much Needed
The extras are where the real story is revealed so make sure to read everything, loved the scenes as well like some funny crossovers, really needed that after the dark elements of the main story, I think it's a must for devs to put these, it really takes out the sourness after a tragic tale.

Overall
Pretty interesting visual novel about friendship, love, betrayal, occult and navigating fate through mysticism.
Characters are memorable and story is worth the price, I would recommend it to any fan of horror, mystery genres of Visual novels.