by Pawel Cybula, Guest Writer

Without a Voice is a short visual novel that was originally written in 2016 for Yuri Game Jam. The creators, L³ – Laiska, Lorelei and Laniessa (now known as Adirosa) – missed the deadline but continued developing the project, first making a complete game, then running a successful Kickstarter for physical copies and the enhanced Blooming Edition, and finally bringing it to consoles now. So it was quite a journey, one I was happy to follow as WaV is maybe my most beloved VN, and its recent console release gave me a much-appreciated excuse to commit myself to writing this piece.

The story, loosely based on “The Little Mermaid,” introduces Cassidy – an apparently clueless princess in exile living alone in a small hut in the middle of a forest, her only link with the outside world through correspondence with her twin brother, Alexander (now the king), whom she loves and trusts wholeheartedly. Elowen, a mysterious beauty encountered during daily chores, is the other protagonist and in fact a wisteria tree (which in the language of flowers represents timeless, devoted, even obsessive love) given a human form. Her tragic past hinted at, she does not excel at conveying her emotions (being the title character, the one “without a voice”), but she feels irresistibly drawn to Cassidy… and vice versa.

As their relationship grows, you shape Cassidy’s thoughts and responses, thus affecting three hidden variables – Knowledge, Delusion and Understanding – which determine the final outcome. It is worth mentioning that the VN is very linear and your choices change just a few lines of text until the final chapter, which takes a different form depending on what decisions you have made. And it is not an easy task to ensure Cassidy and Elowen’s happiness as there are six bad endings and only two happy ones.

One interesting thing is the fact that making choices is not about gaining affection points with Elowen but molding Cassidy’s world outlook and consequently her feelings towards the melancholic tree spirit and the absent brother. However, it does not mean that Elowen plays any less important role – she is a powerful and charismatic presence and sometimes truly steals the show. By the way, there is a fantastic boon for those who participated in the Kickstarter campaign and obtained a physical copy: a printed prequel short story that fleshes Elowen out even more.

When it comes to the endings, each of them is very moving and has its own CG. The two good endings and two of the six bad ones also get epilogues with extra art added in the Blooming Edition. On a more personal note, I’ve read many VNs that conclude in a way I love, but “Together, We Are Eternal” is my favorite happy ending ever, period.

Without a Voice looks pretty. It is quite common for sprites and CGs to be of high quality these days, even in smaller games, but WaV can also be praised for its background art, which consists of very cleverly painted over and edited stock photos and shows how to achieve impressive results on a tiny budget. The music adds to the atmosphere and makes for enjoyable listening even separate from the game. However, it is the voice acting that makes the protagonists shine, the contrast between Cassidy’s chirpiness and the languid quality to Elowen’s aura, as well as moments of emotional intensity, skillfully underlined without falling into caricature. To top it all off, the visually appealing UI is well-integrated, reducing the amount of visuals hidden.

Still, it is the story that won my heart. It takes only about an hour to read through the whole thing, but even in such a short time the budding relationship is portrayed so convincingly that you cannot help but root for the girls. Granted, it’s a fairy tale, but as it is the case with all good fairy tales, there is a relevance to it. The undertones of loneliness and alienation (Elowen) and being controlled and rejected for one’s sexuality (Cassidy) add depth to the seemingly simple story and encourage replaying the game and checking out all the possible paths, epilogues and extra material, like for example the hidden poem you may discover after completing all endings.

I have to admit that I am probably one of the most biased people to review this game as I adore it so much. To my excuse, I dare say the developers must have felt similar about their project. It might be a small game but it has a big heart and I only hope more people will have fun accompanying Cassidy and Elowen on their amazing journey.

Ratings:

Yuri – 10 From the get-go, you know they are made for each other.

by Pawel Cybula, Guest Reviewer

Rarely does it happen that I play all the routes in a non-kinetic visual novel. Instead, I usually choose one path and deem it my “canon,” with little need to check the remaining options. Even more so if they lead to bad endings, my main reason for playing being so-called “cheerful escapism.”

So it attests to the strengths of the game Love Curse: Find Your Soulmate by the Chinese developer Xso that I explored its every branch and even returned to some of my favorite parts later. Although not without flaws, it turned out to be both narratively engrossing and of high production value.

The story follows Selene (a default name that can be altered at the start), a college student who miraculously avoids a car crash and discovers that she has only one more year of life left unless she finds a soulmate. As fate decrees it, four women soon appear in her life:

Iris – the student council president.

Veronica – the CEO at the company where Selene interns. 

Eleanor – a twin sister of a lackadaisical fellow student, who often attends classes in her stead.

Nyx Xia – Selene’s childhood friend who’s just moved next door.

There are also non-romanceable but still endearing side characters: Selene’s best friend Megan, her guardian angel Phoenix and the cat demon Bell. In contrast to the love interests, those characters (and Selene herself) are not voiced.   

Without entering the spoiler territory, one thing I find striking is the fact that Iris’s and Veronica’s routes remain perfectly realistic, while Eleanor’s and Nyx’s stories at one point delve into the realm of the fantastical, with themes such as reincarnation, demon-banishing and Daoist cultivation. All routes do a good job portraying the gradual development of a given relationship (through one “date” per month plus text messages) and then sudden complications stemming from family backgrounds (Iris and Veronica) or past lives (Eleanor and Nyx). I found all of them engaging and moving, and not without a pinch of humor. Although I prefer narratives solidly grounded in our reality, I was able to also enjoy the “supernatural” routes, which possess the advantage of having stronger ties to the True Ending, which can be reached after unlocking all the good ones.

The relationships are portrayed through a series of slice-of-life scenes, leaning towards the cute, romantic or dramatic, depending at which point of a particular route you are. The creators mix it up pretty skillfully and for example in Victoria’s rather serious route you may encounter a few hilarious moments, like when Selene gets caught red-handed while drawing Victoria’s chibi portrait during a company meeting. There are also palpable dark undertones, which come to fore if you find yourself on a bad-ending path. And if you do, it becomes full-on toxic, with triggers that include death, imprisonment and forced marriage. As I mentioned, I am not the target audience, but I think the bad endings are done well and if you enjoy this kind of thing, you shouldn’t be disappointed. Obviously, I liked the happy endings more since in each of them Selene finds herself with a partner of her choice in a healthy relationship based on equality and understanding, and the closing moments are inherently sweet and uplifting.

From a technical point of view, this is a well-made product. The sprites are beautiful, with modest but appealing animation, the backgrounds and music foster immersion, the voice-acting is definitely above par. The addition of a simple text messaging section allows pleaders to get a peek into how the relationship develops in the time between Selene’s dates with a chosen partner.

The translation, very often a weak point of Chinese VNs, could be described as being “ok.” Most of the time, it feels natural enough and without any glaring errors. However, there are moments that cause confusion, among them the annoying tendency to use “okay” as a synonym of “yes.” It leads to unintentionally comical situations, like the one in which, when asked if she still has feelings for her love interest, Selene answers with an enthusiastic “Okay!”

Another disadvantage may be the fact that all the most dramatic developments take place during the final part of a route, which makes the endings feel a bit rushed – even more so as the routes are rather short in the first place (around 5 hours to complete). However, facing a choice between a VN that could be longer and the one that outstays its welcome, I’d always go for the first option. Therefore, I don’t consider it a serious drawback – especially as the game was apparently made by a small studio, probably on a limited budget. If this is their first foray into the world of yuri VNs, I’d say it’s a pretty impressive one. 

Ratings:

Art – 8  A pleasure to look at.
Story – 8 Your opinion of each route may vary depending on your taste for the realistic, toxic and fantastical.  
Characters – 7.5 Each character is worth getting to know and the supporting cast is strong.   
Service – 3  All ladies are very pretty, a few CGs show two characters kissing.
Yuri – 8  It takes time for the romance to start burning, but when it does, it burns bright.   

Overall – 8