I'm currently playing Black Wolves Saga, an otomege by Rejet. I'm going to repeat a statement I've made many times in the past about otomege in general... their tropes are like a cancer on the genre in general. DIDS (Damsel in Distress Syndrome), tsundere heroes, psychotic/obsessive/possessive heroes, and dominating heroes rot these VNs from the inside in the same way the osananajimi heroines, airhead heroines, and self-insert protagonists of male-oriented VNs do to those.

This VN is no exception.

The protagonist is your typical optimistic, slightly airheaded doormat that makes up ninety percent of all otomege protagonists. That this VN is an utsuge only makes this stand out more... she attracts a huge host of yandere, yangire, and just generally insane and/or broken heroes who are - to one degree or another - obsessed with her. To be honest, I was almost impressed that they could manage to put so many crazy people in as romantic interests in a single VN.

I finished the two Cait Sith main heroes' paths last night... and my thought was 'This is what is listed as a GOOD ending? Seriously? Just how much of a moronic doormat can she be?' To be blunt, it resembled some of the bad endings I've seen in chuunige where the protagonist basically spends the rest of his life as a sex-slave for a psychotic female who isn't quite a heroine before she decides to kill him on a whim. There is absolutely nothing likable about either of them, no redeeming value to them as people... and you are required to finish their paths to access some of the more interesting heroes.

To be honest, this entire VN would be a lot more interesting if they had put it in complete 3rd person and made you just a spectator to what was going on rather than forcing you to self-insert into an idiotic ditz who occasionally shows signs of intelligence, only to make you give up on her five minutes later when she thinks, says, or does something so completely idiotic that it cancels out those brief moments of actual intellect.

I'm being really harsh... but where this story really stands out is in the depth of the setting and the degree to which the writer captures the insanities of human nature when driven to extremes by a hellish life or the events of the world around them. The characters are generally distasteful scum or people who make you want to kick them in the head for stupid naivete, but in exchange, you get a story of genocide, intrigue, torture, and murder that lines itself up with a number of other dark fantasy out there... and doesn't lose out completely, despite the cast of characters.

Another place where this VN stands out is in its music and art... the art is a unique style, with the use of colors and detail you generally don't see even in your average otomege. The music is dominated primarily by gloomy and sorrowful tunes... but those tunes are pretty high quality, so it is a plus, despite most of the tracks being depressing.

While I plan to play one of the wolf paths, I have no interest in playing all the paths of this VN, so think of this as my general impression for the time being. Being the protagonist of this VN is just too frustrating given the setting for me to be able to stand it much longer.