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**** WARNING WARNING it is impossible to talk about Silverio Trinity without talking about the events of Silverio Vendetta, so this post is going to be full of spoilers. Until and unless you have played Silverio Vendetta, do not under any circumstances read this post!!!!**** Silverio Trinity is based three years after the events in Vendetta's path in Silverio Vendetta, in the city of Prague. The technology to make Esperanto warriors has been leaked to other countries, and as a result, the 'old capital', as it has become known in the New Era, tends to resemble certain other city-states that had the misfortune to be occupied by multiple powers in the past. Ashley Horizon (seen above) is a new Esperanto soldier in service to the Military Empire of Adler, which was the setting for the first game. I'm going to be straight with you... if you thought Zephyr was seriously fucked by circumstances in the first game, Ashley is actually worse off, once you get to know what is going on. A large part of that is that the main antagonist and instigator is even worse than the two main antagonists of the original game. Like the original game, this one starts with bloodshed and memories of the bloody massacre ten years before. Of course, that is the scene portrayed in the videos previewing the original game, and it symbolizes the role that the Fuhrer Valzeride played in the eyes of the people. In both games, there is a definite sense - and this is actually a blunt truth - that the protagonist is forced to live out a role forced on him by people who want something that has nothing to do with him personally. Sadly, this doesn't prevent them from tearing his life and even his sense of self apart in a search for what they want, and you get a pretty solid idea of just what the main antagonist wants in the common route. There are three heroines in this game, the first of which I picked was Aya Kirigakure. Yes, Aya is a relative of that yandere yuri ninja from the first game. Pity the individual that gets one of that family in love with them... or happens to get in the way of that love. Like their relatives, the Amatsu, this family seems to have an endless capacity for obsessive affection... and Aya herself admits that it isn't uncommon for members of both families to be perfectly happy stealing the men and women they love from others and ruining any number of lives in the process. Aya herself is a 'yamato nadeshiko' (the ideal of the Japanese woman) combined with the battle skills of a first-rate soldier and assassin. She also has some of the best 'scary woman in love' expressions I've seen on a VN female's face in a year or two, lol. Her path has a focus on the Empire side of things, quite naturally, and as a result, it shows off the various insanities leftover from the Fuhrer's era. Unfortunately for Ash, he has experienced some of those first hand, lol. I rate this path highly, but it definitely feels a lot like Kei's path from Dies Irae. It isn't meant as a 'true' path, and the ending itself is... sad. This is unavoidable considering the circumstances, but I still cried. Unlike Zephyr from Vendetta, Ashley isn't a coward or a natural survivor, so it is perhaps inevitable that his endings will be somewhat more obviously tragic in nature. As is common with non-true paths in Light games, this path leaves certain elements of the story unresolved and leaves behind the seeds of disaster that are likely to bloom long after the story is over. It also doesn't hesitate to show you that that is the truth. That said, the final battles are classic Light in every way, with some seriously brutal combat scenes full of wonderful narration - both of the combat itself and the characters' thoughs and emotions. A few more general impressions that I thought I'd relay to you is that Ash, for better or worse, is no Zephyr. He lacks that particular insane attachment to his own life and that peculiar haunted terror of victory and its aftermath that defined Zephyr's character. So, don't expect a Zephyr clone as a protagonist. I will say that he isn't what he seems on the surface or even in his own thoughts, though.