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Welcome back my dear readers and welcome to this new, irregularly-posted segment on EVN Chronicles! As some of you might know, beyond my general burnout which made me put the blog on indefinite hiatus, late last year I've developed some health problems that pretty much killed my will to read VNs and my ability to contribute meaningful content on Fuwa... For a while. As I come back to life, both physically and mentally, I've decided to resurrect this space and log my adventures through mostly short, free EVNs, sharing with you all the most notable finds among the game jam entries and random passion projects I read through. So, do you want to read some hidden gems, all available for the very reasonable price of $0.00? You're sure to find some on this little list, and the ones that come in the future! Optimal Conditions for a Sacrifice | Yuri/Fantasy/Comedy | ~20 min It's rare for extremely short VNs to charm me, but Optimal Conditions for a Sacrifice has just the perfect combination of humour, wit and well-delivered punchline to made this kind of tiny experience memorable. The game plays on mythological themes and a rich set if metaphors to construct an intriguing narrative about the nature of love – all while never taking itself seriously or trying too hard to be profound. And this last part is crucial – from the game's Ith.io page, through its net of riddles and on-the-nose social commentary and to the purposefully jumbled ending, you can feel the fun the author had writing all of it and molding it into a VN. And while this kind of experiment has always a high risk of missing the mark and becoming an unreadable mess, the genuine-feeling and relatable messaging it ends with makes it better than it had any right to be. And with a nice artstyle as a bonus... It's very much worth it to sacrifice 20 minutes of your time to check it out. Itch.io Page My Dream Is To Be a Model, Not a Maid! | Yuri/Drama | ~1h 20 min Team ANPIM are regular authors of cliched G/G romance, always present for the annual Yuri Game Jam with a new piece of heartwarming fluff. While their output in the past three years was a bit of a mixed bag, often lacking interesting twists to keep the formula fun, My Dream Is To Be a Model, Not a Maid! is what I'd call a return to form. Starting with a silly premise of an aspiring (and awfully unsuccessful model) getting coerced into becoming a lived-in housekeeper for a young daughter of a CEO, it provides a well-paced and fun piece of romance between two people of vastly different backgrounds and live experiences. While the short runtime limits how deep the story can get and the overall structure of the romance plot is utterly typical, the characterisation and humour make it all solid enough to be a very enjoyable, one-sitting read. And with a bunch of really nice-looking CGs added to the mix, it's exactly what you would want from this kind of bite-sized piece of yuri fluff. Itch.io Page My Crush My Bully | Yuri/Drama | ~30 min Written by one of my favourite VN writers on the freeware/game jam side of the market, PunishedHag, My Crush My Bully is a short story about an awkward, nerdy girl who unexpectedly encounters her school tormentor on a trip to library. While trying to stealthily buy the newest book in her favourite fantasy series, she's caught by the titular bully, but there's something off with the interaction that follows... While the game is maybe a bit too short to reach its full potential, its strength lies not only in good characterisation of the main characters, but also in providing two vastly different viewpoints on the relationship it depicts. The perspective shift took me by surprise, providing a sombre, emotional backstory to the somewhat whacky-feeling romantic plot. Without it, the whole story would just be a decently-written piece of yuri fluff, but the additional depth and social commentary it adds makes the whole experience worthwhile despite the short length. Itch.io Page Wolfskin's Curse | Fantasy/Horror/Mystery | ~1h 30 min Probably the most involved and well-produced VN on today's list, Wolfskin's Curse offers a mystery plot about a former priestess and a werewolf running away from tragedy and persecution, only to be caught up in a new chain of deaths and being framed as perpetrators. A very climatic piece of dark fantasy, this short story offers most elements you would expect from the formula: a gloomy setting, tragic romance and a cast of ambiguous and tortured characters trying to survive in a hostile world. It also includes high-quality art and full voice acting – that last part being something I usually avoid in freeware projects due to it rarely being good enough to be more enjoyable than just reading the dialogue yourself, but here it was done with decent quality and care, particularly for a game jam entry. And whether you mute the voices or not, the VN will be an interesting and emotional journey – at least if you don't mind reading something pretty depressing in tone. Itch.io Page | Google Play And that's all for now! As I'm trying to take things slow, this segment will show up at random intervals and likely with different amounts of content. However, I'm going to keep the mission of spotlighting notable EVNs alive as long as I'm able to – if you're interested in those, be sure to follow the blog and if you have recommendations for free EVNs worth checking out, make sure to leave them in the comments. Thank you for reading!

I read things and wrote about the things. In 2022? How weird.

Hello everyone! For anyone interested in podcasts, we have weekly podcast episodes about VNs, brought to you by the hosts M.R. and Tauros113. It's a passion project premiered in July 2022, still going strong weekly! New episodes every Sunday! Newest episode: Best Friend Groups in VNs! Let us know what you think! Previous episodes: - #94: Making our Personal Dream VNs! - #93: Readport: March 2024! - #92: ANGEture & BRUCEcast Monthly Recap! - #91: Asspulls in VNs! - #90: (guest NeNeisan!) What makes an ending? - #89: (guest NeNeisan!) Channel spotlight! - #88: Readport: February 2024! - #87: Anime and Other Media in VNs! - #86: (guest BarryBee!) Dawn & Dusk in Daybreak Translations! - #85: (guest BarryBee!) Channel spotlight! - #84: Readport: January 2024! - #83: (guest Brucegoneloose!) Rocking out to soundtracks in VNs! - #82: (guest Brucegoneloose!) Channel spotlight! - #81: Different Types of VN Fandisks! - #80: Rivals and Foils in VNs!! - #79: Looking Back on VNs This Year! - #78: (guest Therustyfountain!) Christmas Special! - #77: (guest Therustyfountain!) Channel spotlight! - #76: Character Popularity Polls in VNs! - #75: Readport: November 2023! - #74: (guest weebjail!) Channel spotlight: weebjail! - #73: (guest Michael_SK!) Channel spotlight: Michael_SK! - #72: Production Values in VNs! - #71: Kings and Rulers in VNs! - #70: (guest PabloC!) Readport: October 2023, Halloween Edition! - #69: Gameplay in VNs Part 3! - #68: (guest TomS!) Channel spotlight! - #67: Visual Novel Opinion Arena! - #66: Readport: September 2023! - An VNture Podcast #66 - #65: (guest Hatch!) Outismedia Indie VNs with Hatch! - #64: (guest PabloC!) Kickstarter VN translation projects! - #63: (guest PabloC!) Bowdlerization in VN TLs with PabloC! - #62: Readport: July 2023! - #61: (guest Adze!) Worst VNs We Read! - #60: (guest Adze!) Theme: Monster Girls in VN! - #59: (guest Ange!) VN Merch showcase and talk with Ange! - #58: Backlog Cleaning And Plans! - #57: Readport: July 2023! - #56: (guest Ange!) Anime Expo 2023 Recap! - #55: (guest LuckyPuyo!) Theme: High-School in VNs! - #54: (guest LuckyPuyo!) Channel Spotlight: LuckyPuyo! - #53: Readport: June 2023! - #52: 1 Year Anniversary Episode! - #51: (guest ASid-kun!) Genre: Mecha! - #50: (guest ASid-kun!) Are H-scenes Necessary? - #49: Genre: Sci-Fi! - #48: Readport: May 2023! - #47: Amnesia in VNs! - #46: (guest NoahNovels!) Voice acting in VNs! - #45: (guest NoahNovels!) Variety channel spotlight! - #44: Readport: April 2023! - #43: World Building Words in VNs! - #42: (guest August Hail!) VN Character Trait Tier List! - #41: (guest August Hail!) High Impact Reviewer! - #40: VN Surprises: Good & Bad! - #39: Readport: March 2023! - #38: Analyze Adze the Essayist! - #37: Who is Adze the Essayist? - #36: Day / Night Cycle! - #35: VNture Feb 2023 Readport! - #34: Sequel: Gameplay in VNs! - #33: M.R. Iceberg Part 3! - #32: (guest Vimi!) Toils in the Dev Mines! - #31: (guest Vimi!) Visual Novel Design SECRETS! - #30: Tauros's iceberg finale! - #29: Religion in VNs! - #28: Comedy in VNs! - #27: (guest Ange!) Genre: Moege in VNs! - #26: (guest Ange!) Christmas Special! - #25: Sequel: Action Genre! - #24: Villains in VNs! - #23: 4th Wall in VNs! - #22: Action in VNs! - #21: Musical Themes in VNs! - #20: Letdowns in VNs! - #19: (guest Zaka & Hata!) Fuwanovel Revival! - #18: Trick or Treat? Halloween special! - #17: Artstyle in VNs! - #16: (guest PabloC!) Exploring translation quality! - #15: (guest PabloC!) Fan translation! - #14: Zany UI! - #13: Slice of Life! - #12: Routes in VNs! - #11: M.R.'s VNs iceberg PART 2! - #10: tauros113's VNs iceberg PART 2! - #9: (guest ASid!) Reviewing the Reviewer! - #8: (guest ASid!) Degenerate Reviews Retrospective! - #7: Famous Figures! - #6: Mystery VNs! - #5: VNs in backlog! - #4: Scores and VNs! - #3: Gameplay in VNs! - #2: M.R.'s VNs iceberg! - #1: tauros113's VNs iceberg

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A friend last year recommended the VN Gnosia to me. I, being who I am, resisted for a while. VNs had hurt me. They had abused me. Pancaked my love for storytelling. But then, I saw the artwork for Gnosia and said "Screw it, letsago." I grabbed it for the Switch and went to town playing it. It is the perfect type of VN to play in short bursts. For me, that meant before bed usually for 20-30 minutes a night. For those that don't know, Gnosia is a social deduction VN that plays out a bit more like Town of Salem than it does Among Us. For starters, the game's story is told in loops. You wake up at the start of a loop on a spaceship, assigned a role. The ship AI has detected a Gnosia may be on board. These parasitic aliens seek to infect each crew member and make it to a space port to continue spreading as far as they can. The goal of those not infected to to find the Gnosia and put them into cold sleep where they can spread no more. Each character is assigned a role on each loop. Some may be engineers that can find out who the Gnosia is each night. There may be a doctor who can discover the identity of anyone put into cold sleep. Those with Guard Duty are those who never left the ship and therefore cannot be Gnosia. AC Followers worship Gnosia and do everything they can to help them. Then, anywhere from 1-4 characters can be Gnosia. They can lie, cheat, and steal their way to survival in order to either put every crew member into cold sleep, or kill each person. They can select one person each night to kill. The main bulk of the gameplay is made up by debates, where characters discuss and vote on who they must put into cold sleep. Engineers and doctors share their reports, though Gnosia and AC Followers can like about their role to muddy and confuse the debate, or convince others that the true engineers or doctors are in fact Gnosia. Each character has stats that dictates how they will act during debates. One character, for example, who hates lying and is super perceptive, may be able to immediately tell when someone is lying, but has low charisma and as result, struggles to convince others of the truth. You yourself also have stats that go up against other characters stats to see how convincing you are, or how trustworthy. The story is told in between the debates, as you can visit parts of the ship to talk to characters. Under certain conditions, you may get character events that shed more light on their character and their story. As you are only one of two people aware of the looping, you must discover as much information as you can to find a way out of the loop. For me, this took about 130 loops. Later in the game, you will be able to alter the starting conditions to better set up the conditions needed to trigger character events. And the game will auto-set them for you to nearly guarantee the character events as well if you so choose. The game is addicting, pretty to look at, and the story quite engaging. It is the type of game better suited towards short bursts rather than hours long sessions as the loops can feel repetitive as you try to trigger events. As each loop normally only takes 5-10 minutes, playing for 30-40 minutes at a time can net a solid 3-6 loops which I think is a solid amount for a single sitting. To sum up my thoughts, allow me to simply state, Setsu masterrace please play gnosia do it for setsu thoughts?

Thank you! Honestly, during the pandemic I saw mostly a bit of a downwards trend in game jam stuff and general liveliness of the scene... And then, while I tuned out of it, we got 140+ entries in this year's NaNoRenO, which is just insane. If the coming Spooktober and the Yuri Game Jam go similarly, than yeah, there will be a lot of fuel for this series, alongside some occasional Steam or mobile VNs that aren't game jam related...

Let's hope this series blows up again. Due to the extreme influx of new developers in all kinds of JAM events on itch.io which now have 4 digit participants this area of the indie games market stays completely unexplored and impossible to predict. Maybe there is the new free DDLC title everyone will play right around the corner released at one of these jams? You never know. Extremely happy you are bringing this back!

We're happy to announce our new upcoming Kickstarter for a fantasy visual novel called "The Beastmaster Princess". https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/winterwolves/the-beastmaster-princess The base goal is for a yuri visual novel but there are some juicy stretch goals like being able to play as male and harem ending! You can find more info by visiting the Kickstarter game page!

Gnosia was one of the games I preordered back when it was coming out to Switch, due to how highly people thought about it on the Vita. It's an incredibly good Werewolf sim considering it's single player, you touched on it but I want to elaborate on just how well they pulled off the transformation from a social game based on reading people into a single player story based game. Each character has AI and likes and dislikes and preferences, even down to the little known fact that the player selects a favorite color for their profile and this gives them minor bonuses and penalties with individual characters, setting up individual player's casts slightly differently from the very start. It works wonderfully as a social deduction game despite being single player because they set it up where the main plot mostly involves just learning about the cast, which directly translates to a better understanding of what is happening in debates. Every character has invisible values for how much they like and dislike each other character. You find out X character loves Y character, which might make some of their previous actions make more sense but more importantly helps you "read" X better. You need to plan around the fact that X doesn't like accusing Y, and if they do end up accusing Y then you better pay attention because that is not done lightly. The RPG style skill levels for things like if they're good at lying all tie into their personalities: The shy dude can get away with not speaking up because everyone knows he is shy, the loud and rude dude can get away with some bold actions because people expect him to take them, the cute girl can more easily charm certain people into being on her side just by asking nicely. These are all real types of players if you play any social form of Werewolf, and Gnosia does a perfect job at making them all feel alive. It didn't take long before I was thinking about the characters and not meta gaming, just like IRL Werewolf, with thoughts like "she's being a bit aggressive today/he's staying oddly quiet/why would X say that about Y out of nowhere/oh damn I think this person just pissed off the group with their personality and not because they are guilty". It's the little quirks that really make the cast shine in the end, the stuff beyond the personalities the RPG stats indicate. Late game in Gnosia the cast shines the brightest, several characters gain a complex moveset they can use, with some characters even having unique moves (that they can teach the player) far enough into the game. As new discussion skills are introduced, characters will have preferences on how to approach those skills. An easy example is to demand everyone say they are human (aka not Gnosia), each cast member has different innate feelings on this question. There's at least 1 cast member that actually hates the idea of admitting they are human, on top of several cast members that are wary of this approach because they don't like to think of themselves as human or aren't a member of the human species or they dislike speaking up in general. Characters can stay silent and just let the rest of the group speak up, and some people can flat out demand the group stop this activity. There's a lot of good mental work involved in these situations, did they stop the group because they just hate the idea, or are they the Gnosia, or are they a role that wants to cause chaos, or do they think it's a waste of time for a character specific reason? It really makes each character feel "real" because they all have different opinions and thoughts that the player can never directly see, only learn through observation, which is the heart of a game like Werewolf. Also something important to note, I've talked to several people that think they finished the game but actually haven't. The credits rolling do not signify the full ending of the game has been reached. For a more direct spoiler for anyone that is unsure what I mean but wants to be sure they get the ending:

I really love this game. I don't do well in multiplayer environments *and* I love AI, so a singleplayer social deduction game is something I've always looked forward to. All the better that this game has an actual story to tell, with actual characters. I love the story, the characters, and the gameplay. This game makes me a happy bean. I think the best part is that the characters have personalities, and these personalities inform gameplay. Here's some rambling on how gameplay functions: I think, in the end, what really makes my day are the deductions. Spending a few minutes looking over all the reports and systematically detecting all the enemies is absolutely fantastic. Raqio is the best.

Definitely not. I despise MTL "translations" with a passion.

Tay