Enchanted in the Moonlight: Miyabi, Kyoga, & Samon -- No Spoiler Review

 Enchanted in the Moonlight: Miyabi, Kyoga, & Samon

System: Switch, Mobile 

Price: $19.99, Pay per Route (Unknown pricing) 

Voice Acting: No

ESRB Rating: M (17+) 

Overall Rating: 4.5/10 ♥s

Pre-Game Perception: A harem game with monsters; something straight out of a 25-year old librarian’s wet dream-- wait a minute...

Morning-After Reflection: Ayakashi that are trying to make MC’s life easier despite her constant attempts to thwart them. Are you sure she’s 25? Relationship drama before there’s a relationship.

Story: “You're an average, 25-year-old girl whose life consists of working at the local library, keeping up your family's shrine, and not much else.

However, that all changes when gorgeous men save you from mysterious, malevolent forces!

These men aren't all they appear to be, though. They're actually Ayakashi Spirits!

You discover that your blood is imbued with an ancient power, one that the spirit world covets, and these handsome strangers are willing to protect you... for a price, that is.

Are you ready to make a deal with these otherworldly creatures?”

Interest Rating: 6/10. I came back to this game many times before purchasing it. After playing other Voltage titles, I thought I’d give it a go.

MC: The eyeless, average MC is prevalent in mobile games to allow for self-insertion. Though all of them are typically short, thin, delicate, with long brown hair and bangs that are always too long in order to cover the fact that you’re playing an eyeless monster. I kid. Kind of. Anyways, this MC is the same. She doesn’t come with a name at all, you create both a surname and given name. She is not voiced, nor is anyone in this game. There are no sprites of the MC, though she is in at least half of the CGs.

Blank MCs are difficult to rate since they typically hold very little background, few traits, and neglect a real starting point for any sort of growth as a character, because they aren’t a character really. They’re made for you to develop whatever character you want to play as long as you stay within expected parameters. MC apparently has parents that are away for some reason for an extended period of time, and she’s living in a shrine that her family owns and operates in Tokyo. She is good at cooking, cleaning, and not much else. I guess she likes books? She works at a library, and apparently has a favorite author whose books she collects, but it is barely mentioned in passing in most routes.

Her personality leaves much to be desired since the writers only want to put the basics of (I suppose) what the average otome consumer wants. She has very few thoughts and opinions on things: anything romance or sex related needs to involve love, she has some sort of strict yet mutable idea of what love should look like; looking at someone is embarrassing especially if she has any sort of “adult” thoughts, and everything is her fault except when it’s not (when it clearly is but according to her rules it’s not). She’s supposed to be 25, but is written more juvenile than some 16-year old protagonists I’ve read. She’s terribly inconsistent in personality. If she’s dumb, let her be dumb. If she’s smart, let her be smart. If she’s innocent, let her be innocent. And if she’s wishy-washy, I suppose she could be that too, but at least let her be wishy-washy and not decisive only when it suits to drive the plot. Constantly shifting between what type of person she is supposed to be leaves her difficult to relate to, unbelievable as a character, and completely unenjoyable to read about. If my tone is not conveyed well, I didn’t like her much.

Likability Rating: Fuka. MC is a ghost of a character in order to self-insert. There’s nothing of substance to like. 

Plot: Enchanted in the Moonlight is a multistory game in which there are several stories for each LI that you progress down in order to unlock and do the next. In other words, there are several plots handled one at a time as you continue your romance with a chosen LI. Most have the same general idea, just different circumstances or events that take place in order to personalize it to the LI.

The premise of the Main Story is that one day you wake up in the middle of the night and feel odd, then the next day several strange and deadly occurrences happen where you are saved countless times by equally strange, but also good looking (can’t forget that) men who often have something chiding to say to you that you don’t understand but clearly they know what they’re talking about. That night you're confronted by the men you’ve met that day where they reveal their intentions, to protect you, but in return you have to “give” yourself to one of them, which means bearing a child, and in your mind, marriage. Things get a little more dangerous, they protect you yet again, and then you pick a LI to make the pact with. It’s a really simple story, and that’s fine with me, I don’t need a deep or complicated plot.

The problem comes when your love story continues. The overall writing is not very good. It reads much like someone broadcasting on the radio, or an announcer for a sports game; things are told in a play by play manner. The characters are all rather shallow. We get surface thoughts and no complexity to actions. Backgrounds are cobbled together when convenient, or at least revealed to us in that manner, so it doesn’t appear that there was thought put into it until we needed to know in order to explain character actions as if there is some deep meaning to every action someone does. I think what I’m trying to get at is that it’s a game that tells you what is taking place instead of showing you.

Replayability Rating: ★★★☆☆ The story follows the same pattern, so it’s bound to feel same-y.

Love Interests: I played the Switch version of the game, which has two games under the same title, each with three LIs. In the phone version, you simply pick your route and pay per story. In this version on the Switch we are presented with Miyabi, Kyoga, and Samon, whom you pick before even reading the prologue. Each has exactly the same prologue, so it doesn’t matter who you pick to start off with. From there you can go down all the stories offered. There are two endings per LI, a Happy Ending and a Good Ending. Yes, you read that right, they are both primarily good endings, one is just more good. There are several guides to get the Happy Ending, but with no measurement for right choices besides whatever ending is the result, a lot of the guides differ on which choices to make. There is no order to which LI to choose first, the prologue is basically where the story splits and each goes down their own path. At least until the next story where the same elements are introduced for everyone and each LI handles it differently. Now that route options and endings are handled, it’s time to meet our demon-blooded breeders.

If you read my review on the other game with this name, you’ll know that I didn’t like most (read: any) of the other LIs. This game, luckily, had a better cast, or better story, I’m not entirely sure which. Whatever the case is, I played more of this game than the last, and didn’t hate it. I still didn’t finish it, though, but would not be opposed to going back and finishing it. At some point. When more interesting or likable games and characters aren’t available. Perhaps. The issue isn’t completely with the LIs, I disliked the blank-slate MC, the writing wasn’t to my liking, and there were little to no consequences for actions on anyone’s part, forcing some conclusions to resolve so readers could be appeased with a happy ending. However, those problems aside, I certainly have a more favorable opinion on who we get to date this time around.

The flirt. The playboy. The one who convinces you to bathe with him in the prologue because he’s such a sly trickster. Oh-ho-ho. Like anyone besides the MC didn’t see what was happening. Anyways, Miyabi is labeled as the sadistic kitsune, though I didn’t really find anything sadistic about him. I think he asks a few times if you like people being mean to you, but he is far from a sadist. If you don’t like narcissistic, beauty-obsessed dudes, Miyabi might not be your style. I actually found him surprisingly pleasant and typically I don’t like those types of guys. Probably because although he thinks he’s hot stuff, he needs MC’s validation for some reason, which is nice. It’s nice that your opinion matters. It’s a shame, however, that MC dislikes everyone from the start. I finished roughly half of the offered stories for Miyabi. I found him likable in the Main Story, and he just continued to get better, imo, with each additional story.

I don’t remember when I got around to playing Kyoga’s route, but I know I was looking forward to it. In most other routes, Kyoga appears to be a friendly, helpful, and actually caring dude. Not only does he pop up when you need him, but he’s incredibly honest and simply wants to make your day better. Calling him the affable werewolf is right. It’s also nice that once you get into his route, he doesn’t do a 180 and become anything besides this friendly guy. There’s more to him than on the surface, and you get to see some of that, but his story also suffers from writers introducing needless points of conflict. I finished exactly half of the offered stories for Kyoga. I don’t think there’s a point I didn’t like him.

Hey, you remember in the prologue when you say bye to that guy who works at your family’s shrine? Turns out he’s an ayakashi as well, a house spirit to be precise. Surprise! Your dependable older brother type character has been introduced. Though Samon does nothing in the prologue for you to pick him, he is a route choice, and it surprises everyone when you pick him to make a pact with, including him. He is the nice guy. Respectful of your boundaries, constantly sticking up for you in other’s routes, doing all the home-y things a house spirit would likely do. You can’t get any nicer than Samon. It was refreshing to have someone that isn’t trying to boink you right away. Although I do like the aggressive, steamy moments, this game (both titles) was full of men trying to impregnate the MC, and most are not shy about saying as much. Samon seems to just be happy to be with you. Do you like nice guys, shy guys, and supportive guys? Samon is your man. I finished ¾ of the stories offered for Samon; more than anyone else under this title.

Boy Crazy Rating: 75%. They don’t make memories, but they’re worth the fun to be had in the moment.

Romance: The game is highly focused on plot and conflict, which means there really isn’t a strong focus on bringing the romance. I suppose because the plot is which guy you end up happily ever after with, you’d expect that romance is a plenty This is not the case. The problem is that the characters are all rather shallow, and the MC doesn’t want to be with anyone in that way at the start of the game. There are more relationship building moments with the guys in this title than the other, and more times to develop a lasting impression, but it’s faint. Kind of like waking from a dream, the concepts start to fade from memory as soon as you open your eyes, and the more minutes that pass the fuzzier it gets.

Heart Palpitation Rating: D. You’re told there is love, but I didn’t feel it.

Spice: Hmm. For a game that feels so lacking in emotional romance, and a MC that is certain there has to be love before there’s even hand holding, there sure are a lot of heated moments. We have many a scene where the LI pushes the MC against something (floor, wall, etc.) and several spicy CGs with partial nudity and suggestive adult content. There are flowery descriptive scenes where the sexy times are happening, but nothing explicit or even descriptive. There are more moments of men overpowering the MC with their physical presence in this game than its other title, so if you’re looking for which is spicier between the two, I think this one. I also read more of this one, so that might be skewing my opinion. It’s hot.

Cold Shower Rating: Pass. A M-rated game with M-rated content. A cool shower helped with the heat; save the ice bath for another game.

Angst: Mild, mild, mild angst. There are a lot of love triangles in this game, so that turns the angst up a bit. There’s conflict and violence and your basic plot development. One character has serious daddy issues, another is just secretly broody, and the last is pretty much just… well, it’s very slice of life with little angst. Overall, it is a drama, but not with epic dramatic stories. I’m sure the writing style has something to do with it, but even the dangerous parts don’t really feel so dangerous.

Drama Llama Rating: 4/10. Drama llama petting zoo. Everything is well kept in its cage.

Voice Acting: Nada. This title doesn’t have any voice acting.

Expression Rating: N/A. Can’t rate what isn’t there.

Art: You get the bare basics here. Sprites with very few poses and a few wardrobe changes. Base details on sprites and backgrounds. There is shading, so it isn’t all flat. But the art looks good to me. Sure, it’s not top-notch, or high resolution, but it accomplishes the job in making a visual novel and I find it just fine to look at. Nothing wonky in the sprite and background art.

Still Picture Rating: ★★★☆☆ Many repeats. Such basic. Very okay. 

CGs: These are better than the basic art, but still not without issue. Simple backgrounds or patterns, angles so you don’t have to fill the screen with anything besides the LI and MC, things like that show where corners were cut to keep it easy, but that doesn’t make it bad. I think, for being a phone game originally, it’s pretty okay. It’s acceptable. I wouldn’t pay for prints, and none will end up as a background photo for my phone or computer, but I wouldn’t consider it as poor work. Some CGs are drawn dynamically, and good choices, but with the lack of stuff filling the space, I honestly can’t remember what was happening during the scene besides what I can see in that exact moment.

Look at this Photograph Rating: 73%. It is what it is. I appreciate the CGs, but they don’t provoke any sort of emotional response.

UI/Mechanics: This is a very uncomplicated game. The menu is easy to navigate. There are no mini games or special combinations that you need to be aware of. Saving is simple. The textbox is static, and the whole UI looks clean and pretty standard if you ask me.

What’s this button do? Rating: B. No complaints. Nothing exceptional.

Errors: I’m not sure what the standard is for translation errors, but I’d say this game is pretty standard. There are spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. There was a time or two that I had to reread something a few times in order to figure out how it was supposed to be put together to be understood. The vocabulary is pretty basic, which is fine by me. I don’t need anything highbrow just to enjoy it. No game breaking bugs, and surprisingly few to no UI errors that I can recall. It’s all just translation issues, and even those are not bad; certainly noticeable but nothing I spent time laughing at or getting upset about.

Here there be Bugs Rating: Pass. Low passing. They’re there, they’re just not overwhelming.

Background Music: I was not a fan. I played with my sound off. I don’t think the music was suited to the situation, and found it distracting from the story. I’m not sure how many different compositions they provided, but after two or three, I felt I had heard enough.

BY OUR RATINGS COMBINED!: Oh ho! You thought you were done, didn’t you? Don’t worry, this will be short. Sometimes my individual ratings do not always add up to my overall rating; this is because I find a reason to rate the game based on things that are not listed in my (very) long review. I couldn’t section everything. Sometimes price factors in. Sometimes personal tastes. Basically, what it comes down to is would I buy this game knowing everything I know? Would I recommend it to a friend? I would only purchase this game if it were heavily discounted, at least 50% off. I feel I got $10 out of the game, in all the routes I played. I'd even be willing to pick one guy up on the phone app instead of purchasing the bundle with everyone I don't really care about. It was okay enough for me to throw a few bucks Voltage's way, but not good enough for me to appreciate the purchase I already made. As for a friend... No. I would not recommend it. I'd be more willing to do such with this title than its sister title, but even then I would need to be certain that they were looking for all the problematic issues this game has to offer. It might suit some tastes, but it certainly doesn't mine.