Reviews

• gamedeal user

  May 20, 2018

  Bought this on a whim more than anything and can't say I regret it so far. The routes are surprisingly long and in depth. Most of the characters seem pretty likeable and interesting. The fanservice and typical cliches feel nonexistant ( a welcome sight to be honest) here with more focus on the story and characters rather than recreating the overtly using the typical highschool shenanigans and such. The route map is another really helpful feature to jump to various route branches without having to constantly make saves. The artwork is pretty good although feels a tad bit inconsistent for different characters (although that could just be me). The musics nothing noteworthy and the odd periods of silence when the music just abruptly cuts off kind of ruins the immersion but it's a common 'feature' for indie vn's and not much of a dealbreaker so I'll overlook it. To sum it all up, This is a breath of fresh air when it comes to visual novels with a good plot to keep you hooked and at a length thats neither too long or too short. Definately worth a read considering what you get for the price.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 17, 2019

  I really didnt expect a lot from this VN, however I was very positively surprised by it. In General I love Fantasy Worlds and Demi humans or Animalgirls a whole lot. If you are like me in that Sense then I already know you will love this Game. There are so many different Choices to pick and so many Routes to discover that you can easily spend 20 hours on this Game. I mean there are 16 Routes and it took me 9 hours to finish just one. The Writing is really good and the Character Development is very good. This Game also tackles a lot of very hard Topics like Mental Health. This is one of those VNs were you can tell that they really focused on the Story and the Writing and really took their time to think of interesting Storychoices and Developments. I mean the Art and everything else is also not bad, but you can clearly tell that most of their Focus was the Story. Maybe because of that there is no Voice Acting or any Animations but tbh you dont need any of that to get engrossed with the Story. I read through my first Playthrough nearly in a single Sitting just cause I wanted to know what would happen next. What I also love is the Routetree that this Game has. I have never seen anyhting like it in other VNs,but it is genius. With it you can see what Routes you are still missing and get started on doing them. You can also keep a great Overview on everything. I was really thinking of giving this a 10/10, but the only thing that is hindering me from it is that the Endings arent as long and nice as I would have hoped. I mean the entire Time he is in the Academy the writing is super detailed and you could even say that they could maybe have made it shorter, but then the Ending is super compressed and short in Comparison. Still loved it and give it a 9.8/10 Check out my Curator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34401214/
• gamedeal user

  May 27, 2018

  I downloaded the demo which showed much promise. Can't say that the full version has been any less disappointing! The backgrounds, sprites and CGs are all lovely to look at. The soundtrack is generally quite pleasing to the ear. No complaints regarding any of those. Then there's the writing and plot tree. Don't know what the word count is, but it's substantial. The writer/dev has packed a lot of content into his creation, and the story is quite a lot of fun, well-spelled and -grammared and, above all, well-told. I've only reached a couple of endings so far but I'm determined to see this through to the end! The UI is also quite nice and the dev really did think of everything by including a special rewind feature. You can select a checkpoint you have already reached and navigate down a different branch of the plot tree should you so choose. This feature is certainly time-saving and considerate of the user, so well done for that one! I'm very happy I spent the dosh on this one and I look forward to new material from this dev. Well done! You get 1.75 thumbs from me.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 22, 2019

  Okay, so I bought this back in May 2018 (and I honestly can't remember how I found it back then). And then it ended up forgotten in my Dreaded Steam Backlog of Doom. A couple of weeks ago, I saw a mention of Tix's route having been added to the game post-launch, thought it sounded interesting, went to look at the VN on Steam and was duly reminded that it was of course already in my library... I was on holiday last week, knew I'd have several free evenings to have a proper chance to sit down and read, and so I duly got around to finally installing Sable's Grimoire, without even being [i]entirely[/i] sure what I was going to end up reading! And at this point, I'm gonna say - [b]don't do what I did[/b]... which is to buy it and then leave it sitting in your library for almost a year. Buy it, [i]and read it[/i]. That last part really is key to the enjoyment you can get out of it! It's a really enjoyably crafted collection of intertwining tales; you have an intelligent protagonist who has some character to him, you have a variety of well-characterised people who he'll encounter, and no matter whose route you end up on, they all [i]stay[/i] well written and characterised too. They feel like they actually have some existence of their own, rather than simply becoming mindless background scenery if you choose someone else's route (which has been a failing in some other VNs I've read). It's not a "perfect" VN (but then what is); I'm sure some will be sad there's no voice acting (though I don't even want to think about what it would cost to add that to stories of this length), and those who have a medical need for H-scenes are going to need to look elsewhere for their fix too, because Sable's Grimoire is [i]not[/i] a typical "waifu dating VN". The music's pleasant, the art's generally good - but they really are the supporting acts for the writing, for that's what truly makes this worth sinking hours of your time into - it is [i]so good[/i] to read a tale with characters and development that isn't simply a cheap setup for an h-scene or three. There's been a lot of thought put into contructing the world and its characters, and it shows - it's been written so that it can be extended and expanded, and any additions will be able to feel entirely natural rather than shoehorned in, because little hints and background details are already in place. I've not yet [i]completely[/i] completed it myself, but after reading all of Lisha's and Drakan's routes, and part of a shared route so far, I am confident in saying: Strongly recommended.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 6, 2018

  I really hope this gets more attention. Although I like a fan-service ridden vn as much as the next disappointment, we all need gems like this with good stories and characters. 10/10 Drakan top tier gril.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 23, 2021

  The game is good, If you are unsure about buying it give it a chance, it won't let you down. Though at first glance it seems like "yet-another-monster-girl-dating-sim-VN", It's really so, so much more than that. Yes, there is romance, but it's never the main focus of the story. It varies from route to route, and there are some routes that don't even have romance at all! However, that doesn't mean there is none (as is expected... In fact, is that's what you are looking for, I would say you won't come out dissapointed). It's just that this VN uses it's time wisely, not just to appeal to fanservice as most VNs do, but to focus on the characters themselves, and (specially!) on their races and differences to normal humans (both physical and cultural), as well as the difficulties of co-existence (be it alongisde humans or even other races). And that's a good thing. The story allows you to know the characters well enough so that you end up caring and understanding them. Which makes the character's progression through the story feel natural. One notable thing to mention, is that in the 28 hs that took me to complete all the routes (that are available at the time of writing, with a few more to come in the future as far as I can gather) not even once I felt that something is "out of character" or "this person wouldn't do something like this". Also, it would be good to mention that even if you pick one of the girls to follow their route, it doesn't mean that the others dissapear completely from the scene (which is something that surprised me and I really enjoyed). Just like you, they feel like they have their own lives and matters to attend to, so you get to see everyone from time to time. The routes are several, and really different from one another. The tone varies. Some are more light-hearted, some are more serious and one in particular is quite dark and deals with serious and quite heavy topics. So maybe if you are sensible you would do well to research a bit in advance so you can avoid that particular part (it's quite obvious which one is it though, and is easy to see the choices that lead you there. Also, my congratulations for the writer for how they handled this particular route, it was really well made). Besides from the branching into routes though, the story is fairly linear. Most routes have one good ending and two/three bad ones, some just have one of each (some don't even have a "good" ending! at least not in the sense one is used to). Though each route does present some threads of story to be explored in future sequels. There are some choices here and there outside of the "route changing" ones, but it would have been nice to have a just a few more choices for normal dialogue. There were two particular times I felt quite...dissapointed... in the MC for what he was saying (feeling like "seriously? they told you this two scenes ago and you forgot about it?" or things like that) Oh, and for those of you looking for...the more "juicy" stuff, so to speak... If you are looking for adult content, honestly you are better looking somewhere else. Just like what I said about the romance, it does vary from route to route...but the most you'll get is a nude silhouette, and some sexual references in dialogue. That's it. As I said before, the story focuses on the relations among the characters instead of the fanservice, so that their relationships grow realistically instead of magically.