Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Aug 4, 2022

  I absolutely would not recommend this game. I barely made it 30 minutes into the game and almost quit numerous times before I actually did it. The casual and repeated sexism towards the doormat main character is unbearable and unnecessary. I found two of the main leads (I didn't really get to meet the third) to be despicable, creepy, and misogynistic. The game relies on boring descriptive language and forced dialogue to help the contrived plot along. Also, the focus on genitalia = gender is uncomfortable and disgusting. Don't play this game, it wasn't even worth the 3$ I got it on sale for.
• gamedeal user

  May 5, 2018

  This is one of the best VN's I've played in a while. It's obvious that a lot of care went into its creation. Pro's: -the visuals are amazing -the story and characters are really intriguing -the soundtrack is beautiful -It's also nice to see that Louisa continued to be self determined and independent throughout the story. Too often, even when an otome protagonist is shown to have skills/abilities they lose their agency once they're around their love interests. Fortunately, this is subverted as Louisa proves her skill time and again. The reader isn't just told that Louisa has the skills to be the captain of "the Diossa" they are shown. -the replay value is also great. The different routes branch off very quickly. While there are some common events shared between each route each one feels fresh. -the quick save and quick load functions were a nice addtion. It's great to be able to save at choices so you can quickly go back and see different outcomes. -Your choices really do have an impact on the story and this is reflected in the positive and negative endings available. Cons: -There are a couple of bugs. A couple of lines of text show up in Russian. It only happened twice in my play throughs and when it did happen it was only a line so it didn't detract from the story in a significant way. It's really a minor issue, all things considered, and I'm sure it will be fixed. Overall, this game is worth every penny and I highly recommend it.
• gamedeal user

  May 5, 2018

  Amazing VN. It's on the short side, but the art is nice, the otome story (girl p.o.v., male love interests) is good. It's very refreshing theme. For those worried about the "nudity" tag, there was only 1 CG that showed more skin but breasts are censored. Sex is sensual, not obvert. This VN is more about story than those kind of scenes. English translation works well. Only noticed one line still in Russian. It didn't break the story. What impressed me about this VN is how many CGs it had. Least favorite: while music was very good, not many tracks.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 24, 2019

  Unmoor is a casual independent visual novel both developed and published by MariLuzaria. As Louisa you gleefully return home from the Maritime Academy with hopes of taking charge of your fathers ship and setting sail on the open seas for a life of trade and adventure. However, you soon sadly discover that your beloved papa was taken advantage of and the family ship, The Diossa, has been acquired by a Monsieur Viardo. "This will not come to pass!" Louisa thinks to herself as she makes plans to recover the vessel at all costs. Prepare to follow her on this thrilling seafaring adventure filled with action, intrigue and possibly romance as Louisa sets out to take back The Diossa and prove herself as a worthy seacaptain in the process. [h1]PRESENTATION[/h1] This visual novel features a strikingly gorgeous artstyle that is just a pleasure to peruse. The color palette is excellent and the illustrations for both the characters and backgrounds are magnificent. On the downside, the novel has your typical static 2D characters with not much life to them. I would have prefered characters that blink their eyes or change facial expressions during dialogue but you can't have it all. Aurally, the soundtrack does the narrative justice with music that really fits in well with the nautical theme of the story. There are also a number of ambient effects present which really increase the immersion as you read which is always a plus in my opinion. Add to that quite a few choices that you'll have to make over the course of the branching storyline that will affect the ending as well and Unmoor puts forth quite a wonderful presentation in this genre. [h1]CONCLUSION[/h1] This has been one of the more enjoyable V.N. experiences story-wise that I've had to date on Steam with it's well written and entertaining narrative. My only complaints are that the dialogue reverted to all russian in a few of the scenes so I couldn't read what was being said and that the novel is very short in length as I was able to complete my first playthrough in just over two hours. With that said, I did manage to get the "Good Ending" though so yay for me! As options go, the V.N. has the basic settings for sound/music volume as well as text speed. There is also a C.G. gallery that unlocks as the story progresses, a music mode to listen to the soundtrack at your leisure and a profile gallery which provides information on the main characters in the novel. Sadly, there are no Steam Trading Cards to collect but there are a number of Steam Achievements to unlock. In conclusion, despite the small length of the visual novel, Unmoor still manages to provide a wonderful read so it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to any fan of the V.N. genre.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 28, 2019

  This game is as generic and uninteresting as humanly possible. It has nothing to offer. The MC is flawless, beautiful, multi-talented and she never really struggles throughout the story (as little as there is), the other characters are as one-dimentional as she is, the romances are incredibly rushed and don't have a strong foundation to begin with, they're as underdeveloped as charaters themselves. MC and one of the bachelors just fall for each other in a short time without much reason to it. Maybe it's their looks? Yes, it [i]is[/i] as shallow as it sounds. The sad thing is, the premise is actually promising, a little spin could've added depth and struggle to this. What if the main heroine is not a marvellous beauty? [spoiler]What if her disguise as a boy actually works? What if she falls for a bachelor's personality (which should be a lot more than a sob story)? What if the bachelor falls for her personality after she proved herself (yep, she should have a personality to begin with)? What if he doesn't reciprocate her feelings because she's a good actor? What if she comes up with clever plans? What if one of the bachelors falls for her character and they have a fall-off when one day he realises the persona he liked was fake? What if she realises that the boy persona is actually truer to her self than she thought? [i]That[/i] would be struggle and tension![/spoiler] The possibilities are endless and yet the writer doesn't explore them at all. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1666777291 It's clear that the authors hadn't given their work much thought. It is as low-effort as it can be, featuring the easiest to read choices and even non-skippable identical texts in different routes, a large chunk (I don't even mention the broken anatomy, weird faces and lazy backgrounds. The game certainly tries to look better on the surface than it does). It would be kinda okay if it was a free game, but it is not and it's a shame to charge money for this sketch of a sketch of a game. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1666776825 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1666777089 P.S. Oh, and the English translation is much, [i]much[/i] better than the original Russian text, which looks as if it was written by a schoolgirl for schoolgirls (with the occasional raep references to spice things up, I guess, but no real threat).
• gamedeal user

  Jul 3, 2019

  [i]"A swashbuckling romantic adventure with a unique premise and gorgeous artwork. If only more otome broke away from the standard tropes and tried something as fun as this." - Otome Rakuen[/i] Well this isn't right. Or did I just play a different game? I bought this VN because of the good reviews (including curators) praising it and I feel... deceived. This game reminded me exactly why I am wary of stuff made by Russian developers, especially in the otome realm of things. Most people probably won't know what I'm talking about, but the whole thing gives off that feeling of distinctly Russian self-published romantic fiction. The ancient kind, stuff you could find on samizdat before ficbook became a thing. With all the characteristic tropes and cliches and amateurish writing. There is no engaging story here, no complex well-developed characters, no exciting romance (which spells doom for a romance centered game). In terms of writing, this VN is a colossal flop. The visuals you can judge for yourself. I don't recommend buying it unless you're curious and it's on sale. You can find free to play otome games that are much, much better than this.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 19, 2019

  I wish I could give this a neutral review. For an otome, it's... okay. It has a really great premise, but it's executed poorly: Louisa is the daughter of a former ship captain, who had to sell his vessel to cover debts. She cuts her hair and crossdresses to get aboard the ship and steal back the title to the vessel and reclaim what's rightfully her father's. Of course, there's three handsome (ish) guys aboard (and one elsewhere), one of whom you will interact with and become close to. The thing is, it all happens very fast. The story is VERY short. And the excitement that the story of a girl dressed as a boy aboard a large ship could have had, simply isn't there. There are no stakes. They built up a story that didn't follow through. Even in Jean Marten's route, which involved some tensions at the end, was predictable and easy to resolve with the choices. And the guys falling for her so quickly after realizing she's a girl is very unrealistic. These games are never meant to be wholly realistic, and require some suspension of disbelief, but this is just absurd. The artwork is great, and probably its best quality. However, the artist seems to have difficulties drawing characters kissing, and that is quite awkward in some of the CGs. Most of which, however,are beautiful, the backgrounds are very detailed and colorful, and even the sprites are very nice. The writing is okay, but there is a lot of expo-speak that could have easily been achieved through other writing tactics or just be removed altogether. If you are desperate for an otome game, get this on super sale. But it's just not that fun.