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• gamedeal user

  Jan 23, 2022

  Protip: Play the all the other Routes before Wu ZiXu...because i didn`t and now i don`t want the other guys, because he`s perfect <3
• gamedeal user

  Jan 30, 2022

  My Vow to My Liege is a visual novel that is 45% about politics, 35% about war and 20% - mythology. And among all this fun stuff there is absolutely no room for romance. And I don't buy romance games to read about medieval Chinese war affairs, so the game just failed expectations. But I should give the game credit when it deserves it. The art is beautiful, though I would prefer to see more CGs. Game has only 28 CGs for all routes combined, 2 of them are duplicates, 1 - a map and 1 - a letter. I liked music very much. I cannot say the same about voice acting though. Maybe I'm just not used to Chinese, but I found voices distracting and just muted them half way. The MC here is more mature than in your average Otome game, she would not blush over holding hands, she would not trip over something to fall on her love interest etc etc. The game is free of this cliche romance BS. So ye, this was refreshing. Story wise, as I mentioned, it has too much politics and war. The setup is good: the lady disguised as a king tries to rule the country and defeat cartoon-evil demon. But the execution... Her struggle to live as a man was briefly touched, but never fleshed out. Too many people around her seems to know her gender. She was impersonating a man for 5 years, but 3 years ago there was a war (of course there was a war) between aristocracy of the kingdom about who will become her husband. So her gender is not a big deal. What about routes? GouJian: not gonna lie, I really like route's main idea: 2 people who have strong reasons to both hate and love each other. It brings interesting dynamics, and such situation is rare in Otome. But the execution... it was Ok, I wish it had more than 2 choices in the route and more of GouJian presence, instead of that ton of that war related stuff going on. YiGuang: your vanilla sweet childhood friend who always loved you. His route was nice, though a little predictable. And he has the most presence in his route among other love interests. Wu ZiXu: the story itself was good, with interesting plot twists. Though romance between him and MC feels very forced. In the common route they had strictly work relationships. And being king's adviser ZiXu suggested the most unpleasant and even disgusting options "for the sake of the kingdom" that no person would follow. Chen Feng: his route was absolute disaster. The setup was amazing: childhood friend, bodyguard, with dark side he struggling to overcome. How to destroy the premise like this? Put him in coma or in another town for 90% of his route and focus on the war. That said, My Vow to My Liege is not a bad game overall, it has nice ideas. It is a bad romance game.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 19, 2022

  I stumbled upon this gem while browsing steam for something to fill the void going through the story and worldbuilding of Code:Realize left behind and boy did I get something even better than my imaginations. If you are bilingual and are debating whether or not to play this game in English or Chinese, I strongly recommend giving Chinese a try first because some of the feelings absolutely do not translate (but the translators did a great job doing their best!). If you're looking for a romance-heavy otome, this is probably not for you. But if you love historical fantasy and enjoy plot and worldbuilding, this is absolutely a must play! I'm undecided as to whether or not knowing about the historical period/the historical figures that some of the love interests are based off of increases or decreases enjoyment, since knowing the references to historical events/idioms and poetry is definitely a fun easter egg but probably also spoils some of the plot twists you may or may not have seen coming otherwise. (Although, if you're genre-savvy, you probably would have seen them coming anyway). There are definitely still a lot of subversions to the actual events in history though so knowing how history plays out doesn't totally spoil it for you (I mean, there are mythological creatures and shamans involved, of course it's not totally faithful to actual history, but I am quite impressed by how little anachronism there is in this game other than the outfits, which were explicitly stated by the devs to not be realistic anyway.) Otome games don't usually have a lot of replayability, but I might just replay a certain route because of how much I enjoyed the politics and poetry and how perfectly the fantastical elements were blended in.
• gamedeal user

  May 1, 2022

  Play this game if: - You are interested in historical settings (ie. Hakuoki)/Wu Xia genre stories - You like a complex MC with her own backstory and traumas - You are interested in VN plots with a hint of romance Maybe skip this game if: - You are looking for heavy romance in an otome - You want to self-insert into the MC - You don't like stories about political conflict and descriptions of war/battles Personally I enjoyed it, the character designs were eye-catching, I liked the MC as a character (She is very complex and has agency) and the voice acting was very good. The quality of the routes are not equal however (Chenfeng was the weakest narratively wise, so if you played his route first, I urge you to continue playing because it gets better from here). The game is also pretty short, with each route taking around 2-3 hours and with around 5 CGs per LI. It was pretty value for money in my opinion for the quality given, though whether you enjoy it depends on whether you like historical otoges or not. Goujian is my personal favourite of the 4 LI.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 16, 2022

  Game gave me emotional damage. 10/10 would recommend. 100% worth the money ✓ MC that shows agency, displays both strengths and weaknesses, actually feels human ✓ LIs with sufficient depth and complexity to, again, feel actually human ✓ Believable rationale/backstories for why LIs fall in love with MC ✓ Plot that keep driving forward (stakes are high from the get go and they. do. not. let. up) ✓ Clear, meaningful character growth! for (almost) everyone! depending on player choice ✓ For real, even some side characters get noticeable growth in certain routes depending on player choice ✓ Art, VA, music, localization beautifully executed ✓ Learned more about Chinese history & mythology from game glossary and subsequent wiki rabbit-holes than should be reasonably expected from an otome ✓ A+++ 2nd FL. ShaoJiang best girl. I do not accept feedback ✓ YiGuang MVP (like no joke in every route) ultimate husband. Again I do not accept feedback Seriously, I look forward to this dev's future titles. I enjoyed their previous game about dating monks that's considerably more lighthearted and now they've done it again with cross-dressing king drama and a side of trauma(TM), I'm curious to see what they produce next.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 29, 2022

  A nakige honestly, and also a low key though likely unintentional rebuttal to everything that is wrong with Hakuoki. The protagonist in this has agency and ability. She doesn't anxiously sit in a room and wait for news about the war, she is driving the war from the front lines. Her reactions to things are reasonable, she doesn't do anything stupid or cruel, and she knows when it's appropriate to cry. Likewise, her romance interests have believable reasons for loving her. The men are varied in their motivations and the routes fill in the gaps of one another in terms of events you heard in passing. I'd argue the weakest route is the one that briefly dips its toe into yandere territory. It's ironically the one where the protagonist has the least amount of agency. I found the localisation to be fine overall. I had no issue understanding anything. Individual routes seem to suffer from something I call "the otomate effect", where the further along you get, the more typos there are. That sort of thing is egregious for a 60$ game, but this is only 10$ and translated by one person, so I was not annoyed or distracted by it. Being as affordable as it is, it's probably a bit shorter than anyone might want (10 hours maybe?) but what's here is solid, from the art to the writing.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 6, 2023

  I read something and saw some pretty things... But I am not sure what to make of it.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 23, 2020

  To get it out of the way right away: I'm having a really hard time to not compare this game with "Lost in Secular Love", which is such an amazing and wonderful game! So I have to admit that I might have had expectations towards this game that were a little too high and that influence my overall experience.. "Lost in Secular Love" had great care, love and effort put into... pretty much everything. I haven't touched the game in a while, but I still remember making up songs by hovering my mouse over the menu buttons or the funny little sketches inbetween scenes/chapters, loads of backgrounds and cgs to admire... and I miss that a little in this game? The story in this one is great and quite intriguing, the characters overall and the romance options are very interesting and unique despite some obvious clichés or stereotypes, some animations here and there, generally nice visuals, the song that plays during the credits is perfect... but all those silly little details that made me adore the previous game are lacking from this one. Like, backgrounds being used over and over for different settings with only slight changes, some jumps between scenes feeling a little awkward, barely any beautiful art to properly admire in the form of cgs and the romance... feels a bit awkward or rushed and is very lacking to the point it felt like they were actually too scared to have two people kiss on screen sometimes. Therefor, to me, the game felt pretty mediocre, especially under the whole "Otome Game" aspect. Though, again, I suspect that to be partly because of my fond memories for "Lost in Secular Love" which I consider a bit of a masterpiece. Said game also feels like it has a lot more length and depth to it as well. I'm still having a wonderful time with this game and I will definitely add it to my list of recommendations for people, but I do feel like the game is missing some things here and there that could have made it just as perfect as the previous game. However, you will most certainly feel like you got your money's worth. Again: This most certainly isn't a bad game. I'd even go as far as to claim it's actually a pretty good one. Just.. maybe a bit disappointing when you know what these people can really put out there. There are currently some technical hiccups here and there as well, like spelling mistakes or lines repeating themselves or people growing a third arm (like ChenFeng did for me on his route, when they fight on the ships), but I do have faith that those will be fixed in due time. Long story, short: Buy it and give it a try.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 24, 2020

  At its heart, My Vow to My Liege is an enthralling historical fantasy centered around the legend of King Fu Chai and the downfall of the Kingdom of Wu near the end of China's Spring and Autumn Period. ...Just add a touch of genderbent historical figures, play around with interesting/more sympathetic versions of those historical figures, spice it up with mages making pacts with monsters, and of course sprinkle in an ample helping of handsome dudes. And yes, this particular combination of tropes is exactly up my alley <3 Still, while this is definitely an otome game, the plot is clearly the writers' main focus. The actual romantic elements show themselves fairly late in the story, and are of course accompanied by delicious, delicious tragedy. (For other otome lovers, the general vibe is similar to Nightshade or Hakuouki. Especially Hakuouki.) Pros: -ART - First and foremost, the artwork in this VN is flat-out gorgeous, from the character models to the CGs. Just look at the art in the screenshots. The main character designs are super awesome (I can't speak about their historical accuracy, but they sure look cool.) -CHARACTERS - While I still have 1 route left to complete at the time of this review, I love how all the main characters have properly fleshed out motivations, character flaws, and dynamic interactions with each other. All the guys have their own unique personalities and story arcs, including conflicts with each other that make perfect sense within the story. Also special shout-out to best girl ShaoJiang <3 Even the MC was quite good--while I didn't fall in love with her or anything (my attachment was more than a little hampered by how she doesn't have a voice actress or portrait on screen when she speaks), her character arcs were cool especially when comparing her development between routes. -PLOT - this VN definitely put in sooooo much work building an epic and beautiful world with its own twists on history as well as creatures and elements from Chinese mythology. I applaud how well woven some of the conspiracies and twists are--though keep in mind I'm not a 200 IQ detective or anything. I loved the atmosphere of terrifying suspense and wondrous mystery hanging over the story. There were definitely some scenes that made me tear up a little. -VOICE ACTING - this game is fully voiced in Chinese (well, everyone but the main character) and the VAs all do a wonderful job. GouJian's VA in particular acts his freaking heart out lolllll (and he's apparently the voice acting director, so well done dude!) -MUSIC - the music is wonderful, fitting each scene really well. There are tense drums for battle scenes, majestic tracks when the main character holds imperial court, swelling epic music when the main character finally triumph... I have no complaints here. However, that's not to say this is a perfect work. It has its fair share of flaws, especially in its current state. Cons: -TRANSLATION (obviously specific to English speakers): As someone who can read and understand Chinese on a moderate level, I really do sympathize with the translators since this VN uses a bunch of rather archaic and generally hard-to-translate terms, including lots of beautiful poetry. However, this doesn't change the cruel truth that the translation needed much, much more work. Basically... while it is certainly understandable in its current state, there are quite a few grammar/spelling mistakes in everything from dialogue to the menus. And in general, a lot of the beautiful wordplay is lost. Poor Wu ZiXu in particular gets a little screwed over since he speaks in such formal Chinese. EDIT: Of note, it does seem like the dev team has a proofreader who's currently going through the script, so hopefully translation quality isn't as much of an issue down the line!! -PLOT/PACING - for all the wonderful ideas and amazing potential brought to the table by this VN, not all that potential gets fulfilled. The writers definitely bit off more than they could chew. I will note that this VN has a very LONG COMMON ROUTE in particular, so the individual character routes aren't that long. (Gou Jian gets off fairly easy since he has quite a few scenes in the common route, but IIRC Chen Feng got a little screwed over.) The character endings in particular are rather rushed--the final battle is over really fast, the main story effectively ends right after that at the climax, and the epilogues are super short. Don't get me wrong, the good endings are very satisfying and the bad endings appropriately heartwrenching, but it just left me wanting more
• gamedeal user

  Sep 28, 2020

  You know how all ancient historical settings always have a Prime Minister? Most of the time they're evil gangly old men that use their position for an attempt at more power through shady means. Not here. The devs said fuck that and gave us a 100% pure grade Hunk instead. They gave this man Silver Hair, An damn good backstory, Cynicism, Muscles, had him teach and mold the heroine into the King she is today, and gave him a sexy sexy voice. And topped it off by making his route a heartwrenching story about two broken people that have lived for vengeance finding comfort in each other. 10/10 would cry over Wu ZiXu again. (The other routes are probly just as good but i'm still basking in the tears i've shed over this man)