魔女と亡霊のヴォロンテ
Completion date: July 31, 2025
The game currently only has Japanese download version. After an initial unsuccessful attempt, they have met their Kickstarter goal for an English localization and will be targeting end of 2025 (but latest end of 2026) for an English localization. They have plans of porting the game to Steam as well.
I will change it up a bit and leave pros and cons in final thoughts which is a spoiler-free section, as the discussion is more nuanced. The one-liner is: Overall the game is worth playing, but wait for a sale. It has its clear strong and weak points, but positives outweigh negatives. If you enjoyed games like Even if Tempest where romance is not the focus, but have an elaborate world plot with elements of court intrigue, inter-faction conflict etc., this will be in your alley.
My play order was Emmanuel > Ismail > Melody > Olivier. Last two are route locked. I recommend playing in the same order.
COMMON ROUTE (CONTAINS PLOT OF COMMON ROUTE, BUT NO MAJOR SPOILERS)
A group of villagers venture into the forest and find the bodies of “heretics” who seem to have suffered from some kind of plague. One female infant is still alive. A villager takes her home and raises her as his own, naming her, Fiena.
Fiena grows to 18 years old as an ordinary farm girl, hair red as fire, and eyes green as emerald. She sometimes sees ghost-like visions, but no one else does. Her small village is ransacked by knights who brutally murder everyone including her younger sister and mother. She has a younger brother living with a pastor; hence, escaped this massacre. The knights fervently search for the red haired girl, but when one lays his hands on Fiena, an unknown force knocks him back. Fiena makes her escape until she reaches a body of water. Exhausted and hungry, she closes her eyes and braces herself for the end.
Unsure if an illusion before death, Fiena sees a floating city blinking in the sea. A purple-haired ?sorcerer stuffs an apple in her mouth and tells her to live on. He takes her to the city in the sea that is usually concealed from the sights of people from the mainland, via porte de l’enfer, or literally, the gate to hell. [Big sorry if I got this wrong as I don’t speak French] Fiena is nursed to recovery by purple-haired Olivier and dark-skinned physician Ismail. She lives a life of luxury and isolation.
However, every gift comes with a price. It is time for a dolled up Fiena to dance to Olivier’s tune. Debuting as the Moon Witch of a religion that she never even believed in, Fiena is suddenly tasked with “guiding” the people of her new home city-state with “oracles”, as well as going to an academy to learn knowledge and magic. Fiena also meets Emmanuel or Duke Beaumont, who appears distrustful of her identity. She also meets a cold, mysterious bard who is also an efficient swordsman by the name of Melody.
Fiena sees through Olivier and King Corneille’s plan to manipulate the god-loving people through “divine intervention”. However, instead she chooses to make a deal with the devil. After all, she has nowhere left to go; and she wants to live.
Fiena spends her time learning magic, and growing to call this new place home. Until one day, monsters immune to destruction magic or physical attacks appear in the city. Only holy healing magic works against them. They are defeated for now. However, everyone they touch dies within three days, their whole bodies turning purple. They are dubbed, phantoms.
The trouble does not stop here, as people find out that the beloved King is dead in his bed. Ismail concludes that he died of a heart attack, but Olivier insists he is murdered. [Is Ismail the only doctor in the country or what? How can he examine the body if he is a suspect as the king’s doctor.]
The country has no time to mourn, as they are in dire need of a leader. The late king was a kind ruler, but he was also a womanizer and left behind a few sons. However, most people did not know Emmanuel was not only related to him, but his favourite.
The expressionless cold-blooded king now takes his throne, sacking Oliver from his Grand Sorcerer position due to failure to protect the people in the process. Fiena is once against thrown into the heart of the storm of events that will soon engulf this island country. What will she choose? Where will she go? What will she need to do in order to survive?
***SPOILERS BEGIN***
EMMANUEL DE BEAUMONT (CV: Umehara Yuuichirou)
The new king rules with an iron fist and cleans up his cabinet, starting with Olivier. Fiena’s day finally comes as well. Emmanuel asks her, “Are you really the Moon Witch?” or are you a fake?
Fearing for her life, Fiena comes clean. Emmanuel thinks of disposing of her, but the new Grand Sorceress and his cousin Ciara (who also served as Fiena’s magic teacher) convinces him to spare her life, as Fiena still has use to the kingdom in her role. This doll will now dance to his tune instead of Olivier’s. However, he orders Fiena to not leave the palace.
On her way home from her religious duties, Fiena overhears a conversation and people plotting to overthrow someone. She hides, but then find three corpses. She also sees a wolf in the distance. She discusses this with Ciara, who tells her that werewolves exist in this kingdom, but they are viewed as subhuman.
Emmanuel’s cold way of ruling has got many of his subjects, as well as Fiona missing the old king, who was more personable. Fiena gets into a debate with Emmanuel, and at one point argues that the old king would never do what he is doing, to which Emmanuel suddenly grabs her and pulls her in for a kiss???
Ok the CG is hot but I’m like?????
Emmanuel resents the late king because after getting his mother pregnant, he never visited them once until she died. Why that is the case he does not explain. We note from the common route that the king has mistresses who frequent the palace, so he clearly does not do this to every woman. Fiena pushes him away and angrily tells him that Corneille never had inappropriate actions to her like this, and she truly respected and loved him as a father and king. He pretty much said my bad I guess…
Ciara tells Fiena to share an obscure message with the people that some kind of disaster is going to happen. She clearly knows something is up but will not say the details. Meanwhile, Emmanuel purposely reduces defences in a suburb area.
As Ciara and her sorcerers passed that area, she is attacked by the knights from the opposing religion from the mainland [keep in mind we are in a game set in the Middle Ages so religion/politics/army are often all intertwined]. Olivier tells Fiena where the action is happening. She throws the whole “I will be honest and loyal to Emmanuel-sama” business out of the window and just escapes the city to the battle scene.
The battle does not end well. Ciara/Emmanuel hoped to capture the enemies alive to extract information. However, it is implied that Olivier arrived uninvited, stirred up a scene, and ended up killing all enemies in the name of self-defence. Ciara was also struck from the back, when there were no enemies, and went into a coma. Ismail examines Ciara’s wounds and hints that her hit was an inside job, but says no more and laments that both him and Fiena “are at the crossroads” of choice and life.
Olivier meets Fiena in private and implies that Emmanuel knew about this attack. He then tells Fiena that Emmanuel is a cold and calculated person without any regard for personal feelings. He will do what is best for the country, including handing her over to the enemy and allowing her to die. He then asks Fiena if she wants to run away with him. Fiena declines.
Emmanuel tells Fiena that he knows she did not stay in the palace when the incident happened. Fiena sees two wolves outside his window. Emmanuel is surprised she can see them, as most cannot. He explains that he used to work in the shadows for the country, as he can control these wolves to gather intrigue. Hence, despite his aristocratic status not many in the country knew of him before ascending to the throne.
The conversation suddenly switches to some random flirting where Emmanuel says he can marry Fiena to make up for her lost first kiss:
Fiena, being a normal 18-year-old girl, still remembers what Olivier told her about him sacrificing her, as that’s what he had in mind when he chose her to pose as the Moon Witch. She asks to make a deal with Emmanuel that he will spare her life. He then asks her what she would give for exchange. She has the option to say “loyalty” or “love”.
Fiena is named the next Grand Sorceress [seriously do you have nobody left in the country, she is literally a rookie]. The plot unfolds some more as we take a glimpse into Emmanuel, Olivier, and Ismail’s childhood. They were friends. Olivier seems to have an interest in Grand Cloche and the large energy it harbours. When released, it can destroy the mainland. But why would anyone do such a thing…?
Fiena stumbles into more plotting and gets tazed by magic and unable to move. A radical group led by Olivier plans to overthrow Emmanuel with the goal of accessing the core of the magical barrier that hides the country from the mainland, Grand Cloche, that only Olivier knows how to control, despite Fiena being the new Grand Sorceress. He would not tell Ciara. Fiena is asked to put magic energy in it all the time but the guards will not tell her more. Again this is a plot hole because can’t Fiena simply refuse and demand to be told information? Why does a guard get to defy her without repercussions]. and unleashing its power to destroy the mainland. Fiena thinks she is going to die, but wait, who is that… werewolf?
Emmanuel’s mother’s side has werewolf blood – that’s the reason why Corneille neglected them (not so kind of a king after all). Emmanuel brings Fiena back. Fiena still can’t move and asks Emmanuel to reach under her dress because that’s where she hid Ciara’s diary which may contain clues to deciphering Grand Cloche’s secret… Despite Emmanuel forcing a kiss on her before, he becomes very flustered and calls for Fiena’s maid.
Olivier and the fanatics are about to conquer the royal palace. Emmanuel figures out from Ciara’s diary that she was writing in a code that the two used to communicate as children. He gives one hasty confession to Fiena, that she and Ciara [who is his cousin btw, but I’m pretty sure you could marry your cousin, or even sister back in the day…] were the only two women who did not discriminate him after finding out he is a werewolf. He then makes a vow that if they both live from this incident, he will make Fiena his Queen.
Ending 1 –
Fiena finds the real core underground (as the one above ground is a decoy). She rushes there with two other sorcerers and Melody, who were killed within an instant by Olivier.
Olivier explains he holds immense hatred for people from the mainland because his parents were publicly executed as a result of witch hunting. He concludes that he is already in a living hell and wants everything to end. He reminisces his time with Emmanuel as children, how their ideals differed, and how Emmanuel was always more level-minded and wanted to revolutionize how the country is run, including opening it up so it can communicate with the mainland to learn new technologies and stimulate the economy.
Olivier never planned on making it out alive, and actually commits suicide in front of Emmanuel and Fiena, as he will get his revenge, and has no purpose to live anymore.
And what do our protagonists do? They literally make out and have sex. Ok I get it you feel it’s hopeless and what you’re aiming for, but it’s really hard for me to empathize when there was not enough buildup to this point…
Master Owari comes to save the day. As master of the academy, he knows the way to stop Grand Cloche’s destabilization, which is also the reason why he always refuses to be nominated as Grand Sorcerer or work under the king – the academy is an independent and moderate faction.
The good ending concludes with Fiena’s finale as Moon Witch, and her new role as Queen Consort.
Ending 2 – In exchange for her life, Fiena says she will go with Olivier. She becomes his doll once again after the whole island is destroyed. [Ok where is Master Omari though, he could have saved the island.]
Ending 3 – Emmanuel, Oliver, and Fiena die after an unfortunate chain of events. Omari prevents the explosion from happening, though.
THOUGHTS and yes I have many:
- Good choice casting Umehara as a kuudere, calculated ruler.
- Did not expect the 略奪 ending. Mistonia-esque. Pleasant surprise. Especially with Okitsu…
- Biggest problem with this route is the lack of romantic buildup and OOC writing. I buy the reasoning in the final confession: how Fiena did not treat Emmanuel discriminately because he was a werewolf, but there needed to be more scenes and time to buildup. This route could have benefited tremendously with the characters’ actions being more convincing at the finale of good ending if the writer could sprinkle a few everyday scenes/interactions between Fiena/Emmanuel to see his private side. Otherwise, it just didn’t make sense how Emmanuel would fall in love with Fiena. I wonder if this was not able to be expanded due to cost concerns.
- Did not make sense for Fiena to be named Grand Sorceress. Would you let someone who came to the country for one year be in this role? There are other ways for Fiena to be connected to the Grand Cloche plot without doing this.
- I’ve already complained about how in order to get to the good end, Fiena has to play dumb, then suddenly declare her love instead of loyalty to Emmanuel when he was being serious. It also is OOC of her to just escape “home arrest” to go to the battle scene, when the entire early plot is how her relationship is built with him based on trust and loyalty. He just… forgives her? lol
ISMAIL (CV: Yamato Souma)
Ismail is the moderator of the group. He is an easygoing, gentle doctor who has a caring nature. He is said to be good-looking and very popular among women, even though most of the time the attention is not wanted.
This route focuses on finding out how phantoms are created, revealing the murderer of the king in the end. As more and more phantom attacks haunt the city, Fiena decides to study ghosts/spirits of the afterlife, which is something that are believed to not be real, with Master Omari’s approval. She is accosted by some people who want to sacrifice the Moon Witch to appease God and stop phantoms. Ismail stopped these people and they catch up a bit. However, Ismail acted strange and puts her out with a weird magic of some sort, for her to wake up in her room the next day.
from what has happened so far, she will die within 3 days as there is no cure. [The disease people get after coming into contact with phantom is named “purple plague” where as the disease that is ravaging the mainland is named to something akin to “dark plague” – while similar they are not the same disease.]
Ismail concludes that this is not a disease but a curse of some kind. He tries various concoctions, but Fiena only gets worse and worse. On the second night she bids him goodbye, and goes into a deep-sleep state while muttering that she does not want to be alone and for Ismail to not leave her. She then wakes up to the morning sun with him beside her; her disease cured.
Fiena now owes her life twice to Ismail if we count the beginning. She and him form a friendship and alliance, and agree to study phantoms together in order to find a cure.
She and Ismail go get drinks to celebrate her recovery. They eventually meet Olivier – with Ismail confirming he knows Olivier’s involvement with the religious fanatics (i.e. Emmanuel route spoilers). Ismail confides in Fiena that he has been struggling with a relationship problem: that he likes a woman but he cannot confess to her due to “the nature of their work”.
He clearly meant Fiena and enjoys flirting with her. Fiena tries to get out of the situation saying that the Moon Witch is supposed to stay pure, to which he presses, “so you will not mind being my rumoured lover, if not for your Moon Witch status?”
During drinks, Olivier tells Fiena that Ismail likes to reach for people’s hands when talking, because “he can tell the truth and read minds if he feels their pulse”. He offers to share his secrets with Fiena, starting with guiding her hand onto his body and feeling his pulse:
Fiena notes some papers written in foreign language. Ismail explains he’s been secretly maintaining contact with the outside world in order to find a cure for the purple plague. He says while the island is secure, it is shut off and not developing at the same pace as the outside world, where there is more advanced technology. He then adds he would like to leave the island and visit there one day. Fiena has the option to say she would like to go there.
The two make headway by observing and deducing that phantoms are not monsters, but actual spirits that arise from corpses that are victims of phantom attacks.
However, Ismail is suddenly arrested on the count of murdering the king. The evidence? Poison found in his kit, and an anonymous letter. Fiena immediately realizes this is a frame-job, as Ismail has the ability to kill the king with magic and would not leave behind something obvious like traceable poison, even if he is the murderer. Fiena fiercely defends him in front of Emmanuel and Ciara. However, they remain dismissive of her pleas.
Fiena gets inspiration from Omari and is more determined than ever to call on the spirits of the deceased, in order to talk to them. She accidentally, but successfully summons the spirit and later phantom of the late king Corneille.
She organizes the information she has so far. People who are killed by phantoms will turn into phantoms themselves. Who is subject 0? By timing it would be Cornelius. However, initially there were 4 phantoms, not 1, but Ismail seemed to know who was subject 0 and when it exactly started. He also dismissively ruled the king’s death as from a heart attack, and refused others to examine the body… The more Fiena thinks about it, the less she is able to trust Ismail.
Fiena wants to meet Ismail who is still under arrest from the knights’ guild. Even if Olivier is no longer grand sorcerer, he is still the knights’ leader in that chapter. Fiena joins the knights and helps them fight off phantoms with purifying magic, with the obvious purpose of talking to Ismail. She was put in the same group as 2 random knights and Melody, who are all called “janes” – basically Muggles of the universe, thus defenceless against phantoms. They run into phantoms, with Fiena’s allies all being wounded by a phantom and contracting purple plague. However, Melody, who is supposedly a jane, commented on Fiena’s magic, implying he knows more than he lets on. Fiena was not using purifying magic but a type of summoning magic to absorb the spirit within her; Melody spotted the difference.
As the best doctor in the country, Ismail is temporarily released to examine the three patients and look for a cure. They confess their feelings for each other, with Fiena apologizing that she doubted him. Ismail admits that he knew Corneille was the first to be afflicted with the purple plague but was asked to keep a secret. Ultimately he failed the king and let him die. As such, he started investigating who would cast the curse and doubted Fiena – hence approaching her, initially flirting with her to get close.
The following part I went back and read at least 3 times as well as the beginning when Fiena miraculously got cured. What I gather is that Ismail silently cursed Fiena to see if she will react; as if she were the person who cursed Cornelius she would surely feel it and do something about it. However, she didn’t even notice at all. This curse is not the same as the purple plague/phantoms – in later routes it is clear that Ismail is a bystander of this all and does not have the power to conjure such a curse. His curse was harmless and a test that he removed from Fiena quickly after.
The two hug and make up and discuss more business. Ismail examined the three patients, but one patient was not inflicted by the curse at all: Melody. Hence his significant resistance to Fiena caring for him. Melody subsequently escaped the infirmary. He may be the key to solving this mystery, as something was suspicious.
Ismail and Olivier meet up with Fiena to discuss next steps. Fiena and Olivier agree that she will act as bait to attract Melody to come out of hiding, as he seems to be obsessed with her. Ismail is angry at Fiena for putting herself in danger, but respects her decision. Fiena stands in front of the crowd to give another oracle. Melody attacks her. Ismail/Olivier give chase to the bard, who sings a familiar tune:
However, this is not just a melancholy song but also a powerful curse. Melody reveals that he is from the mainland and serves their church – the same church that ordered the extermination of Fiena’s village. He knows magic, but his memory gets wiped by some curse periodically so he acts like a normal bard. He says that he had no other choice. A phantom appears and gives chase, and he runs without being able to use magic.
The crew reports to Emmanuel. Fiena and Ismail discuss alone, including how Fiena is using necromancy to stop the phantoms by absorbing them. However, she starts having dark bruises on her body again, a sign that she is inflicted with the curse. How…? Ismail scolds her for being reckless with necromancy. Fiena truly embraces her martyr role and says maybe this was all meant to happen.
However, she is still an 18-year-old girl at heart. She is scared. For the second time, she begs her lover to not leave her side.
Steamy scene happens… ok…
Lol not translating this
Melody gets captured. Fiena meets with him briefly in the dungeon. Not much useful information is revealed here, but he calls out to her in the end as if he knew her from a long time ago.
Fiena meets a mysterious figure who introduces himself as “Niru” the necromancer. We do not learn Niru until the very end of the entire game, but for now, he tells Fiena that Melody cursed Cornelius – aka the first phantom and started the chain of curses. The only way to lift it, is if Cornelius’ phantom kills Melody. He also reveals that Ismail is quietly transferring Fiena’s curse to himself so that she can get better, but he will die of the curse if nothing is done, i.e. Melody is not sacrificed to Cornelius’ phantom.
Melody says he wants to escape with Fiena to the mainland. What will Fiena choose?
Ending 1: Fiena lets Cornelius’ phantom come out and kills Melody, after her purposely provokes her and says some very nasty things so that she can kill him without guilt. She and Ismail escape and travel the mainland, to the magical cities that he always wanted to visit.
Ending 2: Fiena runs away with Melody. They go to her village. However, Fiena is found and killed by the church. Melody has deep feelings for Fiena, but why and how…? Stay tuned for Melody route…
Ending 3: It is too late. Ismail went to the mainland. By the time Fiena found him, he is a pile of bones. However, it has only been a few days since Fiena left, how come it appears he had died for much longer…? Stay tuned for Olivier route…
THOUGHTS:
- The most believable chemistry out of all four routes and really the only one I enjoyed, as at this point I finished the entire game and am catching up on writing.
- Very information dense route. I went back and reread multiple times to ensure I didn’t miss anything. Would have benefitted from more chapters.
- His other two endings both set up for future routes.
MELODY (CV: Suzuki Tatsuhisa)
All we know from the common route is that Melody is a bard with a big sword and an overbearing grandpa whom he grew up with. Melody is supposedly a “Jane” and cannot use magic – clearly not the case as of end of Ismail route. He is sent from the mainland church and has an obsession and maybe some history with Fiena.
In this route, Fiena feels a strong attraction to Melody, and a sense of deja vu. Have they really not met before?…
She goes as far to join the knights order to be closer to Melody, who acts cold toward her. He reminds her of Michel, a childhood friend. The playbacks were very limited, but he was like an older brother to her. However, Michel went missing one day and that was the last Fiena and the villagers heard of him. Melody has no idea who this Michel is and tells Fiena off. She persists and hires the bard to perform for her, singing the same song that he did in Ismail’s route. She tells Melody she wants to be his friend and know him better. She notes that his left hand violently shakes as a response, with his other hand trying to stop it.
Fiena continues to believe that Melody is just Michel, after finding a necklace on him that used to belong to him. In response, Melody says the same thing Michel told her in the past, though sarcastically:
However, he then asks Fiena “how is Robert?” Robert was Michel’s father. How does he…? Before Fiena can ask more, he casts a spell on her and makes her forget.
There is an interlude of a cringe “contest” between Mary (the servant girl who gets on my nerves every time she appears on screen) and Melody to confess their love to Fiena.
The two meet again at night outside. However, what happens after this CG is scary.
Melody attacks Fiena with a sword. More specifically, Melody’s left hand attacks her. He is horrified and says that this is not supposed to happen. He then slashes his own left arm to stop it. He explains that he cannot control “Mel”…?
Melody, or Michel tells Fiena about how Robert abandoned him to die in the woods because there were too many mouths to feed at home; and the fact that he was not Robert’s son by blood – he was a bastard. Michel was saved by Father Thomas – the same priest that Fiena’s brother stayed with at the time of the massacre. As such, he loyally served the Centoria religion. There happened to be a sickly boy from Umbrelle that looked like Michel who somehow washed up ashore on the mainland. Hence, a plan was hatched to send Michel instead of “Melody” back to Umbrella to infiltrate the country and carry out operations, such as destroying Grand Cloche, which Centoria knows has the power to destroy the world, and bringing back Fiena.
The Centoria church cast some kind of spell on him that makes him periodically forgets his memory and identity. However, this curse has a time limit. Michel will regain, then lose, regain, then lose his memory over and over again.
Michel is tired of always being someone’s lapdog and being stuck within political intrigue. He asks Fiena to run away with him, Taytay Love Story style.
Ciara arrests Michel before the two could carry out their plans. Fiena meets Niru again, who asks her if she’s willing to save the people of Umbrelle by sacrificing Melody. She is not. Emmanuel tortures Michel, then his adoptive grandfather, which breaks him and he confesses. His grandfather knew Michel was not his grandson, but chose to love him anyway, despite now knowing he is a spy. They also meet Ismail in jail – the timelines start to overlap.
Emmanuel makes a deal with Fiena/Michel. He will grand them freedom if they can take out Olivier and help Emmanuel/Ciara gain full access to Grand Cloche.
The duo face off vs. Olivier, who tells Fiena that he will not harm Michel because he will not harm her, and that “killing you is the same as killing myself”. Puzzling, but will make sense after Olivier route.
They defeat Olivier and run away together, including a trip down memory lane, and … a hooded figure they both met in their childhood that was hinted to be Olivier.
The two run away and become a couple happily ever after.
Ending 2: Olivier dies. Michel gets banished to the mainland while Fiena is forced to stay in Umbrelle forever. They will never meet again.
Ending 3: Olivier dies but takes Michel with him. Fiena becomes Emmanuel’s Queen consort. The CG is gorgeous but ayo??
THOUGHTS:
- A surprisingly linear plot and not messy like Ismail’s in terms of story.
- Was the romance there? Not really. I get that Fiena was Michel’s childhood friend, but the two did not have feelings for each other in their youth (too young for that). We didn’t get to see the transition from “oh she’s from my hometown” to love. Michel obviously has no loyalty to Umbrelle and knows he got used by Centoria, but why take Fiena along? To me it just seemed like Fiena was the convenient option so that he wouldn’t be lonely…
- It made no sense that Emmanuel would not torture Fiena, who clearly betrayed him in this route by trying to run away with Michel. Instead, he goes for Michel’s grandfather. Emmanuel had no reason to be kind or show mercy to Fiena. He knew she was a fake Moon Witch all along. So the fact he left her unharmed does not make sense and is Mary Sue writing – all men are in love with her and protect her.
OLIVIER PAQUET (CV: Okitsu Kazuyuki)
At the end of the common route, we are asked to choose for Fiena what her priority is. Playing through the other three characters’ routes unlocks Olivier’s route – what exactly was behind the massacre of Fiena’s village?
King Cornelius’ teachings
My mother’s last words
The mainland
The truth behind the massacre
The route starts with Fiena needing to pick out a project for her schooling. Because of her special ability to see spirits, Omari suggests her study necromancy. Ciara approaches Fiena and asks her to persuade Olivier to give her the broach containing knowledge to accessing Grand Cloche, as he is no longer Grand Sorcerer and needs to transfer this power. Fiena brings this up to Olivier, who immediately turns cold and refuses, but tells Fiena the reason is a “secret”. He then reveals that Centoria killed his family in front of his eyes. Hence, he harbours intense hatred for them and wants to destroy them with their own hands, including everyone who believes in it. He asks if Fiena feels the same way, as they massacred their family. Fiena replies she wants to know the truth and the mastermind – and get revenge on them – but not necessarily all the followers.
Emmanuel summons Fiena. In this route, he does not forgive Fiena for lying to him about her identity and being a mouthpiece for Cornelius/Olivier. He gives her a cup of poison and tells her to drink it and die an honourable death. Olivier barges in the palace at the last moment. He convinces Emmanuel to spare Fiena’s life because she will be a useful “trophy” to hand over to and appease the Centorians, who is planning to conquer Umbrelle. He then scolds Fiena that she shouldn’t just agree to give her life away and should fight for her survival. He then analyzes the circumstances during the massacre, and suggests that Father Thomas is not as innocent as he seems.
He then.. suddenly jumps on her in bed???
Is this Emmanuel route No.2??? I… what??????
This traumatic experience (for Fiena and me in front of the screen) somehow unlocks her memory. We now confirm that hooded figure was indeed Olivier, who met Fiena and Michel when they were still children playing in the village.
In the flashback, Olivier took an interest in Fiena’s scar on her back – even though he supposedly never saw it. He asked her if she was happy, to which she replied yes. She asked him where he’s from, to which he replied “Hell” (remember what he said in Emmanuel good ending?). Michel then tells Olivier to leave them alone. The scene ends.
However, Olivier was already an adult in that flashback. How come he hasn’t aged?
Fiena asks him. He remains cryptic and tells her to figure it out herself. And then we have a second bed scene??… Olivier’s henchmen find them having spent the night together in his room, in his bed the next day. I’m sorry I can’t; this came out of nowhere. He tells Fiena that he doesn’t believe in any god, and that they are “one and the same”.
After these two disastrous romantic scenes, we arrive back at the plot where Fiena and Melody arrive at the frontlines because Centoria has declared war on Umbrelle. Fiena is captured by archbishop St. Pierre who is determined that Fiena is an evil witch posing as his “deceased sister”. It is then revealed Father Thomas’ last name was St. Pierre. Who was adopted by Father Thomas again? Fiena’s adoptive brother, Fran.
Fran is now archbishop of Centoria, and somehow a lot older than Fiena. While Fiena starts burning at the stake, Melody rescues her. In the background, Ciara comments that there is a “time difference” between their kingdom and the mainland, how “they have ten times the time to prepare for war compared to us”.
Fiena meets Niru again, who doesn’t tell her the truth behind the curse this time. Instead, he tells Fiena when the dust settles and she returns to Umbrelle, they will meet again.
Olivier finds Fiena and tells her the time warping properties of Grand Cloche due to the immense magical power it harnesses. To him, it has not been long since he last saw a (child) Fiena, but she has aged over ten years on the mainland. He also tells her that Umbrelle magic is not based on the moon cycle but actually proximity to the water and tides – which correlates with the lunar cycle. Hence, while his powers are extremely strong near the sea, the more inland he gets, the more powerless he is. A monologue shows that he cherishes this perhaps last moment with Fiena alone; how she is the light, and he is her shadow.
Ending 1:
The two confront an old Father Thomas St. Pierre, who confirms that he made the whole “red-haired witch” thing up so he could hand over a “witch” to the church and climb the ranks. He adopted Fran and later Michel because they had extraordinary magical abilities. He massacred the village because of the rule we know all too well: dead men do not tell secrets.
The guards arrive, chasing Fiena and Olivier to the town square. Backs against the wall, Olivier tells Fiena that for this time he will be able to use magic, and that “if you die, so will I”. They then summon phantoms who kill the guards and get revenge against this sick world.
This spell of course did not come without a price. Olivier sinks into a coma. He was seen and carried by a wolf Emmanuel. Fran, upon learning the truth behind his adoption and the village, kills Father Thomas.
Olivier of course wakes up because this is the good ending. He tells Fiena that in certain magically gifted people, when they are under tremendous stress, their body will be able to generate great amounts of destructive magic. This leaves a cross-shaped scar on their back. What happened to the very beginning of the game, was a baby Fiena unleashing this power and killing everyone including her family in sight. She remains unharmed, but with a new scar on her back. Olivier happened to be there as well.
Olivier had the same experience. His parents weren’t the only ones who were to be executed by Centoria. He was one of them too, until he unleashed his powers. With what transpired at the town square, he now has two scars on his back, one old and one new.
Because of their rare similarity they show, Olivier has always cared for Fiena and wanted her to live happily. They confess, and steamy things happen I guess.
Ending 2: Olivier dies. Fiena uses necromancy to talk to his spirit. However, despite warnings from others that this will hasten her death, she continues and eventually reunites with Olivier in the underworld.
Ending 3: Fran becomes bewitched and infatuated by Fiena, and keeps her as his slave. (bruh)
THOUGHTS: I like the story, but I hate the romance and felt Okitsu and I were both robbed of an opportunity to make a lasting impression and unforgettable route. The forced-love scenes just came out of nowhere and even his voice could not save the cringe and whiplash. Plus despite the time-warp, Olivier met Fiena when she was literally a baby, then an 8-year-old girl… I’m not saying romance won’t work because they end up being roughly same age in the end, but there needs to be buildup. Now the whole thing just feels weird to me. Why didn’t he treat her like a father or brother figure? Why romance? Just because this is an otome game?
NIRU (CV: Aikawa Ryuu)
This is technically the “4th” ending of Olivier route. I believe this is the canon ending, where Olivier still dies, with Fiena left without purpose to live. She meets Niru again who tells her how the religion of Umbrelle today came to be (really don’t know how to translate it, phonetically it is “Shifuriku”). He was a necromancer of an ancient and now lost religion called “Arotas”. Someone from Arotas invented the curse to create phantoms for the purpose of war, but they ran amok and caused destruction. Niru sealed all those souls within his body, much like what Fiena did in Ismail route, but because this was so energy-consuming he fell into a long, deep slumber; and the world moved on.
After the tale, he bids Fiena farewell. She decides to live in Umbrelle as Moon Witch forever.
FINAL THOUGHTS
All four routes come together to form a coherent story. I especially love how you can always find mentions/plot setups of route X in route Y. This shows that the writer planned out things and makes it all the more enjoyable for lore diggers like me.
However, the romance was not nearly as well written as the plot. The romantic feelings come as sudden, and often unexplained. I can justify it after doing a lot of mental gymnastics, but it really shouldn’t be up to me to do what the writer is supposed to do. The plot and substrate are there, but the game was so short we didn’t get to see the relationship develop organically. More scenes would have improved this game significantly. I wonder if there was a cost/deadline issue?
The character design, and most CGs were gorgeous. Could use some consistency but the art quality was well above what I expected for a smaller studio. The music was memorable too.
My verdict is that this game is worth playing, but perhaps wait for a sale. This game is EIT (main game)-lite in that it has its own unique and interesting story, but the romance was lacking. If you were looking for romance/a traditional otome game you will be massively disappointed. If you were looking to read a visual novel and have a good adventure they you will be just as delighted. So it’s important to set expectations.
Character ranking: Ismail > Melody > Olivier > Emmanuel
Score: 6/10
otome hitorigoto 