Indie developers Eternal Love Studios brings us their third commercial project, Shattered Souls, a dark fantasy otome game dedicated to bringing you worlds you can escape into and romances you will never forget. This title features seven fully voiced love interests, each with their own romance path. This project’s Kickstarter campaign launches today, September 10!
STORY
Celeste finds herself fighting for her life after enduring a betrayal that no one should experience.
As she nears her final breath, she is whisked away to a different world: Remoire. Things are not as they seem, though. She’s not a mortal. Her past is as vast as the ocean. Her soul is fractured and barely holding together from the traumas she’s faced and forgotten. She must heal herself or even the tiniest tragedy could shatter her. But she’s not the only one who is broken.
Join Celeste as she fights not only to save her own life, but to change the lives of those around her.
Will you traverse worlds, realms, and even time itself?
Will you test your fate?
Will you try again?
I know, I know! RARE DEMO REVIEW! (laughs) If you aren’t new to this site, I’m not usually one to do demo reviews, but every so often, a game comes along that catches me enough to warrant tunnel vision. You know those games that just gets you really curious – you’re pushed to set aside whatever you’re currently playing (and reviewing) just to give it a try? That’s exactly how I felt when I first came across Shattered Souls. Idk, there’s just something about this game! Anyway, The following commentaries below were written in draft form while I was playing through the game’s demo. As I don’t do this often, some commentaries may be a bit too informal (read: unhinged) so please bear with me LOL.
SPOILER WARNING: The content below, contains spoilers of the story from the current DEMO of Shattered Souls, which you can currently play for free via the game’s official Steam Page as well as the game’s Kickstarter Page. Also, just a quick disclaimer that this is NOT a paid partnership. The devs were kind enough to send me a demo code to check out their game, but I am writing this review of my own volition because I genuinely wanted to.😆
MAIN CHARACTERS AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS
MARRIS (CV: Michael A. Zekas) – The first LI you’ll meet. Very nonchalant, happy-go-lucky. He’s apparently the god that saved your life. Not sure what his motive is? My first impression of him was “damn he’s blonde… and handsome!” 😂 From the demo, he definitely became one of my favs out of the all the boys. Gotta love a nonchalant sexy god, who plays matchmaker but is also actually your match? (though the story doesnt say this officially yet, its pretty obvious judging from him being one of the LIs!)😂 He also exudes himbo energy though there is definitely more to him than meets the eye!
LANCE (CV: Joey Lem) – The second LI you’ll meet. Also called the “white knight”. I feel like Lance has a very strong sense of justice and truly upholds his knighthood to a T. In the demo, he was a great help to the protagonist, but he remained very suspicious of Celeste… UNTIL he found out that she was actually his fated one. 😂 -that he immediately shifted into this soft, puppy-eyed persona and started chasing after her. (laughs)😂 I actually found this really cute, to be honest. 🥺I’m a sucker for the soft, devoted LIs, and I believe Lance fits the bill for this trope! (at least, I hope he does). Plus, his voice was really soft and soothing. Kudos to his VA!
AIZEN (CV: Edward Stoneguard) – The emperor and ruler of Jerille. (Jerille is btw a country in Remoire, the world where MC has been isekai’d into). He had a very cliche entrance/introduction! But I like it! Just like Lance, he immediately developed a sense of interest and attachment to the heroine the moment he knew they were fated. I’m not sure what to make of Aizen yet tbh; the demo was only about an hour and a half(?), which left many of the LIs shrouded in mystery. I just have so many questions! Why can’t Aizen touch nobody? Is there a deeper meaning to this? or am I reading too much into it?🤔
EZRA (CV: Chrystian Marte) – The priest love interest! Oh, forgive me father, for I have sinned! (with you lol) Another one of the LIs that I can’t really read into. He definitely seems to know a lot. He was the only one besides Shiro who knows what Marris looks like. Is he a devoted follower of the god? Beats me! His weapon of choice was a chain whip! HOT!
KARVER (CV: Jonathan David Bullock) – Karver is your childhood friend… but is he really? THEORY TIME! Idk man, from the demo, he gives off the vibe of that one character who seems like your regular human friend but might actually be an otherworldly being in disguise, like a familiar who’s been looking after you all along? Haha I’ve read way too many manhuas and watched too many fantasy dramas with this trope! But I could be totally off base and just clowning myself. 🤡😂 Anyway, KARVER, I’m watching you!
SHIRO (CV: Niko Abanilla) – Oh no! I found… the hot headed tsundere!🥺 Loved Shiro in the demo. His character design was also gorgeous, that black armor is so fine. It feels like he’s your typical fiery tsun-tsun personality-wise, and his loud, screaming voice really suits him! (bless his VA)😂 It looks like he might also have a darker past or backstory? I have no clue, but that’s definitely the aura he’s giving off. Plus, he has a cute fox who fights demons alongside him, which I thought was pretty adorable!
THE ETERNAL (CV: K. Beau Foster) – Damn, hot ethereal daddy alert! HE IS DEFINITELY THE ONE!😮💨😮💨😮💨 He also became one of my favs during the demo just from *that one scene alone*! And his voice is soooo deep and smooth like hot chocolate! OML!🫠 He reminded me of the male lead, Yuchi from Miss the Dragon… lol but maybe I’m reading too much into this and getting way ahead of myself!🤣 (cackles) He barely made appearances in the demo, but he definitely is one character to remember!
CELESTE (MC/Main Heroine) – I like the MC so far. She goes through a lot of trauma, and i mean A LOT! And what I appreciate is that she doesn’t just get over it easily, which makes for great writing. I was initially worried about her character arc because she endures a respectable amount of distress right off the bat, which can sometimes be an arc that’s hard to portray *consistently* in visual novels (I’ll expand on this more in my overall initial thoughts below). But I was relieved that her introduction was solid, and her motivations became a real driving force in the game. Celeste is so far a heroine to my taste; not unrealistically strong, but not weak-willed either. I’m excited to learn more about her and really hope she doesn’t disappoint! Oh right, Celeste also dropped the F-bomb during the demo (cackling), and it made me go “ooof alright, go off queen!”🤣
TRAILER
INITIAL THOUGHTS SO FAR?
Damn, I’m actually pretty excited about this game! The start of it really gave me goosebumps, though that might be because I made sure to play the demo around midnight! (laughs) I do this with a lot of VNs that have darker themes, just to amplify the ambiance. To name a few, I’ve done the same with Collar x Malice, Death Mark I, Red Embrace: H, and Fata Morgana, and all of these have ended up being some of my favorite visual novels to date. So yeah, this might be big words coming from me but if you want to amplify your enjoyment for Shattered Souls’ demo, I suggest playing it with the lights out!
Shattered Souls set a richly dark and atmospheric tone within the first few minutes of the game. The narrative draws you in effortlessly and keeps you engaged, most especially if you’re like me who’s into isekai and dark fantasy themes. Also, the way the love interests are introduced to the protagonist one by one follows a very familiar formula often used in plot-focused otome games. And while these might seem cliché, it’s one of those classic cliché moments that I actually enjoy and actively seek out in my otome games.
Speaking of love interest, there were MANY HOT MEN! haha! TOO MANY in fact! I love their character designs too! The CGs were gorgeous! By the end of the demo, the game will definitely leave you feeling like this:
Jokes aside, among the seven LIs introduced in the demo, my favorites were Marris, Lance, and Miiiister Eternal!~🥵 Design-wise, those three stood out the most to me as well, with Marris just a teeny bit ahead of the lot.
Another thing I liked is the voice acting. The game is fully voiced in English, and I have to say the voice actors really did a great job with what they were given! Some lines can get a bit cringe but tbh, I was enjoying them for guilty pleasures!😂
Additionally, I was very impressed with how the MC was written. Many times, I’ll play a game demo that introduces dark themes and *trauma* where the protag goes through significant hardships only for the story to later shift to lighter, comedic moments, as if the forlorn tone that was initially introduced and her adversaries never existed. This inconsistency often frustrates me to no end!😂 In Shattered Souls however, the MC remains authentic and consistent with her feelings and motives. She laments on her issues every so often despite being thrust into an unfamiliar world. Her emotional journey (at least from what I’ve played in the demo) feels raw, and believable. I could only hope that this consistency will continue and her character will remain true with her motives when the game is officially completed.
I really enjoyed this demo! The tone, the atmosphere, the lore and the mature harem really clicked with me! I’m hoping the funding for this game succeeds because gosh, I need to know more about its lore, most especially the [REDACTED]. You’ll understand my plight once you play the demo! HAHA Seriously, please play it! 😩
The demo goes live today, as well as its Kickstarter campaign! Be sure to check out the Rewards as some of the merch are too adorable! Links below!
Otome Kitten 
Chlo, I dont know what it is with your reviews that gets me so curious to try a game. I almost never touch demos cause I like and prefer to binge a full-game but the PV and your overall thoughts convince me to fire up my steam deck and download the demo 😂 Im gonna play this tonight! thank you 4 bringing attention to this game to me!
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