Release Date: September 12, 2024 (North America)
Developers:  Agate
Publishers: Agate, PQube
Platforms:  Mobile, Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam)
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

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SYNOPSIS

The perfect life you’ve known as a daughter of a Duke is about to change forever.
With the revelation of your new hybrid identity, as a descendant of Angelus and Daemon, you must learn to live in a new world.

Compelled to accept an invitation to the Academy of Celestia to explore the world of magic, you must set out on a fresh journey in a world filled with demons and angels.

Uncover the secrets of your family history and learn to control the magical abilities you hold. Along the way, you’ll have the chance to develop relationships with one of three romanceable characters, each with their own unique traits and personalities.

It’s down to you to hold your friendships and advance your love interests while also prioritizing your education. Remember not to neglect your studies as you’ll need to overcome a series of challenges to graduate!

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ART AND MUSIC

Producer: Sarah Rahmania Hanif

Artist/Illustrators: Farahdilla Muqarrabie, Nadira Larasati, Nika Trie Budiana, Maria Vivienne Angelica, Liamelia, Christian Martaleo, Beatrice Nauli Pohan

Scenario Writers: Marcellina Nathania Tjandra, Ria Apriyani

The character sprites for this game were pretty vibrant, though it’s a shame they weren’t as crisp as I would’ve wanted them. It could be because I was playing the whole time in tv-mode, so it was more noticeable. The CGs were really beautiful, though! I noticed some of the BG art were stock images commonly used by indie game studios, so a few of them felt very recognizable. The same goes for the background music, which was mostly stock music that I’m quite familiar with as a couple of indie games I play also use them.

That said, there were definitely some original background art pieces made specifically for the game, like the realms of the Angelus and Deamon, among many others, and these illustrations definitely looked stunning.

The animations during the cut scenes, fight scenes, and even scenes establishing the scenery were just lovely! Overall, this game is quite robust when it comes to its production. It doesn’t have any voice acting though, which is rather unfortunate.

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~MAIN CHARACTERS AND ROUTES~

There are only three love interests in this game: Luke, Ash, and Val.
Unlike your usual otome visual novel, this game does not branch from a common route to individual love interest routes. Instead, the game is very linear and follows only one story path. This means all the dates happen within the main storyline. So, if you want to experience it as if you’re playing one specific route at a time, you’ll need to carefully choose the options that lead to certain date scenarios with the guy you prefer. Otherwise, the heroine will jump from one love interest to another in each chapter. (I will expand more on this in my overall thoughts section.)

So with that said, due to the logic above, there are no recommended route orders! Because, well… there really aren’t any proper routes to begin with.

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ASH WINTERLIGHT

• If Elsa was ikemen
• 👂kink? 😏

Ash is the crown prince of Glasia and the next heir to the throne. He is also recognized as a prominent royal figure in the human world. He attended the Academy of Celestia because he is part Angelus, having inherited his mother’s pure-blood Angelus heritage.

**Ash was totally my first pick design-wise. Loved the ikemen-elsa types! (laughs)🤭He also started off as a rather reserved character and this attitude was somewhat explored a bit in his backstory. While I wouldn’t stereotype him as a full-blown kuudere, he definitely had some of those qualities at the beginning; cold, distant, aloof. But that all melted away when he began spending more time with Aria, Val, and Luke.

As the prince of Glasia and one of the key royals in the human realm, I really wished we could’ve seen more of his backstory. Most of it was glossed over or presented as brief flashbacks, so it wasn’t fully explored, which was kind of disappointing. (The game does this in all the LIs unfortunately).

LUKE ALASTAIR

• the…. [redacted] angel🥲
• soft and pure🥺

A high-ranking noble in the Angelus Realm, Luke’s magical ability is botanomancy, or in simpler terms, flora manipulation. Also, not only can he control plants, but he is also a very skilled archer. Luke possesses a rather wholesome demeanor, and he often acts as a mediator when Val and Ash butt heads. However, beneath his happy facade, Luke harbors a deep secret tied to his heartbreaking destiny.

**I love Luke! 🥺 He is the softest bean, too soft tbh. And as someone who genuinely loves soft LIs, I grew fond of him very quickly in the story. However, just like every other LI named “Luke”, this character also carries a burdensome, tragic fate. (oops! iykyk)😭

VAL DE LUCIFER

• genki red head
• 90% himbo

Val is a high-ranking daemon from one of the most powerful families in the Daemon Realm. He is quite hot-headed but also cheerful and full of energy. Due to his daemon strength and high stamina, he is someone you can rely on during intense physical battles. Despite his loud, headstrong persona, he can also be bashful, especially when receiving compliments from Aria.

Not only is Val probably the strongest among the LIs, but I also believe he has the sexiest character design of the three guys. (Ha! Can’t go wrong with a sleeveless turtleneck top for his daemon fit!) Val actually has an interesting backstory that, once again, was glossed over in the game. I can only hope that if there’s indeed a sequel, he’ll get some well-deserved plot chunks, as it was a letdown to see his dilemma introduced only to be cut short.

Anyway, personality wise, Val was kind of the hot headed, genki dork in the group, and I love how he constantly butt heads with Ash. He’s kind of brawny to the core. It’s cute! And I feel like he’s 90% himbo and 10% gay (for Ash). *cackling* 🤣🤣🤣 His bickering with Ash made me ship them at some point, and the game even throws in a bit of fanservice for it (play the game to find out what I’m talking about).😏

ARIA SILVERWINGS (Main Heroine)

Aria Silverwings, the daughter of Duchess Helena and Duke Gaiwan Silverwings. She was raised as a human alongside her adopted brothers, Damien and Fynn. On her 17th birthday, she received an invitation to attend Celestia Academy, where it was revealed that she is actually a half Daemon and half Angelus.

Aria also has an innate ability where she can see the color of emotions through the breeze, similar to Suzuno’s emotional threads in Winter’s Wish.

Aria is… alright in my book. If I’m going to be honest, she’s pretty much your typical textbook heroine. She’s conveniently strong and does exactly what the story intends her to do. I didn’t really get enough depth from her character arc, which made it hard to empathize with or really like her. Not that I dislike her either; it’s more like she’s just fulfilling her role as the protagonist without much substance.

The lack of depth and nuance in her personality didn’t allow me to connect with her emotionally or get attached to her the way I usually do with other otome game heroines…and if you know me, I normally gush about otoge heroines!

And yeah, because of this, it not only ruined Aria’s likability for me, but I also couldn’t feel any chemistry between her and the guys, and that’s a darn shame!😞

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SYSTEM AND LOCALIZATION

Celestia: Chain of Fate’s UI was simple, easy on the eyes as well as easy to navigate. It had the standard features typical of visual novels, such as the Skip READ/ALL, quick save/load functionality, and an options menu for adjusting game settings.

Pros:

• Memories – Allows you to revisit and jump into chapters.
• Affection Status – Tracks the affection levels with the three love interests as the game progresses.
• Side Stories – Found in the EXTRA section, these stories focus on specific characters and are unlocked as you advance through the main story.
• Gallery – Keeps track of all CGs in the game.
• BAD End List – Tracks all the BAD Ends you have unlocked in the game.

Cons:

• No Rewind Feature – Makes it difficult to return to a specific scene or undo incorrect choices.
• No Love-Catch System – however, the ‘affection status‘ makes up for it, so this isn’t really an issue.
• Limited Save Slots – The game only has 30 save slots (as a walkthrough maker this was a nightmare to me)😭😭😭
• Touchscreen not available.
• There were too many choices – Each route contains approximately 18-20 choices.
• Intimacy scenes for each love interest are not locked to specific routes or paths.

Expanding on the last two bullet points, which were probably the biggest drawbacks for me: The intimacy and date scenes for each love interest are not locked to specific paths, meaning the heroine can jump from kissing one guy to another within a single chapter! Also, the constant barrage of choices where every minute you have to make a choice killed my enjoyment. I’m serious— not even a minute goes by before I have to make a choice again, sometimes only 10 seconds after the last one.🥴 I understand there’s an audience for this but having 18-20 options in every chapter dampened the experience for me, especially since some choices don’t significantly affect the story.

With 20 chapters in total, this amounts to a whopping 360+ choices (give or take) throughout the game.😵‍💫360 choices and only 30 save slots, where’s the justice in that? Yes, I’m peeved as heck!😑

Additionally, the game has crashed multiple times for me while using the SKIP ALL/READ option, which was another technical hindrance during my gameplay. Hopefully, the publishers can patch this one out soon!

On the other hand, the localization was solid, as far as having no noticeable typos or text errors. If there were any typos, they were very few and very far in between. It’s clear that the game underwent careful QA and was thoroughly vetted.

NOTE:
The game is currently available digitally! The US physical editions will not release until November 12, 2024.

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TRAILER

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OVERALL THOUGHTS

I clocked around 35-40 hours on my switch during my three playthroughs of the game. I did feel like this title was relatively long, though that might be because it was a very linear experience, which made me feel like I was playing one long common route all the way to the end. The game has three “happy” endings and 23 random bad endings. The conclusion of the main story is basically the same, with the only difference being the cutscenes involving Aria and her partner during her graduation ball, which will feature the LI you have accumulated enough affection points with.

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The game seems heavily inspired by Harry Potter, and if you grew up with the books, you’ll definitely spot references that are quite similar to the Harry Potter world/lore; like going through a wall to catch the train at Platform 9 ¾, Tom Riddle’s diary revealing past events, the Order of the Phoenix faction, fluffy creatures looking like pygmy puffs, among many others. As someone who used to be a potterhead, I did enjoy reading some of these familiar references. Perhaps the creators were huge Potter nerds as well?

The Simplistic Tone in Writing Can Be a Hit or Miss

This is one of the main issues I had with the game: the writing, to me, somehow lacked panache. Throughout my gameplay, I found myself craving more nuanced dialogue. The storytelling just felt somewhat superficial, & it lacked a certain flair that could have elevated some of the well-produced scenes. What I mean is, incorporating small, quirky details about the main characters could have made them more engaging. For example, maybe I want to see Aria with a charming idiosyncrasy, like singing herself to sleep, or maybe I want to learn that Ash is secretly a gemstone dork and is highly enthusiastic about them. Y’know, those kinds of traits or flaws that make characters more relatable and human-like. It doesn’t really matter what the trait/quirk is, what matters is that it adds depth, showing vulnerability or imperfection, making the characters feel more authentic, and allowing readers to connect with them. It’s unfortunate that these touches were absent in the main story. While some of the “side stories” attempted to fill this gap, it felt disjointed having to step away from the main plot just to get those extra moments.

That said, it was difficult to connect with the characters, as they felt more like figures in a children’s storybook than fully fleshed-out complex individuals, especially the heroine, Aria. I just can’t for the life of me, feel any of her emotional motivation throughout the game.😞 She’ll say she wants to be the best student or she wants to help out her friends, and while she accomplishes these tasks without issues, her journey lacks… idk, emotional weight? Her actions and motivations didn’t have the certain “oomph” that would make you want to root for her. I wished for more personal musings or inner monologues to amplify her driving force in the story, but to my disappointment, they remained entirely surface-level.

Then again, please take this with a large grain of salt, as this is more of a personal nitpick based on my preferences as a VN player. I am aware that the game was initially aimed at a younger audience, which explains why the writing style was so simple.

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Intimacy Scenes Aren’t Locked to Specific Character Routes

One other thing that was a big letdown for me was the fact that the intimacy scenes with all the LIs are not confined to a specific route or path. I know I’ve mentioned this time and again in this review as one of my gripes, but allow me to elaborate on it further. The date scenes, including those with kissing CGs and even sometimes suggestive scenarios where the heroine and LI actually do the deed, all automatically unlock simultaneously as you progress through the story. Despite my efforts to focus on a single character, some choices leading to these *intimate moments* are unfortunately necessary to progress through pivotal parts of the game. If you avoid these *choices*, you will either get a bad ending, miss out on a lot of plot, or end up on the exact same path anyway. Not having a concise structure for these intimacy scenes was quite disorienting, at least in my experience.

The heroine inevitably ends up kissing all the LIs in the same chapter. One moment, she’s macking out with one LI behind an abandoned building, and the next, she’s doing the same thing with another LI in a different location.😬 It was also jarring that after triggering these intimate scenes, the plot resumes as if none of these events ever happened.😵‍💫 It was absolutely eyebrow-twitching to see Aria do the deed with one LI, only for the next morning to act as if nothing had occurred, then repeat the same pattern with the second and third LIs, all while moving on to the main story without acknowledging these *intimate* encounters. While this largely depends on the player’s choices, it presents a significant flaw in the game design to have these scenes appear so arbitrarily.

I understand that this structure worked well for mobile, where these romance scenarios originally were “premium choices” locked through a paywall. However, in my honest opinion, with the Switch port including all these scenes indiscriminately, the romantic buildup between the heroine and her love interest is undermined. This lack of clear delineation killed any chemistry the game tried to establish, making me, as the player, lose interest in the romance. Truth be told, while I love all the LIs in this game, I sadly ended up becoming less invested in the romance between them and the heroine.

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Impressive World-Building and Production

On the positive side, the world-building in Celestia: Chain of Fate was really good, with the introduction being particularly memorable. The depictions of the Angelus, Daemon, and Human Realms were some of my favorite key points in the story. The gorgeous screen animations and lighting effects were also some of the things I really enjoyed during my gameplay. I think it’s also worth mentioning that once you move past the slice-of-life bits of the school setting, the plot becomes much more entertaining especially when Aria and her team begin tackling the three trials required for their graduation.

As for the three love interests, they were all very charming in their own way. I’m a big box-pusher (hako-oshi) so I liked Ash, Luke, and Val equally. These boys each had distinct personalities, and I very much enjoyed the variety. Val and Ash’s bickering was particularly funny to me. On the flip side, the humor in the game, was a hit-or-miss; sometimes the jokes landed well, and sometimes they didn’t. The side characters were a mixed bag as well; there were definitely some who stuck with me, like Aria’s brothers Damien and Fynn, and I found Lilith (her lady rival frenemy) interesting. Unfortunately, the rest were nothing to write home about.

Perhaps it’s also worth noting that this game only covers book one of the series. So none of the conflicts in the main story, not to mention the side plots for the three love interests were explored properly much less resolved. The good news is that the developers, Agate, have announced a Season 2 for this title, though whether it will be localized or brought to the Nintendo Switch still remains unknown. Also, please don’t go snooping and searching for the Season 2 trailer, as it contains spoilers for Season 1.😂

Do I recommend this game? YES… but, with a heavy caution regarding the points I’ve mentioned above. Especially the part about the story being incomplete. If you enjoy a coming-of-age fantasy story, set in a magical academy where you can date angels and demons alike, I think you will like Celestia: Chain of Fate. I also think those who are new to otome games will be able to appreciate this title more compared to the casual console veterans. So do keep that in mind.

While my own experience with this title was rather neutral, I do admit that hearing there’s a Season 2 in the works made me feel excited. So, it’s definitely encouraged to pick up this game with an open mind. If you’re still unsure, there’s a demo currently available on Steam, so I suggest playing that to see if this one’s your cup of tea.

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