Lurkers Reviews

a bit short but still really good

Lurkers Is a pretty cool little game. It definitely focuses more on the story than the romance, and the mystery is quite obvious. I knew who the villain was from the first conversation I had with him, and it wasn't because i'm good at solving mysteries lol. There were also some typos and grammatical issues, especially towards the end of the game. The game's greatest strengths are it's atmospheric soundtrack, and Jack the Ripper, of course. It helps that I find the Jack the Ripper case fascinating. It was fun, and I enjoyed my time with it. 5/10

Decent story, likable characters, okay music. Not a fan of the art style at all, though, and there are a lot of typos and just poorly worded sentences. So I kinda halfsies recommend and halfsies don't recommend, but eh. It entertained me for (almost) 2hrs and the price tag isn't too high, so no regrets. [spoiler]Also yay, ace character!!![/spoiler]

My first impression of the game was it was bugged... And I was very dissapointed, because Spanish texts were missing. But after playing it in English I think the minor errors (like an achievement not popping) do not affect the quality of the game so much. The graphics are not that pretty compared to other games (even from Ertal Games), but it does not need it, I think this is a short visual novel where you can experience a good piece of Victorian Age London, so I think this is a 6 out of 10.

Lurkers is a cute, fictional story (using some real world names & events) regarding investigating Jack the Ripper. The romantic elements are PG, and quite sweet. One character might be asexual, or maybe he's just not interested due to being traumatized - it isn't clear, but it is a welcome addition. The setting is pretty bleak, and that makes the romantic bits all the more wholesome. The story contains many unpleasant elements (misogyny, homophobia, anti-semitism, etc), but it feels appropriate given the historical setting. I noticed a couple of minor typos and English mistakes, but nothing serious. The character art seems inconsistent between the characters appearance during the story versus during the romantic scenes. It is also a bit short - I got all 10 achievements in 2.5 hours. I don't mean these complains to be harsh. I enjoyed it and offer my recommendation. I only wish I could have spent more time with the characters because I liked them a lot.

It is a bit on the short side, but I enjoyed playing it. The setting, the backgrouds, the characters, all is interesting, as are the romance options. Not much to say. A fine little adventure, I had fun playing it. :)

[I] Lurkers [/i] is a historical detective BL visual novel. The story has all the tags I absolutely adore buut...I'm afraid it's gonna be a neutral review. I'm a bit hesitant if I should recommend this game, so let me leave it to your own decision. Again :D Why I choose the thumb up for my neutral opinion: +BL VN. This reason is enough XD More. Please, create more similar content! \o/ So much appreciated. You can't even imagine how grateful I am. (☆_☆) +I was always fond of history. At first as school subject, then reading historical novels. My history teacher was kind to invite me to her house and share her books with me. Historical films, novels... Anything related to factual events is immensely captivating, immediately changing the story to smth so much more impressive. You realize it's not just author's imagination. It actually HAPPENED. Or at least partially. It doesn't matter. It still makes the whole experience so much more immersive. In this case it's British criminal history. (♥ω♥*) I guess everyone heard about Jack the Ripper, infamous for his gory deeds, never caught and as a result so alluring. I was enthusiastic to read a BL about THAT! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2834388579 +Visually the game is quite attractive. The backgrounds with moving dark misty fog were so atmospheric. +Achievements for every ending is always a great feature, that feeling of being rewarded for the outcome you've got is amazing. I wish all visual novels had that. Profile Features Limited though. What hindered me from being typically excited playing my fav genre of games: --I didn't like how the game was presented from the technical point of view. I wish things were organized differently. I rarely finish games in one go, I quit and launch again and again. And to have to choose the language at the very start all the time was annoying. There was no gallery in the menu. I realize there're not that many CGs but I believe the number is enough to arrange them in the gallery. And the font for the text wasn't to my liking at all. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2833882918 --In my opinion, characters differ too much in CGs and in their sprites. MC is so handsome in CGs, I was literally ready to drool looking at him but then during the whole story, his face... Sorry, not my type. And that contrast didn't help with immersion. --It's police investigation. So occasionally that special warning whistle can be heard. Not once, not for a couple of sentences. For a LONG time. It grated on my very core, I shuddered all the time and had to turn off the sound completely. I can still hear it in my head while typing it. I'm afraid it's with me forever now XD --The game is short. Seriously, I didn't get enough of anything—investigation or romance part. --As for romance, it's not here, I'm afraid. There're 2 possible love options or you may get a friendship ending. One guy (the most handsome and interesting, in my opinion) turned out to be asexual. Yeah, I get it, writers aim for diversity nowadays and I respect that. But let me be egoistic here and whine that it was such a loss for me personally XD. It was my first playthrough, by the way. So I thought, welp, I have a cute detective next. But nah, nothing explicit there too. Text-wise or visually. 15+ rating, as it turned out. Ok, stories not focused on sexual relationships are also fascinating, don't get me wrong. But in this case why the store page claims it's yaoi?! The definition for this word says it 'features sexual romance between men'. It's not here, sadly. --Detective side of the story left me a bit disappointed too. I guess it's kinda my own fault. I was engrossed by the Ripper's case, so perhaps I raised the bar too high. But the culprit presented in the story wasn't that remarkable. He was too obvious from the very beginning. There were too many evident hints. All that felt a bit underwhelming. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2833996456 --At the end of the story real people connected to the factual investigation are shown. But while I was marveling at their faces, the picture suddenly disappeared, I didn't even start reading. That made me furious, honestly. All the time devs present some information, for example, at the start of the game, why, why do they do it for a short time?! Let me click and decide when I had enough of it. Maybe I am a slow reader, maybe I was distracted at that moment. So, I had to load my latest save and skip carefully to that moment AGAIN. And you know, maybe I'm in the wrong here but it felt a bit inappropriate to use real names and make some kind of villains out of those doctors. If some writer used my grandpa's name for a foul character I'd feel offended, like their honor is blemished. Facts, history are wonderful things but for villains I'd prefer fake images. --Typos, mistakes. As one our celebrity once said--“Fans' expectations are fans' problems” XD The story doesn't have to meet my expectations. Perhaps it's only my fault anticipating different game content. Welp, anyway it was a nice enough read. [table] [tr] [th]More thoughts about the game in a [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/readingnook/discussions/0/3419937528174527702/] Reading Nook [/url][/th] [/tr] [/table]

I love Ertal Games stories, and this is no different. This is a little more innocent than the others I've read, but I enjoyed it all the same. Getting the love interest of your choice is pretty straight forward. Finding the culprit is mostly straight forward as well, so a walk through isn't really needed (for those who rely on them like myself). I definitely recommend this game as a good read for a quick break with a cute love story.