Dead Man's Rest Reviews

As someone who is mlm who also happens to enjoy visual novels it can be difficult to find VNs that appeal to me that aren't directed at a certain audience. I find that many gay romance VNs are typically directed at straight women, often a fujoshi audience with an unfortunate habit of fetishising certain uncomfortable elements rather than focusing on the story and portraying gay men in a realistic or decent way. I have played two games by Argent, this and Red Embrace and I must say, despite having only played a tiny amount of Dead Man's Rest, I find their games refreshing. Though not perfect they feel like a much safer option for men attracted to men than many other gay romance games. These games are definitely enjoyable for myself, speaking as someone who is mlm, and I also believe Dead Man's Rest is a fantastic story for anyone who enjoys romance visual novels and/or Western stories. From what I have seen so far of Dead Man's Rest it is definitely a good experience, especially if you, like myself, prefer a darker story line. Like Red Embrace the game contains genuinely interesting characters and a wonderfully written story (Though at times it does feel a little rushed but that's likely due to the route I ended up taking). Though I personally prefer the artwork of Red Embrace the art here definitely has a charm of its own, especially the CGs which are beautiful. What really sets it apart for me, though, is the soundtrack. I have always enjoyed Westerns for the music over anything else and the fantastic score definitely sets the scenes wonderfully. Please practice caution with this particular game though, where Red Embrace is a modern day set vampire game where much of the danger is that of a supernatural source, Dead Man's Rest is somewhat set in a rather pleasant reality of history. The depictions of homophobia are upsetting but genuine, it is important to acknowledge that these depictions are realistic to the experiences of gay men at the time and are not in any way reflective of the creators' beliefs. I have fairly thick skin when it comes to these themes and the creators are careful to handle them as respectfully as the setting allows which I appreciate, however there are still moments that can be distressing, especially the references to religious bigotry common during the time. I have a habit of writing reviews the moment I decide I enjoy a game so forgive my short play time but I look forward to continuing my playthrough.

You know that feeling when you've stumbled across a gem without purposely searching for it and it brings wonder and amazement? This is one of those. From the characters, to the art to the MUSIC. Everything is just wow.

At first, I was hesitant to give this game a go as I am not fond of the Wild West whatsoever. It turned out to be an amazing experience I am never going to forget. I hope Argent Games (and Gallium Games) have many more games to come. Thank you.

This Game is absolutely fantastic, the story, the characters, all too fall in love with, you learn some nice cowboy slang along the way too! Not to mention the music, fitting and beautiful. The story telling absolute on point. The tension you feel while playing, the anticipation to see how your decissions play out. 10/10 Game, cant wait to play many many hours more.

This game was incredibly dull. As dry as the deserts in some of the background artwork. They also have a native american character who's possibly the whitest character of the whole cast. The repeated use of 'historically accurate' dialogue got incredibly grating after a while and made conversations between characters awkward and clunky.

A very good game, even in early access (it's almost complete at this point, anyway). I follow Argent Games ever since Requiescence, even if I tend to purchase their titles elsewhere due to Steam censorship, which isn't relevant here since the game is not explicit in content. It has to be my favorite of their games, alongside Requiescence itself. The storylines are interesting, and with a very short common route (that has more than one path to access the various routes), it makes replaying each route a whole new experience, especially since what is true in one route won't be in another, aside from core traits and background elements about the characters. Some routes are pretty tame and mild, while others deal with very serious and painful subjects, so be aware of that. The guide I wrote for the game has warnings for the routes that may need them, if you feel like you should check them out. Regardless of how harsh a route may or may not be, all are very touching and engaging, and I like every single main character. I have a special fondness for it's main character, Lee, who truly has a heart of gold and an interesting background story. My only small complaints would be the lack of an original OST and the fact it mixes artstyles between the sprites and the various CGs, but these are minor issues, and the art is generally good anyway.

The game overall is very good! I enjoyed each of the 4 main pathways (haven't played the hidden one quite yet). The music was great, the storylines were also great. The killer changing each route kept things fresh and interesting. I was so certain I knew who it was each time after my first playthrough, but I was wrong each time. My personal favorite routes were Cartwright and Jed, they seemed to have the most substance and thought put into them. For being early access, it sure didn't feel like it! Now, I do have one complaint. Taza's character felt very much like a token-character. The main art for him portrayed him as very white-washed and that sort of left a bad taste in my mouth. While I liked the addition of him and I liked his route well enough (his inter-personal struggles with himself, his tribe, and Lee were quite good) but it did feel like an add on for the sake of diversity. I suppose I just wish his route had been given more depth like Cartwright's and Jed's. But, Taza is the only thing I would change about the game. Overall, I loved it. The game combined three of my favorite things: romance, gayness, and cowboys. I even learned new things, which was awesome. I do recommend it!

A Wild West themed story of love, murder and revenge. You get to play as Lee "Blackjack" McCarthy, a bounty hunter, who has been after an outlaw called Wild Bill for 8 years of his life. He tracks him down to a small town in the heartland of the Arizona Territory, Golder's Rock, where he plans to put an end to the wild goose chase. Dead Man's Rest is a story about a special kind of love, homosexuality, a total taboo in a time where heterosexuality was the overwhelming factor and you could get jail time for being yourself openly. The game has 5 love interests, each being variably different from each other, but keep the characters consistency almost each time. It does an amazing job at being faithful to old western culture that involves your standard by the book sheriff, trifles with Native Americans, and some small scenes of gunfighting. It also does an excellent job at adding in the romance aspect as-well. It feels down to earth and realistic, with morals that reflected the time back then whether it be about sexuality or your culture, and how people would have reacted. The artstyle was pleasant, and nice to look at! The backgrounds were slightly on the simpler side most of the time, but there was also some painterly styled backgrounds as well. I preferred the painterly styled backgrounds, as it added a nice contrast to the sprite art and I would have preferred to have that as the main style for background art all of the time. In some cases I had some troubles with the art though, the choice of having Taza, a native american, looking like your generic long haired asian boy, was not a good call. He commented on the fact that the main character is "a white man", but it fell a bit short with the fact that Taza looks pretty white himself on the arts. All in all, I believe this game is very much worth the purchase, and I think the story, characters and art is all absolutely amazing.

from the perspective of someone who doesn't play a lot of dating sims (not ZERO, but... not a lot) and hopped on board with this one immediately due to a love of Gay Cowboy Stories: this one really hits for me! the music is fitting, the UI is simple but charming, and the writing has a lot of heart and humor. there's a dignity to the characters' sexualities - and resulting struggles - as well that isn't super common in m/m writing! i particularly appreciate the commitment to addressing the homophobia & anti-indigenous racism of the time, including historical footnotes in the latter case; as a disclaimer, i haven't seen taza's full route yet, but i'm used to dismissing a good half of any story like this for doing way less than DMR tried to do. overall punchy and fun, and each route felt unique to me. (i still haven't found bill's in all this time, but I WILL. i love a greaseball cowboy, and no amount of dead ends can keep me from this one. yeehaw.) UPDATE: i found bill's route and it is absolutely my favorite. totally worth all the ferreting around to get to it, AAAAAA.

Voting YES off the music and art alone so far. All of AG's games never fail to deliver! I could seriously keep this game open just for the background ambiance/music alone. Some CGs are missing because it's early access, but it's very few. Playtime on this thing is quite long as it's 125k+ words total.. so strap in, get some coffee and be ready for some good stories :).