Trials of Kokoro Reviews

An unusual, but nice little combination of turn-based combat and a VN to read, Trials of Kokoro may be a little saccharine (and I personally wish it had a little more personality to its writing), but it's earnest and quite endearing. Likeable characters, lovely art, some nice music and surprisingly involving fights and equipment flinging. Pick it up on sale if you're unsure, but it's a nice little adventure that gets better as it goes on. 7/10

About midway through this and I'm having a wonderful time. I should start by saying visual novels usually aren't my jam but the developer has reeled me in with a great plot and some fantastic characters. The game is super polished, and the story flows really well. What really won me over though is the combat. This is hands down some of the best turn based combat I've encountered in yonks, balance is great, all skills are useful and it constantly keeps you on your toes. Its exceptionally well designed. Would highly recommend this if you're a fan of visual novels or traditional jrpg's. Just an all round fun time.

An amazing game that no one should miss, especially if you like visual novels, JRPG-styled games, or just games with a profound and well-narrated story. This game is a mixture of a visual novel (containing a good amount of dialogues to read, using different characters moving through different locations within the game lore) and a turn-based tactical RPG (where you will control your heroes in very well- designed battles against various types of enemies and bosses) that excels at both. In one hand, the story is perfectly well tied, with characters that you will feel identified with, situations that will immerse you into weird storylines and convoluted plots. On the other hand, the battle system is really good, works smoothly and works on very standard bases (defeat the enemy, use elemental vulnerabilities to deal more damage, buff/debuff...) but with ingenious twists (e.g. specific types of actions needed in certain combats to resist instakill skills from enemies, amazing interaction between party members...) that will delight you for hours. While I initially thought this would be a good game for a weekend, after playing on the second hardest difficulty (out of 4 available), I can really tell that playing it for the story once, and playing it for the difficulty again is possible and will take you more than a weekend. I would recommend playing it in a difficulty other than the very easy one, so that you can experience the thrill of needing to boost your heroes correctly and use your skills wisely to defeat certain enemies, together with the big importance of building/structuring your team's equipment to match your preferred playstyle and also to counter the enemies you are to face. The visual aspect is fantastic, with really well-designed 2D handdrawn-styled environments and chracters, and with fantastic pseudo-3D effects for skills, cutscenes and others. The music is fantastic, and some songs are real earbugs and will stay in your brain for a while. The UI is very smooth, with no bugs and a perfect text and image adjustment, even with the longest texts. A perfect work of testing and adjusting done there, congratulations! If I had to mention stuff that I did not like, that will proably be customization. I believe there was much more room to create different types of builds on each hero that were not exploited completely. Also the fact that, despite the changes due to the story, you play always with the 'same' team, leaves you wondering how else this could have been boosted to actually increase replayability. I do understand that visual novels can have limited replayability and tend to focus on something else, it just felt too good of an opportunity to not exploit it. But I'm sure there will be more about this game developer, and will be as good as this one. I personally miss having this game translated into other languages,especifically to mine (Spanish). Although I know visual novels might lose autenthicity in the process of localization, if the chosen translator is good enough, not only the translation will be good, but it would also immerse the player even more into its story. Plus it would attract people that love visual novels but that do not have a good enough level of English to play it in such a language, which is a fair amount and that usually expose their concerns about wanting a story that feels close to them by using their language. After all, everyone understands UI elements in English nowadays (Attack, Skill, Enemy, Level...), but it is not the same when you write about situations like 'courage', 'respect', 'love' or 'duty', among others, which are very present in this game. Maybe consider it for next one. I'm sure your gaming community will appreciate it. Overall, I think it is well worth it's price, because you are supporting a dev that is deeply engaged with his players, and that keeps developing quality products without the hassles of big companies. In a world where games are not entertainment anymore but just a business (too many games released per month, too little time and money to play them all), this game will allow you to slow down, enjoy a true masterpiece done with the heart, and start loving gaming again. Well done, TD Games! Looking forward for more!

Trials of Kokoro ToK is a unique game that blends visual novel and turn based combat well. It has awesome characters and writing. The combat is smooth and explained well. I enjoy the strategy behind the fights as well. If you mess up the game is unforgiving, but if you plan right you will be victorious! The message behind the story is a good one and one I think people should read and learn from. Overall a very solid game and worth playing and supporting the dev! For game play check out the vid here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9UYfvlm-aA&t=14s

This is a lovely game! I'm about 2 hours into it and here's what I really like: - it's smooth, polished, and professional. I have not run into any bugs - it runs on my Steam Deck! - characters are fun and playful, the art is great, and the story is intriguing and the pace keeps you going to learning more and encountering more on the journey - the gameplay loop is addicting...you battle, manage your characters (equip gear, skills, etc.), get some fulfilling story, and repeat...it's addicting because the pacing is fast and you always feel like you're progressing...it's kinda roguelite-ish but in a visual novel - new systems are added at a good pace so as not to overwhelm you - battle system is fun, challenging but fair - the game reminds me of Etrian Odyssey and the SNES classic Arcana Strongly recommend! I'm enjoying it and will continue to do so!

I can't say I ever played a Visual novel Rpg before, never knew this was a thing tbh, but I really am digging this one. It is a great looking game, combat seems to be pretty straight forward, which to me is a great plus, sometimes adding a ton of mechanics just to say you have them is a drag.... so yea I am really getting into the overall plot of the story. Looking forward to diving into it a good bit more and if anything changes I'll update my review but my first impressions of this are pretty positive.

TL:DR This is a real hidden gem of a game, absolutely deserves more attention for the excellent design, story and love poured into it. Even if you don't like visual novels you may like this one. This game...it must have come from a very talented, passionate and I daresay a warm hearted soul. Though its impossible to judge someone's character based solely on a game there is definitely a special type of gratitude that must exist in the mind of someone to pen a story that attempts to flesh out its characters the way this game does. Typically in doing a review I would focus on the mechanics that make the game but because the story and what I would call the design philosophy of the game is what gives it its heart, the best way to sing its praises is to touch on these things. Its worth mentioning here that kokoro means heart in japanese and that is part of what drew me to this game to see if it could deliver on such potentially cliche or corny premise, I must say it did for me and then some - it surpassed my expectations which is saying a lot. I've played my fair share of games but visual novels usually turn me off. The story like any good book is engaging to the point of not wanting to put it down, I was fully immersed in what would happen next while also being hooked by the combat and rpg build crafting. It appears simple on the surface but there is an attention to detail that rings throughout including the design of skills and how they interact with each other that give a far deeper experience than might come through on first glance combined with the various choices on build, itemization and combat approach make for one of the best and yet most accessible strategic rpgs I've played. The are several difficulties to suit your level of challenge or if you are just there for the story ,which is worth it, but I love well designed challenge and this game's battle system will give it to you. I started a second playthrough 70% into the game just to revisit previous choices, I hate replaying most games and can barely be bothered to finish the majority but this was awesome. I couldn't quite place my finger on it but I realized the combat felt different than normal the dev revealed the game isnt really based on rng, the opponents are programmed to respond to your moves with a great deal of variation in each enemy and combat setup. Apart from the very first section most of the enemies aren't recycled either, they are often treated as one-off unique characters with their own entry and backstory in the bestiary even the unnamed ones and apart from possibly the very first area (and thats still debatable) re-skins arent really a thing. That's a mad level of dedication that only shows the level of care that was put into this game. Normally, saying this would by hyperbolic but this game isnt just a game - its a piece of art and love letter from the dev. No story is truly original but this game has unique elements, but mostly just brings together different elements that you *may* have seen elsewhere and executes them very well. I could continue to gush about how I came for the combat (loved it) but stayed for the story but, ultimately, its best to encourage you to experience it all for yourself. There are things I could quibble about if I really tried or was in a particularly bad mood but I'm not! :D I've never done this before but I give this game a 10/10. Moving on to play the devs first game on steam eagerly waiting a sequel or the dev's next entry. Well done!

I'm really enjoying this game so far. Everything about the visual style and ambient sounds fit well together... something you don't always see in indie RPGs. The developer describes it as a visual novel--which it is--but I feel the nuanced tactical gameplay shouldn't be overlooked. It's a lot of fun building out characters to your preferred style and going from battle to battle, each one with different enemies using a new set of abilities you haven't seen. I found the default combat setting a tad too easy, but fortunately you can change at any time from the menu and there's a few settings to choose from. The story is intriguing and has potential (as I would hope from a VN). I'm still only a few hours in but am already enjoying what I'm seeing with the character development/party interactions. Strong recommendation from me if you enjoy turn-based JRPGs and/or visual novels.

This is one of the prettiest indie rpg I've played. I love the art and sound direction with this one. The gameplay is engaging and the characters are charming. The story is also well written and dialogue shows the differences in personality. Also, Rhea is adorable and I must protect at all cost.

I just beat this game and although I don't write reviews often, I was compelled to directly after watching the credits roll. Trials of Kokoro is about a man who wakes up in a forest with no memory of his past. Cliche as that idea is, the 14 hour story (in my case) that follows is a magical ride with a deep storyline and plenty of character and world building. In fact, the only complaint I have is the shortness of the adventure. Graphically the game is wonderful. There is no roaming from dungeon to town and so forth. It's on a linear path but this choice in style makes it what it is. The backgrounds for each place you visit is beautiful and there is alot of charm in the hero models that play in the visual novel-equse story scenes. The battle system is deep. This isn't your typical mash attack button layout. Buffs and debuffs are very important. Learning and knowing your enemies weaknesses are very important. Equipment depth is vast and you can change between battles to suit the needs of the oncoming opponents. The music is great too. And there are a lot of different songs involved. They fit the mood quite well. Highly recommended for people who likes strategic turn based rpgs, or just like a good story. And the difficulty settings means you can enjoy it for which ever you're there for. I played on normal and found the challenge just right.