The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 — Prelude Reviews

Anime, metal, and lesbians. I am very okay with these three things being in the same place.

Awesome first chapter, or maybe zeroth chapter, of what looks to be an awesome Visual Novel. The artwork is fantastic, the story and writing is rather good, with rather alot of self awareness. There are a rare few short moments of cliche, but this does not get in the way. Oh, and the music is great too, in particular the main theme! This is a strictly kinetic novel, no choices to be made, just 2-3 hours of fun :D I'll be eagerly anticipating the next chapters of this, Lupiesoft!

I very much enjoyed this game. Good chracters, good story so far. It apparently took me just ober 4 hours to finish. I eagerly await the sequel. Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing. I went back and purchased it after the fact.

[b][u]Overview[/u][/b] : The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 - Prelude is a relatively short kinetic visual novel from the studio Lupiesoft. It is the aptly named prelude to what will hopefully be a very successful series of visual novels crammed full of beautiful art and amazing music with a unique spin on timeless concepts and a ton of fun and adorable characters. [b][u]Story[/u][/b] : "[i]When a human's time has come, it's up to the demons of the underworld to ferry the new soul to the afterlife. This noble duty with a proud history is carried out by every self-respecting demon...all except for Toko, the only demon in Hell who can't bring herself to ferry a soul and who is promptly booted into the overworld. Now in the world of humans, Toko must reap a soul so that she can earn passage back home or face becoming a human herself. However, once she meets the cheerful Nadia, Toko's objectives change as she unravels the mysteries of the past and herself. But with bigger plans in motion behind the scenes, Toko's in for one Hell of a trip.[/i]" - from official website Initially I didn't know what to think about the story for The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 - Prelude but as the tale progressed and started picking up steam I got more and more sucked in. The characters are adorable (especially Nadia), the writing is on point, and the way they play with concepts such as the different types of demons and the deadly sins, the rings and levels of Hell, the struggle between Angels and Demons, witches and folklore, and [b]especially[/b] music it creates a really fun and cool world in a way I haven't really seen tried before. Now that isn't to say that it is perfect. At times some of the dialogue felt a little off (though I'm having a hard time figuring out why) and character progression (especially Toko) at times feels a little rushed and stilted. It doesn't take away from the experience as a whole, not by a long shot, because you're just having too much damn fun seeing age old concepts reworked in a unique and innovative way. I can't wait to have the curtain drawn back further in future entries so I can learn more. [b][u]Visuals[/u][/b] : Artist Taosym has made a name for himself by being an exceptionally talented individual so it should be no surprise that that The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 - Prelude is a beautiful game. Hell, beautiful doesn't come close to describing it properly in my opinion but you can see for yourself. It has spunk, it has character, and most important of all it is unique. The sprites are gorgeous and playful, the backgrounds are detailed and varied, and the CGs are just flat out awesome. I adore it. It is a real shame there isn't a gallery or something like that within the game that you could access to view all his beautiful art...but more on that later in the System section. [b][u]Sound Design[/u][/b] : Ponyo and Ryuno did a fantastic job. Music is a big part of what makes or breaks a Visual Novel for me and thankfully soundtrack is stellar. Smooth jazz, haunting piano melodies, unsettling and chaotic cacophonies, neat electronic grooves with ambient city sounds, driving bass, bold percussion, flat out gnarly rock. It is a big range but it never hits a sour note. Considering the story implications with Music I would expect nothing less. And as a side note [i]Falling From Grace Right On Your Face[/i], [i]Roaring Flames[/i], and [i]Swallow You Whole[/i] are my personal favorites but the entire soundtrack is amazing. Absolutely worth picking up as an extra. Hint hint. [b][u]System[/u][/b] : The short answer is that it is Ren'Py and by that I mean everything works and I had zero system related issues. Font choices were smart and always easily readable. The GUI is simple, looks good, and fits the motif set by the story. The only major issue I have is the lack of the very common (and always appreciated in a game with beautiful art and an awesome soundtrack) Extra section. I can understand skipping out on the Jukebox section (as the Soundtrack is available and totally worth picking up) but I'm unsure why something like the CG gallery was omitted. I can only hope it will eventually be added. [b][u]Conclusion[/u][/b] : I love The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 - Prelude to death. I absolutely adore it. The story is such a fun and cool concept and between the beautiful art and fantastic soundtrack it never feels tired or phoned in. In a genre that is very often very melodramatic and with plot twists you can see from a mile away The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 - Prelude never takes itself super seriously but somehow still manages to to put that sinking feeling in your gut at the perfect times. It is impressive. Aside from a few slight hiccups in writing, the lack of the almost industry standard "Extra" section, and desperately wanting more but knowing I have to wait, I can't say anything bad thing about it. I'm super pumped to see where the story goes and I'll be eagerly waiting for the next installment.

This was supposed to be a prequel to later chapters, but the story has apparently been abandoned. All of the lewd moments are featured on the Steam community hub so you can just look at them there. One of the characters is extra thicc tho.

In short: a (at present) short, but charmingly endearing VN, with an extremely likable cast. Let’s just get the negatives out of the way, because there are parts of this leave a little to be desired: - The pacing is off in places. While not a deal breaker, there are moments where the tone is slightly rushed, making it somewhat confusing to follow. This is thankfully not a persistent problem, but does weaken one or two scenes. - Music loops are sometimes not really effective. At least one music track for the battle/action sequences actually does have a build up: while hitting the climax of these build ups make sequences with action a lot more impactful, it does feel a bit flaccid when it loops back around to the build up while battle is still on-going. - The character design is a hate it or love it affair. This is more a subjective concern, and one you can more or less settle by looking at the screenshots. Personally, I find the semi-fan service style isn’t too distracting, but again this is a subjective concern. All right, with that out of the way, let’s talk about the positives, because this game has a fair number of them: - The general art style is quite unique. The use of colour in the backgrounds and characters succeeds in making both pop, and shows a good level of variance. This is in addition to every character having a very unique silhouette, which helps differentiate between them. - The musical theme is well earned. There is a close tie in the story between rock music and demons, and to that end the sound track does earn its wings. I can’t say much beyond that due to my tone-deaf nature, but even a pleb like me can see that the rock in this shows a great level of promise. - Fairly charming ‘fish out of water’ story. While the world and demons of hell are a core part of the story, Toko adjusting herself to the human world serves as a welcome element. The quirky comedy that comes from Toko trying out various human normalities is nicely offset by the constant background fact that she is slowly becoming something she is not, and the natural emotional stress that would bring. --- Hugely likable and varied cast. In my personal opinion the visual novel’s greatest strength: the two main characters share the screen with a wide range of colourful characters, all with a variety of characteristics and motivations. This is in addition to a number of characters based on mythological figures, all of which have quite imaginative interpretations. Watching the characters bounce off one another, and seeing the conflict that comes from that, is probably the majority of the reason to buy the VN. Other facts (fair warning, might be considered SPOILERS): - It has JoJo worthy Stands. Trust me, it’s pretty cool. - The chibi art is adorable. - Ginxhou is the best. Search your feelings; you know it to be true. As it is right now, the length is around 3-ish hours, and as the title says this is ONLY the prelude. That being said, I would consider it a worthy investment into what promises to be a good series.

I would like to start this review off with a disclaimer, this chapter is AMAZING! BUT, I am noticing a trend of VNs lately releasing things episodically, and there is nothing wrong with that IF you have an ACTUAL release schedule in place already. Right now this game is nothing but a tease with the promise of a game that will come.....eventually. No set release dates, no real promises, and very little information is given other than, 'we have two games coming out before releasing the other chapters for this.' And, of course, no set release dates on those either. So late leaves me here, buying a TASTE of a wonderful game or at least the idea of one with no view of the main course in sight. To be fair, while surfing through the discussions I did see a post from the developer that stated that one of the games slated to come out before this one has some projected time periods of 'sometime during the winter, we hope, but not nessicarily this one.' That leaves me even more annoyed, If they put out some proper dates on the future of this series then I will GLADLY change this review to a recommended because the setting, the characters and the story telling meathod are all so amazing, but until they get their release schedule in order I cant, in good heart, recommend this chapter to anyone.

The only reason I don't recommend this is cus it's an abandoned project. Otherwise it's a great concept that has everything I like. Metal. Demons. GL. A good story. I'd love to see where the story goes but unfortunately it's not something that's coming. If that changes I guess I'll eat my foot or something. So as much as I'd love to say give this a try. I just can't right now.

It is indeed a great game and i loved it but there is one problem and that is it is unfinished and probably will stay that way forever chapter 1 was supposed to come out in 2016 and there has been no updates or any details for 2 years so sad when a good game gets abandoned

Let me start by saying if you want something even more... ero... then please check out this developer's (Lupiesoft's) other titles. But let me talk about The Reject Demon a bit. The western art style is quite refreshing. A wide variety of characters for many tastes. The music is good as well, a decent variety. Wish there was a bit more though. No VA currently. There are no choices, so just single playthrough and you'll see everything. I played the demo and a lot has been added and changed since then. Certainly worth a purchase and playthrough.