Serafina's Crown Reviews

This visual novel is one of my favorites of all time! I love the characters, I love the world (you don't need to play the first game, Serafina's Saga, to understand this one, but I would highly recommend it). I think the voice actors did a FANTASTIC job - usually I turn off partial voicing because I prefer my games fully voiced or not at all, but I thought they did such a great job here and many scenes have full voicing that I didn't want to miss out on. (My one complaint is that Kallias only has stock lines, which is a real shame because I think his voice actor did AMAZING and he's my favorite love interest. Still, this didn't impede my overall enjoyment of the game.) I like the debate gameplay because it's not so difficult that being bad at it prevents you from progressing altogether, but it does have some effect on the outcome and once you learn to utlilize the different abilities to their full extent it's very satisfying. While I usually skip through sections I've already read to get all the endings when I play visual novels, I didn't do a lot of skipping with this one because I enjoyed the story and voice acting so much. This game was a GREAT story and experience, more than worth the 8 dollar price tag. I would love to see more VNs from the developer set in Serafina's world!

I loooooove this game so much !! It is seriously underrated. I enjoyed the debate mechanic; it made things interesting and I liked that winning/losing had consequences that impacted the narrative in meaningful ways. I'm team Arken all the way, but I also enjoyed rekindling things with Lorenzo. Thanks so much for a great game with a diverse cast, and can't wait for the Serafina Saga remake that's upcoming! <3

I'm quite pleased by the diversity of this story: Diverse political views (some of which very modern), diverse interests, diverse (and deep) character background, diverse national matters, diverse personalities, diverse profanity (yep), diverse deities, diverse (and interesting) choices, and diverse sexual preferences (maybe more than you'll think of...). The voice acting are kind of okay for me, and I don't actually like the music and the debate system. But the story alone is strong enough for me to recommend this visual novel.

I liked it. It took politics and a murder mystery and actually made it engaging with the use of a mini game of high vs low numbers. Didn't love the PC being a crying lovesick mess out the gate, but luckily didn't have to deal with it much. I actually did really well at the mini game. And then I died a horrible death XD I may try it again someday, but once through was enough for now.

After playing through all the endings, I finally figured out the trick to the numbers mini game. As someone who teaches argument, I kind of wish the debates hadn't been reduced to a numbers game. It's an okay visual novel, but I grew tired of the mini game after a couple play throughs.

What happens when you have politics AND a murder mystery right in front of you? A whole lotta trouble and a bunch of colorful characters coming together... To cause even more trouble. You like court intrigue and such? Good. I would wonder if this game would teach me manners... But it seems like that doesn't always solve your problems either. What's that you say?! A MYSTERY IS AFOOT?! Then let the hunt begin! ^(^-^)^

Serafinas Crown was a very pleasant surprise. It's a sequel to Serafinas Saga (sadly, not on steam), but it's not necessary to play the first game. I didn't and had no problems to follow the story at all. The strongest point are the characters. They were very different from each other and felt like real people. Not-so-professional writers tend to let all their characters sound pretty much the same, no matter how old they are or what background they have. Not so in Serafinas Crown. The story was very good, there were lots of options to solve given problems, and different outcomes to it. I won't spoil anything here. There's partial, really nice voice acting as well. The only thing people might dislike is the artwork, although I have to say I didn't mind it. It might be a bit rough, but it's still nice. The CGs felt a bit out of place, but I couldn't care less. I played the game 5 times to get all the achievments and all endings (skipping parts I already read), and it took me about 16 hours to do so.

I am very pleased with this romance visual novel. The protagonist is a person of color. There are other people of color. There are queer characters / romance paths. And - get this - there are polyamorous characters. HOLY F*CK! Thank you. Just thank you, Woodsy Studio for all the diversity in your VN, and actually acknowledging polyamorous people exist and portraying them in positive light. The story, outside of the romance paths, is quite good. The protagonist is not a princess or queen, but a regent. The game features a mini-game of sorts that involves debating and winning debates affects certain aspects of the story. As regent, the protagonist makes several important decisions about her nation's affairs. Some people have compared this VN to Long Live the Queen, but I don't really see it like that. LLtQ had more to do with stats and very careful planning, whereas, Serafina's Crown is not really like that. Making choices affects stats affiliated with certain gods in the game, but there's a lot more leisure to say whatever the player actually wants to. Also, [spoiler]there's only one way to die, and that's breaking the oath the protagonist can take during Roza's route.[/spoiler] I thought the art was just fine. I admit that it's a bit simplistic, but I don't think it's bad. I guess people are complaining about it because it isn't anime-style and beautifully airbrushed. Just because someone can view the art as ugly doesn't mean it's bad. Minor complaints: There were some typos. I also saw one instance where a word was missing from a sentence. I can see from the achievement icon that Belatrix, the former queen, was a POC, but it's weird that a portrait of her isn't shown in the game at all. Her character spoken about quite often, but I felt it was odd to leave out what she looked like. I know there's a VN that came before this one, but it's always nice when games can be played individually. I can't get over how awesome this VN was and I definitely recommend it.

I loved Serafina's Crown so much that as soon as I was done with it, I went online to the developer's webpage and bought the preceding story the same night. I have over a dozen story/novel game titles in my Steam library, both visual and non, and half of them are garbage. But I keep trying because eventually I find titles like this that make it worthwhile. What made this title standout for me? In this particular case, I couldn't find a character in the story that I did not like. Even the most unlikable one had a certain malevolent charm. With many stories I find I'm barely moved by the protagonist, let alone the supporting characters. In this story, I was so interested in the supporting characters I felt I had to get the original story immediately. Also, the voice acting for the whole lot of them was impressive even when compared to mainstream expensive titles. They seemed so energetic and invested, it made it much more fun. This is primarily why I recommend this game. I feel there is a good chance other visual novel fans will really like these characters as well. Additionally, the storyline itself is very enjoyable, the political/debate system intriguing, and the visuals engaging. A couple cautions. First, not all text is voiced, mainly just the major parts of the storyline. I purchased the title without expecting the voices so it was just a bonus for me. Second, it can be more difficult to win the debate mini-game if you don't focus on one character/house to support. Call me neutral or wishy-washy, but I kept spreading my points around even when it meant losing some debates. Still, I got the ending I was hoping for, so I'm not complaining.

I started playing [I] Serafina's Crown [/i] because I enjoyed other games created by these devs. Though honestly I didn't expect much as the release date was years ago and...I'm not really a fan of politics but luckily I was mistaken! Quite soon I immersed myself deeply into those political intrigues. Plus, the meeting of the representatives of the main Houses had the same name as our Russian House of Parliament. I found it amusing XD The story itself feels quite short BUT it has some important problems my MC had to solve via debates. For example, election of the next royal successor, investigation of the queen's death or the right approach to suddenly appeared God. There were so many issues to discuss: of great and minor importance. It was exciting! I liked the intricate, elaborated system of different Houses, worshiping different gods and following different policies. It was great fun to debate over literally everything. Usually, when I play visual novels I quickly detect the most interesting route, or two routes if the story is really decent and then just finish the others for the complitionist's sake. Here I thought I knew what God-patron/house/life perspective I respect and gonna pursue but...I actually enjoyed absolutely every route. That was amazing! I tried out some contrast options and found them refreshing! I honestly couldn't judge anyone for their different views, they were depicted in such an appealing way. Take Rosa, for example. I dislike GxG routes, and her personality wasn't pretty to me. During my first playthrough I didn't support her at all, her House earned almost zero points. She was too bent on war, fighting, seemed too cruel, always quick to punish, kill... the measures I found too drastic and barbaric buut when I tried to shape my MC similar way, tried to look at everything through her perspective... I suddenly realized how enjoyable it felt to be strong, stubborn, that chin-up MC's sprite filled me with great resolve too. And it happened all the time in every route! That's some magical kind of immersive writing! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2642611349 Another example, I looked at Kendal disapprovingly first, thinking he was just a shallow epicurean fellow focused too much on pleasure and relaxation. But playing through his route he turned out to be not that simple and...relaxing with him felt really too good not to indulge myself xD So, absolutely each route felt unique, representing totally different views, but equally enjoyable. Though again the game's main focus wasn't on romance, those intimate scenes were as short as possible but enough to leave some pleasant yearning aftertaste. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2644868897 Welp, what I'm grateful for: +partially voiced novel. That line “Whyy do I bother?!” was my favorite in the mini-game xD The way it was pronounced mmm *drooling*; +lots of endings for a short story; +appealing characters, captivating plot (tho it was soon obvious who the real culprit was); +cards and achievements, no profile limited features \o/ so I got one more “perfect game” on my profile! +art is far from perfect, that crooked Arken's nose when he stays sideways made me burst into laughter BUT it's still nice and feels unique, plus CGs felt better than usual; +MC's customization! A player can choose the outfit (not too many options but it was engaging anyway) and MC's hair color changes depending on what House you support. The way your inner convictions are reflected in appearance is amazing! Reminded me 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' a little bit. And elite's representatives' outfit also changed if their rank became higher, thanks to my support. It was fascinating! Only Kendal remained the same being already at the top of elegance XD https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2644869074 +the choices are numerous and so diverse: choosing the appropriate ball preparations, writing a poem (picking up the fitting lines was great fun), answering a historical quiz... So far from typical choices we make in many visual novels! And you know, whatever happened after some crucial choices it didn't seem as if I failed (except accusing innocent ppl), I just had to experience some new, different, not necessarily wrong 'reality'. +looots of save slots! I learned to sincerely appreciate this feature having played so many VNs with not enough save slots; +useful steam guides. It seems obvious enough how to reach all endings and achs but sometimes it was too frightening to imagine I'd fail and will have to debate again and again XD +despite all seriousness of political matters xD the story-telling was funny enough to make me laugh from time to time XD +I liked color presentation of the choices, so it was easy to understand in favor of which House my choice was going to be; +I was contemplating where to put mini-games, I really hate them. I consider them a waste of time in visual novels buuut here it was fun to debate (though I still think it WAS a waste of time while replaying the routes) BUT it was actually something unique! I love VNs because I have some kind of power xD to influence the events but here I wasn't always the winner, so the characters sometimes made their own choices, contrary to what I wanted. It made me feel frustrated sometimes but it felt so realistic, it was as if the chars became alive, with their own free will I had to respect... That was a great experience! Though soon I understood all the main strategies and almost never lost after that but it was enough to feel overwhelmed! Minor complaints: – debates are unskippable (for understandable reason) but it makes replaying the routes so loooong and tiresome; –I wish all those debate rounds and arguments were without shaking as if an earth-shake accompanied it all the time; –CGs were quite nice but there's no gallery. At least I didn't find it xD maybe it was technically complicated to make due to customization, lots of visual variants, but it felt sad I can't recollect the best game's moments browsing through the CGs; – the list of typos is not the shortest, during all these years it could be fixed. So, I highly recommend the game! You know, I had it in my steam library for years! I saw that the reviews were mainly positive, I saw that four of my steam friends reviewed it positively too buut I still thought the game was not my cup of tea. Politics, intrigues, mini-game... eww. I was so mistaken! Oh my! So, if you doubt, just don't! It's great! I wish I played it earlier <3 [table] [tr] [th]More thoughts about the game in a [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/readingnook/discussions/0/3164335241614047639/] Reading Nook [/url][/th] [/tr] [/table]