Never give up! Reviews

The story was predictable and short, but the art was good. It seems like Mia forgets things solely to pad out the story at times. The method of getting a perfect ending is unclear as I did Robin's route and the chose to meet with him every time, but still got the good ending instead. Overall, I think it's worth the money.

Sappy name for a game that's actually quite good. Most of my complaints about these sorts of games come from what I call "empty responses"--that is, when the protag talks, she basically says nothing. This game does not have that problem. Pros: -Excellent art -"wholesome" feel--like, there's murder, but when the game was finished I just felt good about everything. This game is like a small dessert. -Interesting world, though we see so little of it--I would love to see another game in this setting, or just an expansion of this one. -Detective Maximilian Blackwood is the best name ever. -Uncle is secretly a cool guy. Cons: -Short! -Only the endings really change on replay -Aleister is a -bit- of a jerk, but nothing that screams "unhealthy relationship" When playing, keep in mind this was probably not originally written in English. The dialogue will get occasionally awkward, but never nonsensical. 10/10 would play another from this developer.

The game's art is genuinely gorgeous, but I felt like the story dragged and I didn't really connect with any of the love interests. The English translation isn't so bad as to be unreadable or anything but did take me out of it a little bit. I can see why some might like it and I don't think it's the worst VN ever but it didn't really do it for me.

[b][i]Never give up![/i][/b] is sweet OTOME game in fantasy setup with three suitors to choose from, three endings for each of them and three very bad endings. I finished the whole game in about 8-9 hours. [b]Pros:[/b] + Story, detective plot. + Art, from sprites to CGs. + Characters. + Price. [b]Cons:[/b] - Achievement issue. You cannot get achievements for Aleister's good and bad ending in english version. Switch the language to russian before the last choice, et voilà!

This game off the bat is very confusing. The protagonist Mia, is described as being a huge scaredy-cat who is literally afraid of everything and yet, she not only stupidly chases after a potential murderer alone at night but speaks out and insults her teacher in front of her classmates. This is made even more confusing as the person who literally describes her as “a spineless wimp that can only cry in response to insults” was expecting her to speak out. I’m thoroughly impressed by her ability to be able to sass someone once and then suddenly be a master of wits though! Further evidence of this writing style is upon meeting her friend's cousin for the first time, he is described as “flirtatious” but he doesn’t come across like that at all; in my opinion, he was merely being friendly. I very much enjoyed the term “talkative hipster” though. It really felt so out of place to call a classy, well-dressed man a “hipster”. There is also the “quiet guy who hardly ever speaks” that talks to Mia quite often. All of this happens pretty early on too so it didn’t give me much hope for the rest of the plot. Another problem story wise is that Mia speaks to a person for a few sentences once and then thinks things like “After getting to know so and so better, nothing they do would surprise me anymore” despite the fact that she clearly doesn’t know anything about that person still. I felt there were a few words (mainly insults) that felt so out of place in this kind of setting; “jerk” and “loser” for instance. I don't know, it just didn’t feel right. The murderer, at least for me, was incredibly easy to guess at who it was. I should also point out how utterly anti-climactic his demise was. It truly felt as if the writer just gave up and thought something like “Meh, whatever. This will do.”. I honestly couldn’t express how disappointed it left me feeling considering this was the part of the story that everything had been leading up to. None of the love interests left any kind of impression on me what so ever! The fact is, none of them were around enough to form a proper bond with Mia. Very short conversations and not enough screen time aren’t particularly what a good otome should desire. If the main plot was extended on that would have given the guys a better change in my opinion. Having said this, there were parts of the story I felt were somewhat entertaining and gave me quite a laugh, despite (or maybe because of) how utterly ridiculous the whole thing was. Mia’s meeting with her teacher for example. The artwork, especially the backgrounds were very well done. I didn’t really notice any difference between the appearance of the pure-blooded elves and the half-blooded ones though. All the racism is literally over the fact of heritage and nothing more, which does seem to be a running theme with half-breeds in these types of settings but usually their physical features contribute to the prejudice they receive. 100% needs a proof-reader to go through the entire game! The translation is terrible and really needs a good polishing! This is probably a good time to say that I played the English version so I really can’t comment on the Russian counterpart. Overall, I don’t care how cheap this game is, I would not recommend it to anyone!

PRO - The artwork is nice and it's good to have a non-anime style to provide something different from most VNs. - The very end of each route is presented to the reader from the love interest's point of view. A minor thing, but again a point of difference. - Shortish length, but reasonable value for money (by commercial standards) due to the low price. I achieved all the 'good' (but not 'perfect') endings in about four hours. - Two of the routes (Robin and Aleister) have obvious effects (in this alternate reality) on Mia's lifestyle and character development, rather than just being 'pick a guy with your desired personality type'. So there is at least some point in having the alternate world from .a romance point of view CON - I couldn't seem to get the SKIP function to work at first, I completed my first 2 routes from the same save file, in about 3 hours. I then tried a re-run attempt from scratch on Robin's route, but with slightly different choices. I wasted about 3 hours because SKIP didn't seem to work. However it seemed to work when I did Aleister's route later. - The mystery is not that mysterious.

In short, I'm not this game's target demographic. A 3/10 effort. [u]The good[/u] Wonderfully drawn characters and backgrounds Music is pleasant [u]The bad[/u] Conversations are endless, and endlessly boring There's a decent murder mystery here but it's buried under tons of mostly pointless narrative The lead character is a complete hand-wringing drama queen Dialogue is straight out of Sweet Valley High or some other sugar-coated teen/tween romance series Typos and grammar issues galore There are far better VNs out there

[b]Played Character Route Order: Aleister ◈ Maximilian ◈ Robin[/b] [b][i]Never Give Up![/i][/b] is a short fantasy Otome that also attempted to implement some mystery elements. Neither the story nor the writing is as good as in [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/612100/These_nights_in_Cairo/]These Nights in Cairo[/url], but a rigorous comparison would be quite unfair, considering that [b][i]Never Give Up![/i][/b] is at the same time cheaper as well. We experience the story from the POV of [b]Mia Silverlight[/b], and as often in OELVN's and Visual Novels that are translated from Russian to English, we are not given the choice to customize her name. Sadly, some of her elven classmates bully her because of her half-blood (half-elve, half-human) origin. You could bluntly call it racism or discrimination, which is admittedly refreshing to see. Racism and discrimination are topics that many Visual Novel developers don't dare to touch after all. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1218292240 The story takes its course after we met most of the character cast. We are confronted with the main problem shortly after the prologue; someone kills half-bloods and Mia experiences at first hand how real the threat is, and she comes to the realization that her life and well-being, as a half-blood herself, are at risk. However, it's painfully predictable who's committing these crimes after a few minutes of reading, and that's unfortunate because it completely destroys any mystery that could possibly have build up. That's the reason why I said that they [i]attempted to implement some mystery elements[/i] since it was an utter failure. It's still a good Otome, but you may end up disappointed if you expect that you'll find yourself immersed in a deep, exciting, and mysterious plot. The side characters are not really unique, but I totally liked the teacher and especially the amusing scenes you could get with him as long as you decided to take the chance to initiate it. Mia's uncle is, although being a side character, well-developed and I somehow felt that he had more facets to show than most of the other characters especially after finding out his secret. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221129693 We have three love interests from which I liked [b]Aleister's[/b] route the most. I was really able to see how the affection between Mia and him develops step by step in a reasonable way. I was quite satisfied after finishing his route. He is a tease and a jerk but very likable in his own, weird way. [b]Maximilian[/b], the handsome dark elf detective, is our second love interest. He investigates the case and tries to prevent any further harm from happening. Maximilian's route was good but kind of awkward sometimes, since he made such a fuss about the fact, that he is much older than Mia. Most of the story reveals in his route, and you learn more about the half-blood killer and his true intentions while trying to win Maximilian's heart. I actually like the setting of the childhood friend, but I found myself feeling uncomfortable with the third romance option, [b]Robin[/b], which is also the only romanceable human. I can't put my finger on it but he radiates something strange, and I just disliked him at first sight. However, that's probably just personal antipathy as I'm not able to explain myself disliking him at all. But hey, I mean... you can romance elves! I didn't need to think about that twice, and I would like to see more elves as romance interests in Otome. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1221129676 As in [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/612100/These_nights_in_Cairo/]These Nights in Cairo[/url], the artwork in [b][i]Never Give Up![/i][/b] is gorgeous, and the illustrations are beautiful, detailed, and vivid. I can't spot any qualitative differences despite the different price tags. The BGM is consistent and blends perfectly within the rest of the game's premise, despite getting repetitive after some time, but that is an issue many Visual Novels are dealing with. I didn't turn the sound off to hear something else, so I'd still consider that a plus. [b][i]Never Give Up![/i][/b] is a neat addition to your Visual Novel library and definitely worth it if you can spare 3-4 hours. You shouldn't miss it when you are a fan of Otome. You may want to consider playing this [b]Salamandra88[/b] title first if you intend to play [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/612100/These_nights_in_Cairo/]These Nights in Cairo[/url] as well, just to avoid ending up comparing both games too much with each other. [h3][quote]𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33853800/]𝐎𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐤𝐚𝐢'𝐬 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞[/url] 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐉𝐑𝐏𝐆 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬[/quote][/h3]

This game kept me busy for a few hours and I thoroughly enjoyed it! [u]PROS[/u] [list] [*][b]Artwork; it's pretty (and has some nice CGs)[/b]. There I said it. Pretty games appeal to me, especially those of the visual novel/otome variety. I can't seem to get very invested in a VN if the artwork is poor, unless the story is top-notch perfection, and then I may be swayed. Call me superficial if you will but surely the name Visual Novel means something in regards to this? (Yes I'm aware that it's about reading a story and making choices along the way.) [*][b]Characters; I actually liked all of the characters in this game, and that's pretty rare for me- big plus that you get to romance elves... how could one resist?![/b]. In most VNs I find a character or love interest who I take an instant disliking too and I hold that grudge for most of the game, but it didn't happen here so yay, thumbs up! [spoiler]I liked that the MC had enough of a backbone (albeit mainly in her head) to speak up when necessary. Nice to see in this genre if I'm honest! Could do with more like her![/spoiler] [*][b]Story; Yes it was short, but I didn't mind this[/b]. I feel the story had enough content, a good easy pace and it all wrapped up nicely at the end and didn't leave me confused by events or wanting alot more from it either- and to me that's a plus. I hate being left in the dark after a game has finished. [*][b]Price; yup, it's cheap[/b]. I'm wary of buying stupidly cheap VNs and Otome's after being disappointed in the past but this game did not disappoint in the slightest. I feel there's more content here than can be found in VNs of a similar and sometimes higher price, big plus!! [/list] [u]CONS[/u] [list] [*][b]Story; It's a little cliched/predictable[/b]. This isn't really a shock I suppose if you've played any VN's/Otome's recently. It's the way they all seem to go! The romance can come across as seeming a little rushed/forced I suppose but it's honestly not enough of a problem to put me off playing! [*][b]Achievements; 2 of the achievements are bugged in the english version[/b]- but there is a fix, you just need to change the language to russian before the last choice in the 2 bugged routes. [*][b]Trading cards/backgrounds;[/b] Not so much of a con (and nothing to do with gameplay) just that I was a little disappointed in the quality of the background art compared to the CG and in-game art quality. It seems a little blurry, as if it was the wrong file size for a background. Eh, maybe that's just my eyes? [/list] [b]tl;dr[/b] [b]Buy this game. It's pretty, cheap and kept me entertained for a bit! Also, Maximilian <3[/b]

"Never give up!" is a very strange game for me, because I like it's setup, I like it's lore, I like all the main characters, but I really dislike the plot. This is a mystery game without any real mystery (sadly, that is a case with quite a few otome visual novels). You will probably figure out, who the killer is, during your first meeting with him and even if you won't, you will surely know before the final confrontation. There are two things that could save this game in my eyes: if it was a good thriller (it isn't and trailer pretty much spoils any "surprise" there could be) or if it was a good romance (which it also isn't, because characters simply do not have enough time to grow and develop their relationships). I think it would be much more interesting game, if the "killer" aspect was cut of completely and it would be just a magic-school life type of visual novel. There just isn't enough time, nor build-up to convey any sort of message, make you feel bad for the killer or for his victims, or even get some satisfaction from getting good endings with the guy, that you've encountered, maybe five times during the whole game. Even for the low price, it's still a disappointment.