Hierofanía is a short visual novel where in the barren end of a world you try to continue or even revive your duty whilst protecting a shady figure.
It takes a little bit longer than an hour to get all 7 endings in this game.

You, meaning Crocket, a most naive and simply dumb female warrior, are part of the "Knights of Utrecht" which are on the decline .. Utrecht, this group's god has disappeared nulling their magic, the leader has been blinded, and there are only a handful left. Everyone else either died or deserted.

The land where they reside is cold, harsh and you just wait for "destiny to happen". Then two aristocratic, haughty acolyts of EllsMirall arrive, Douglas and Deedra. EllsMirall is the other, still living god.

There's a fugitive on the run, possibly murdered the princess, and being the kind knight that you are, you wanna hear join the fugitive until you figured out what actually happened. While those two are searching for him, of course. The princess might in fact still be to found - so off you go.

These two factions are quite complementary. EllsMirall's magic is manipulating perception. It uses mirrors (that's the only reason those two carry them, I swear) and it can force people to tell the truth.
Whereas Utrecht told people the truth and actively searched for it more deliberatly - it's about hearing both sides. And Utrecht's knights are aesthetically different as well. They wear heavy, dark makeup, are bruised, learn to fight under strict rule while our EllsMirall people are neatly dressed, much more colorful, much more spiteful and manipulative. And they can cast magic since their god is still alive and well.

Given this frame, the disappearance of this god would've made for a good story alone. Yet you won't gear anything about that at all. Sure, there's another institution they talk of, but you will play 90% of your game in a little dungeon talking to those three characters. What happens may affect the whole world or change nothing at all, but the background story is mostly there for flavor and for giving your character a purpose .. becoming a good knight. I really would've loved to hear more about that, but no can do.

Now then, you say goodbye from your group (since you might just die and rot in a dungeon somewhere), join up with a very unsocial mystery man and fight awkwardness until you reach the dungeon.

And then plot happens.



Fighting evil, one puzzle at a time.

There are no puzzles. Granted, you couldn't possibly expect your character to make a good choice. Yet sometimes she picks things up far too well.

The artwork is quite beautiful, it's all custom made. The characters are very different from one another and ooze style, let's ignore the necks, though.
Some character poses are very awkward, specifically the sideviews.
The backgrounds are very nice and help the atmosphere a lot. The message window also has a small animated "press enter dammit!"-icon which I found to be a nice touch.
The music is custom .. it does its job. There are a few tunes feel out of place, especially the menace-one which is far too weak. But the sad pieces are very good.

Characters

Your main character is very, very dumb and naive, putting anything in relation to her mission and her being a knight of Utrecht. Small talk isn't her forte, either. Kicking down doors is.


That's why everyone hates mages.

This makes a lot of the dialogue rather .. odd. You'll get used to it quickly, but your character is certainly not the most eloquent... so some dialogue choices end up going awry. She just doesn't understand what people are telling her 90% of the time. Still, you will get used to her way of thinking quickly enough and it does make for a small surprise. And a little bit of humour.

All characters are very flawed. You got haughty and conceited aristocrats, the depressed antisocial guy, people who've giving up hope, people who try their best to work their way up, and people who've given up hope.
Nobody, except your leader perhaps, is a strong character. Your main character is just going with the flow and not really deciding anything for herself, for example.


Story

The core story is fairly weak. You go search a princess, stumble through a dungeon and then fend off those pesky aristocrats. Revelations do or do not happen and you return successful or don't return at all.

What makes the story engaging is the interaction of all those flawed people. It's clearly sending a message to learn and take your life into your own hands. Which doesn't mean rejecting all you've done, but seeing things in a different light.
It also has the common depressed guy theme, the one who is unable to form a real connection but would've love to have one. The guy who is desperately trying to find out whether someone accepts him but is fetally critical when doing so. Common or not, I found it touching and depicted very, very well. Not going indepth, but it's quite realistic the way it is.



The scope of the story is very well chosen .. sure, it can escalate, but what happens is not as farfetched as it could be. The endings build on one another and add different perspectives of different characters. It's logical for the most part as well, not ignoring the happenings that you've seen in another ending.
There is much potentional do dive a little bit deeper, and it is quite disappointing that it stays superficial.



However, what makes this great are the many choices you have here. Almost all of them matter. And almost all of the results make sense as well.
They give you flavor text and can guide you to a different ending.

The writing is simple and does a good job of setting the characters apart. It's nothing too fancy.

In short

This game has a good premise.
While it doesn't build too strongly on it, it explores character flaws and it gives you a lot of choices - it doesn't leave a strong impression, but it's put together well and quite fun for the time it lasts. It also gives us a break from those overly happy stories.