Hello everyone and welcome to my review for Eva Reynes: Volume One basing off the recent public demo that I just played. :) The game is developed by Potatobrain Games which is led by RishigangiX. Eva Reynes is their team's second title after Eredia, and is already showing lots of promise in its' early demo phase. If you love everything that has to do with detectives, solving murders, searching for clues, and intellectual debates and dialogues, then this game is most definitely for you! And even if you don't quite connect to that type of genre, the game is still very interesting enough to keep you hooked, I promise! :D

With that said, here's a breakdown of my thoughts on the demo so far. :)

Story:

The story features a very interesting female protagonist named "Eva Reynes", as the title of the game suggests. I really liked her overall character as a special agent and the way she handles difficult situations during investigations! And I especially loved the character development between her and Tracy. And I am still intrigued to see more of Victor's role (The Psychiatrist) in her life in the future parts of the game, as I find their interactions very witty and humorous. :D With all that said about the characters, the story actually touches on dark themes of murder and lies, which will (without spoilers) easily keep you interested along the way. And the investigation parts of the story is really the strongest point of this game for my reasons below in the gameplay section. :)

Gameplay:

The game, like a true detective RPG, relies on discourse battles to mentally stimulate you. It revolves around you collecting clues and evidences to win over others through intense conversations and you choosing the right words to say to either have your opponent believe you, or to confess their crimes to you. It is a very fresh gameplay to see, and I thoroughly enjoyed studying the case and knowing how I can defeat the opponents through discourse battles! To be honest, I did find the second discourse battle quite hard, but it forced me to think really carefully on how I'm going to respond, and what clue/evidence I can present to defeat him. It's really fun when the game forces you to use your smarts and look for a way to make the opponent confess/agree with you. :D Overall a great gameplay!

Music:

Music was really fitting! Tons of ambient sounds and beautiful classical jazz that you can relax to. It really felt like a true classy detective world because of the wonderful musical taste being presented here. :D

Graphics:

The artworks of this game are absolutely gorgeous! They have this VN feel to them that I really loved! The character busts really did a great job of capturing each of the characters' personalities! Furthermore, the windowskin also worked really well with the overall theme, and the Looseleaf character sprites seem to do their job well too.

OVERALL:

It may be a demo, but I am willing to give this a 5 stars only because it does such a great job at keeping the players interested and wanting for more. :) The story-driven elements can really keep the hook and intrigue. And I can see that tons of efforts were put into the gameplay, the writing, and of course, the arts! I'm rooting for this game and I can only wish the best for the developers! :D ^_^