Sacrilege, you say?

When it was launched in 2021, Good Gold was one thing of a shock to me. It was a yuri visible novel that I linked with, although I’ve by no means precisely had any relatable experiences. Good Gold was earnest, sincere, and candy. It was a narrative of people that shared a romance, not a couple of romance between two folks.

So, I stored the developer, Yangyang Cell, earmarked to be careful for. I imagine they had been, on the time, already engaged on Saint Maker, and I didn’t know what to respect. Because it seems, now we have a special style, completely different themes, and a special author, however the identical earnestness tucked away inside.

I’ll take it.

Saint Maker (PC, Swap)
Developer: Yangyang Cell
Writer: Yangyang Cell
Launched: February twenty second, 2023
MSRP: $13.99

When you’re an terrible particular person like me, you’re in all probability asking how a lot lesbian we’re in for this time round. The reply is some, however it’s not a central theme to Saint Maker. This isn’t romance, it’s horror.

Specifically, it’s horror based mostly across the Christian religion. Saint Maker follows Holly Beltran as she goes to spend her summer time at a recollection for women. When she will get there, she finds an unbalanced and hostile nun, and a rebellious teen who makes her disdain for the entire deal relatively clear. What begins off as uncomfortable turns horrifying as the 2 women begin seeing supernatural visions and start to be taught of Saint Idelora’s convent.

Saint Maker is a comparatively linear visible novel. There are some selections to make, however typically the sport will make it apparent that you just didn’t even have a alternative. It appears that evidently a few of the alternatives will lead to extra or completely different scenes. The developer advertises a “secret” ending scene relying in your selections, and I’m unsure I bought that. Possibly? It’s a whole story with out it, anyway.

Oh no, she’s sizzling

If there’s one factor to be glad about, it’s that Saint Maker doesn’t waste plenty of time. The sport takes 4-6 hours to get by means of and is marketed at 60,000 phrases. Exterior of some flashbacks, it takes place fully throughout the convent. It introduces the characters, hints at their deeper points, then begins them off on their improvement.

Whereas Saint Maker is targeted on themes of non secular trauma, it has extra to say concerning the folks concerned than it does on Christianity as an entire. Individuals are hell. They could use faith to hunt solutions, give themselves instructions, and bury their insecurities, however it’s not essentially religion that’s offered as the issue. A minimum of not explicitly. There’s a supernatural ingredient to it that relates extra to the challenges the characters face than it does to Christianity itself. It feels extra just like the story is targeted on the seemingly infinite cycle of abuse, and whereas faith performs into it on this case, it’s the folks which can be the issue.

However is it scary? That’s going to rely in your sensitivities, however I’d say no. After all, I’m lucky sufficient to really feel that spiritual trauma isn’t one of many emotional weights I carry with me, so your personal experiences could change issues. There’s actually one scene that I discovered surprising, there’s some grotesque imagery, and it positively made me really feel moderately uncomfortable at instances, however I by no means discovered it notably scary.

Not any greater than folks usually do genuinely, I imply. Different people maintain me in a perpetual state of horror.

Hell is different folks

A part of the issue is that I discovered the story beats to be a bit too predictable. That is primarily an issue with the all-encompassing narrative. The character arcs themselves are extra compelling and dealt with higher, which appears to be the first focus, however the plot itself simply unravels in some relatively anticipated methods.

I’m additionally not an incredible fan of the artwork. It’s not essentially the characters or backgrounds which can be an issue; it’s the truth that a lot is left as much as the sound design and animation. Any bodily violence is completed simply by shaking the display screen, and this could go away issues unclear as to what’s occurring. It’s not so ambiguous that I wasn’t capable of put issues collectively in my thoughts, however the visuals don’t do their share of the storytelling.

The voice-acting is ok. I wouldn’t go a lot additional than that. I used to be afraid that it could be full of plenty of horrified screaming, however the actresses managed to convey the fear with out it being agitating. Likewise, the primary character’s voice is full of the correct amount of uncertainty, sorrow, and quavering nervousness. My solely difficulty is that it typically doesn’t sound fairly pure, however it will get the job finished.

Golden idol

Saint Maker isn’t a brand new Good Gold for me. The 2 visible novels are completely different sufficient that they’re solely barely comparable, however I simply discovered it doesn’t exhibit the identical degree of ability. No matter how the 2 titles stack up, I nonetheless very a lot loved Saint Maker. Most of that admiration comes from how intricately stacked its themes and characters are. It has rather a lot to say, and it says it nicely.

I’ll be persevering with to maintain my eye on Yangyang Cell. I don’t have any particular expectations for what I wish to see from them. I’m largely simply keen on the place they go subsequent.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}