イハナシの魔女

A heartfelt story about hardship, Okinawan folklore, love and magic, with characters that feel incredibly genuine.
There are not many illustrations but they have a distinctive style and the music is beautiful and very well used.

The author wanted to write a character-centric story so he left a lot of lore details in the extras you unlock after finishing the story. A weird choice but I guess that works.

English version will release this autumn. Don't miss out, it's very very good.

アカリラブ

An indie visual novel that was so well received, that it got an English translation and release even on consoles.
The plot has magic and Okinawan folklore, but the focus is on the relationship between people.
Akari chapter is the weakest, I didn't really like it. Especially when stupid, absurd, silly nonsense began to happen. Fortunately, it was only in this chapter.
Tsumugi chapter I liked very much. It was touching and sad.
And next Lilun chapter. It didn't disappoint either. Finally we learn more about her and protagonist.
Some questions have not been answered and there are some strange plot twists. I guess people who analyze and theory crafting will find holes in the plot. But I'm not like them. I just read and enjoy.
Not everyone will like this VN. I have a friend who didn't like it. As for me, I don't consider it a 10/10 masterpiece. It's just a good VN which I didn't mind spending time on.

If only there wasn't so little art, as others have said before me the game truly lacks in sprites, and the backgrounds being IRL pics could've been an interesting choice if not for the unfortunate lack of diversity, the slice of life moments which are the core of the game, while fun, end up being kind of repetitive in nature due to the background almost never changing.

I will say though, the story itself is great, I geniuenly really liked it, outside of some more technical issues about the composition of the story, I kept feeling like I wanted more "visual" in this visual novel, so why do I recommend it ? Because of how touching I very deeply felt that the story was and how interesting some decisions were form the authors, though I fear I cannot comment further in fears of spoiling the best parts. If you're new to Visual Novels this will most definitly be a great first.

Tsumugi best girl