The Silent Kingdom

I'm outside of the target demographic for this (I'm a straight man), but its definitely pretty solid so far (only the prologue and chapter 1 are out right now).
A few things to decide if the game is right for you:
1) This is an otome game. Otome games are ones where a female protagonist has (usually) male romance interests with the romance taking a primary role in the story. Currently there are two male leads to romance, but it seems there might be some secondary ones added for later chapters.
2) This game is dark/edgy, and the protagonist can be outright villainous depending on how you play her.
3) The RPG elements are enjoyable, but not particularly deep. On the positive side, combat is nontrivial, and losing battles is very possible, especially if you make decisions that force you to get into difficult fights. Also the game isn't grindy, with random encounters giving little XP, and most of the stat differences coming from equipment. On the other hand, there isn't a whole lot of customization available, at least as of the end of chapter 1. Outside of some possible bonus equipment with minor stat buffs, you are basically using the characters you are given without customization.
4) The writing is strong, with engaging plot and characters.
5) The presentation is superb. The Steam pictures and gameplay video aren't cherry picked; the game is gorgeous throughout the entire game, with regular CGs, and good combat animation.

Update at bottom
Wow!
I played the Demo and it was already amazing.
Now finally in the new part I can just say it´s a perfect mix between my favorite genre: otome and rpg
Ppl who don´t know otome: means, games for maiden rough translated - short, visual novel usually for woman (often female mc) which have with the big story part also an focus on romance, ofc this can be played from any gender
To come back, from what I saw:
- great writing, I am so immersed
- awesome story so far, it gets rly rly dark, so much violence, blood and a very gloomy atmosphere
- great mc and li (love interest)
- music is AAA, wow
- artwork is so pretty, CG are amazing
- combat system is fun, but needs timing to defense and attack well (I need to train more, the enemy's kick my ass a lot)
what I wish:
- minimap
- slightly faster running
- gallery (maybe there is one, didn't saw yet)
- enemy's a bit easier (easymode) (for grannys like me who want to chill more lol)
I will update this, but so far i can recommend this game to everyone who loves otome & rpg and love dark fantasy!!
9/10
Update
After finishing the 1st chapter a few important things I wanna mention:
- Game is truly dark fantasy, with a lot of horror topics and well written sexual tension (if you read dark fantasy, you might know what I mean), the struggle, the atmosphere just gets more tense, the main story is mature and takes itself very serious - I enjoyed everything bcs it was so incredible written
(The romance parts are superb, so everything is fine, its a good balance between story and romance, if you want the romance)

To save everything you must be willing to lose everything, even yourself. Experience a dark fantasy blended with romance, adventure and battles in The Silent Kingdom.
I am actually not going to give away the story outside of what the store’s description mentions. It is a complex, dark fantasy that does not mind getting dark and gritty. It is full of emotion and passion, a beautifully written story.
Settings, Features & Gameplay
Settings & features include; in-game rpg commands, display, language, audio controls, and gamepad and keyboard configurations.
* Interact with some of the objects, not just the sparkling ones. You might find some goodies
Things to Note
This game is made in RPG Maker so the choice of resolution is not available. I personally chose to play in windowed mode to make it more comfortable. This is just a limitation of the software used and will not be changed.
There are a lot of beautiful cg’s in this game, sadly it does not support Steam for taking screen captures or the Steam overlay. You can take your own (I use Greenshot) and if you want to use them in your review you can upload them as artwork and link them that way.
Overall Experience
When I read reviews for this game I was left with the impression it was your traditional otome with some scenes done up in a classic style rpg. The story is amazing but does play out, at its core, as a classic rpg. However the story is much more than I expected. It fits into the visual novel category as well. It is not cut-and-dry with labelling this game. A credit to Lucky Cat for being so creative in meshing great storytelling with classic rpg elements and an otome.
You can ultimately romance two potential mates if you wish. Unlike traditional otome the player in this game’s perspective is shifted outward. We are more observing the main character's story as we tag along as opposed to being the main character. If you want a game where you are the focus of the romance then this game is probably not for you.
I am really captivated by the story and in love with the cg art. I do wish we could enjoy the art at high resolution but despite that it is still gorgeous. If you enjoy classic rpg’s with a great narrative at its core then you’ll love this game, but just note that the actual game is an rpg.
* As the time of publishing my review I am still playing the game. I do find the battles a bit difficult at times so am more slow going through the game. I am not sure if this is a common issue or just me, haha.
* I uploaded some artwork from the game and did the layout in Photoshop so you get a sample of the gorgeous art within the game. The game does not support the Steam overlay or taking screencaps within Steam sadly. *
This game was purchased by me for my personal library. On occasion I share my experiences with the groups I write for to help bring attention to games I’ve personally purchased and wish to give more exposure too.
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Okay, where do I even start? The Silent Kingdom completely took me by surprise.
At first, everything is just gorgeous — vibrant, stunning landscapes, the kind of beauty you’d expect from a world blessed by the harmony of The Goddess. But honestly? It doesn’t take long before you start feeling like something’s... off. Like, suspiciously off. And right when you’re soaking in all this "perfect" world, boom — the princess, our main character, finds herself trapped in a kingdom swallowed by darkness and crawling with Terrors. From there, the game hands you choices that can either pull her out of this nightmare or lock her in even deeper. And that’s when things really get good.
Characters:
Now, yes, there are multiple love interests — and trust me, they’re all intriguing — but the two main ones I got really invested in were Chrono and Seneca.
Chrono is the princess’s squire, and let me tell you, watching his character growth is amazing. The way the game ties together past memories that affect the present? Absolutely beautiful. And even better — you, the player, actually impact the past too, not just the "now." Chrono starts off as this adorable kid who absolutely adores the princess, but as the story moves forward, you see him transform into this stoic knight who’s clearly tortured by the fear of failing her again. You still see glimpses of his tenderness and youthful affection, but it’s layered with so much more depth and heartbreak. Ugh, I loved every second of it.
Seneca, on the other hand, is like the complete opposite. He’s a magician and a bit of a troublemaker — like, he lives to provoke, especially poking holes in the princess’s naïve little view of the world. It’s really interesting because while at first, he seems shady and untrustworthy, if you pay attention, you start picking up hints that maybe... the only reason he’s so jaded is because he’s never really known a world with light. He’s not cruel; it’s almost like he’s trying to protect her from the heartbreak he knows is coming. I loved that complexity.
And honestly? As much as I adored these two, I was most impressed by our princess.
She's capable. She's strong. She's willing to face this horrifying world on her own if she has to — and even cooler, the game lets you do that. No forced romance if you don't want it. But when she does open up to her companions? She’s vulnerable without being weak. She chooses to lean on others sometimes, but she never needs to. It’s such a refreshing take, especially in a genre where the female lead is either totally helpless or has to completely steamroll everyone around her to seem "strong."
Gameplay Mechanics:
Now... let’s get into gameplay because, oh boy, The Silent Kingdom went above and beyond here. As an avid otome player, I was ready to mash the "A" button through dialogue like usual — but nope, they gave us so much more.
First off, the dialogue options are amazing. You get real choices, and they matter! Like, actually matter. I can't tell you how satisfying it was when a character would turn me down because I hadn’t built up enough of a bond with them — it made every interaction feel earned. Plus, the small, missable conversations and interactions you could have based on previous dialogue choices? Absolute chef’s kiss.
On top of that, you can roam the world freely, explore beautiful areas, interact with objects and NPCs, and even fight enemies in a turn-based system — but with timed reaction mechanics that kept battles from feeling stale. Plus, quick-time events during cutscenes?? An actual trust meter when you're talking to people?? Yes, please! Oh, and a small but important thing: you can run or walk. No more painfully slow trips across maps. It’s the little things that show how much love went into this game.
Art and Visuals:
Okay, let’s just take a second to appreciate how gorgeous this game is.
The character art? Beautiful. Honestly gave me major Eureka Seven vibes (shoutout to Kenichi Yoshida's style) mixed with backgrounds as breathtaking as Odin Sphere.
Character sprites move naturally, talk with animations, show emotions — and when big moments hit? We get beautiful full-screen CGs that just slam you with emotion. I still can’t believe this is coming from an indie dev, and to top it off, it’s a single person at that?! It's absolutely insane and utter GREATNESS.
Music and Sound:
Now. We have to talk about the music.
The soundtrack by Mikel Dale? It had no business being this good.
Epic. Mesmerizing. Full of heart. The game knows exactly when to drop those songs too — they’re not just looping in the background; they hit at the right moments. It’s been a long time since I played a game where the music alone pulled me in this hard. (Side note: my husband isn’t even into dating sims and even he got curious because the soundtrack was that good. We were literally debating dialogue options together — that’s how powerful the combo of plot + music was.)
Replayability:
As soon as I finished the early access chapter, I was already itching to restart and make new choices, pursue different characters, unlock hidden scenes. I love that the game doesn’t spoon-feed you the "correct" answers for romances either — it makes every relationship feel authentic and genuinely earned. Playing "blind" made falling in love with the characters and story feel real, not mechanical. Just like it used to feel when I first discovered otomes.
Areas for Improvement:
Honestly? There’s not a lot I would change.
Maybe a few little things like letting us save at any time (right now it's only at set points, but there's autosave, so not the end of the world), maybe adding more button prompts during battles for elemental dodging (keep us even more on our toes), and controller configuration options would be nice. Oh, and a basic "Auto" for text if people wanna just chill during dialogue.

A beautiful masterpiece in the making
The Silent Kingdom, as stated in the store description is a dark RPGMaker otome game centered around a princess trying to save her own kingdom from its ruin. The general synopsis of the game seemed interesting to me so I gave the demo a shot, and I was hooked almost instantly by the atmosphere, music, characters, and story of the game. Not too long after finishing the demo I quickly bought the full game. Based off the first chapter that is out right now, I can tell that this will be an absolute masterpiece of an RPGMaker game if the quality continues or exceeds the trajectory it's on as of now.
First, the most eye catching part of the game is the visuals. For me personally, a lot of otome game art is either hit or miss. Sometimes it's really nice looking and appealing, while other times its very jarring and not quite my taste at all. However, The Silent Kingdom's art falls into the first category, but full exceeds any otome game art I've seen previously. The character designs are wonderful, Erinys is often described in the story as very eye catching with her beauty and her stunning red hair, and I have to say, the art depicts this perfectly. I absolutely love Erinys' design, it both portrays her outer beauty while also showcasing her inner seriousness. The facial expressions are good as well, having a good array of emotions that are needed within the story. The other characters in the story are beautifully drawn as well, making all characters very visually appealing. The outfit designs feel very in tune with the world around it and blend perfectly with it. Even the non-default outfits introduced later on (I won't specify what outfits to avoid spoilers) are intricately designed, perfectly accenting both the outer beauty and the inner personality of each character. Of course, the full screen splash arts that are unlocked via choices throughout the story are beautifully designed as well. Each one of the arts I unlocked were stunning and I had to take a few moments to just take in each one. Even when it comes to the sprites while walking around or the animated sprites for combat, it's all beautifully done. With this game you will definitely not be without beautiful art.
Of course, the most important aspect outside of visuals for an RPGMaker game, especially one that is heavily story driven, is the story. Like I stated in the beginning, the portion of the story that you complete in the demo (which is the prologue for the whole game) had me hooked very quickly. I will admit I'm always a sucker for RPGMaker games, though primarily for RPGMaker horror games, but this game stands out despite it being outside of my usual genre pick for these types of games. The tragic nature of the prologue leading into the dark and gritty nature of the first chapter is done splendidly. You can feel the passion that Erinys has for her kingdom and her wish to see it saved from its withered state. The twists that do happen within chapter 1 and the prologue are well done, letting you have a bit of surprise every now and again while exploring the world of Harmonia. As for individual character writing, everyone is written particularly very well. Each character has their own depth, motives, and connection to Erinys. There are no characters in particular that feel flat at all, which is always a major plus in these kinds of games. Chapter 1 especially has very well written characters (not to say that the prologue doesn't, they both are excellent) that will make you feel conflicted as Erinys blazes the path to her ultimate goal. The dialogue options allow for a good bit of choice of perspective that you can have Erinys take. You can make her a quite silent protag with the "..." options, make her feel conflicted on the path she has taken to save her kingdom, or make her feel like a resolute and decisive princess. As stated by Lucky Cat herself, these options allow you to fully immerse yourself within the story, letting you (to an extent) choose what kind of personality Erinys has.
The music for this games is very beautiful. It's hard to describe how amazing the songs that have been composed and written for this game are and especially how the impact the mood of each scene. You can go from feeling very tense, desperately wanting to see what comes next to feeling whimsical and dreamlike very easily. The vocals for the songs, including Lucky Cat's own singing are very beautiful. When I first heard both the full version and the short versions of the song that Lucky Cat and the other singer did, I just had to sit there and take it all in. I'm quite used to more darker songs within these types of games due to my growing up with RPGMaker horror, so hearing all these beautifully composed songs left me stunned. I would absolutely purchase an OST pack for the music that was made for the game and listen to it on a regular basis. There are just no words to describe just how much I enjoyed the soundtrack for this game.
Overall, I think that The Silent Kingdom is an absolute masterpiece in the making. The story is extremely compelling, making you want to see what happens next in Erinys' tragic tale of pain and solitude. The dialogue options allowing you to immerse yourself even further into Erinys' role. The characters are very well written, each having their own unique depth to them along with their own motives. Finally, the art and music both wonderfully compliment the story, with the art depicting Erinys and other characters exactly how they are described in the in-game world and the music perfectly/beautifully setting the tone for each scene/environment you explore. The game is 100% worth the price and I hope the quality continues with the current trajectory it is on.

Let me preface this that this is an untapped genre that is rarely explored. There are seas of otome games, but rarely ones with rpg elements where there's actual gameplay.
If we're judging this game by that criteria, it does the bare minimum as an rpg, but it does that aspect decently. Gameplay is the frontal aspect of any game, and the silent kingdom delivers to the minimum. For example, I was craving an in depth gear system, but shops and item drops were very rare, I rarely had a chance to experiment with weapons, armor and accessories. This is my biggest complaint of the game, while the rpg element is there, it's not very fleshed out and seems like an afterthought. Please lucky cat, please make items and gear a more prominent aspect like other RPGs games.
There definitely needs to be a mini map to navigate certain sections. And as others have mentioned in the reviews, maybe a difficulty option would benefit. I very much enjoyed the combat system and it's rng, but others may not have. An easy/normal option maybe? I rather have a more difficult option myself.
Game would definitely benefit from an overall "quest list" feature that other typical RPGs have, a few instances I lost track of what NPCs interactions I had.
Now onto the aspect I absolutely adore, the story, character art and choices. For anyone familiar with typical otome games, this game has like 3x the standard CG art, and let me tell you the art is GORGEOUS. There's a lot of shitty Western otome ripoffs on steam, but the art is on par with some of the big Japanese hitters I've played. And I can't stress enough how often you get hit with a CG art piece, an art cg gallery viewable in the next update would be pretty dope.
The story is an absolute hit, and without spoilers all due respect fuck you lucky cat for making us make that last decision to progress the story. Brilliant narrative.
Super excited for the next two chapters+ the gladiator update, if you're starved for otome rpg after persona 3 portable and rune factory 4, this is your game. Despite the few flaws 9/10!

I'd consider this an otome game firstly and a RPG secondly. The art and story take center stage for most of the enjoyment the game has. There's so many CG's to the point I'm amazed (I only focused on interactions with one of the boys for my play through so there's no doubt even more). The story is enjoyable, both the main plot and the romantic plot. The RPG combat itself is very alright. I've played a few RPG maker games and none of them have ever had the strongest game play, so it might just be part of being made in RPG maker. The RPG elements feel very muted mostly, you won't have to worry about being the right level, having to manage gear, or side quests much. Well I would like to possibly see more of the RPG part of the game. If it stays like it is now as an embellishment to the story, I'd end up being fine with that also. This is a one person dev team so all the effort put in is amazing and appriciated