Bewitching Sinners

I recently went on a visual novel otome binge and stumbled upon this one. I really enjoyed the art style and seeing there would be +300 illustrations, I was instantly intrigued.
I was confused right away. No other visual novel game I've played was this amount of detailed, with this many choices, consequences, different outcomes, illustrations - I was overwhelmed in the best way.
I played both the female and male MC, and I will say that the male MC is overall better, which is a little disappointing if you want to play female MC. The scenes are more passionate, he is written better (there's subtle differences), the adult DLC (can be found on itchio); all of it was better, in my opinion, as the male MC. Not that the female MC wasn't good, but I enjoyed male MC more for sure.
Anyways, I think that is my only critique. It's a very dynamic game with a really good storyline, plot twists, romance routes and all. I went through all available endings, and I was so surprised with the ways it could be adapted and the different outcomes depending on your choices. I don't want to spoil anything, but W O W.
I hope we are getting a DLC continuation or part 2 game. This really just can't be the end!
I just saw that there's a sequel planned, and I AM SO EXCITED! I'm so happy with the choice to make Ivar romanceable.

Dearest Miss Xero, this is the best VN game I've ever played! The arts just soooo beautiful. And not to mention the animated one ;) I'm in awe for the whole playthrough. Also the story is *chef's kiss*, the humor and the drama are balance perfectly well! I found myself genuinely invested in every characters. Oh, and the DLC even more (breathtaking) ;) love it so much! <3

Bewitching Sinners – 5/5 Stars
Listen, I went into Bewitching Sinners expecting a solid indie dating sim, but what I got was a visually stunning, adorably written, and highly replayable experience that had me grinning like an idiot at my screen
(actually, i'm not kidding). The main draw for me was the art style. The character designs, the backgrounds, the CGs, everything is just *chef’s kiss*.
The game itself is about 6-12 hours long, depending on how much you savor the dialogue. (Or if you, like me, occasionally fast-track convos because patience is not always my strong suit. Guilty as charged.) But here’s the thing, this game has a ton of replayability. There are five or six endings, and each of the four romanceable guys has a totally unique personality, making each route feel fresh. Plus, if you ever get stuck or feel like you’re missing something, Miss Xero put out a guide to give helpful hints.
The writing is cute, charming, and often hilarious, though a little modern at times. (Kinda sus is an actual line in the game, and I had to pause for a second to process that.) But hey, it adds personality, and the romantic moments are top tier. I was fully invested in these relationships, and the adorable interactions between the PC and the guys had me audibly giggling more than once (once again, i'm not joking).
Now, I do have one tiny bone to pick, the voiceovers. There are exactly two instances where the game has a voiceover: once on the Steam homepage and once in an early tutorial segment (a 13-second phone message). And, uh… I’m pretty sure the developer recorded them herself. The quality is not great, and I won’t lie, it startled me. I had a brief moment of panic thinking the entire game was going to sound like that, but thankfully, it’s only those two times. So, if you hear it on Steam and feel concerned, don’t be. The rest of the game is just music and sound effects, and those are actually solid. The slaps actually had me rolling a time or two.
And if you end up loving Bewitching Sinners as much as I did, you might also be interested to know that Miss Xero is currently working on a new game with a demo expected in October 2025. (Yes, I am already eagerly awaiting this.) She also posts content on Patreon, which I totally didn’t check out because I was obsessed with this game, okay, I did, and it was worth it.
Bewitching Sinners is 100% worth your time.

I would recommend for the story and the nice graphics. All the male leads are lovable. Only thing I didn't like was how you received each ending. Unlocking the diary entries is important to receiving a good end, otherwise even if you completed almost every quest you will still end up with a bad end. I wish it was less dependent on the diary and more dependent on choices/crafting quests since regardless of anything, if you complete the diary before the final battle, you will still get a good end. It loses oomphf when you can just enter the answers and be done with it, waaay before the final battle. More date scenes would be nice too. It is still impressive the creator worked on this on their own, so props to them.
Pros:
-Crafting system
-Fishing
-Easy to grind coins
-Good plot
-Great love interests (My fav is Thane)
Cons:
-Not enough date time
-Not choice/stat based for final ending
-Quest gathering can be tedious w/o exclamation mark above NPC heads

First thing that caught my eye was the art style. That's because I played a game before with the same art style, called Lingering and I absolutely loved it. Pretty sure it's the same dev, though not sure why not under the same dev name. I would've found it sooner if it was, since I would've gotten a notification. Maybe Lingering was done by a team and this one just by the one artist/dev.
The short description of the Steam game is not clear enough - you can play as either male or female, making this game either a BL or an otome. I'm pretty sure I glossed over it the first time since I didn't realize I could play as male. It IS mentioned only in the "About this game" simply by saying "Follow along as she / he". Should be listed as one of the "features".
* Story - is interesting, keeps you hooked; it's got a very good mix of funny & serious, sweet & sexy, action & heartbreak; if you look deeper, it's got pretty sad undertones; less sad than Lingering, though;
* Writing - doesn't get boring; mostly mistake-free, it's only in the later part of the game where there seem to be a higher number of mistakes (some wrong tenses, a few words missing, one "your" instead of "you're" etc); there's also some current "viral slang" used (like "rizzing") and I'm NOT a big fan of that, but it's not too often, hence not too bad;
* Endings - you can get a good ending with your RO, but somehow, in the good (true) ending, there's no "after 3 months" epilogue; you get that only in the "bad" endings; not sure if done on purpose
* Characters - they've all got a bit of green flag hidden under red flag and I love them all; 3 out of the 4 ROs have a history with the MC (in a way), which I always appreciate since it's easier to believe in their relationship developing; MC can be relatable (at least to me, since I also lost a family member I loved dearly and it wrecked me for years);
* Sprites, CGs, Backgrounds - are beautiful and detailed; this art style adds SO much, can't even imagine it being any different; I'm a fan;
* Gameplay - it actually has some gameplay! It's pretty basic but I actually quite enjoyed it, I feel like it makes you feel more connected to the world and its people. Gameplay, even basic, is diverse and it sometimes affects story unexpectedly, so it's not just busywork to up the hour count.
* RPG features - aside from having an inventory & the gameplay, it actually has stats for your main characters, depending on your choices; this part is more akin to IFs (Interactive Fiction), since they actually affect the story somewhat - what some characters say to you, what choices you have available etc;
* VN features - you can save everywhere, even on choices; you can roll back text; you can skip seen text, even the one with random students; has a log; has a character screen where you can see MC stats and the RO affection for MC; decent number of save slots (54 + quicksave) - I would've liked more, but it's not a small number by any means;
* Music - didn't really wow me, it's OK, it fits;
* Voices - not voiced, aside from some NPC lines and a recording;
* SFX - ehh, could've done without, they're not that great;
* Achievements - pretty easy to get, with a few key saves;
* Length of the game - not the longest, but not short; at the time of posting this review I've finished all routes and gotten all endings; I didn't start a new save for each RO, I just reloaded at key points, so it might be longer if you don't play like me; might be shorter if you don't check what every NPC has to say every single day, like I did;
* Adult patch - it does have one (that you can get on itch.io for 3$ + taxes) - actually a DLC, since it ADDS some adult scenes, it doesn't change anything from the original game itself. That being said, you don't need it for the game to feel complete, it has enough sweet & spicy couple interactions on its own, just nothing explicit. The DLC itself adds 13 very explicit / uncensored scenes (3 for each RO + 1 extra). Fully compatible with Steam, as you just place the DLC's folder in your "game" folder; if anyone wants to know, male MC is top in 1 route and bottom in the other 3 (story-wise, vers in 1 of them, but in the adult scene he is bottom);
* DLCs - there's also a couple others on itch. Btw, stumbled on the DLCs by sheer mistake. Dev could use a bit more visibility, I think, promote their stuff better.
Overall, super worth it. Got it at full price and regret nothing. Waiting for the next game <3

It's honestly such a good game in terms of story and character writing. Accidentally got the "true happy ending" and never felt so depressed, the reality check was brutal. Then, there's also that Ivar-shaped hole in my heart. Besides toying with my emotions, I loved that if you were willing to look for it, you could already piece together the truth about certain things from the hints scattered around before the game told you outright. The only critique, and only partly related to that, would be that the game sometimes didn't seem to correctly register what your character already knows - one of the more notable examples being the name of a child you meet in a "main quest" being alluded to as new information, when you already met them during a hangout event with one of the characters.

I'm a big fan. The setting is interesting, the characters are both funny and cute, and there's a lot to enjoy. Especially for its price point. You'll be surprised by what choices, which you assume are innocuous at most, will end up taking you somewhere you definitely didn't expect. My only problem is. . . that dang locked door by the well! Does it ever open? Am I too much of a silly goose to solve its mysteries? Its smug aura mocks me. I want to see it destroyed. I want to marry it. I don't know what I want anymore.