One Day in London
The main characteristic of a visual novel game is achieving immersion by giving the player the ability to influence the story through choices. Every decision, every action the player-reader takes can drastically change the course of the story. The smallest detail can turn out to have an important role to play. In One Day In London you will solve puzzles, perform magical rituals, and carry out special tasks. A sophisticated achievement system will hint at alternative storylines, and a user-friendly save system allows you to move freely within this wonderful story to explore all possible branches. ATTENTION! The main game includes only the first two chapters. Chapters III through V are sold separately as DLC. Main features nonlinear narrative, dozens of possible branching storylines; several unique endings to the story you create yourself; interactive gameplay, mini-games, quests; memorable and well-written characters; luxurious graphics, parallax, animated cut-scenes.
Steam User 59
I rarely write reviews for the games I play, but in this case I definitely want everyone who comes across this game and likes good, scary stories to consider buying.
The pros of the game?
+ great story with quite a few choices to make
+ marvellous art which has nothing to do with your regular anime-style Visual Novel
+ perfect use of the mini-games
The game has a lot going for itself, but I'm going to tell you my only real grief, too:
- there will be a second episode and so there's no complete end right now
On the other hand, I will have something to look forward to. There also are few typos in the English translation and some of the achievement messages are in Russian, but that's not really tragical. In the achievement menue, all achievement names are in English, so no harm done.
I've especially fallen in love with the story which balances well between the tragic parts (and there's quite a few) and the funny ones (which provide relaxation between the tragic parts).
I've also fallen in love with the use of the mini-games which never seem to be put in 'because we needed a mini-game.' but are a logical part of doing your work for the story. There are runes to draw. There are sequences to find in order to advance. There are things to look out for or to use in the right way. The game is not 'only' a Visual Novel, it's on the verge of being an adventure.
I also adore the graphics which are proper for Victorian London and have a very distinctive and pleasing style. The characters are instantly recognizable, the background are details and, unlike in quite some VNs, both characters and background look like they belong together. There's no difference in style between them.
I'm pretty sure you will be well-entertained for the price of this game ... now, how long until episode 2 is released?
Steam User 25
I`ve tried to play some visual novels before, and in most cases they consisted of anime style girls in some kind of school or camp where nothing actually happens.
I happy to say that One Day in London is entirely different matter. Story is tight, characters are deep, and sometimes game offer to you really meaningful choices.
I`m still in the middle of the game and will add more to my review after i`ll see the ending. But for now it seems good for its money.
Steam User 20
really not into visual novel games. nor in demons stories.
still, i was ready to get all the chapters after 10 minutes of gameplay.
a love-letter for a dark England, cleverly crafted with a wonderfully written story.
congrats, Owl Studio <3
Steam User 28
Great novel! Definitely would recommend.
+ story & setting — a mystical detective in victorian London? I'll take two, thanks.
+ art — simply top :)
+ minigames — good example of the use a casual mechanics. Minigames are not simply attached "just-to-be-here", they blend in with the plot
- not so much and mostly insignificant. Nothing critical that would ruin the first impression.
Like reading the book, but with excellent illustrations, music and possibilities actually take part in the plot
Steam User 6
★★★★☆
Behind this uninspired title hides a good and lengthy VN with many branching paths but which unfortunately tends to drag on a bit.
⠀First off, I really liked the setting (London, 1888), the character design and the beautiful backdrops. The animations, music and sound effects reminded me of hidden object games and are nice enough. The story, about demons and possession, kept me interested except for the very last part (more about that below) but where this VN really shines is in how your decisions affect the story across the episodes. I played through it twice and really liked the variations. There are also a few simple and fun mini-games to enjoy.
⠀Episodes 1 to 3 are fine but episode 4 and 5 should have been condensed into one. The game also lacks a little quality control as I encountered a few typos, sometimes strange translation choices (Russian is the original language) and text formatting problems. Finally, why call the game One Day in London when it actually takes place over one month?
Steam User 21
I like visual novels that not about anime, school girls and other j-stuff. One Day in London is definitely what I'm looking for. I didn't complete game yet, but I see that game has high level art and deeply developed characters. So I'm sure that I can recommend this game to everyone who can read text longer than tweets.
Steam User 9
This review was written after finishing the first four out of five planned episodes.
The strongest point of the game is undoubtedly the visual art. Both London exteriors and interiors, as well as protagoinsts of the game are painted very competently, and the overall exceptional quality of the graphics certainly contributes greatly to the atmosphere. What few animations are in the game (rooftop chase, the beheading, etc) look like something from a comedy animated movie, however, and clashes stylistically with the rest of the game - which is no big deal since there is only a handful of animations in the whole game.
The main topic of the game, Demonology, is rather interesting and well researched by the authors, and able to carry the whole narration sufficiently. The quality of the writing, however, is not without flaws. First of all, the pacing is inconsistent - the beginning is rather fast, which is IMO a lost opportunity, don't expect any Lovecraftesque moody litanies and rich descriptions, nor Eco's extensive trips to the rich and often confusing labyrinth of the 19th century occultism. Instead, the opening is rather quick and business like, establishing the playground and the rules of the game in a few, broad strokes, only to lose momentum altogether in the muddled ramblings of in the beginning of the third act - the endless bickering between Harry, Charless and Jeremy does not really develop the characters themselves, nor helps the story in any way.
The somewhat clumsy narrative style is futher hampered by the game's weakest point, and that is rather poor translation to English. "He" and "she" are aparently interchangeable even when refering to a single character, an odd expression here and there sometimes makes the reader lose the thread completely before he realizes that the sentence does not make any sense only due to poor choice of synonyms (for example "Spare me your society", instead of "Spare me your company", etc.) The game could greatly benefit from the services of a native speaker hired to proof-read the whole text (a step Russian indie developers often omit to their own loss).
Nevertheless, the game was interesting enough from the beginning till the end, I did care for the characters, and will play the remaining episode as soon as it is released.
I recommend this game to any fan of occult literature, 19th century London setting, or to readers of Lovecraft, Eco, or Arthur Conan Doyle.