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We’ve previously looked at “Elisa: The Innkeeper” with our preview on “Elisa the Innkeeper Prologue”. This was the opening act to the full game that came with The Fall Act, along with some additional content.

There is no love-sick protagonist to play as in “Elisa: The Innkeeper”. You decide on the cast’s decisions and narrative, having the fate of four characters in your hand. The Prince has an overzealous ego, and while not exactly bright he believes he will win the innkeeper’s heart by offering her the protection that his title supposedly grants. Next there’s the Merchant who enjoys spending his money and came to the mentality that it can buy anything, even love. Then there is the Knight who wants nothing but the freedom of being alone. Finally, we have Elias the lovely innkeeper which everyone is in love with, but behind that polite, cheery face is a woman who won’t fall for any man who tries to woo her, though she plays these situations to her advantage and even challenges herself to make the Knight confess to love.

The choice is yours, but previous choices will have unexpected outcomes.

The first act of the story is the Prologue that puts the novel into motion and sets which branch you’ll go down, depending on how you let the fool (Prince) start his morning. The following is The Fall which branches into two lines from the Prologue, leading to multiple endings. After completing the visual novel the first time around another “act” becomes available, setting the route you didn’t take as a “What if” story. The endings will decide who Elisa will get married to (or not) but brace yourself if you get Ending 1. There are also side quests to take up to add more to the story (giving us a hint of how the Knight became an “Enemy of Women”), but you could accidentally miss the chance to take them if you hit the skip button.

Elisa and the side quest for the Mischievous Cat.

Naturally, there is the Gallery and Music categories to see the art and tracks you’ve unlocked during your playthroughs. There’s also a Chapters section where you can go back to chapters you’ve played and choose different decisions. Finally, there’s the Codex that holds the bios, portraits, Karma, and Traits of our four main characters. Karma is based on the decisions you made for the character and can affect their story as well as unlock traits to add to their personality, awesome indeed. However, what’s even more interesting is to see what’s to be found in the bios for the Prince, Merchant, and Knight. Why? Because they actually show their full names, having their titles as nicknames used between the cast.

NeoClassic Games decided to add a Season Pass for their visual novel, but to break the traditional method any new content is free. They even have H-Rated content with four mature epilogues. Unfortunately, this is separate from the main game, because of terms with Valve and needs to promote the vanilla game. However, you can download it from the website for free.

You can tell where my initial playthrough went by just looking at this picture.

The backgrounds are simple, clean, and bright. There are enough details and objects in them to fill the spaces while not detracting from the cast. Character designs are simple, but the men are garbed in stylish attires that match their class while the women are clothed in elegant dresses. And being a visual novel there are pieces of artwork to behold, many of them are just beautiful (evening the ones used for Ending 1) with a few others comedic. In the settings you can set the quality to either Full HD 1080p or Ultra HD 4K so there is a lot of love going into the visual part of this novel. You can also buy the 100+ piece artwork collection off from Steam for a low price of $4.99.

The Prince should join the theatre. He’s the perfect fool for the job.

The music is just as beautiful as the art. There is a range of songs the sets the mood perfectly for the scenes as the story unfolds. The soundtrack is also for sale on Steam for $4.99. It only has nine songs in this album but you can’t argue with game OSTs up for grabs, even with songs this alluring. You could probably use a few of them for your own wedding. So all in all, “Elisa: the Innkeeper ” is a must buy for those who enjoy visual novels. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!

Pros:
+ A Visual Novel that focuses on a cast of characters without a protagonist.
+ Beautiful presentation in graphics and music.
+ Scenes set the tone with the soundtrack.

Cons:
– Some content needed to be downloaded from developer’s website.

Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 5/5
Sound/Music: 5/5
Controls: 4/5
Replay value: 4.5/5

tgg grade 4.5 out of 5

Verdict: 4.5/5
Neoclassic Games “Elisa: The Innkeeper” is an engaging visual novel that plays with your heart while giving you a story of love, drama, and some comedy. Nothing crazy comes out of this novel, as it’s a story about an innkeeper and three men that you have a hand in.

Title: Elisa: the Innkeeper
Developer: Neoclassic Games
Format: PC
Genre: Adventure, Casual
Resolution: 1680×1050
Release date: 2017-03-28
Difficulty: Normal
Spent time: 5+ hours
Average grade internationally: 85% Gamerankings.com
PEGI/ESRB age rating: PEGI16+/Mature
Price: $9.99 ($4.99 per DLC on Steam, free Season Pass)