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A debt and a lot of love.
Developed by Witz Games and published by Eastasiasoft, Ikkarus and the Prince of Sin is an atypical visual novel that attempts to make the gaming experience a little more interactive than the genre standard. For those who don’t know, a visual novel is a game that primarily requires you to read and make textual decisions in order to convert the story into one of the available final formats. “Icarus and the Prince of Sin” has about six endings: three positive and three negative. Each pair, one positive and one negative, is associated with a single minor character. These characters, of which there are three if the math doesn’t say, are the only ones we’ll be interacting with, and they’re obviously our possible romantic suitors. Ikcarus and the Prince of Sin is actually a yaoi visual novel where you can start a love story with one of three available men. The three in question are very different from each other. But really a lot: we have a human, a muscular orc and a muscular demon with red skin and horns. Each character has their own personality, although all three aim to make people laugh. Or rather, they have a half-crazy sense of humor that aims to ignite the spark in the equally uncharismatic protagonist almost immediately.
However, Ikcarus, the protagonist, is a hero. He defeated a dragon and inherited a tavern. It’s a pity that the aforementioned tavern is desolate, trashed and full of debts. Debt that now falls to Ikcarus to repay. And he doesn’t have much time. How do you pay off your debts? Reactivate the tavern. And how do you run a tavern? Make beer! And how is beer made? Are you looking for the relevant material… and how do you find the material? By defeating monsters! “Icarus and the Prince of Sin” appears to be a continuous cycle of activity aimed at accumulating money for us to pay off our debts. We have a calendar with days that lead us inexorably towards the end. And in the same calendar there are indicators that act as spoilers and already warn us when and to whom something will happen. Just by looking at the calendar, you already know what day you will meet the ogre, when the demon, etc. What about days without indicators? Nothing happens. These are empty days when the visual novel forgets to tell and indulges in its mini-game in the style of paper, rock and scissors. These are both the pros and cons of Icarus and the Prince of Sin. A visual novel that abruptly interrupts the narrative several times to be more playful and challenge the user to a kind of banal management with a single resource and a single goal: repay the debt before the end.
Rock, paper or scissors?
However, the soul of the visual novel comes out again when these sporadic events are marked on the calendar. There are interactions with rare works that are also quite nice and that tentatively try to develop a decidedly weak, light and also quite obvious plot. Soft tones prevail, with an almost tender, ponderous and humorous romanticism. However, it lacks a twist that takes the user to the end. The romance novels themselves lack pacing because they are weighed down by the playful structure itself. As previously mentioned, Iccarus and the Prince of Sin is a hybrid visual novel. He has courage, that is undeniable. It’s not easy to revolutionize a title where you mostly just read. But here reading only takes place on certain days and, ironically, becomes almost secondary and unnecessary. In fact, many things you are about to read do not captivate you more than necessary because they are complicated by repetitive thoughts or unnecessary interventions by the narrator. The decisions themselves, of which there are very few, only distort the development of the plot in a decidedly and deliberately predictable way (that is, without the possibility of worrying about possible unforeseen consequences). Simply put, the title asks exactly who you want to continue dating. Additionally, Iccarus and the Prince of Sin seems to place more emphasis on guilt, which, as you recall, is the ultimate goal of the title. As expected, you have to fight to get money. In fact, you have to go on an adventure every day. In a fun way, this means that you choose one of four enemies (only one at the beginning, you unlock the others later) and challenge them with rock, paper or scissors. According to the story, this would be a battle in which one would have to alternate sword swings with spells and prepared retreats behind shields.
In terms of play, the sword is the scissors, the shield is the stone and the magic is the paper. Each round, you must decide which move to use based on the enemy’s movement usage percentage (always visible on the screen). The problem is that the percentages are actually percentages and cannot be relied upon completely. In fact, luck determines everything and you will lose miserably, with the only mistake being unlucky. But don’t worry, you’ll still receive materials. In fact, each battle allows you to take a certain number of materials, which you can then turn into beer with simple clicks on the screen. Finally, you can sell the beer to make money. In reality, money can also be converted into shields, which is useful to better manage fights, but we recommend that you trust fate without thinking too much. It goes without saying that the structure of Icarus and the Prince of Sin as it stands is terribly cyclical and tenuous. Although bold, even playful, the title is worse than expected. The story, or rather the visual novel side, seems terribly poor and narrow, amputated by the presence of a terribly monotonous, poor and random combat system. All in all, an experience that was fun due to its short duration, but could have offered much more.
A perfectable achievement.
Graphically, Iccarus and the Prince of Sin is average and has nice illustrations, although very few. There are four characters in total with very few facial expressions and miserable sprites. Even the sets are sparse and uninspired. The fights, where the standard graphics are baggy and distorted, aren’t bad, but their static nature becomes tiring after a while. In addition, just four opponents are really not enough for thirty game days. The sound is disappointing. Not only are there long periods of silence, but the lack of voice acting also robs the characters of their soul and often makes for painfully silent reading. Finally, the title does not have French subtitles, and although the amount of text is smaller than your average visual novel, it can still be a hindrance for those who don’t speak English well. It should also be noted that the title works well in both Nintendo hybrid modes, although we recommend portable mode for convenience and practicality reasons (the title has numerous save slots, as per visual novel practice). It’s a shame about the lack of touch controls.
VERDICT
Iccarus and the Prince of Sin is a visual novel that tries to revolutionize the genre a bit by incorporating a turn-based combat system with a rock, paper, scissors technique. Unfortunately, the playful cyclicality dictated by the calendar and repeating days disrupts the narrative rhythm, which appears tenuous and devoid of detail. Therefore, it is unlikely that a romance will develop. So we are talking about a work with bright tones, but which errs precisely on the playful side in which it wants to be innovative.
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