Daphne has hit a crossroads in her life.After a terrible tragedy,tears her current relationship apart.This pretty and intelligent woman is forced to make a life change decision and start a new chapter with a fresh start and fresh opportunity.
Her grandmother has recently passed away,and in her will,has left daphne as the new owner of her property.A house turned castle,that has been in the family for generations,complete with history and memories.
New start,new home,new location. Daphne takes the offer and moves to a new life in a peaceful,idyllic setting away from the city and a temporary teaching job at the local school.
What soon emerges,is that the new life isn’t all that tranquil.Why are the locals so evasive and sometimes hostile towards her? and what about her new home? What are the dark hidden secrets contained in the castle walls and what is hidden in the castle tower? Why do the locals fear their mayor and his family..the Malterres?
What Daphne soon faces are haunted dreams and the unravelling of dark family secrets,revelations and superstition. Does she face her truth and destiny or turn her back on the past ?
As a visual novel, Along the Edge is a moderately dark supernatural thriller.Touching on mature themes with a gothic flavour and brooding atmosphere,with episodes of dry wit and suspense thrown in.
Readers are pretty much given a “blank slate”of a character in Daphne,with her life events pretty much leaving most aspects open to future choices and options to branch the story in any way the reader wishes.
Like most VNs,there are points where readers are faced with multiple choice decisions,but in this case,and as developers are quick to state,there’s no “good”or“bad” choices/endings here. You can at least relax in the knowledge that you cannot “kill off” your character as you lead them to the story finale,from a possible,wait for it, 60 story endings!
Yes,there’s plenty of replayability and reasons to return,but is Along the Edge worthy of the time ?
The answer is definitely a resounding Yes! and on load up you can clearly see reasons as to why. The artwork is absolutely beautiful in every scene that’s displayed like a lavish oil on canvas picture. In fact,I felt like taking every picture out of the switch and putting it in a frame! They were that impressive..
Accompanied by a stirring and often somber piano score,that’s soft and atmospheric.There’s an instant draw and immediate compulsion to read further and progress the story,as Daphne discovers new characters and new revelations in her new castle setting .
As the story goes,it’s not going to be unique in the literary stakes or break any new ground. Rather it’s more traditional and influenced by earlier literary stories,reminding me of Daphne De Maurier mixed with those American 70s “Strange/Uncanny stories”comic books. Never gratuitous or full on shocks but the rather twisted imaginings that dig in the psyche of the reader.
As for the amount of text,it’s never burdening or lengthy,that often accommodates quicker readers. The only downside with shorter text,is that it can lead to characters feeling less deep and underdeveloped at times. The same applies here,and I would have liked more background on our main character and especially the more creepier personalities she comes across.
Overall though,Along the Edge is a perfect read for these dark autumn nights,containing a story that’s worth your time and worth revisiting.
And if you are not too enamoured with the story,there’s always plenty of gorgeous artwork to cycle through as a bonus.
Excellent
Thanks to Nova-Box for the code.
