Ballads at Midnight

Moby ID: 190877
Buy on Windows
$0.00 new on Steam
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Official Description (Ad Blurb)

When a sarcastic bard is arrested and exiled to an abandoned castle, she expected to be at the mercy of a hungry, blood-thirsty vampire. She soon discovers that the vampire, Lucius, is not starving: he is gravely bored. She may just survive on borrowed time, one ballad each midnight.

(The name can be changed)

A well-traveled and gifted bard. Abigail is quick-witted and quick to act, though not necessarily in that order. Sarcasm coats her words like calluses, formed through years of undergoing difficult journeys and indulging difficult people. While she has a strong sense of insight and genuine interest in others, she has a dogged impulse of announcing her observations. This is seldom appreciated, and at worst has led to face grave consequences.

Still, no one can deny that she has a flair and talent for entertainment. Not even a centuries-old vampire.

(Love interest)

One's first impression of Lucius is that he's menacing at worst, and witheringly unyielding at best. However, his coarse exterior is a thin veil for his impressively dry wit - which he's more than happy to reveal if he thinks his sense of humor will be heard. It's rather hard to share one's wit when your guests generally scream and run at the sight of you though.

♦ Enemies to lovers, found family, bonding through shared trauma, and even more of your favorite relationship tropes!

♦ A dark fantasy romance that seamlessly blends lighthearted moments and hidden depths, with believable dialogue and an abundance of banter. (Boy, they love to argue. ;p )

♦ Beautiful sprite and original music

♦ Three clearly-marked endings - abandon him as early as possible, remain in eternal bliss or discover gruesome secrets about the world around you.

♦ Flavor line choices: be an unabashed flirt or have a razor sharp tongue. The choice is yours, no consequences.

♦ More than 42 000 words (around 3-4h per playthrough)

♦ Partial voice acting & two original bard songs!

Ballads at Midnight is rated T for suggestive material, strong language, alcohol use, and allusions to trauma, child abuse, and fantasy violence.

Ayael (Director, UI designer & programmer, scripter) - Arrapso (Sprite, background artist), Wudgeous (Lead writer, narrative designer), Notafish (Writer), Jeneara (Editor), Rowanty (scripter), Eliana Zebro (Audio & voice director), Shar Joyner (composer), Megan Youmans (Voice actor - MC), Eric Navarro (Voice actor - Lucius), Kimi (Trailer creator)
This visual novel was created in one month during the NaNoReNo 2022 jam.

Source: Steam Store Description

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Credits (Windows version)

25 People (14 developers, 11 thanks) · View all

Director
UI Designer
Programmer
Narrative Designer
Lead Writer
Sprite & Background Artist
Writer
Editor
Scripter
Audio & Voice Director, Lyrics Writer
Music Composer
Voice Actor - Abigail (MC)
Voice Actor - Lucius
UI ornaments & texture by
  • creative_hats on Freepik
Font on
  • Dafont
Background photo references on
  • Unsplash
SFX from
  • Freesound
Special thanks for the trailer creation
Special thanks for the Queen drawing
Special thanks for their support to
  • Abiding Bridge
  • Shawna P.
  • KDitch
  • Laraine
  • Nico
  • Remnantation
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 88% (based on 1 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.0 out of 5 (based on 1 ratings)

A long long book

The Good
In the end, characters story, especially if you find the right "path" of answers, it's interesting. Also it's very open minded product and it's always nice to have.

The Bad
It's a huge wall of text and from time to time you are called to make a choice between two or maybe three different answers. Not enough for me. I won't criticize the structure of this but I hoped there were at least more occasions to have the player choose something.

The Bottom Line
I would recommend this only if you're mentally prepared you would read a lot, you don't have so much space to choose and you don't have a huge backlog. If you have it, play something else before.

Windows · by Mark Renton · 2024

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Game added by Koterminus.

Game added September 4, 2022. Last modified April 24, 2023.