Game of the Month: Nightshade

[chrry]

During the Sengoku Period the two main factions of ninja clans, Iga and Kōga, warred against each other for decades.
In the year 1593, Nobunaga Oda started the Tenshō Iga war, decimating most of the Iga ninjas in the process.
The very few that survived were absorbed into the Kōga clan, despite their past rivalries.
 
After 17 years the Sengoku Period finally came to an end, and Japan was unified.
 
Enju, daughter of Kandō Ueno, the Head of the Kōga clan, spends her days training diligently in hope of becoming a full-fledged ninja like her peers.
 
At long last she is assigned to her first mission, but finds herself caught in a dark conspiracy――.

Official site ♥ Steam ♥ Switch ♥ Humble
Free short stories: Gekkamaru ♥ Kuroyuki ♥ Chojiro ♥ Hanzo ♥ Goemon
 

Do you like historical otome games?

Do you like ninjas?

And most of all, do you like suffering?

Then you're in for a treat with this game :D


I played this back in 2017 when it was released on steam, but unfortunately I don't remember much. Not because it was boring and forgettable though, my memory is just terrible.

I vaguely remember that this game was pretty good. The story was intense, and angsty AND tragic, I didn't mention "suffering" earlier for nothing, okay? The one thing I remember for sure about this game is that it wrecked me lol.

This is also one of those games more focused on the story than the romance. But it still has some sweet scenes ♥ and all the characters are pretty charming imo, it was hard to choose a fave.

Took me around 25 hours to complete everything, so it's long but not too much.

I wish I could recommend a proper playing order but the only thing I feel I can say with confidence is this: don't play Chojiro's route first. It's just too much too soon.

(Edit: Okay I found some of my tweets from when I played and personally I'd recommend this order: Goemon > Hanzo > Kuroyuki > Chojiro > Gekkamaru)


Anyone else has played? Tell us about it ♥

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

Thank you! The theme is very pretty and this will be useful when I finally get around to playing the game.

[scytale]

I love Nightshade a lot (and just finally finished my last route last month, after a long hiatus).

The suffering is wonderful, there's loyalty kink, and I love Enju a lot. <3.

I like your recommended play order. I think it avoids the problem I had on my playthrough, where I played two routes with a very similar structure back to back.

I wrote up my impressions of it on my journal -- not sure how coherent it is and it was right after I finished the route: https://scytale.dreamwidth.org/tag/otome:+nightshade
I think after finishing the whole game, some of my impressions are different.

I might go back and replay Hanzo's or Goemon's routes this month. Those were my favorites of the game (and I think Hanzo's is still my favorite of everything I've played so far.)

ETA: And as Sean said, thank you! The theme is super pretty.