Blue Rose Reprise

It is good, but the romance is a little dull compared to other games, so if that is your reason for getting this I would wait for it to go on sale. That said, the story is very interesting and intense!

Gavin and Aran are the best, but Erin is the soulmate
The only negative point is the repetitive part, not much special moments when you go into a specific route.

Even though I'm marking my review as not recommended, I want to make clear that the game isn't TERRIBLE by any means. I really like the art (especially the background art - I know nobody buys VNs for the backgrounds art, but this is legit the most gorgeous background art in any VN I've played). The world has interesting lore, not quite as fleshed out as I would have liked it but interesting nonetheless. The heroine Lena's relationship with the antagonist is actually very well-written, and I really enjoyed the complexity of it. Unfortunately, in my opinion that relationship is the most interesting one in the game. The romance routes were mediocre at best. Gavin's was the most interesting, as he had a bit of character development and backstory that paired very well with Lena's. The others, though, were a bit flat and not really memorable (Simon and Lena don't even really get overt romance). The writing also drags a bit in some parts, especially where you're "choosing" the one location on the map that's available.

Again, overall, it wasn't irredeemable, and if you're a VN fan and/or fantasy story fan there might be something here for you (although I'd recommend picking it up on sale like I did - sixteen dollars would have been a lot when I really only enjoyed the art, one love interest, and the antagonist). Even though I didn't ~love~ this, I'll be looking at the developer's next project to see if it's something I'm interested in.

This is a cute otome visual novel. Sure, there may be a few errors here or there, but it makes up for it with the story and characters. This otome will not blow your mind, but it will give you about 12 hours of pleasant distraction. Even with the negative reviews, including some written by influential people, I am glad that I picked this up and read it to form my own opinion. I would have been sad if I had missed out on this gem.

Hello Steam user who is wondering if this little visual novel is worth their time. I'm going to tell you right now that the answer is...

Pros
– the concept. The story starts out fairly straightforward. Our main heroine Lena is a knight that's escorting a young noblewoman acting as a diplomat when the dragon attacks and she is heavily injured. She's found by a hunter who lives in a very small remote village filled with secrets. While she wants to get back to the capital as fast as possible she's too injured and starts to bond with the villagers until her captain finds her with the consequences of their failed mission coming in full force. With this concept alone it has the fantasy, the action, the drama... Many elements that I would consider are necessary for a great or at least decent story. The way this game executes on them varies (I'll get to what I mean later).
– The music. For generic fantasy music it was very good generic fantasy music. I would not mind listening to this OST just by itself.
– The CG's. The CGs were colorful and nice to look at with clear care taken in crafting them. They also had a nice big gallery so you could look at them later which was good to and there were plenty of them.

Cons
– character models. I'm just gonna come out and say this but their heads look slightly too big for their bodies. Maybe this is just me but it seriously mucked with my suspension of disbelief. And, by the way, this is only applying to the character models you see on the screen, not the CG's. The CG's didn't have weird proportions most of the time. Also, of the five characters you can romance, three of them had slightly different shades of silver/white hair. Come on! Your creating a reverse harem! Can't you at least do a little bit more variety in character designs? Aran having white hair with colored tips works for him because he's a spirit so that was fine. I can even buy Simon having silver hair because he is a magical knight but why the heck did ordinary non-magical Gavin has mystic white hair? He should of been a brunette or hell, maybe a redhead. Sorry that's probably something that only really bugs me but I just had to get that rant out. On to the actual problems.
– The execution. While this game had a great start and a pretty awesome concept it kind of falls through with its execution. The middle being the worst offender. Lena kind of wanders around for good swaths of the game just going to the motions of talking to another character without any plot really building up or world building and also very little romance. This gets a little better when Simon shows up again but the plot very much meanders until we get to the ending. Even with the endings though some of them felt a little half assed and rushed while others were far more satisfying. Tobias's, Gavin's, Erin's in particular were my favorite routes with my favorite endings. Those endings at least gave a little chemistry to the supposedly building romance.
– The romance. For a game that's supposed to be about it there's actually very little involved. Sure there is a few scenes that happen that tease of a relationship but it never really builds beyond that. There was no real point in the game where I was like "oh my God I want those two to be together! I want them to have a happy life together". That is a serious blow in otherwise a rather mediocre game.
– The price. For all the problems I listed above, this game is sixteen dollars full price and that is just far too much.

Neutral
– the characters. They weren't bad per se and I did like most of them but there just wasn't enough to them for me to really get attached. I've actually played shorter and cheaper games where I was more attached to the characters then in this one.

Overall I think I'm going to have to say not recommended. I don't think the game is a waste of my time but with the price I'm going have to say I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else unless it's on a super sale or something. Or if they possibly revamped it.

I really wanted to like this game, but in the end the story and characters just fell short. Blue Rose has an interesting concept, and when I had played through the demo it made me want to buy the game. Sadly, after purchasing the full game, what we got in the demo wasn't much different then the rest of the game. The characters and world are so fascinating, and I found myself waiting for them both to be expanded on, but they never did. The story just feels long and drawn out for the sake of it, and I feel like spending less time just meandering about and more time actually progressing the plot and characters would have made this game more interesting.

I was willing to take the game at face value after a certain point, but then so many things just weren't explained. Why did these people hide in the mountains? How is the magic system supposed to work? Why is leena in love with any of these people? I liked the romance choices for as one note as they were, but there was absolutely no chemistry between Leena and anyone really and I found half of the characters grating after a certain point in the game.

The villain reveal was somewhat shocking, but at the same time, I was expecting the character to pop back up again. Once again, really one note, and the action scenes were not well thought out at all, and just seemed like a ton of tropes thrown in because this took place in a fantasy setting.

I liked the music in the game, and the atmosphere was nice. I finished 1 route in the game and haven't opened it again since, despite at least wanting to read the extra stories and seeing the other romantic routes I didn't take, so I think that speaks volumes on how much of a let down this game was.

I got this game on sale, and if you're even remotely curious, wait for it to go on sale to play it. If I had gotten it full price, I would have been pretty upset with what I got in the end.

Had some really astonishingly good characters!
Though it also came with some hiccups in some routes, where i had to make a stretch to believe how it turned out...

Over all i would say it was good, even kidna special even and i'm looking forward to what more experiance will do to future VN of this writer/dev!

I really wanted to like this game but as it went along it became more and more boring...It had great potential to be awesome but the characters had no personality and I found that I was skipping past the lines of dialogue without reading much of it nor caring about it, so little depth. Also the artwork though pretty makes your romantic interests "men" way too skinny for my taste. These were supposed to be men, strong powerful knights, hardy wilderness survival man, and yet they looked like 12 year old boys in stature and constitution, hardly appealing or romantic. Also I wanted to like my characters but when your protagonist has barely any back-story and is immediatly not very nice or amiable including most of the other characters except for the female npc it really puts you off. Also I found absolutely no direction in the story and barely any choices on what I wanted to do also depleted my desire to play this game any further. I would highly recommend the creator of this game to polish it off and address these flaws and maybe it would be worth nearly 20.00 at this point I would not pay no more than 5.00 for it.

A nice Otome with five routes and a story that may suprise you. I would hight recommend this game if you like hot white-haired boys (because 3 out of five characters are exactly that) or if you enjoy the fantasy genre. Also there are dragons. SO buy it if you like dragons. And lizards.

This is a good game, But.....
DON'T BUY THIS FOR THE YURI ROUTE ALONE, Like I did!

If you are a yuri lover like me, You will be SEVERELY disappointed in the Girl x Girl route (aka Lena x Erin).
This game was clearly intended to be focused on the males!
Erin's route was by far the WEAKEST when it comes to romance out of all the 5 routes in the game.
THEY NEVER SHARE NOT EVEN ONE KISS!
Her route's story was interesting, that's no lie. BUT there was BARELY any romance between Lena and Erin.
Everything "romantic" Lena & Erin has done in the game is stuff best friends do ALL THE TIME!
HUGGING IS NOT F U C K I N G ROMANTIC OR SCREAMS WITH "I LOVE YOU!"

I'm sorry but this angers me! If you wanna add a yuri route, Don't HALF A S S IT, DO IT RIGHT!
Don't make a route that leaves players thinking "Wait, that's it? A F U C K I N G HUG?!"

This was a rant wasn't it?
Anyways, I did enjoy Gavin's route. Unlike Erin's, in his route, you can actually tell Gavin & Lena became a couple. That's because THEY ACTUALLY KISSED AND HAD REAL ROMANTIC MOMENTS TOGETHER!

I'm done. The game is interesting when you buy it for the right reasons, Don't be a fool like me!
If you're into Boy x Girl Visual Novels with action fight scenes with dragons, Then you will enjoy this!
If you're a 100% Yuri lover, SKIP THIS GAME! Unless you're really curious to see the disappointing the Girl x Girl route is.

The story is certainly not the most original plot ever written it certainly isn't the worst. A female knight gets seperated from her allies and winds up in a remote village far from everything she knows, all the while becoming involved in the mystery surrounding the town and building relationships with 5 different characters (4 men and one woman). There is not much in the way of story choices, and one route can be finished in about 3 hours (maybe 1 for subsequent play-throughs when you can skip dialogue already seen). Still, the story is quite touching and will satisfy the heart of any player looking for romance in their stories.

My only gripe is the price, I feel like the game would have been better priced as something like $14.99 as opposed to $19.99, but that is one bad thing against many good.

After reading the other reviews I was a little skepticle about buying this game . But it was on sale so I thought what the hell . I didn't expect much , but I enjoyed the game overall . The art was nice and the soundtrack was fitting , and the story was intriguing enough that I finished one play through in one sitting .

I liked the main protaganist , even though she was inept at some things ( like most humans ) and she actually seemed to grow as a person through the game . The other major characters were also likeable ( besides the guy who saves you because he was annoying AF and I don't even care what his name is )
There were a few plot holes , but they didn't really seem to bother me during game play .

If you like fantasy , you may want to check this game out .

A most interesting little visual novella, Blue Rose explores themes of duty and love. You play as Lena, a Templar of the Blue Rose, which is basically an order of paladins. Sent to guard a VIP with a group of other Templars, they are ambushed by a dragon and Lena is badly injured. When she comes to, she finds herself in a secluded village. There she finds four men and one woman who... interest her. Through your choices you can win the heart of the one of your dreams (though one is only unlocked after finishing one good end), and solve the mystery of the town.

A bit fun and an interesting concept.

Well, Blue Rose is one of the oldest otome visual novels here around Steam, and the only commercial game hailing from the small visual novel developer, White Cat. Before venturing out to have my own experience about this game, I've heard tons of good and bad about Blue Rose: from its intriguing medieval fantasy setting, to crippling narrative and grammar mistakes in text descriptions. Let's take a closer look, and add a new comment to the pile of mixed reviews for this game.

Our story centers on the stubborn, resilient and romantically clueless Knight of the Blue Rose: Lena. Being the only female knight of the order - also the only one without a noble lineage and a family crest, she has always been kind of an outcast in the order, even though she has always completely believed in the ideals of the Blue Rose. She is the perfect soldier who would serve indefinitely and without questions - with a memorized sense of honor. Her self-justified creed is soon to be put to test when she'll face utter failure in a mission up in the mountains with the appearance of a dragon!

As our story starts, Lena is assigned to escort a diplomatic convoy for the protection of an important ambassador - Lady Adale - whose lack of safe return would spell catastrophy for both nations already on the verge of war. As Lena ends up barely alive - and her party completely lost - after her encounter with the legendary beast, she is rescued by the inhabitants of a small, isolated town high up in the mountains. While discovering the mystery of this region and trying to come into terms that her sense of what is right and wrong could not be utterly reliable, she'll also encounter opportunity for romance...

This should be all in terms of story here, right? Okay then, now I can tell you what I actually think about the story: it kinda sucks. I mean, one would think a story about an order of knights, a dragon, a spirit, a political plot to fuel war between countries and an ethical analysis of war would be interesting no matter what, right? You are dead wrong. Even with all these intriguing elements, developers managed to present a boring story. My issue with the game comes in two parts: one with the story and setting foundation, and the other with the narrative itself. Considering these two are the baseline of any successful visual novel - aside some pretty art, which is not mandatory if you ask me - those mistakes cannot be forgiven.

Within the storyline, characters themselves are not elaborately actualized. They are superficial with limited interactions and reaction, stuffed into painful and shallow stereotypes. Their personalities are failed to be presented successfully. They lack monologues, choices, aspirations, personal attachments and decent backstory. Sure, they all do have their superficial sob stories that would make them ending up hiding in the mountains, and they all do venture out to pull dramatic and sacrificial action sequences when the time calls, but you feel nothing about them reading the suffocating text about their experiences when it finally arrives.

Aside uninteresting characters, storyline itself is very limited with only the hint of an interesting setting. We are given a mountain with a spirit, some mysterious energy which can be used by knights, some priestesses - to what or whom, I have no idea - and a vague idea of witches. Oh, and there is a war going on. All those anecdotes do not make up a whole medieval fantasy setting. This is plain bad writing. Also, there is no mention for the reason of the said war, neither any explanation for the origin of any mystery. It is just a consistency of one bad narrative of combat after another, with demagogies scattered around. It is not interesting at all.

All these problems could maybe overlooked considering this is a glorified first trial at a commercial visual novel, but the text itself isn't readable due to countless grammatical, punctuation and narrative errors anyhow. Should I mention spelling mistakes, or wrong tense conjugations all around? It shouldn't be that hard to use spellcheck when you write anything - much or less the text narrative of a whole game! It is a special kind of hell to go through combat descriptions with the cringe worthy narrative.

The art is alright - a bit awkward in some CGs - and the music is pleasant. The world would be a fine baseline for a decent story but... at the end, it just doesn't deliver. If it's in a heavy sale - like %80 or so - or you get the game in a bundle, sure, try. It's not worth the full price though, not even remotely.

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For how many people complained in reviews about this game, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of it was exaggeration and petty whining. I've played some crappy VNs, trust me, and Blue Rose is not one of them. It isn't anything groundbreaking or mind-blowing, but it's definitely not bad. I enjoyed it rather well.

More character development could've made it better, but I did like the characters, and I did feel something when things went bad/good for them. If a story can elicit emotion, then it has succeeded in one way, at least. The romantic parts of the story also caused some mild butterfly-in-the-stomach feelings; thus, it certainly was not a waste of time as a romance genre VN.

I do think that Erin's path wasn't written as well as it could've been. To confirm this, yes, Erin is a ROMANTIC option. It is heavily implied that Erin has romantic feelings for the protagonist, and vice versa. However, unlike with the male romance options, physical affection is held back between Lena (the protagonist) and Erin. They hug in a CG image; that's it. If you're going to put in a controversial romance option in a story, do not hold back. Go all out! There should've been just as much affection shown and tender words spoken between those two as there was with the male romance options.

Note: Aran's story route is not romantic.

There were some typos and grammatical errors, but nothing major. There was also at least one instance of an incorrect name tag.

Overall, I thought it was a decent romance VN. It could've been better, I admit, but I definitely don't think it deserves so many negative reviews.

I loved this game. The characters and there development, the storyline, it's interaction. Everything. Though I would have prefered maybe a few extra stories that showed what happened a year later for all of them. Though I do have to say that I have played many, many, many visual and interactive novels and can confidently say that this has become my favorite.

I really really hope to see a sequal soon! If so please email me when the beta and game comes out!

Goodluck!

[Neutral Review]

First, I need to say that I don't know why this Visual Novel is so underrated. It has a lot of defects - and I'll talk about some below - but it's still an average Visual Novel. There's a lot of crap Visual Novels out there made only for the sake of the fanservice and they have tons of positive reviews. That seems pretty unfair to me.

The game is kind of short, so it might be a good game to get in a bundle or a good sale. I've seen it in bundles pretty cheap a lot of times. It can be classified more as an Otome Game than as Fantasy Visual Novel, because only a few after the game starts, the main plot is a bit shoved aside to focus more and more in the romantic relation between the characters. Or I should say between Lena and the one you'll pursue as her love affair in game. Also, many people related that they couldn't get attached to any of the characters even with the lots of interaction between them. And yeah... some characters are pretty standart and cliché at all, in my opinion. So it's easy to feel nothing for them.

Another boring thing is that the "replayability" of the game sucks: most of the game parts will be pretty much the same if you decide to start a new route after completing your first one.

The art style is decent. It’s not amazing, but it has a certain charm. BG was ok, BGM was fine too. That being said, Blue Rose is a nice Visual Novel overall and you can have fun with it.

Average visual novel. There was a lot of interaction between the characters (which I liked a lot), but I couldn’t… Well, get attached to them. I don’t know why. But I liked the idea to visit certain areas of the map to meet up with the characters.

The art style is decent. It’s not amazing, but it has a certain charm. BG was ok, BGM was fine too. I just feel that this game is quite expensive for what is offering, so I suggest you to get it on a bundle or a good sale.

5/10. Overall, I do recommend this VN. But like I said, only if you can get it on a bundle or a good sale. Otherwise, it’s quite expensive for a short story. Oh, and I also enjoyed the mini stories, they were nice.

Fun and Fluffy with a nice fantasy story.

If you haven't tried a visual novel, you may want to do some research, they're not like other games.

I've fallen down the rabbit hole of Otome visual novels: Dandelion, Nameless, Hakuoki, Re:Alister...
Blue Rose reminds me of Alister, but longer, a little more in-depth story and it is the fantasy story instead of being an online gamer going in and out. It has sweet scenes, but is set over 14 days, so be aware that only so much can happen, as opposed to the years of Hakuoki or months of Dandelion. The protagonist isn't that "easy" and I think they do a good job making her a capable, kick-butt fighter while still having her oblivious edge that lets an Otome game spin out the romantic fluff a little more.

There's no stat building, just the "choose your own adventure" options that open different dialogue and opportunities down the road.

I also haven't run into any of the off-the-wall sexual inuendo that can pop up in some of these games. (There's no Yuri-type to cause the random occurance of a mini-pony.) So would recommend it for younger girls.

There are quite a few CGs and the art is nice. Some repetition, but if you do a story an evening with some breaks between, I wasn't too annoyed at some of the repetition.

I've only gone through Tobias, Simon and Gavin and am looking forward to Aran next.

I think its worth the money, I've been playing for awhile and enjoying it. Not to mention Otome games are rare compared to most game categories and I'd really like to see more of them, our early support counts!

Enjoy!

A very nice and touching game. In short, it is a story telling how love, fate and a bit of magic can bring a miracle into one's life :) The characters are different and very well developed - their behaviour and actions are logical and follow the main line and your choices.

The only thing I would like to point out is that I can't call this game a "dating sim" (unlike of what I thought at first look). The game has only two-three kiss scenes - not even one per route. But it does have a great story during which our heroine develop different kinds of relationships with other characters. And if she ends up with one of them, then it is what will truly bring her happiness.

Recommended to be bought if you are into visual novels.