The Soul Stone War

This is a popular Hosted Games from a few years ago, the first part in a long series.

The idea is that there is a powerful King who is a deathless vampire in possession of a Soul Stone and who desires to have the others. You, on the other hand, are simply a runaway from a village, judged for who you are (there are a few backstories available, this is the one I had).

While you are escaping your village, you find two strong, bold men and two powerful, battle-ready women who will do anything to protect you and help you, even putting themselves in danger. This is good, because you are quite possibly the wimpiest protagonist I have ever seen. I felt like the main character in the gothic novel Mysteries of Udolpho, fainting at a moment's notice. My character passed out from exhaustion, possession, getting hit, etc., got entranced or pinned down on multiple occasions, and had to be rescued over and over.

That's okay, because my big buff adventuring party was there to catch me in their arms as I fell, and to stare at me in concern, and to tease me with nicknames.

It was actually fun. Wayhaven has a similar vibe. I enjoyed being protected and romancing my big dragon woman NPC. It gave me ideas for future games; instead of focusing on failure when missing stat checks, to have your ROs save you, so you can choose to play as a strong person or as a helpless one.

This game doesn't really have that choice, you're helpless most of the time.

You might notice I didn't mention the main plot much. That's because 99% of the game is RO interactions. The eponymous soul stones only make appearances near the very end.

This game is just part 1 of longer ones. I've long noticed that WIPs and unfinished series are really popular in itch and Hosted Games culture. Having played more recently, I genuinely wonder if its because (besides WIPs being free), the open-ended nature of unfinished games and sequels lets people imagine a great sequel or ending that will almost certainly not be satisfied by a real one. The hope of one day having a great fulfillment to a game is perhaps more enticing to an imaginative reader, and, in communities with close access to an author, perhaps an ardent fan might influence the author into giving them the ending they want.

I'm interested in seeing how the next 2 games play out because very little plot happens in this game. I did have fun with my RO-centered damsel in distress simulator, and I can see why this series is popular.

Everything in the story feels a bit rushed and a bit fast paced. There's a bit too much hopping from one event to another without it feeling as though there's anything important connecting them. The romances in particular, while I haven't gone through every romance yet, feel like they're missing the build up--it goes from "hello it's nice to meet you" to "I'm ready to sacrifice every thing for you" in a few chapters (and a week or so in universe).

The humor probably won't be for everyone either. I played a playful main character and it was a near constant one-liner machine inside their head. Duh! I mean what would you expect from a playful character? <-- Expect lots of lines like that.

With all that being said, I really liked the story and while I pointed out some issues they weren't really a problem for me. The story was high energy and the humor grew on me. I'm excited to see the series continued, and I really fell in love with Morkai and Straasa so I'm even more excited to see the romances progress!

Edit: I've played a few more romance paths and I have to say the "friendmance" (it's basically the slow burn or 'main character is oblivious' path in comparison to the "flirtmance" where you're actively flirting and showing interest whether it's shyly or boldly) were great! They're paced a lot more naturally, and playing an oblivious to romance main character is just super fun!! So yeah I totally recommend the friendmance paths.