A somewhat linear mystery VN intended for a female audience, set in a unique world with wonderful characters and art. History comes back for the Phoenix Kingdom and characters within.

Knight Case Files is a mystery visual novel developed by Hyoukan Studio, and published by one of the creators of Obscura under the publisher Kaguya Project. This information alone had my attention on KCF. I thoroughly enjoyed Obscura, as you can read above.

Knight Case Files didn’t end up being what I expected in the slightest. I thought it’d be a cute fantasy with a little romance, but instead follows a bit of a darker path. The world you are a part of is unique, and despite how great it looks at first glance, it has a very dark history. To understand the story unfolding, you must learn about said history and understand what has brought the story here. A young woman, Margarethe, has been found causing problems for the Phoenix Kingdom and more concerningly, the Crown Prince. However, it is also known that she had died some time before these occurrences. It’s your job to figure out why, and even the smallest bit of information can be the difference between a good and bad ending.

Story

You, Wilhelm, are a Royal Guard working hard on more than just his guard work. His father is a weaponsmith who he tests prototype designs for, making sure that they are sharp, efficient, and will give their target a swift, painful death. This has created a “myth” amongst the Royal Guard, whispers and mentions of a mysterious being seen as the Corpse Killer. But that is the least of his concern. His first major task as a member of the Royal Guard is to discover the threat to the Kingdom and its people.

Topherf is a sweetheart alchemist who is key to this story. Wilhelm is appointed to be their personal guard, as they are an alchemist with the best experience and knowledge for this case. They struggle with their own appearance and confidence. Due to this, they can transfer their soul between two alchemical creations, two different bodies they can control at will. One male, and one female. Although Topherf is not content with them. The bodies are not truly human, and they wish for nothing more than to create the perfect body for themselves. Topherf is your sole romantic interest, and as someone who usually plays Otome with multiple interests, I was completely fine with this. The two work together great, and I could see something sweet would blossom from a mile away.

There are many other significant characters, being immortal phoenixes, the Crown Prince himself, and the ‘villains’ of the story. I enjoyed a vast majority of the cast, they were well written, unique and very interesting. I cannot explain much about the other cast without the risk of spoilers, but I can confidently say that I recommend KCF due to the characters, alone. The characters are a large part of what really had me excited to play each time!

Art & Visuals

If you have spent any time looking at the Steam page, you’ll see some amazing art of the cast. It’s unique, yet very highly detailed. I found myself mesmerized by how gorgeous the eyes were of each character. Outfits were well designed, detailed, and looked very pretty. Some, like Wilhelm, even had multiple gorgeous designs! The backgrounds, while not as standout as the main character art, were still pretty and detailed in their own right. Too much detail and colour to them wouldn’t have made the cast really stand out and seemed like a solid artistic choice.

Every voice actor cast in KCF was a great choice. The VA was genuinely good quality and I found each suited their given character well, and they did a great job of really portraying their character’s personality. Major story scenes have full voice acting, with some less significant dialogue not fully voiced. A fine choice, and frequent in the majority of VN I have come across.

I enjoyed the music and the ambience of the game. It was often very in place and fitting, with music matching the scene. More intense when things were getting serious, yet calm and relaxing when the story was just that. My only complaint was some sound effects felt they lasted a little too long, such as a character running – footsteps would last for several lines of text. Maybe it is because I am a slow reader, but I feel it would have been fine being shorter.

Writing

Finally, I wanted to discuss the writing quality of KCF. This felt significant to have its own section, since out of curiosity I checked the steam reviews and saw that the few that were there, seemed to speak of the story and script rather negatively. But I didn’t feel that way at all. The first chapter was a little slow, sure, but not at all boring. The story was starting and you were getting introduced to some significant characters as well as learning a lot of information about a world vastly unique to our own. This did cause somewhat of an “info dump”, but one would expect it. Especially from a shorter visual novel with such a world to explain. Sometimes Wilhelm would also be learning things with the reader, but most commonly, like a vast majority of VN with such a unique world, words would get highlighted for you to check out more detailed information and understand what was being spoken about. This information is not really mandatory but if you’re confused about something it helps for reader experience to check them out. You are given a tips and keyword option you can also refer back to anytime.

The overall story is rather linear, with one good ending. There are 3 bad endings, all of which are optional and somewhat obvious – at the start of a significant choice, the game warns you and highlights options which can lead to an end. These endings are still worth experiencing since they present more information about some characters to the reader, although they are still optional. There are not many choices to be made, but aside from those leading to certain endings, they are not very significant either due to the linear aspect of the story. KCF also includes some side stories, around a five-minute read, which I’d recommend checking out when you’re done. While not significant to the story, they are just cute moments of the characters you come to enjoy and care for just having a good time.

KCF’s translation was great, and I find it hard to fault. I noticed a few errors – two typos, and there were a few moments where punctuation missed a space after it – although I’d say the errors I noticed were single digit numbers. This is something that can certainly be easily fixed, however. I do have screenshots of the two typos if the dev catches this and wishes to correct them.

Overall Opinion

I really loved my experience playing Knight Case Files, a VN I’d call a hidden gem that definitely deserves more attention than it has. Every time I loaded up the game, I was looking forward to seeing the characters I had come to enjoy, and experience how the story would unfold next. This was also a short and sweet experience, taking me – a slow reader – around 10 hours for the main story, including the bad endings. Honestly, my only complaint is that it is over. I really hope that I can see more of this world in the future, whether a sequel, a spin-off, or something entirely new with the world. This is a story and world that I believe can thrive if given the chance. If anything I have said here interests you at all, please check out the Knight Case Files demo, and I hope you enjoy the story as much as I have!

Otome Lovers wishes to thank Kaguya Project for providing a free review copy of this game.

Review also posted on Steam ➞