Would you cuddle up to your natural-born enemy, if it meant staying warm while stranded in the snowy landscape? Iris and her rival, an assassin named Seth, work together to avoid freezing to death.

"I always loved stealing from men I flirted with. Always made me feel oddly… powerful."
-Iris Lapis

Set in the cold, icy, landscape of Gravehollow Peaks, our heroine assassin, Iris Lapis, trudges through the snow in search of medicine for her friend Mara's grandfather. While she is turned around due to having issues reading the map that she bought from the old-hag fairy godmother at the entrance to the Peaks, she runs into her 'natural-born enemy', Seth Salazar, aka The Deathstalker. He is a rival assassin that she has had more than a few interactions with before, and by interactions she means ones where they would blow off some steam, if you catch my drift. He runs into her while he is being chased by a bear and decides to lead them off the main path to avoid their fuzzy, grizzly friend. After they are done berating each other…in a very friendly manner of course, they decide to try to find their way back to the main road so that they can go their separate ways since they both have their reasons for being in the cold landscape, instead of at home in the warm desert. Unfortunately, this does not pan out the way they had hoped. It seems that for some reason, they are walking in circles, despite only walking straight. Even the map that Iris has, changes from a map of their continent to just a map of Gravehollow Peaks. Seth blames it on the curse that presides over the area and that it is the reason that they cannot find their way out. Thus begins their journey to find their way out of the Peaks.

The story is very short, quite simple, and is very straightforward. I finished it in just under an hour. It consists of five bad endings and one main/true ending. The writing is very well done as always and there were some moments that really gave me a good laugh and giggle. I like that you can still choose the option to off Seth, even if it might not be the correct choice. A good bad ending is fun when you specifically choose it. I also like to think that it would annoy Seth if I specifically choose to kill him, haha. Though I do truly love him, so that's what saving and reloading is for. It's like it never happened.

This game only consists of one CG, which is the one that can be seen in the trailer. I'll say, it's a bit disappointing that there is one CG and no others, especially since I was spoiled for it with the game store page. The game was apparently originally part of the Winter VN Jam of 2021, according to the developer. The only new things that seem to be added to this version of the game are two new endings. So it does make sense that there is only one CG and that the game is so short. This does not wholly detract from the game though. The game is insanely beautiful and uses the same character sprites as the main game. The backgrounds feel very similar as well, even though they are different due to being in a different area, but it fits with the game and world and is very consistent. The cinematic cut-scenes are some of the best work from this dev, in my opinion. It really truly adds to the game. Having just some movement between scenes and in the game itself, like the falling snow particle effects, really add to the game's immersion.

This game is treated as a fan-disc by the dev. It's an alternate side story to the main game. There's not really anywhere that I can see that this game would fit into the narrative of the main story, unless it could be treated as an alternate path instead of going down either of the two love interest's routes. The game features Iris, the heroine from the main game, and Seth, one of the two love interest's from the main game. I'd say that one does not need to play the main game before playing this one. I believe that it can be played beforehand or on its own. It's a very good introduction to the characters and the world they are in. Playing the main game does certainly add to the experience, but I would say if you're on the fence for the main game, or curious about this world, this side game is certainly well worth it for a lower price. I of course wholly recommend playing the main game though, and you can read my review here if you're curious about my thoughts.

Thank you to the wonderful friend who gifted me this game. I had been super excited to play this game since I played the main game. I would love to see more of this world and its characters in the future and the Curse of Gravehollow Peaks certainly scratched the itch I had for wanting more of these characters.

Also like one of the other reviewers said, Sparkles truly is the best baby. He is so gosh darn adorable.

Review originally posted on Steam

Please follow our curator page, Otome Lovers, if you'd like to see more reviews like this one!