A Tithe in Blood

I found out about this game about a week ago, and was instantly hooked by the demo. Having finished the full story now, I can say that it absolutely continues to deliver from the initial promise of the demo. That being said, the difficulty of the topics that are presented in the demo remain - and continue to be compounded on. The short of this review is: try out the demo, and if you like it, you should absolutely buy this and get the full experience. Please take the content warnings seriously. Also, the rest of this review is assuming you are good with those content warnings. The main selling point for me is, undoubtedly, the characterisation of the main character Honoka. The writing expertly presents depression, suicide, and self harm in a way that felt viscerally real to me. In many ways, it mirrors my own experience with those subjects, and Honoka's experience and way of viewing the world mirrored the way I too have viewed things. It doesn't belabour these topics, and shows rather than tells, showing the tells of declining mental state, the way death is always in the back of her mind, and the degree of comfort she has with abusing her own body in order to escape a life she no longer wants to live. Blood magic and the toll it takes on Honoka acts as a metaphor for how people can fall into the habit of self harm - she tried it out of curiosity and her own disregard of her own well being, and then got lost in the habitual escape it provided, quickly becoming the only manner in which she could feel anything at all. Yasue serves as a great romantic interest for Honoka. The two quickly build a compelling rapport that is always underpinned by the cost Honoka must pay - the Tithe in Blood - to be able to see her. It's clearly unhealthy for Honoka, but it's also the only time she ever shows any sign of happiness, which creates a melancholic vibe which stays throughout their meetings. The side characters too, each have their own thing going on, and while they aren't as fleshed out as Yasue and Honoka, they fill out the story exactly as they should. In terms of length, as a fast reader, it took me a bit over 6 hours in total - 90 minutes with the demo (act 1 scenes 1-3), and then just under 5 hours to read everything from act 1 scene 4 onwards. I will say it was a bit shorter than I would have liked, but it is better to be left wanting more, than for something to overstay its welcome. The slow and ominous pacing of act 1 which felt like it was miring me in its misery (which I say as a positive of the experience) picks up in act 2 and onwards, and I wish it didn't go quite as fast as it did. All in all, a strong recommendation for anyone wanting yuri with emotional damage and a severely depressed main character.

Just finished Act 1. Very much worth it if the content warnings don't push you away!

WTF is that Tatiana sample voice line 😭😭😭 Didn't even know this cuss phrase exists in the language, it was so funny randomly hearing that when checking out the voice samples. Liked the demo though, hopefully will enjoy reading the full version as well.

I will update this within the next few days when I finish this. From the first few scenes this is written fairly well, but it is not a light read. It's already set up an interesting world and scenario that I'm sure will be expanded upon. If you liked other Studio Elan works you will likely enjoy this one as well if you can handle a bit of a darker story. Take the content warnings seriously, it takes less than 10 minutes at my reading speed to reach the first scene that may upset some people.