Okay, where do I even start? The Silent Kingdom completely took me by surprise.
At first, everything is just gorgeous — vibrant, stunning landscapes, the kind of beauty you’d expect from a world blessed by the harmony of The Goddess. But honestly? It doesn’t take long before you start feeling like something’s... off. Like, suspiciously off. And right when you’re soaking in all this "perfect" world, boom — the princess, our main character, finds herself trapped in a kingdom swallowed by darkness and crawling with Terrors. From there, the game hands you choices that can either pull her out of this nightmare or lock her in even deeper. And that’s when things really get good.
Characters:
Now, yes, there are multiple love interests — and trust me, they’re all intriguing — but the two main ones I got really invested in were Chrono and Seneca.
Chrono is the princess’s squire, and let me tell you, watching his character growth is amazing. The way the game ties together past memories that affect the present? Absolutely beautiful. And even better — you, the player, actually impact the past too, not just the "now." Chrono starts off as this adorable kid who absolutely adores the princess, but as the story moves forward, you see him transform into this stoic knight who’s clearly tortured by the fear of failing her again. You still see glimpses of his tenderness and youthful affection, but it’s layered with so much more depth and heartbreak. Ugh, I loved every second of it.
Seneca, on the other hand, is like the complete opposite. He’s a magician and a bit of a troublemaker — like, he lives to provoke, especially poking holes in the princess’s naïve little view of the world. It’s really interesting because while at first, he seems shady and untrustworthy, if you pay attention, you start picking up hints that maybe... the only reason he’s so jaded is because he’s never really known a world with light. He’s not cruel; it’s almost like he’s trying to protect her from the heartbreak he knows is coming. I loved that complexity.
And honestly? As much as I adored these two, I was most impressed by our princess.
She's capable. She's strong. She's willing to face this horrifying world on her own if she has to — and even cooler, the game lets you do that. No forced romance if you don't want it. But when she does open up to her companions? She’s vulnerable without being weak. She chooses to lean on others sometimes, but she never needs to. It’s such a refreshing take, especially in a genre where the female lead is either totally helpless or has to completely steamroll everyone around her to seem "strong."
Gameplay Mechanics:
Now... let’s get into gameplay because, oh boy, The Silent Kingdom went above and beyond here. As an avid otome player, I was ready to mash the "A" button through dialogue like usual — but nope, they gave us so much more.
First off, the dialogue options are amazing. You get real choices, and they matter! Like, actually matter. I can't tell you how satisfying it was when a character would turn me down because I hadn’t built up enough of a bond with them — it made every interaction feel earned. Plus, the small, missable conversations and interactions you could have based on previous dialogue choices? Absolute chef’s kiss.
On top of that, you can roam the world freely, explore beautiful areas, interact with objects and NPCs, and even fight enemies in a turn-based system — but with timed reaction mechanics that kept battles from feeling stale. Plus, quick-time events during cutscenes?? An actual trust meter when you're talking to people?? Yes, please! Oh, and a small but important thing: you can run or walk. No more painfully slow trips across maps. It’s the little things that show how much love went into this game.
Art and Visuals:
Okay, let’s just take a second to appreciate how gorgeous this game is.
The character art? Beautiful. Honestly gave me major Eureka Seven vibes (shoutout to Kenichi Yoshida's style) mixed with backgrounds as breathtaking as Odin Sphere.
Character sprites move naturally, talk with animations, show emotions — and when big moments hit? We get beautiful full-screen CGs that just slam you with emotion. I still can’t believe this is coming from an indie dev, and to top it off, it’s a single person at that?! It's absolutely insane and utter GREATNESS.
Music and Sound:
Now. We have to talk about the music.
The soundtrack by Mikel Dale? It had no business being this good.
Epic. Mesmerizing. Full of heart. The game knows exactly when to drop those songs too — they’re not just looping in the background; they hit at the right moments. It’s been a long time since I played a game where the music alone pulled me in this hard. (Side note: my husband isn’t even into dating sims and even he got curious because the soundtrack was that good. We were literally debating dialogue options together — that’s how powerful the combo of plot + music was.)
Replayability:
As soon as I finished the early access chapter, I was already itching to restart and make new choices, pursue different characters, unlock hidden scenes. I love that the game doesn’t spoon-feed you the "correct" answers for romances either — it makes every relationship feel authentic and genuinely earned. Playing "blind" made falling in love with the characters and story feel real, not mechanical. Just like it used to feel when I first discovered otomes.
Areas for Improvement:
Honestly? There’s not a lot I would change.
Maybe a few little things like letting us save at any time (right now it's only at set points, but there's autosave, so not the end of the world), maybe adding more button prompts during battles for elemental dodging (keep us even more on our toes), and controller configuration options would be nice. Oh, and a basic "Auto" for text if people wanna just chill during dialogue.

I hope to update this with further progression of the game's development.

After playing this game nonstop for several days, pursuing both options individually (and at once x3), as well as neither, I think it's safe to say that I'd 100% recommend this to anyone who enjoys a story driven game, with BEAUTIFUL art, intriguing story, and rich in character development--depending on the player's choices.

You CAN play this without pursuing either potential bachelor, but- WHY? Regardless you are not robbed of the main story if you chose to play that way. Your boring, route-less journey won't effect enjoyment of the story. There's a lot of character depth if you interact with the characters. Honestly, it's easy to just avoid most romantic elements while still getting a phenomenal story experience. It;s pretty much up to the player how far anything will go.

--- game info
The battle system is fun too. Not crazy complicated. I've seen some people voice wanting more battle encounters. I'm not fully decided on that. The random battles are sparse enough not to distract much from the story.
You don't have access to potions or a shopkeeper with any (that I know of). So something would need to be added if the random battles are made more common. I had a little trouble grinding for stuff to sell due to lack of potions. I did have fun finding the ones I did though.

I absolutely love how consequential some of your decisions are. The funny thing is that I happened to choose all the right things the first time I played. So when i tried experimenting + rushing during my following playthroughs, I was surprised to discover so many end game results. It's really cool how not all "game overs" are the same. They get more intense the farther you are in the game.

There is one specific spot that it seems EVERYONE gets stuck on.
HINT: make people like you at parties.

I seriously can't wait for the further development of this game. There's so much depth to the characters!!

Deep, dark, beautiful, sexy, macabre... HIGHLY story driven! Might've had like 15-20 fights during my entire playthrough! Fights were fun. Turn based, with different abilities depending on the character and direct interaction from the player can provide extra attacks and parries. My entire first playthrough was 7-8 hours, pretty well searching everything I could and reading every dialogue. And that's another main point! Early Access! I didn't realize until it had me save right after the first, big main event (climax of Chapter 1) and it started rolling credits that that was all I get for now! I actually went back and played it through a second time, just to check the choices I didn't pick the first time through, in case there was a hidden, alternate path I missed (not going to spoil what I found) and to find things I missed the first time through. Anyway... I loved it and I'm DYING for more! Even only just realized it's considered a Visual Novel which I've blocked from my searches due to a few bad past experiences. I MIGHT have to rethink that policy. The story of this one captivated me so much that I was hooked on every word and every choice. Finishing it actually left me with the feeling you get after reading an amazing book and suddenly getting dumped back into the real world. I was left unable to find something else to truly draw me in for the rest of the day. Luckily, I was turned onto this one by a YouTube video! One word of warning... Save often because choices can have meaning and sometimes you suddenly get dropped into a consequential situation with your last autosave half an hour back or so (as with many RPG's, I suppose, but still)! I just realized that the only other game that ever moved me enough to write a review was Nier Automata. So The Silent Kingdom's in good company as far as my interests are concerned!