Engaging like no other
The Survival of Sarah Rose's review
Developer: HappyDaedalus
Genre: Visual Novel
Reviewed version: 0.70
Censored: No
Patch Needed: No
OS: Windows
Language: English
One of the things I've always been looking for in lewd visual novels is epic fantasies where a bad choice means you're screwed. Something like Leap of Love, but without the stats management bits. That's what The Survival of Sarah Rose is, and I can't deny I enjoyed it a lot.
Pros
Engaging plot with many routes and endings
Multiple choices that matter
Immersing soundtrack
Neutral
Art is pretty despite the inconsistent art style
Cons
Dialogues have typos
It ends with a cliffhanger
It puts you in the shoes of a princess named Sarah Rose as her life is thrown into chaos after the murder of her father, the king of Rosanna. Things take a turn for the worse shortly after, and she has to find a way to fend off for herself to avoid getting killed or suffering a fate worse than death. The story gets you hooked from the get-go with its stellar writing and lovable cast, plus each choice you make has an impact on the plot in one way or another. It leads to either lesser changes, such as bonding with unexpected characters, or major changes that lead the protagonist to become a powerful mage or a mercenary that learns first-hand how cruel the world is.
On the downside, there is a good chunk of typos, and it has the same problem many visual novels in early access have: it ends with a massive cliffhanger. What's worse, it ends at a point where you're so engrossed with the story you can't help but want more of it, like a kid high on sugar who wants more candies. However, it gets regularly updated, so these issues will likely be fixed sooner or later.
The game's visuals are beautiful, albeit a bit inconsistent at times. In some scenes, the colors are mellow, while in others are very vibrant regardless of whether it's a day or a night shot. On another note, the soundtrack has a few ambient tracks that are very immersive and enhance the scenes.
Verdict: Must Play
Despite its issues, The Survival of Sarah Rose is a game anyone looking should play just because of how good the writing (and the eye candy to a lesser extent) is. Whether you buy it now or wait for updates depends on how much you can tolerate typos and cliffhangers, but I'd get it now if I were you.