The thing I like the most about this game is the historical context. I just recently learned that it's (semi) based on real events and that made me appreciate the game a little more than before.
The artstyle is absolutely gorgeous, I personally love the look of all the characters, and the writing is fairly decent. There are some minor spelling mistakes here and there, nothing too terrible. The story lines are alright for the most part, though I personally found it kinda hard to get through the first few chapters. There is little romance until the very end and the main character is just so incompetent. I often wished that she could just learn how to fight or do anything helpful besides standing around and crying.
Is this game a must-play though? I don't think so. It's a very popular franchise and I do think that people who generally enjoy Otomes will have a fairly good time but I also think that there are better games out there.

A relatively fresh take on a pretty overused concept.
I first played the demo, not really knowing what to expect, and found myself being sucked into the gameplay real quick. It's not really a game that challenges the life simulation genre with new twists and turns but it does offer some features that I didn't know I wanted until I got to experience them. One of these features is the holiday system, I think it's so much more interactive than in games such as Stardew Valley and I liked that they included some holidays I haven't really seen before. I also really appreciate the friendship/dating system that allows you to meet with villagers for a rendezvous and do different activities together or, if you're really close, take them for a ride or walk around town. It made me more interested in befriending others and I always looked forward to these little meetings.
The town feels alive, with NPCs following their daily schedules and having their own little social circles and backstories, I often was surprised by the amount of things I was able to learn about each villager just by talking to them.
The social events and quests are often a delight, though some might feel repetitive, others really challenge you and how much you can produce in your workshop. I was glad to learn that farming is not mandatory in this game because it really is one of my least favourite aspects of any life sim and it's not very fleshed out in this game either.
Personally, I enjoy this game just as much, if not more, as other, well established life sims and if you can get it cheap, you should definitely consider trying it. Now, it's not completely bug free and some gameplay aspects, such as combat and mining, are less desirable in my opinion, but if you're able to overlook these points, you'll have a sweet, fulfilling little game that might end up keeping you busy for months.

The Unfinished Swan is a creative walking sim that has something oddly nostalgic about it, kinda like reading a picture book as a child and imagining yourself into the hero's shoes, seeing strange and enchanting things happening around you while barely taking action yourself. It has a great art style and the story is both sad and uplifting, which i think makes this game special, but i can't say that it would keep me invested for longer than 20 mins at a time. Definitely give it a try if you're into this type of gameplay, I might didn't exactly love it but it's an adorable game with a bitter sweet story to tell.

There is a lot to be said about this game and even though I haven't played it in 10 years or so, I can still remember it in great detail. It is not a perfect game, there are issues here and there that I don't really want to get into because I find that the positive aspects overshadow the negative ones.
First of all, I love the way they got rid of icons and bars on the screen. The whole game is being controlled by gestures, you can wiggle your mouse, pull, grab and point to make changes in the environment, navigate around or build. They did an amazing job implementing that, making the game feel very immersive.
The villagers are cute and I love to pick them up just to look at them. You can assign them different jobs to raise the quality of life within your city and depending on what buildings you build and how you treat your villagers, they either pray to you in admiration or fear.
You can use Wonders that you unlock to benefit your people or destroy your enemies. I gotta admit, I enjoyed throwing a fire ball at the neighbouring city way too much.
Another cool aspect is that you get to raise a pet, they will help you care for your people and if someone looks at you funny, you can feed them to your pet to teach them a lesson.
It's all very silly and in good fun but it still has semi deep aspects about morality and it definitely is a good idea to choose a side, rather than playing in between.
All in all, this game had a lot of influence on me as a child and I find it such a special experience, no matter where I go, I'll always remember that time I was a god.

It's not a perfect game by far but it's fun, has a great sense of humour and captures a Steampunk setting that's worth exploring. While the combat is not too challenging, it's fun, the story makes you feel like you truly change something within the world of Albion and the character customisation is what you'd expect of a Fable game.
Many people take issue with the King/Queen gameplay and while I do agree that Lionhead could have done a better job, I still thought it was an interesting, morally challenging aspect that I haven't really experienced in any other game before.
This game was made in an extremely short amount of time (I blame Microsoft) yet it still manages to be a decent experience.