Thank you Ratalaika Games for sending us this game to review!

How to Fool a Liar King is the second game in ROSEVERTE (the developer's) series called Story of Eroolia (which is the fictional country where the story is set). The first game, How to Take Off Your Mask, was a game I thoroughly enjoyed, so when the opportunity arose, I knew I had to play this game too.

This game revolves around a protagonist by the name of Regina (or whatever name the player chooses). When she tries to run away from home, she steps out of her bedroom door and somehow magically ends up walking into a strange land. She almost immediately meets a group of guys, one of whom is the love interest. From there, the (mis)adventures spiral on.

How to Fool a Liar King belongs in the genre of visual novels, meaning that it isn't very intensive in gameplay. The user reads through the text on the screen, clicking through when they are finished so that they can advance to the next piece of information. Oftentimes, there are choices in visual novels, essentially making them a digital version of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. How to Fool a Liar King is one of these such games. However, it is also not uncommon to see minigames in visual novels, and How to Fool a Liar King does not have any minigames.

There are two endings. They're not necessarily "good" or "bad" endings that one might see in most visual novels with multiple paths. They are essentially different journeys to the same destination - a romance between the two main characters. I thought this was a really interesting idea, in part because it worked so well, and in part because it's not often seen in the visual novel world.

The first thing I noticed about How to Fool a Liar King – other than the similarities in layout to its prequel – is the art. The art is great, and it’s clear they kept the same artist, because these games have a very unique style in their work. The backgrounds are pretty, too. At one point there is a campfire scene, and the developers chose to create an actual animation for the fire instead of just incorporating it into the rest of the background. I really appreciated this detail, and the animation turned out great. Little details like that are what help to bring a story to life.

The music isn’t noteworthy. It’s not annoying, but it’s not memorable either. The most memorable songs were the ones with singing in them (which comprises of the opening song and the song that one of the characters sings in the middle of the game). The two songs that had vocals were decent, but I preferred the opening to How to Take Off Your Mask (which I’m listening to as I write this).

More notably, How to Fool a Liar King has full Japanese voice acting, just like its predecessor. The acting is great. Any characters from the first game have the same voice actor. The voices are really expressive, and their presence and quality is extremely immersive.

Another thing I noticed is the excellent continuity between games. Details from How to Take Off Your Mask are perfectly preserved, and there’s almost no chronological distance between the two games. The continuity is so good that it feels like the scripts were written right next to each other. It typically takes at least a year to fully develop a game, and given that the original, non-remastered versions were all released two years apart from each other, I am thoroughly impressed.

The controls are pretty standard (I received the Switch version of this game). None of the buttons or functions came across as out of the ordinary to me, and everything that should be there is there. Like its predecessor, How to Fool a Liar King has a start menu that highlights all of the potential paths that can be unlocked (but it doesn’t show the name of the path or chapter until after the user has unlocked it).

Morally speaking, there are a few things I found that parents and Christians in general would definitely want to be aware of. There are a few light cuss words in the game (h*ll, half-***ed), as well as usage of the Lord’s name in vain. One of the characters has the ability to use a form of fantasy magic, and mostly does so for his own gain. There is a point where the love interest is shirtless in doing a task. The protagonist is well trained in martial arts due to her culture, but in the story, she is often caught punching people instinctively, much to everyone’s inconvenience.

At one point in the story, the protagonist is forced into a kiss with another girl, and subsequently forced into a loveless relationship with the same woman (the game makes it clear that the protagonist does not feel attracted to other women). Because of the fact that the two characters are both female, however, at one point, there is a suggestion of polygamy brought up.

Overall, I really enjoyed How to Fool a Liar King, and it was a well made game. I’m excited to play the next game. This title is better suited for older teens and adults, because younger people may not get some of the mentioned nuances.

- Kittycathead