Thank you Aksys Games for sending us a review code!

Virche Evermore –Error Salvation- takes place on a secluded island called Arpéchéle. The inhabitants of this island only live until they’re twenty three. To compensate for their short lifespans, many become relivers by backing up their memories and transferring their information to cloned bodies. Sadly, this is a costly and flawed system and their emotional data is not carried over due to memory limitations. Many choose to live out their natural lives so they don’t fall out of love with their family members or significant others.

Ceres is the default name for the female protagonist you play as. She is also known on the island as “Death” because she tends to accelerate the deadly sickness to those who are within close proximity of her. Spontaneous flames have also erupted beyond her control. In the beginning of the game, you’ll get to see a flashback where these flames combusted in an orphanage and many children lost their lives. Ceres felt horrible and accepted her fate to die in the fire with the other children until she was rescued by a kind-hearted boy who saved her and scarred half of his face in return.

Because of this fire and several deaths linked to Ceres, she was transferred to multiple orphanages before being taken into one unconditionally. She refers to her caretaker as mother and has a guy that she considers a brother named Adolphe. After another uncontrollable incident happens, Ceres heads out to a field of lycoris flowers to end her life. She is stopped by a man who introduces himself as “The Watchman of Death” and he asks to make a contract with her. In exchange for removing her death inducing abilities, he wants her to investigate the mysterious deaths/murders happening throughout the island. As Ceres’ bad luck would have it, some of the sources of murders happen to be eligible bachelors in this otome (reverse harem) visual novel.

Virche Evermore –Error Salvation-is one of the most depressing games I have played in a while. Orphans get burned to death or murdered to make a point. There is a lot of blood, dismemberment, and gore in this game. To make things even more depressing, you have to experience all of the despair endings before you can see any of the remotely happy ones. One of the happy endings still ends with a gravestone so take that into consideration. If you’re looking for a slice of life game, avoid Virche Evermore –Error Salvation-.

Although Virche Evermore –Error Salvation- is somber, the story telling is very good and the multiple villains at large will keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s also neat seeing the different backstories of the characters and some of them are tragic which is par for the course in this title.

Some of the gruesome murders have pregnant prostitutes (and their fetuses) as the victims. Suicide is also a recurring theme in this game. Foul language is present and stops short of the F-bomb. Some of the islanders have faith in God and there is a prominent researcher who considers himself a god. Many of the people on the island believe in reincarnation. Hades is mentioned often as “The Watchman of Death” retreats there often to recharge his powers. On the love front, there are several kissing scenes, but nothing more is shown. There are a couple of instances of drinking and drunkenness shown.

If you’re looking for a unique otome visual novel, Virche Evermore –Error Salvation- won’t disappoint. I highly recommend using a guide to aide you unlocking all of the despair and happier endings properly. It took me multiple attempts to properly unlock the happy endings. There’s fast forward and flowchart features for skipping segments that you have already read to speed up future playthroughs. Al in all, you can anticipate over thirty-five hours of gameplay which justifies the $50 price tag.