VIRCHE EVERMORE: ERROR:SALVATION

On the small island of Arpéchéle, people die by the age of 23 due to the island being cursed by death. They attempt to defy death by creating un-aging clones of their bodies -- known as Relivers -- and download their memories into the clones prior to their death so that they can live on. Ceres is a young woman known as Death by the people of Arpéchéle due to the several mysterious deaths that have occurred due to her presence. She's reviled by the community -- except for her foster brother and mother -- and she tends to be depressed due to the treatment she receives from the people of the island. One day, she meets the Watchman of Death, who prevents her suicide, and he promises to make her a normal girl who isn't cursed by Death if she can solve the mystery of what's happening to the people dying on Arpéchéle from reasons aside from death's curse.

Big warning for this game is that Virche is very grimdark and, frankly, edgy for a lot of the game. It's considered a "horror otome" and there's no character safe from death, or other terrible things happening to them. It's not a happy game! It's sad, depressing, and frankly heartbreaking. Even the salvation endings (their name for "good" endings) frequently still end up being sad. The game is set up into 3 parts, part 1 and 2 can be played right away, but in order to play part 3 (Le Salut) you have to first finish the despair endings for all the other routes. Le Salut is the "true route" for this game, and while I'm normally indifferent to true routes, I think this is the one game where the true route is the only actual good ending for the game. If you're someone who avoids bad endings and normally only plays the good endings, let it be known that NONE of the good/salvation endings can be played until you've played EVERY bad/despair ending. It's not a lighthearted game by any means, and sometimes leans into the despair an excessive amount. Honestly, it sometimes reminded me of something I would have written during my edgy grimdark phase at the age of 12.

Overall, I thought this game was okay. It's by no means my favorite game, but I thought the plot was intruiging. It seems like a lot of people really detest the game for the "bad science" involved in several plot points. It really is awful science. It doesn't make much sense and requires a lot of suspension of belief, but as someone who loves suspending my belief when I'm playing games, I didn't think it was quite as bad as some of the people who truly loathe the game. It is a significant amount of bunk science but hey, sometimes that can be fun.

There is, sadly, only one other woman in this game. That's Sister Salome, or Mother as Ceres and Adolphe call her. She's the head of the orphanage that Ceres lives at and loves Ceres and the other children dearly. She's featured pretty heavily in certain routes and is a very fun character. I liked her, although most people say they hate her after finishing the game. It's understandable why many people have that reaction, but I thought Sister Salome was justified in her feelings and actions.

I think following the route order is a good idea for this game, because each route sort of reveals something huge about the overall story. I thought Chlo's route order was a nice way to ease into the story, but technically if one of the first three boys catches your eye over the others, you can start with him. Yves has to be played after Mathis, Lucas, and Scien, and Adolphe/Ankou have a combo route that you complete as Le Salut after finishing the other 4 routes.

Yves

Yves works for the Corps as the second in command, and also runs a handyman business with his friend Hugh called Courrune. He's a very friendly and kind person, and is very sweet with Ceres despite most of the island reviling her in his presence. He's well-known across the island and is always looking for more work.

I loved Yves route, he's my favorite character in the game. His route is one chapter longer than Mathis, Lucas, and Scien's route and is the first route where you get into the real depth of the game. Still, his salvation ending was a bit too bittersweet for me, but I guess you can't expect nice things in a grimdark game like this.

Yves route is equal parts romance and plot to me. His despair ending was pretty romantic despite being so very, very tragic. You get a lot of plot dump in his route, but I don't think it overshadows the romance at all.

Adolphe

Adolphe is the leader of the Corps and also Ceres foster brother. Adolphe and Sister Salome took Ceres in when no one else would and have taken care of her for a couple years now. Adolphe cares deeply for Ceres and doesn't believe she's cursed by Death. He's a hard worker, but Ceres is worried about him overworking himself at 21 -- the age when most people begin to show signs of the curse.

The Le Salut salvation ending has the absolute best ending for the entire game. I don't care how much you might like the other guys, Adolphe's ending is the only ending that's not bittersweet in some way and has the best outcome for everyone involved. I really really truly enjoyed Adolphe's route because it really wrapped everything up.

Adolphe's route/Le Salut definitely leans more plot over romance, but I think it managed to shove more romance in than a lot of true/canon routes do. They have some very sweet moments together, but there's a lot of plot propping up the route.

Ankou

Ankou is the Watchman of Death who prevents Ceres from committing suicide. He offers her a trade, and says that he'll make her a normal girl without Death's curse if she can solve the mystery of why people are dying in Arpéchéle before the curse is taking them. He's very mysterious, and sometimes just a bit weird.

Ankou's route is combined with Adolphe's, which I thought was really dumb at first but then it made sooo much sense once you play through the route. It's a good route, it's worth playing the rest of the game just to get to Le Salut.

Ankou has a little less romance, but his backstory is very romantic. It's a bit hard to explain without spoiling things, but everything makes sense once you get to the end. Ankou is very, very plot heavy, but he has a huge dash of romance to make up for it.

Scien Brofiise

Scien is the scientist who saved Arpéchéle by inventing the Reliver technology that allows people to survive past the age of 23. He's considered a God by the people of the island, and he knows it. He finds a lot of things boring and only wants to work on things that interest him, leaving topics of research for others that he doesn't care about.

I enjoyed Scien's route, although I'm not overly fond of him as a character. I thought his despair ending was beautiful, and he has one of the more satisfying salvation endings compared to most of the other guys. He's a bit too prickly for me, and I don't like guys who are rude intentionally or unintentionally to the MC, so he just wasn't a favortie. His route was definitely the best out of the original 3 you can play.

Scien's route leans a bit more plot than romance solely because Scien is (at first) incapable of feeling love due to being a Reliver. It takes a while for that feeling to develop, so he's more plot heavy than anything else.

Lucas Proust

Lucas is a teacher who travels to various orphanages every day to teach the kids different subjects about the island they live on. He's very kind and loving towards everyone, and is very patient with Ceres. He cares deeply about her and still refers to her as his student despite only teaching Ceres a handful of times.

I liked Lucas, until the big plot twist reveal in his route. It was just a bit too grimdark for me, and then I thought Ceres was just a bit too unrealistic in her attitude towards Lucas after the reveal. I think his route is pretty well done, but the plot twist just wasn't for me.

Lucas' route is equal parts romance and plot. His plot is very heavy but it's definitely cut with an equal amount of romance.

Mathis Claude

Mathis is a shut in after his brother was brutally murdered. His family is well-known for being translators and authors on the island. He's very shy, but wants to help Ceres and the others with their quests to learn more about the deaths going on around the island.

I'm honestly indifferent to Mathis' route. It's pretty decent, but like Lucas' route, has a crazy plot twist that I wasn't expecting. His plot twist was easier to swallow than Lucas' so I didn't hate it, but it was crazy and sort of took me out of the game briefly because I wasn't expecting it.

Mathis' route is equal romance and plot, although it leans slightly more plot towards the beginning, but by the end it's quite romantic. His despair ending was sort of delightful in a messed up, and he has a very cute salvation ending.

Ceres

Ceres is a young woman who is cursed by Death. She's has multiple people die due to being in her presence. The people of Arpéchéle hate her, and shun her. Her only family is Sister Salome who she calls Mother, and her foster brother Adolphe. Even the children at the orphanage she lives at hates her. She's deeply depressed and suicidal after causing so much death and destruction around her. Ceres is tired of causing problems for people, and simply wants to die to put herself out of her misery and let her family live on without her causing them issues constantly. She cares deeply for other people despite being reviled by the islanders.

I really love Ceres. Is she the prefect represenation of a depressed person? No, but she's not trying to be. I think she's very realistic and it was interesting to see an MC that's frankly full of self-loathing and self-hatred. Ceres really, truly, despises herself and wishes she were dead so she'd stop causing problems for everyone. She's by no means the asskicking, sassy MC who's cracking jokes. I think she's probably my favorite of all the meek MC's because she truly just doesn't see her self worth, and the boys have to show her she's worthy of staying alive. I think it's quite beautiful actually. I think she'll annoy a lot of people with her meek nature, but I thought it was perfect considering her backstory.

Overall, this game was enjoyable, but required serious suspension of belief to find realistic. It's not trying to be realistic, but the bunk science is a little much sometimes. I'm a huge fan of horror, but this game wasn't horror to me as much as it was just grimdark stuff slapped on an otome game. I enjoyed the mechanic that required me to play all the bad endings before I could play the good endings. It was fun as someone who normally plays the good ending and then the bad ending to be forced to do the opposite. I thought Le Salut was a beautiful ending to the game, and it's probably my favorite true route I've played thus far.