![]() You can play around with your crush a little and aren’t immediately guaranteed a bad ending. Certain magic builds might be more advantageous, yes, but there is no one right way to do things. But Wolf Hall is more than happy to let you try out multiple paths to get your desired outcome. So many visual novels hinge on you making the exact right series of choices in the exact right order, and failure to do this will result in bad or neutral endings that painfully drag out your playthrough as you slog back through the story and attempt to find out where things went terribly wrong. Simply put, it was fun, and fun in a way I haven’t enjoyed in a very long time. But Wolf Hall actually made me want to replay it. I realize to some readers that might sound obnoxious. Even failing to be in the library on a specific day and time can cause missed cutscenes, so it’s in your best interest to either save scum or just accept that you’ll need a few playthroughs to find all the hidden bits of the story. Sticking to a certain character’s route limits your interactions with others for example, going down Barbara’s route seemed to limit how much I was able to interact with Ellen, so she ended up getting back together with her toxic pseudo-boyfriend. Of course it’s impossible to do everything in one single read. Wolf Hall even tells you in a side tab what choices you’ve made that are changing the current dialogue, so you can keep track of what you did right/might want to try differently on subsequent playthroughs, because it fully expects you to go through at least a few runs. Would you rather just join one and focus all your energy on netting your crush? That’s fine too. You want to join five clubs and run for class president? Awesome. The VN gives the player a good variety across who they can date (male or female options), how they look, what classes they take, what clubs they join, even what kind of personality they’re intending to culture (are you more sporty or flirty?). That’s the strength of Wolf Hall in a nutshell. ![]() You never know for sure how spells, skills, and choices you made on the weekend are going to affect something weeks or months down the line, much like in actual school. At other times another student might make a comment on red or green magic, and your reply is dictated by how high your level is within that particular camp of magic. For example, maybe you need the silence spell to sneak after a character late one night hopefully you learned that already. But the VN blends your spells and magic skill with the story from beginning to end. If it were just building up your magic for exams, though, I wouldn’t think Wolf Hall was worth much. ![]() You won’t know for sure which spells will help you on the exams, so it pays to play around with different camps on different playthroughs (helpful tip, though a pure blue/white magic build left me up a creek on one of the exams, so I’d recommend at least putting a little time into red and especially black). Attending class successfully nets you points in one of five magic skills, and enough points will earn you new spells in that particular camp. You plan out your classes one week at a time, then spend Saturday floating between the mall, extra study sessions, or practicing your new spells in the dungeons. Much like the previous installment, Magical Diary: Wolf Hall does a fantastic job of handling the time management aspect of the visual novel. The game is very explicit that once you get the crown back home you’ll never truly be able to leave, so this is your one chance to spread your wings and have a grand ol’ time of it. In Wolf Hall, you’re on the complete other end of the spectrum as you play a magical prince from a distant land, here to enjoy one year abroad before going home. In the original Magical Diary, you played as a wildseed girl (a magic user with non-magic parents) who’s come to Iris Academy in order to become a proper witch. ![]() Hanako Games popped up on Kickstarter last year trying to make a sequel, and I decided to back it just to see how differently they’d try to do things this time around. I played the original Magical Diary (subtitle Horse Hall ) years ago, and remember enjoying the time management elements even if I can’t recall much of the plot. Magical Diary: Wolf Hall is a delightful sequel that builds upon its predecessor in the best of ways. ![]()
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