Happy Tuesday everyone!
You know… I see a lot of guides and walkthroughs of romance-able routes from amazing members in the otome community. I’m not the best at guide writing as I’m an old fashioned pen and paper kind of gal. BUT? I did want to do my part in giving fans and enthusiasts of the genre something of the like so I am starting up a new feature on the blog dedicated to route reviews in select otomes that I’ve played or are playing. For all you folks who have yet to pick up the game or play this route, fear not. I have no intention of releasing spoilers or route CGs on this. What sparked this idea? Well… there was this guy with a love for minerals…
Anyone who has been watching Heroines or follows me on Twitter knows that I’ve been loving one of the newer mobile otomes that released this past December from the Shall We Date? franchise called War of Prayers. In conjunction with the podcast and our Pizza Plays / Sushi Plays segment the viewers last week chose that I try Evans’ route in the game. Prior to that I had played and completed both Matthew and Liam’s and I thought for sure I’d make Liam my best boy in this game, AND THEN I PLAYED EVANS’ ROUTE.
As per his description in the game:
Although he may appear to be flirtatious and frivolous, Evans is genuinely kind and passionate about the things he loves. He is from the country of Sapphirus, which he takes great care in maintaining as well as preventing it from falling into ruin.
Evans is very intelligent, as he is often reading or writing. In addition, he possesses a vast knowledge about minerals as a result of the large amount of time spent studying about them. He becomes enthusiastic when sharing his knowledge with others and as a child, he was referred to as the Walking Mineral Encyclopedia.
His weapon of choice is a bow and arrow and his remarkable eyesight is sometimes compared to that of a hawk’s.
Now when I ran through the prologue and was introduced to him I thought to myself, “Okay he’s definitely pretty, but he sounds like he’s full of himself and minerals. Probably not going to be my cup of tea. I’ll throw him to the pretty pile with Amnesia’s Ikki. ” Couple that with the fact that I went through Liam’s route before his, I thought without a doubt I was just going to flat out not enjoy playing it.
The game itself I’m really impressed by because it’s collaboration of narrative, music and art complements each other so well you get engrossed into the story that is presented to you. More so than any of the other routes I’ve played? I REALLY absorbed myself into Evans’ route much to my surprise. He really is quite the wordsmith and the ladies in the story love him, but there’s something about him that really shows his sincerity towards the protagonist, and for myself? I really fell for him.
From the exchange of dialogue shared between you and Evans when playing through the route and the CGs unlocked? His route is a balance of romance meets physical desire, and I FELT IT. I had my moments where my heartstrings were tugged because it was so cute, and then I had moments I found myself blushing. The writers of this otome? Bless your heart and use of adjectives. You got a grown woman blushing like something fierce AND butterflies in my stomach; something I haven’t felt when playing an otome for some time. Those “passionate” moments in both the route and it’s sequel were intense, but were classy when executed.
Additionally, should you decide to spoil yourself on this route and peek at the CGs? The art style is really well done and upon first impressions they’re tame at best. When you’re seeing these images WHILE playing through the route on a blind run? Oh my…. /fans herself. I got worked up, and that surprised me. I finished the blind run with a “Prayer Maiden” ending and even after I had finished the route and turned off my phone for the night I was left in a state of euphoria BECAUSE I enjoyed the route so much.
I always leave the choice at the discretion of the player, but I will say from all the routes I played? I enjoyed this one the most. Evans you sly dog, you. Such a smooth operator…
If you’re interested in checking out War of Prayers for yourself you can pick up the game and try out the free prologue for free on iOS and Android. The routes themselves cost USD $4.99, the sequel costs USD $0.99 and the spin off stories “The Night of the Honey Bunny Moon” and “The Glorious Sacred Grail” each cost USD $1.99.
