I’ve loved Otome games since I was in high school, when I was introduced to Mystic Messenger. Since then, I’ve played many mobile Otome games, but never any on PC. If you’ve never played an Otome game before, you may not know what they are. Essentially, they’re story-based games that center heavily around romance, and they tend to be marketed for women with a female protagonist. When we were offered a code for Celestia: Chain of Fate in return for an honest review, I jumped at the opportunity. I was in love from the second I watched the trailer!
Celestia: Chain of Fate is a romantic visual novel with heavy fantasy elements throughout. While Celestia offers a very casual playthrough, that doesn’t mean it lacks in content. Overall, it’s a very charming game that’s easy to lose yourself in. As you’re playing, you can tell that the developers put a lot of work into all aspects of Celestia to create a truly magical experience. If you love Otome games as much as I do, keep reading this Celestia: Chain of Fate review to see why it’s worth trying for yourself!
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Story – Welcome to Celestia Academy!
When it comes to Otome games, the story is arguably the most important aspect. Sure, romancing cute boys is enticing, but it can quickly become boring without a compelling narrative. Celestia: Chain of Fate really excels at creating both an immersive AND interesting storyline. The story is broken up into chapters, which can help the player to find a good point in the game to save and quit. However, at the end of each chapter I found myself moving right into the next one without a second thought. It’s seriously so hard to walk away from Celestia once you’ve loaded it up!

You play as a female protagonist (and you get to name her!) who has been raised as a human her entire life. On her 18th birthday (presumably; the game makes it clear she’s reached adulthood), she receives a strange letter inviting her to enroll in Celestia Academy. After taking this letter to her adoptive parents, it’s revealed that she’s actually a half-Daemon, half-Angelus hybrid. As far as everyone knows, she’s the only hybrid of this kind. Her family reveals that she must attend Celestia Academy for her own good, so she can learn how to use and control her magic.

Meet Ash, Luke, and Val
Once you’ve begun your journey to Celestia Academy, it’s not long before you start meeting our potential love interests: Ash, Luke, and Val. The first one to be introduced to the story is Ash. He is a half-Angelus, half-human hybrid. You meet him while waiting for the train to Celestia Academy, after helping a woman who turns out to be his mother. Even this early into the game, you get to see what kind of a person Ash is. Although he comes off a bit guarded at first, you quickly find that he’s very kind and caring. After your initial meet at the station, you’re able to share a train car with him while traveling to the academy, which makes for some pretty cute cutscenes right off the bat.

When you finally arrive at Celestia Academy, something dangerous happens. I’ll have to be a bit vague in the interest of keeping this review spoiler-free so you can enjoy the story yourself. However, this is also when you get to briefly meet both Luke and Val. All three boys work together to save your life, which allows you to get a glimpse of Luke and Val’s personalities. Val is a full Daemon, and while he can come across harsh, it’s easy to see that it’s because his emotions run deep. In contrast, Luke is a full Angelus. He’s the complete opposite of Val in nearly every way. Luke is very sweet and gentle, and he knows all the right things to say to make your heart swell.

Stay in School, Kids
Although it’s extremely easy to get swept up in all of the romance and magic at Celestia Academy, it’s extremely important to focus on your classes as well. Failing to do so can easily lead to trouble more than once throughout the game. It’s crucial to make sure that you’re working on controlling and strengthening your magic. In order to graduate from the academy, students must complete trials related to their race. Your scores on these will be important, particularly in the Daemon and Angelus realms. The higher a student ranks in the trials, the higher rank they are given when they graduate. This can determine your status for the rest of your life after graduating.

Celestia’s story isn’t always sunshine and rainbows, but I like it better that way. The romantic scenes feel so much lighter when there’s a little turmoil in between! While your main goal is graduate with high scores in the trials, there are several smaller objectives that you’ll be working on as well. Sometimes these side objectives can lead you into dangerous situations, but they’re important to the overall story. All the more reason to study hard in between your romantic adventures!

Gameplay – Follow Your Heart With Caution
As is typical with Otome and other visual novel games, the majority of your gameplay in Celestia: Chain of Fate consists of clicking through the story and making choices as they become available to you. However, Celestia does a great job at making sure that those choices actually matter. Of course, you should follow your heart when making your choices, but you should also be mindful in Celestia.

As I mentioned above, the storyline in Celestia isn’t pure fluff. You can easily find yourself unlocking a bad ending in this game. Don’t worry, though! As long as you’re saving frequently, this won’t be an issue. Unfortunately, one of the downfalls of Celestia is its lack of autosave feature. I learned this the hard way within the first five chapters. I hadn’t saved regularly enough and had to replay through nearly two dozen lines of dialogue to get back to where I’d been. Once I started to save nearly every time a choice was presented to me, I didn’t run into any more issues.
Nobody’s Perfect
In general, the game could do a better job showing the player how to use certain features. Some of them are pretty crucial to the game, in my opinion, but Celestia seems to leave you to your own devices when it comes to actual game mechanics. For example, I wasn’t able to save for the first three chapters (at least!) because I didn’t know how to do so. Purely by chance, I right-clicked, and was blessed with the pause menu. From there, I was able to manually save my game, as well as find the ‘guide’ to Celestia’s mechanics.

While there is a quick save feature, it’s a bit counterintuitive and I’m not sure I trust it. Quick save files aren’t stored with your regular save files, but instead they’re loaded by pressing the ‘G’ key. Frankly, I didn’t use it as I was scared to lose any progress. On the bright side, once you’ve found your way to the ‘guide,’ it’s smooth sailing from there in terms of gameplay. I was finally able to use features I didn’t even know existed.

Lastly, if you’re a stickler for grammar and spelling, Celestia can occasionally make your eye twitch. Generally the interactions and overall text read well, but sometimes you’ll come across something that just isn’t right. It’s rare, but when it happened, it took me out of the story a bit. It didn’t impact my overall enjoyment, but it could for others, so I felt compelled to warn you all.
Audio & Visuals – The MVPs of Visual Novels
I don’t even know how to make you guys understand just how many screenshots I took for Celestia. The ones you see in this article are seriously just a fraction of the ones stored on my laptop! I am genuinely obsessed with the art in this game. Sometimes, particularly in Otome games, the visuals can fall short in terms of showing a character’s emotion. Celestia kills it in this category, though, and not just with the three love interests. The protagonist and even side characters have a wide range of emotive scenes, which really helps to immerse the player in the story.

The art style within the game is extremely versatile as well, ranging from breathtaking shots of Ash, Luke, and Val to unsettling scenes at night. It’s clear that the artists for Celestia put a ton of passion into this project, and they did an exceptional job. There were many times I was kicking my feet and giggling or literally laughing out loud at the scenes in this game! The art brought a lot of joy to my overall experience, and I really appreciate all of the work and detail put into it. I wish I could make a gallery and share all of my favorite moments with you, but you’ll just have to experience them for yourself!

A Beautiful Soundtrack, and Great Sound Effects
The soundtrack and general sound effects are also quite impressive in Celestia. As you play, there’s a generic soundtrack for the background music that’s very easy on the ears. It reminds me of Lo-Fi, which I personally love. I toggled the volume to keep it fairly quiet; just enough that I wasn’t playing in silence, but not so loud that it impaired my ability to read the story.
While the soundtrack is nice background noise for your Celestia sessions, the real star of the show is the sound effects. They’re integrated into nearly every part of the game, which really adds to the atmosphere as a whole. You’ll find them in nearly every scene, from combat to the more romantic moments. I didn’t expect such a comprehensive soundscape from an Otome game. It was just the last piece of the puzzle to make Celestia’s story a truly immersive experience!

Verdict
Although I admittedly have a soft spot for Otome games, Celestia: Chain of Fate has quickly become one of my favorites. Of course, attractive love interests are a must-have, but I’m always looking for a great story to go with them. Celestia goes above and beyond with its storyline, both in quality and quantity. I’m only a little over halfway through the game, but it has already provided over ten hours of gameplay. That doesn’t even include the side stories!
This is one of those games that I could gush about for hours, and honestly, that’s high praise from me. Celestia: Chain of Fate has provided one of the most immersive, fleshed-out experiences I’ve ever found in an Otome game. If you’re also a fan of this genre, or have been curious to try it, I highly recommend giving Celestia a chance. I think you’ll be glad you did!
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