About This Game A darker fairy tale: this time, the setting is much darker than in previous games.GAME FEATURESWith over 35 CGs and pin-up images, one of the biggest Winter Wolves games yet!Play as the dark elf Amber in a dating/crafting simulation in a dark/gothic worldThree otome romances (Daniel, Bernard & Lair), one yuri romance (Ruby)And for the first time, two poly romances (Cosmina and Lynn)Shop builder minigame: build your own "magic shop"!Amber, a dark elf, was abandoned as baby in the woods south of Icesilia. She was found and raised by Vin, a witch, who decided she should become an alchemist. When Amber turned sixteen, Vin sent her to Icesilia as apprentice to the legendary mage Haros.In the big town of Icesilia, she'll train and once she reachs adult age, become a master alchemist running her own shop, and along the way also meet interesting characters who might become something more than just friends:Daniel, Haros' son, who wants to be a mage like his father but also trains in alchemy. In competition with Amber since young age, he'll need to be careful to not be consumed by his pride.Bernard, a brave young man who wants to become a famous adventurer. Paranoid and ill-tempered, he'll need to learn to control himself to avoid doing things he might regret.Lair, the son of the influent noble elf Arnor. Naïve but with good heart, suffers the bad influence of his arrogant father Arnor.Ruby, a seductive young woman who turned vampire just recently, struggling to not lose the humanity still left in her.Cosa and Anders, two mysterious silver-haired adventurers who will ask Amber's help, and might reveal themselves to be something more than they look.Lynn, a cute elf who runs the herbalist shop with her mother. A marriage with a noble has been arranged for her, but she's not sure if she really wants it.The game can be played as a dating sim and offers an optional crafting/simulation game. Each choice will change Amber's (and her friends/love interests) alignment: there's Dark and Light. But be careful: dark and light doesn't mean wrong or right. There are no right or wrong choices in this game, though some endings are more sad and cruel than others!The game features 4 different endings for each love interest, with some dark events/scenes never seen before in a Winterwolves' game. Play the game at your own risk! Unlock all the endings of a specific character to discover bonus pin-up images. 7aa9394dea Title: Amber's Magic ShopGenre: Adventure, SimulationDeveloper:Winter WolvesPublisher:Winter WolvesRelease Date: 8 Jun, 2017 Amber's Magic Shop Key Serial So good, I really liked the game! I've still got loads of endings to play through, definitely a good buy. I enjoyed how the game was split up into two parts (adolescence and adulthood) that was a good touch. I only wish there were more male partner options; there are only 3. However each one has 4 possible endings, so I suppose it almost makes up for it :). Pros:+You can date female characters and even have poly relationships if you're into these things. +The dialogue wasn't tiresome. I have played some visual novels that have heavy dialogue that bores you after a while. Cons:-The characterization is actually rather poor mainly because you actually barely get to spend any time with the characters. I wish there were maybe fewer characters so that you could spend more time with each one of them-The crafting is generally alright, however the final quests are a bit too hard, even on easy mode. It is way too difficult to raise the stats to the required level. I think they should have made it a bit easier.-There is actually very little romance. I felt that this was more of a game about friends than about romance.Overall, I was disappointed and I expected more. It's not a terrible game, but I felt like they wasted its potential. The idea of the crafting mini game was interesting but the execution was rather mediocre.. Hey, this is my first review of a game so it would not be perfect but I'll try. The Gameplay Amber's Magic Shop is first and foremost a crafting game with dating sim aspects. However, if you're more of a reader then you can skip the gameplay entirely and focus more on the storytelling. At first, I was confused by the crafting system but after some practice, I got used to it and enjoyed it. The crafting does get a little tedious over time but I still found it unique and enjoyable. As for the dating sim part, the choices for the romances you're pursuing are very different from a usual dating sim. The choices you make will affect your alignment with the romances instead of your relationships with them. I'll be elaborating more on the romances further down the review. The Storytelling The story here is about Amber, a dark elf, who is trying to be a master alchemist. Due to her race, she experiences discrimination from the other races. Despite that, she does meet open-minded and generally good people. There are 2 phases of her story: Young and Adult Phases. The Young Phase concentrates mostly on Amber's apprenticeship and her interactions with the new environment she is in and the people living there. The Adult Phase is generally about Amber managing her own shop and embarking on interesting quests. I find that showing the 2 phases of Amber's life to be unique and different from other visual novels. Although I feel the Adult Phase is kind of shorter than the Young Phase, I am overall satisfied with the storytelling. The Artwork I love the style of the art and the artworks for the endings really capture the feel of the story. The background artworks are also appropriate and easy on the eyes. I find the artworks for the ingredients to be rather cute and pretty to look at. The Soundtracks The soundtracks are excellent and fit with most of the storytelling of Amber's Magic Shop. I love the main menu theme because you can feel Amber is going to achieve many great feats as an alchemist. My only complaint is that during the crafting, there is no music. This does make the crafting rather dull to play so it will be great to have some interesting soundtracks while crafting. The Romances There are 6 romances: 3 otome, 1 yuri and 2 poly. As I mentioned above, you can make certain choices which make affect your alignment with the romances. There are 4 different alignments: Light+, Light, Dark and Dark+. Each alignment leads to different endings of the romances that you have pursued. Do note that some of the endings can be unexpected. The interaction between Amber and her pursued love interests are all different from the rest. I personally love 2 of the routes: Bernard and Cosmina. For Bernard, I love how Amber first met and interacted with him. As they interact more further down the storyline, I feel it is very obvious that they have grown to care for each other in their own ways. As for Cosmina, I like the way how the poly romance is handled and I love the storyline for this route the most. Overall, I like most of the endings but some of the endings are rather short and abrupt.All in all, Amber's Magic Shop is a rather interesting game and is, like every other games, not without flaws. I had fun playing this and I would recommend this to any crafting lovers and visual novel readers. If you're still not sure, you can always try the demo out.. I liked it a lot - more for story & the art than the crafting - but defintiely one of the best Aravorn games.The gameplay did get a little bit grindy towards the end (nowhere like Queen of Thieves), but there is a pure storyline mode for replays thankfully.The dark and light mechanic is a little misnamed I think, looking out for #1 vs selfl sacrificing would often be the better way of putting it.But for me those are minor quibbles, I liked all the characters, and that their plotlines actually intersected, and the art was really lovely.. This game is a CRAFTING game, and you can really enjoy and feel the story if you play the normal mode. I recommend to use the the VN mode only when you want to unlock the other ending. But for firstplay, I would really prefer to play in the crafting mode... Either way, i really love the story, jst like your other works. Good job winter wolves!. A fun game with an extensive craft\/shop system and many interesting romances.My first playthrough lasted 8 hours on easy sim mode and I chose Bernard as my main love interest (he's a cutie). Visual novel mode skips all the sim parts and is available from the start, perfect to get all endings or if you're in it for the story, but it does considerably shorten the game.During the first half you focus on passing your alchemy exam and are friends with all the romanceable characters. After the time skip, the sprites change (I loved it), you are the owner of your own shop and are given a choice on who to pursue romantically.The gameplay was pretty fun especially after you unlock the main story quest, since you need to build and upgrade multiple rooms in your shop to craft what you need. There's a lot of options to choose from: you can study, you can craft items yourself, you can buy low and sell high, you can increase your reputation and use it to increase your skills and buy stuff.I was pretty conflicted on who to romance first since all the characters are interesting and pretty different in their interactions with Amber. It was sad to see her cut ties with some.The choice system determines her alignment with her romantic interest, either dark or light, and it influences the ending you get. I've done most of the Light+ endings and they're fluffy and happy. The normal Light endings for some characters already feel bittersweet. If you choose to keep the gameplay, you need to craft an item for the ending to unlock. In VN mode you can effortlessly choose it.The romance acts independently from the main story quest, so you can actually get two endings in one playthrough (oh, and Manuel's bonus mini-route is cute!).I had fun and totally recommend it :D if you're uncertain try the demo first!. Pros:+You can date female characters and even have poly relationships if you're into these things. +The dialogue wasn't tiresome. I have played some visual novels that have heavy dialogue that bores you after a while. Cons:-The characterization is actually rather poor mainly because you actually barely get to spend any time with the characters. I wish there were maybe fewer characters so that you could spend more time with each one of them-The crafting is generally alright, however the final quests are a bit too hard, even on easy mode. It is way too difficult to raise the stats to the required level. I think they should have made it a bit easier.-There is actually very little romance. I felt that this was more of a game about friends than about romance.Overall, I was disappointed and I expected more. It's not a terrible game, but I felt like they wasted its potential. The idea of the crafting mini game was interesting but the execution was rather mediocre.. I loved this game, I found it delightful and interesting. As the synopsis suggests, you are Amber, and having grown up in the woods being raised by your adoptive mother, you\u2019re sent to the big city to become an apprentice alchemist. You spend the first portion of the game at this stage, where you get to know your new love-interests\/friends, and make decisions that shape how your personality develops (i.e. do you want a light or dark alignment, are you selfish or selfless, etc\u2026). Later you progress to the \u2018adult\u2019 stage (complete with a change of appearance for you and the other characters), having (hopefully) passed your exams you start your own business, a \u2018magic shop\u2019. It\u2019s slightly weird that none of this game seems to focus on actually RUNNING the titular magic shop. You gain \u2018jobs\u2019 elsewhere (and occasionally a customer will come in with a special order), craft the required objects and gain money\/xp\/loot\/reputation (depending on what reward you wanted). You can upgrade your shop to give yourself various bonuses, like more daily cash (never enough to do much with, but it\u2019s something), or allows crafting more advanced items. The \u2018alignment\u2019 system is a tad weird, sometimes the choices you make that gain you light or dark points don\u2019t really seem to fit (an important decision that nets you a whopping 5 light points requires you to publicly humiliate yourself for someone else\u2019s benefit, something he never really appreciates or apologises for). The crafting system I really enjoyed (though you can skip it entirely with the visual novel mode), even if the one ingredient I needed most was NEVER in stock\u2026 It was a nice change of pace, instead of a combat system, you gain xp by crafting. The main story is nicely engaging, and most of the love-interest specific stories are interesting too. I was delighted to see yuri and poly options for romance, the game also features a gay character and a trans character (yay!). Interestingly there is no jealousy mechanic, Amber just openly dates multiple people, periodically breaking up with them until she\u2019s only dating one. I like this, but it can lead to some weird moments such as the character who\u2019s arch largely revolves around him becoming paranoid and self-centred, seems perfectly fine with you dating other people at the same time (though will assume the worst if\/when you break up with him). The worst I can say is that some of the love-interest stories seem a bit shallow and could have done with more fleshing out. Essentially my key criticism of the game is I want MORE. More detail, more story, more places to visit and things to craft. More little side-stories. I of course understand there\u2019s only so much a developer can feasibly fit in a game, and honestly if the worst I can say about a game is \u2018It left me wanting more\u2019 then I dare say that makes it a pretty decent game. It took me about 30 hours to get ALL achievements and see everything, so I\u2019m happy it was money well spent. If you ONLY played it through on visual novel mode, you might feel otherwise, I don\u2019t know.. I cannot recommend this game, it is mostly grindy and the romance aspects of the game are over quickly. Not really enjoyable, more of a time waster.
Amber's Magic Shop Key Serial
Updated: Mar 20, 2020
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