The Crown Of Leaves

Do you like anthropomorphic animals? If you’re of the furrier persuasion or if you merely enjoy a well constructed game about the occult, ghosts, mystery and mysticism, then you’ll love The Crown of Leaves by Lingrimm. Follow Roui, a young jeweller and occult investigator as he travels through his homeland of Latori in an attempt to help some dangerous benefactors who have him in their pockets. Danger and adventure await!

DISCLAIMER: Only episode 1 has been released at the moment. 2 and 3 are on their way.

Gameplay

This is a non-kinetic visual novel and a point-and-click adventure game hybrid; there is a nice amount of movement, clicking and investigations for the player to engage in.

I truly enjoyed the puzzles throughout and given the games that this hybrid is formed from, there are an incredible amount of people to talk to and conversations to have. If I can offer any advice to the player, talk to everyone, click on everything and listen to what everyone has to say. Pay attention and you should do fine, and paying attention isn’t hard when everyone has so much character.

There is a great deal of exploration, collecting and crafting throughout but most of all, I loved the choice. It really feels like you get to choose who you want to be and that is something that a lot of games really benefit from, this included. It actually brings the old Professor Layton and the Curious Village game to mind, great characters, excellently designed and brilliantly delivered.

Art Style

I will be blunt; I was blown away by the art style of this title. Everything from the characters to the set design was nothing short of stunning. The people are all clear and easy to define from each other, they look unique and polished. The backgrounds and settings are beautifully designed with incredible detail and wonderful pastel colour palettes. A fantastic amount of personality comes through in every aspect of the game and I, personally, cannot wait for the next instalments to arrive.

Ambience

The music is utterly fantastic, that is without a doubt but something I found to be of great interest was the sound design. There are moments when you are in a caravan and speaking with someone and you can hear hubbub and noise outside, be it people speaking or trees rustling in the wind, there is an incredible amount of ‘life’ to the game.

It never feels quiet or dead…until it wants to and then there are moments that are genuinely spooky and unsettling. I couldn’t get over how nice the game sounds; it adds a tremendous amount of depth that would be sorely missed now that I noticed it.

Pros

• Gorgeous Art Style
• fantastically realised world
• Amazing music

Cons

• Needs a bigger production team to get the rest of the game out already.
• Could do with more voice acting
• Music is incredible, just needs more of it