I've just finished my first playthrough of HWBM — I got the CM ending playing as Saturn with 100% loyalty. Next I'm going to try the same thing, but with 100% betrayal. That should split things evenly between the two other factions, so I wonder what ending that will net?
I feel like I'm only understanding at most half of what's going on. Everything is so allegorical and metaphorical and stuff. WKTD was way more straightforward by comparison. What is Culture, and gravity (in the figurative sense)? So much unexplained, some things explained later.
I spotted a WKTD reference ("even kids with radios can take them out", something like that). Also a "Venus" was mentioned, wonder if it's the same one?
Yeah it's a pretty dense game. I often have to slow down and really think about lines before continuing. I think the metaphors shouldn't be overthought. Culture is literally human culture and Gravity is the influence people have on each other.
I also started with Saturn but I ended with MF ending. That ending felt more like Luna-Terra's story, but I did enjoy the scene of Saturn telling Iapetus to fuck off. My next playthrough is as Pluto, and I really like how the UI has been tailored to her, not just visually but with the sound effects too.
A tiny Pluto thing that really stuck out to me was her chat window. Everyone else has their own personalized tags but she just has the Cradle's Graces tagline. A really cool way of showing how she's trying to be "perfect".
Another WKTD reference I noticed was a mention of a controversial scout program.
Finished my betrayal playthrough with Saturn, good stuff. Looks like if both MF and CG are at 100%, it defaults to the MF ending. I tried doing the last two missions in a different order, to see if the ending was affected by which faction reaches 100% first, and got the same result. I'm curious if the character you play as affects how the ending plays out? The CG ending had a monologue from Saturn; that's not her faction, but I was playing as her.
There was an interesting bit about gravity: without gravity, souls dissolve(? I'm not sure if that was the exact word they used), like how water boils off without pressure.
Some of the soul stuff reminded me of Evangelion. Like how in the finale of the show, the boundaries between souls broke down.
Looking forward to getting more context for the MF and CG endings when I play as LT and Pluto. I recognized the Earth princess (forget her name but it started with H) and Dr. Nix's name from their mentions in the mail, but I'm missing the whole context of their relationships with LT and Pluto respectively. Also looking forward to meeting some of the other characters mentioned throughout the game, like Europa and… Mars, I think?
Edited by Twiddler on Jul 29th 2018 at 12:45:11 PM
Beat Pluto' route with Cradle's Graces ending. That was real good. Saturn and Luna-Terra coming together to stop Pluto from taking everything unto herself was heartwarming. Also I was getting Evangelion vibes from the mass produced String of Pearls line lol.
I was kind of expecting Luna-Terra to be trans because of her visual similarities with Venus, but turns out Pluto is trans as well. That's really cool.
A bit into Luna-Terra right now. The new UI is good at selling how old Mare Crisium is, and it's also kind of... cold? That combined with how the interactions between Europa are more terse than the other chat buddies helps sell the weight of previous betrayals. Also I laughed at opening with an immediate Char reference.
I didn't truly realize it before, but LT's route spells out how Halimede isn't an adult like Nix and Iapetus, but part of the generation of child pilots. That colors previous things I knew about her a lot, and gives her a really interesting parallel with Pluto, since they are both princesses on opposing sides holding their whole causes together with their love.
Got all the endings (including the variants). The Celestial Mechanics ending was pretty abstract for me, but the part at the end where the girls all show up as constellations got me pretty good.
I really enjoyed how Iapetus doesn't get to have a face. Get wrecked loser.
I laughed pretty hard at the email near the end that was all "Space friggin sucks! I don't understand why no one else is talking about this?!"
I also got the easter egg "ending" you get from having 50% loyalty to everyone. It's amusing since it's a play on the expectations you have from We Know The Devil, but also the "We'll make our own true ending" sentiment is genuinely heartwarming. (not to mention it's a really convenient tool to use to see all the character specific ending variants without playing through the game 9 times)
We Know The Devil
is a short queer visual novel that released several years ago to great acclaim.
Before they can leave the summer scouts, they’ve got to spend twelve hours in the loneliest cabin in the woods and wait for the devil to come and live through the night—or not. You know.
It has fantastic atmosphere, interesting mechanics, and a very powerful ending. Music is stellar too.
So I'm really excited for the spiritual successor, Heaven Will Be Mine
.
Experience the story from the perspective of three pilots bound by fate and gravity: veteran ace Luna-Terra, overwhelming super psychic Pluto, and hacker-hijacker Saturn as they fight across three different factions in an eight day war. Your choices decide if they become clandestine lovers or passionate rivals, and which faction’s ultimate plan for humanity’s fate in space and beyond will be realized. Win for your ideals or lose for love, and grasp heaven in your hands.
There's no set in stone release date, but it should be out soon.