VideoGame This game is too good to have the flaws that it has
Embric Of Wulfhammers Castle is a rare gem amongst RPG Maker projects: something that was actually completed. Let me first state that that alone makes it worthy of at least a playthrough.
The writing is clearly the game's best feature; there's not much original artwork (there's some character art, which is okay but nothing to write home about) but the writing is quick-witted and works many of its (very, very funny) jokes seamlessly into the story while still creating a very interesting world, and deconstructing the ideas of monarchy and noble privilege in tabletop RP Gs that usually get glossed over as fluff. It's very well-thought and witty to match; its parodies and jibes are loving and apt, and enjoyable to read...
..which is what makes some of the game's negative points stand out. A conversation between the Duchess and one of her (many) kidnappers outlines the inflated value of "Princess" as a feminine ideal; it was a line of thought I was overjoyed to see in an RPG, especially one that easily passes the Bechdel Test. But, this was one of the earliest events I saw, and the rest of the game doesn't follow through on these thoughtful ideas. It's honest about itself— a yuri softcore porno game— but it takes the usual shortcut to feminism through Lady Land; it's a world with no significant men, so what must be left must be feminist-friendly... right?
Most of the game is wrapped up in romantic story paths that see the Duchess abused emotionally, physically, and sexually; avoiding those paths meant there wasn't a lot of game left, and I found myself having to choose: subject a character I cared about to rape (FetishFuel if the rapist is female, unforgiveable heresy if the rapist is male), belittlement, and abandonment, or be satisfied knowing almost nothing about a world that had caught my eye? The paths with characters who always treat her with respect have platonic endings or none at all, but they make up less than half the game. It's nice to see a romance game that doesn't involve buying an endless stream of gifts, answering inane questions, or curing the mental illnesses of unstable women, but this wasn't a better alternative.
It's a great game, but its dedication to fanservice over development badly undercuts its otherwise worthwhile contributions to the gaming community. In essence: high-quality smut.
VideoGame Final Ending: Ambiguous, but Satisfying
spoilers below
The Final Ending is what really defines this game. There are shades of darkness throughout, but the Final Ending bluntly and directly postulates that absolutely nothing in the game actually happened. A duchess unfamiliar to us awakes, still trapped in Greyghast's castle, just as the real Awesome Fellowship arrives, headed by....Alice, or rather, Ember, a fusion of her and Embric. The Duchess looks almost nothing like the character we've been playing as (she's kind of homely, and has brown hair) and the last scene is of her puking on Ember's meido outfit from the drugs Greyghast has stuffed her with (this being Embric, the scene is played for comedy) and we are then returned to the title screen.
It's almost melancholy, but not quite. Especially if one infers (and there's no real reason not to) that the Duchess' relationship with Ember will be anything like the relationship she had with Alice.
We're left contemplating the nature of the game we've just played. Was the whole thing a hallucination/daydream? The Final Ending points to yes, but as the real Loni, Good Dwarf, Fal, and Alice/Embric file in to rescue our protagonist, we're left to infer that the real Duchess finds real happiness. And it is that, not the yuri or even the hilarious comedy, that makes this game worth playing.
I'll admit that I did not initially feel this way about the ending, it frustrated me, and honestly seemed sort of cheap. After all, the implication that nothing we did mattered is kind of harsh. But that's not what's being said here, what we ultimately helped the Duchess accomplish was accept that she could not find true happiness in this fantasy world. Even the happiest of the other endings is rendered null when you realize that she was ultimately just drifting about in her own thoughts. We wake the Duchess from a drug-induced coma, where she finally has, at the very least, a chance to obtain some form of happiness. And if that's not a happy ending I don't know what is.
In short, an amazing ending and an amazing game. Personally, I hope the sequel comes to pass.