Playing Every Game in the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality
PEGBRJE: ‘Ecchi Sketch: Draw Cute Girls Every Day!’ and ‘Sverdheim’
There is nothing similar about these two games.
Ecchi Sketch: Draw Cute Girls Every Day! is a visual novel dating sim created by NewWestGames, the indie name for a solo developer based in Canada. Players will step in to the shoes of Yume Akiyama, a graphic designer who just really wants to draw yuri, but unfortunately is stuck designing fliers for funerals. But as they say, when one door closes, the door to girl x girl manga design opens. Nobody says that, but it works here.
Yume is our typical ‘shut-in’ protagonist, trying to make ends meet after graduating college. Players will pilot her through the initial struggles before coincidences compound to have Kyoko Miyuhara hire Yume for her next big manga project. Kyoko is the heir to a massive fortune and runs a manga studio. When she see Yume’s passion and excitement for girl x girl, she brings her on to the team almost immediately.
There, Yume will meet the two that make the backbone of the studio. Rin is an adorable pastel-enthused shader and cleaner, who adores magical girls and anything cute. Megumi on the other hand is the writer who is always lost in thought, spacing out mid conversation before entering a writing-fueled drive. Shu is also there, but he’s the accountant so nobody pays him mind.
Players will help Yume make simple decisions as the game goes on, with the majority of them deciding who she wishes to meet with during work days. The more players pick a specific individual, the more they will be locked in to their route, learning about that specific person and what they want out of life. Or in the case of Megumi — who’s route I went for — players are in for a very different early game. There are a few choices scattered throughout that are not based on meetings, and will help determine future events that can jeopardize Yume’s relationship with that specific girl.
As with all visual novels, players can expect to have fun reading about all of the events, unravelling how the girls feel about each other and catching the feelings that they so desperately want. While I’ll admit I’m not familiar with yuri material I know that it can be over fetishized depending on its target audience. Rest assured, this takes a slice-of-life approach instead, as you’ll be looking in to what makes the girls happy rather than just what makes the reader happy. There is an R18 version out there somewhere for those of you that want that, but the writing on its own is solid enough to keep things interesting. If you like girlxgirl manga and want some soft and enjoyable representation, then this might be a good one to read.
Sverdheim is a roguelike adventure game created by benfranklinstein, the indie name for programmer Eric Veil. Players are dropped in to a vast and dangerous world with only a simple objective; survive and plunder.
After selecting a starting name and trait, players are dropped in to the random world to explore and see how far they can get. Movement is done initially with the number pad, as players will realize that this is hexagonal-centric movement. This means that movement to the ‘left’ will choose between northwest and southwest, alternating so that players can keep moving to the ‘left. The numpad allows for this as number 1, 3, 7 and 9 are for diagonal movement only, which will come in clutch when trying to maneuver around strange landscapes.
While exploring the overworld, players may run in to enemies, which will drag them in to a strategy map; essentially a zoomed-in version of the tile that players started combat in. Here, the enemy will move whenever the player does in pseudo-turn based combat style, running in to each other in order to attack. If successful, players will receive a small jingle before returning to the overland, and continue on their adventure. If health becomes a problem, players can rest at any time to replenish their health, but need to be wary that the land has not shifted upon their return from their slumber.
It’s a simple game, open to expansion in many different ways. Settlements can be found if you are able to spot them, which can give a break from the dangers of the outside world. Sverdheim is designed around quick and relaxing gameplay cycles, the ‘perfect’ coffee-break game as it were, which is definitely appealing for many who don’t have much time to dedicate to games. Development is still ongoing from what I can tell, so if this sounds interesting to you, give it a whirl.
