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0 Saintess of the Golden Bow (SotGB) is the latest and first commercial project from Transparent Games and publisher Error 300. Transparent Games is a Polish studio that has made over a dozen free games since 2021. SotGB is a fantasy romance visual novel where the heroine must navigate the responsibilities of the title role and handle romance involving the eligible bachelors who cross your path.
Will Cupid’s arrow find its mark in Saintess of the Golden Bow?
I went into the demo expecting a period romantic drama and was pleasantly surprised. SotGB delivers a spin on the fantasy genre with its world-building and a likeable protagonist in Celeste. It is still in early development as fundraising for the game will come from the developer’s Patreon and upcoming Kickstarter campaign. The demo will be available to everyone on Steam starting from February 23rd. And if the fundraising is successful there are already plans for DLC.
Gameplay
Saintess of the Golden Bow begins with Celine after a rotten day at her office job. Heading home in the rain she ends up in a car accident but an unseen presence in a mysterious white light tells her to fight. Celine then wakes up quickly realising she is occupying the body of Celeste, a character from her favourite novel. Celine’s personality and skills as Celeste cause a key event from the book to change and she soon becomes the titular saint. Celeste is now the destined hero who will save the empire from the demon queen who has been terrorising the lands for the past 23 years. Luckily Celine’s obsession with the novel and subsequent franchise helps with navigating achieving this quest and the politics around it. The 90-minute demo does very well painting an interesting world and a likable protagonist.
For all the similarities to the novel, there is a butterfly effect from surviving a demon encounter in the woods. Celeste’s survival means the knight Levi doesn’t become the saint and defeat the demon queen. The original story has Levi fall in love with Elijah and their love powers the bow to kill the queen. This leads Celine to reflect and be the player’s voice wondering what will happen. There’s now a new story being written with making choices for Celeste shaping the new narrative throughout the game.
But is Levi and Elijah’s love still needed or does Celine/Celeste as the new saint have to fall for one of her handsome male companions? The player’s choices shape the branching narrative in whether the quest will be successful. But also if Celine/Celeste will find romance from childhood friend and knight protector Levi, the high priest Elijah or Prince Noah the Empress’ son and heir.
Graphics & Audio
Saintess of the Golden Bow does a great job visually as the anime design is one of my favourite parts of the game. Combining the colourful and vibrant anime elements in a Renaissance-era setting was great. I found it worked especially well during expressive character moments during cut scenes like we see above with Celeste and Levi. However, this took away from some NPC moments where some facial expressions felt a little odd or silly at times.
The orchestral music of SoTGB was done well as very much in the background while setting the tone. I enjoyed the music going hand in hand with the setting and visual design. While most of the dialogue is delivered by text, voiced dialogue is peppered in at key moments. I found that worked well enough but didn’t quite the mark for me. Just like a novel I had different voices in my mind for these characters.
Final Thoughts
I enjoyed my time playing Saintess of the Golden Bow where its engaging plot and likable protagonist made it easy to be invested in the visual novel. Making character and dialogue choices doesn’t seem to have an effect yet but it’s still early with many more hours of content planned. Rooting for Celine as she navigates this fantasy world without stepping on too many butterflies. The setting was great going hand in hand with the visual style and audio for the most part.
Perhaps not being the target audience but Saintess of the Golden Bow seems great so far and I’m looking forward to seeing the full thing.
Disclaimer: A code was received to write this preview.
If you liked my thoughts on the game, check out my review of While Waiting.
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