Summary (retrieved from Lunaris Games website)

When The Night Comes is a queer, narrative-driven, supernatural visual novel originally released for free over a year from October 2018 - November 2019. When The Night Comes: The ReVamp is set to release in late Spring 2021 and will be a definitive version of the original game with a number of improvements, including voice acting and updated UI and artwork. 

Play as a renowned Hunter; a creature slayer who has been called to the quiet, strange little town of Lunaris to assist the local Enforcers with an investigation into a series of unsettling and unexplained supernatural murders. Immerse yourself in the world of witches, vampires, demons and lycans as you slowly unravel the dark mystery that lies deep within the roots of the town.

The question is, are the creatures of the night the ones you should really be afraid of? 

A story of finding a home and a family in the most unlikely of places, and a lesson in learning to bare your teeth at your maker.

Reaper Review

When the Night Comes was a game that I had no intention on loving. I was dipping my toes into playing dating sims/otomes on stream and I really liked the art style so I decided to play it and it was the best decision of my life.

The city of Lunaris is cursed by an unknown creature, leaving its citizens living in fear whenever night falls, especially every few days when the beast habitually hunts. 

You play as a Hunter (fitting huh?), called in by the Lunaris Hunter team to help them put an end to the attacks. With customizable name and pronoun options, you’re slowly introduced to the main cast who are primarily all your romance options. 

CAST (in order of appearance):

Ezra (VA - Adam Faison) He/Him : The local witch with kind eyes and a heart to match.

Finn (VA - Gideon Emery) He/Him : Vampire clan leader whose comments made me blush on more than one occasion.

Augustus (VA - Jonah Scott) They/Them : Major General of the Hunters and one of my all time favorite romances.

Piper (VA - Ione Butler) She/Her : Fellow Hunter with the cutest laugh and loyal to her comrades to a fault.

Alkar (VA - Jalen K. Cassell) He/Him : Resident mischievous Lycan who honestly shouldn’t have as bad of a reputation as he does.

Omen (VA - Chris Patton) He/Him : Cinnamon Bun of a demon who is too good for this world.

Throughout the game you meet side characters, work with the main cast, and investigate as much as you can about the creature that stalks the town. While it is an otome, the level of mystery in the game about the investigation and deaths is quite high and I found myself falling deeper into the story that when the big reveal came I was overcome with emotion. You find out just as much about the MC as you do about your companions and the mystery of the town.

One thing I appreciated was that there is no split between romance and story either, but rather the romances add to it, showing in their own ways how they grow to care about you and your wellbeing as the MC. The characters also have moments with each other, not just in the polyamory routes but in friendships and when you learn about their intricate backstories with one another. The banter between them all is on another level and I’m especially fond of the end of the game when all of the main cast come together in one big plan to find the beast and destroy it for good. Nothing annoys me more than being engrossed in a story only to be then thrown into lovey-dovey mode (and don’t get me wrong I love lovey-dovey mode). 

Other things to note:

There is a festival scene which you can explore and spend time with your LI with a beautiful CG (a special full-screen static image) at the end of the moment that I just wanted to stay in forever.

Clear heart icon for dialogue options that are explicitly for romancing a character. So if you don’t want to romance anyone you can easily do it or on the other hand if you want to lock in a romance you don’t have to stress about what to say.

All of the best lines have voice acting however I’d say only about 75-80% of the game has voice acting. It’s a little annoying but only because I love the cast so much.

There are over 60 CGs and post-game mini stories (which I actually didn’t learn about the post-game stories until I was writing this…time to go play again!). 

Of course bad endings are possible…but to be totally honest I’m too scared to play that route!

Lastly, my favorite part of the game would have to be the spicy scenes with your LI, if you so choose to pursue them. Without being visually explicit, you get to enjoy some sweet sweet spicy time with your favorite characters and this is where the voice acting is present a majority of the time if not completely. Now I love me some spice, but sometimes CGs can put me off from it. I prefer to imagine what’s going on rather than be shown AND if you’re trying to play sneakily, CGs are just a huge announcement to what you’re doing. The script is so well done that in my opinion CGs aren’t necessary.

This game has all of my love and I’d recommend it to anyone and everyone, so if you’re looking for a story with mystery and well developed characters I would say you’ve found it.