Well, first off, I want to say that I did like Adastra! I liked a lot about it, and while I surprisingly didn't fall into the Simp-for-Amicus group of gay furries (which I fully expected myself to fall into, as I am gay furry trash), I really liked the characters and the lore and world-building. Let's dive in!
Adastra starts with a rough first hour that, while I do like that the main character and player character (Here on out I'm just gonna call him Marco, cause that's the canon name I'm pretty sure) very much didn't like this idea of him being kidnapped by an alien wolf-man who accidentally went to Earth thinking that it was a subservient planet and kidnapped Marco because he wanted a pet.
That's how things get set in motion.
In my opinion, while the story never tries to pretend that it's not a bad thing, it also never fully gets to justify it in a way that makes the rest of the story (and eventual romance) be better. It's always something that's hanging over Marco and Amicus, and instead of diving into it like I half-expected Howly, the writer, to do, it just kinda gets brushed off to the side, and even semi-justified near the end (no spoilers in this review!).
Not a great start to a gay romance-centered visual novel, in my opinion! I think there's a way to get everything to happen where Marco and Amicus meet and Marco gets to Adastra and the rest of the story happens without throwing in a very very questionable sort of "falling in love with my abductor" romance. I'm not gonna call it Stockholm Syndrome cause that's way too extreme, especially because the story tries valiantly to make Amicus more liked after this initial first impression and to give him more reasons, and a good scene of him admitting he fucked up. While I don't personally like this start, I'm glad it stays in the air and in the mind of both Amicus and Marco, even if I wish it was resolved better.
This start is what made two of my friends give up on this right off the bat, and I really don't blame them, honestly.
I also understand that, yes, this is a gay, furry visual novel with an obviously schlocky tone (at parts) that makes these events just seem more like an isekai than an abduction, and that's fine, but I still don't like it. It's the weakest part of Adastra to me, but thankfully it does get better from there.
Moving right along from my massive criticism of the start, the rest of the visual novel is a fucking blast. The characters are all superbly well-written and given quirks, personalities and fun moments that are consistent and give them all a very good breath of life. Howly's strong suit, in my opinion, is making these characters real and I love his writing for it, because I do end up really caring about Cassius' motivations, despite his cruel and elitist attitude, and I really do want to know more about Virginia, despite (and in spite of) her standoffish attitude and absolute indifference, bordering on contempt, for Marco. I especially applaud Amicus' character, because we spend the most time with him (and Marco, of course) and are able to really get a feel for what he's like while performing the role of soon-to-be emperor, or how he reacts to stress and failure, and especially how he treats his own sexuality. It's a character that feels very rooted in personal introspection, and I can really relate with him, and I love that he's able to grow, fail, and even stagnate throughout this story. It's just so, human. I love it!
Marco might be my least favorite character, through no fault of his characterization or anything like that! I just don't think we should have seen things from his POV, really. If he was referred to like Chase was in Echo, as being a character but not a self-insert, I think it really would have helped a bit with a few things, I think.
The story also gets praise from me! I loved the world-building and political intrigue that came with all these characters coming together, because it was not just fleshed out but felt almost like an espionage thriller at points. The politics of Adastra and the rest of the sibling empires is so fucking interesting and cutthroat that I want nothing more than to read the wikipedia entries for all of them!
Granted, there are several late-story elements that are more heavily involved and introduced into the galactic scale of things that I really, kinda don't like? Without going too far into things, Adastra dives headfirst into some deep themes like political warfare, sexuality, and religion, but then seemingly leaves the water very quickly when it comes to religion, going as far as to even just have a very, set-in-stone view on how things work here. It was just kind of, out of place given the events of Adastra and what all happens, and while I know Khemia goes into things a bit more, it just feels weird that something so vast and mysterious is treated as so cut and dry here.
Given Howly's writing of religion in Echo and especially Arches, I just wanted more to be done here. Second thing I think really impacts Adastra for me!
Even after I say all this, though, the thing that really elevates Adastra enough that I can just deal with the quirks I don't like, is the romance. Oh my GOD is it well written. Despite their tumultuous start, Amicus and Marco fall so head over heels for each other in such an endearing, affectionate and loving way that it almost made me cry several times through the story. It's fucking awesomely written, and it's the absolute highlight of Adastra for me and why I would recommend it. S-tier writing, especially for the gays!
With that, I really liked the presentation of Adastra as well. Haps on the sprite work was aboslutely incredible and I loved each full illustration and each change of the sprites, just so well done, well characterized and stylistic. Beautiful!
At the end of the day, though, I may have wanted a bit more from this than I think I should have expected from this? Adastra isn't as subversive as Echo, nor is it as confrontational, but it doesn't need to be. It's a romance story with political drama, a story of star-crossed lovers finding peace, or trying to, all while coming to terms with sexuality. It's really nice, for the most part! I liked it a lot, and I think I'd like to replay this again later. I debated giving this 3 1/2 stars, but just thinking of the romance bumped it back up to 4 lmao
Adastra starts with a rough first hour that, while I do like that the main character and player character (Here on out I'm just gonna call him Marco, cause that's the canon name I'm pretty sure) very much didn't like this idea of him being kidnapped by an alien wolf-man who accidentally went to Earth thinking that it was a subservient planet and kidnapped Marco because he wanted a pet.
That's how things get set in motion.
In my opinion, while the story never tries to pretend that it's not a bad thing, it also never fully gets to justify it in a way that makes the rest of the story (and eventual romance) be better. It's always something that's hanging over Marco and Amicus, and instead of diving into it like I half-expected Howly, the writer, to do, it just kinda gets brushed off to the side, and even semi-justified near the end (no spoilers in this review!).
Not a great start to a gay romance-centered visual novel, in my opinion! I think there's a way to get everything to happen where Marco and Amicus meet and Marco gets to Adastra and the rest of the story happens without throwing in a very very questionable sort of "falling in love with my abductor" romance. I'm not gonna call it Stockholm Syndrome cause that's way too extreme, especially because the story tries valiantly to make Amicus more liked after this initial first impression and to give him more reasons, and a good scene of him admitting he fucked up. While I don't personally like this start, I'm glad it stays in the air and in the mind of both Amicus and Marco, even if I wish it was resolved better.
This start is what made two of my friends give up on this right off the bat, and I really don't blame them, honestly.
I also understand that, yes, this is a gay, furry visual novel with an obviously schlocky tone (at parts) that makes these events just seem more like an isekai than an abduction, and that's fine, but I still don't like it. It's the weakest part of Adastra to me, but thankfully it does get better from there.
Moving right along from my massive criticism of the start, the rest of the visual novel is a fucking blast. The characters are all superbly well-written and given quirks, personalities and fun moments that are consistent and give them all a very good breath of life. Howly's strong suit, in my opinion, is making these characters real and I love his writing for it, because I do end up really caring about Cassius' motivations, despite his cruel and elitist attitude, and I really do want to know more about Virginia, despite (and in spite of) her standoffish attitude and absolute indifference, bordering on contempt, for Marco. I especially applaud Amicus' character, because we spend the most time with him (and Marco, of course) and are able to really get a feel for what he's like while performing the role of soon-to-be emperor, or how he reacts to stress and failure, and especially how he treats his own sexuality. It's a character that feels very rooted in personal introspection, and I can really relate with him, and I love that he's able to grow, fail, and even stagnate throughout this story. It's just so, human. I love it!
Marco might be my least favorite character, through no fault of his characterization or anything like that! I just don't think we should have seen things from his POV, really. If he was referred to like Chase was in Echo, as being a character but not a self-insert, I think it really would have helped a bit with a few things, I think.
The story also gets praise from me! I loved the world-building and political intrigue that came with all these characters coming together, because it was not just fleshed out but felt almost like an espionage thriller at points. The politics of Adastra and the rest of the sibling empires is so fucking interesting and cutthroat that I want nothing more than to read the wikipedia entries for all of them!
Granted, there are several late-story elements that are more heavily involved and introduced into the galactic scale of things that I really, kinda don't like? Without going too far into things, Adastra dives headfirst into some deep themes like political warfare, sexuality, and religion, but then seemingly leaves the water very quickly when it comes to religion, going as far as to even just have a very, set-in-stone view on how things work here. It was just kind of, out of place given the events of Adastra and what all happens, and while I know Khemia goes into things a bit more, it just feels weird that something so vast and mysterious is treated as so cut and dry here.
Given Howly's writing of religion in Echo and especially Arches, I just wanted more to be done here. Second thing I think really impacts Adastra for me!
Even after I say all this, though, the thing that really elevates Adastra enough that I can just deal with the quirks I don't like, is the romance. Oh my GOD is it well written. Despite their tumultuous start, Amicus and Marco fall so head over heels for each other in such an endearing, affectionate and loving way that it almost made me cry several times through the story. It's fucking awesomely written, and it's the absolute highlight of Adastra for me and why I would recommend it. S-tier writing, especially for the gays!
With that, I really liked the presentation of Adastra as well. Haps on the sprite work was aboslutely incredible and I loved each full illustration and each change of the sprites, just so well done, well characterized and stylistic. Beautiful!
At the end of the day, though, I may have wanted a bit more from this than I think I should have expected from this? Adastra isn't as subversive as Echo, nor is it as confrontational, but it doesn't need to be. It's a romance story with political drama, a story of star-crossed lovers finding peace, or trying to, all while coming to terms with sexuality. It's really nice, for the most part! I liked it a lot, and I think I'd like to replay this again later. I debated giving this 3 1/2 stars, but just thinking of the romance bumped it back up to 4 lmao