| Heart of the Woods | |
| Developer: | Studio Élan |
| Publisher: | Studio Élan |
| Engine: | Ren'Py |
| Platforms: | Linux macOS Microsoft Windows Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Xbox One Xbox Series X/S |
| Genre: | Visual novel |
| Modes: | Single-player |
| Released: | Linux, macOS, Windows February 15, 2019 Nintendo Switch July 8, 2021 PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 February 14, 2022 Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S TBA |
| Composer: | Esselfortium, Astartus |
| Director: | Josh Kaplan |
Heart of the Woods is a 2019 yuri romance visual novel developed and published by Studio Élan. The game follows a pair of influencers as they travel to a remote village where ghosts are rumored to reside. The game launched on February 15, 2019 for Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. A port for the Nintendo Switch released on July 8, 2021, and for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on July 8, 2021, with Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions being planned for release.[1] [2]
The game is a typical visual novel, with the player's main form of interaction being clicking forward through text to progress between scenes. At certain moments, the player can make decisions that can lead to one of the three alternate endings (two of which are bad endings and the third is a good ending).[3]
Madison "Maddie" Raines plans to quit her job as manager of her best friend Tara Bryck's paranormal vlog, Taranormal. She agrees to take one last trip with Tara to the village of Eysenfeld at the request of its outcast, Morgan Fischer. Upon arriving, they meet Evelyn, Morgan's abusive mother and the mayor of Eysenfeld. Maddie is skeptical of any supernatural forces in Eysenfeld, and her friendship with Tara strains further.
Tara and Morgan begin to fall in love and Morgan reveals the true reason why she called Taranormal: Evelyn is an evil supernatural creature that plans to take Morgan's body as a vessel.Meanwhile, Maddie befriends a ghostly woman, Abigail, who has been in the forest for over 200 years. Evelyn causes Maddie's death by luring her into a savage blizzard with an illusion of Tara, where she freezes to death, but Abigail and her friend, the forest spirit, save her soul. Maddie is now like Abigail; incorporeal beings between life and death, sustained by the forest's magic. Abigail takes Maddie to the fairy grove. Here, Abigail reveals that Eysenfeld is cursed and the townsfolk have been performing sacrifices to stop the town being destroyed by a curse, but they didn't know that their church's priest (who would eventually become Evelyn) is the one who is responsible for the curse and had manipulated the townsfolk. Abigail was going to be sacrificed, but the ritual failed and she was saved by the forest spirit. She and Maddie begin to develop romantic feelings towards one another.
Morgan's cat Geladura reveals to Tara that she can talk, as she was once a fairy before Evelyn cursed her. Meanwhile, Maddie and Abigail encounter fairies, who are waiting for their queen to return. They ask Maddie to be their new queen, but she declines. Sometime later, Evelyn destroys an ancestral tree in the forest and forces Morgan to help her; this damages the forest's magic, causing Maddie to start fading. Abigail explains that the forest spirit's destiny is to become a new sacred tree, but it needs the missing fairy queen's help to do so. Out of options, they make a deal with the fairies to restore them to life in return for Maddie becoming their queen. If Maddie does not find someone to become the new queen and stop Evelyn before she can perform the ritual, Maddie will be their queen permanently. The fairies explain that Evelyn was once a fairy who eventually went rogue. Maddie uses her new powers to revive herself and Abigail, and they reunite with Morgan and Tara. Maddie and Tara make amends. Geladura reveals that she can speak to Abigail and Maddie, having refused to do so earlier as she was distrustful of them at first. They then travel to the fairy grove, where the fairies recognize Geladura as their real queen, who was forced to resign after Evelyn cursed her.
That night, Tara is kidnapped by Evelyn, who decides to use her as the next vessel instead of Morgan. The women interrupt the ritual and battle Evelyn; the confrontation eventually moves to the fairy grove. The outcome will depend on the player's earlier choices, which will lead to one of the three endings:
Earlier in development, the setting was completely different, with it being a time travel story set in a small town. The developers said that they kept "running into plot holes or having trouble making certain parts interesting, so we decided to start from scratch." They maintained that one element kept from the earlier version was "love across time and boundaries". In terms of the soundtrack, the developers focused on using leitmotifs in order to represent certain elements of the game world like snow, and also used silence to heighten the dramatic tension of scenes.[4]
Digitally Downloaded gave the game a positive review, liking how the mystery and romance elements blended together, the reviewer did feel the game had a poor opening, writing that "Heart of the Woods does start slowly... This set-up is more than a little melodramatic, and it meanders its way to its conclusion."[5]
PSX Brasil was positive overall, but described the game as a story that is divided between a romance that doesn't seem very believable and a mystery with a predictable outcome, not reaching its full potential and ends up leaving something to be desired.[6]
Siliconera praised the writing of the lesbian characters and their relationships, but criticized the frequent crashes in the Nintendo Switch version.[7]