This otome visual novel and second title of the Story of Eroolia series as a sequel to roseVeRte's earlier visual novel How to Take Off your Mask features a new female protagonist Regina who was magically transported to the island of Eroolia from her homeland of Ozzwa by a mysterious black cat and ends up right in front of a bridge unit(diplomatic agents) consisting of Juli, Mars and Ronan who are en-route to Laarz, a hidden part of Eroolia inhabited by luccretia(cat people featured in How to Take Off your Mask) where they hope to make contact with Lillia/Leea's father Gao who left for Laarz earlier and had not returned with any update on his mission.
Amidst the backdrop of mutual distrust and suspicion between humans and luccretia, Regina's sudden appearance in front of the bridge unit with her cat ear hair accessory and her martial prowess lead Juli to hire Regina as a bodyguard for the bridge unit. Over 7 chapters, Regina will develop feelings for Juli and meet a cast of new characters consisting of Gao, Lio who is Lillia/Leea's younger brother, Princess Myana who is the current ruler of Laarz and her two followers Leona and Simon.
As with How to Take Off Your Mask, the game has plenty of save slots to allow different gameplay and dialogue choices to be made during the game, with a small popup icon of Regina/Juli to reach a slightly different storyline branch and open a secret unlockable scene at the end of the prologue and the first 3 chapters. The chapter summary and the option to skip and fast-forward any part of the game are retained in this visual novel. The story and plot is also written as a romantic comedy and has its share of humour and two nice happy endings. Theme songs, background music, voice acting, artwork and overall game presentation are great to match the themes featured in the game. The theme song and insert song DLC are recommended if you like a happy and catchy song and a melodic and uplifting song respectively. Also, if you like Ochiba, Haru no Yokan or Zantou in How to Take off your Mask, How to Fool a Liar King will also have an appropriate set of background music Piano Melancholy, Positive 5 and Suspense 7 to match the similar themes featured in this visual novel.
After spending more than 5 hours to read and listen through both routes in this visual novel, I decided to give a score of 9/10 on the following factors:
Plot and character backgrounds: Each route will require approximately 3 hours of reading (2 routes altogether, both of which are romance options with Juli). The English text are translated with few errors. As a romantic comedy and short indie game, I feel the romance routes feel rather short and rushed with not enough emphasis given on Juli's magical ability to influence others except Regina with his magical gaze. Also, the part when Princess Myana competes with Juli to get Regina to become her spouse for a reason that will be explained further on in the story seems tacked on with the princess giving up barely a few days after kissing Regina once in front of a lot of people. I understand this is a short indie visual novel production, yet at the same time I feel the plot holes in this visual novel would lead me to give it a less than perfect score. The character backgrounds remain consistent with the character backgrounds of the same characters from How to Take Off Your Mask and the new characters as supporting characters also have their background and relationship with the protagonist or at least one member of the bridge unit adequately mentioned and established.
Artwork, backgrounds and CGs: The character sprites, backgrounds, opening and insert themes used in the game are attractive and colourful with animated glitters in each CG and the opening theme also does well in introducing the cast of characters and voice actors and actresses featured in this visual novel.
Voice acting and background music: Tone and pace of delivery from all voice actors and actresses match each line of spoken dialogue in the game with appropriate moments to grab the attention of the listener. Background music is also pleasant and appropriate to match the different moments in the game with great theme songs in the opening and insert themes.
Overall, this visual novel is recommended with both DLCs for fans of roseVeRte who might be interested in collecting the titles by roseVeRte and to know more about the characters and background story in Story of Eroolia as a romantic comedy with fantasy featuring humans and luccretia.