Jul 9, 2023

Wish - Review

Wish is Momentum Games's first adult Match-3 RPG style strategy game with visual novel elements. It features a male protagonist Soma Garnish Darkeyon on a quest to gather allies and lead a rebellion against a tyrant empress consisting of 8 different Match-3 opponents.

In Beyond Fate DLC, Soma has become a king, although he has not lost that wanderlust in him. He embarks on new adventures to deal with 4 additional threats to his kingdom.

Notes

Although this game comes with a free adult uncensored DLC, some of the Steam achievements require installing the DLC to unlock, and some of the adult content can be extreme. In addition, the story in English at the time of this review may be difficult to follow from time to time. If you don't mind these, then read on.

Story

The story is mostly fantasy setting with one sci-fi story in Beyond Fate. In the main story, the premise of a male protagonist gathering a harem of allies to have a chance at surviving the wrath of a powerful empress in one narrative encompassing 8 story arcs could have the potential to be a big draw in the game.

Unfortunately, the English translation is quite rough with numerous errors and inconsistent naming of characters throughout the story. Furthermore, the protagonist is also sometimes revealed as a dirty protagonist who resorts to blackmail, and other questionable means to become intimate with some of the heroines, a stark contrast to his heroic and selfless actions when he tries to convince them to join his cause.

Visuals

As with most nukiges, the artwork and animation tends to be the main highlight, and Wish does not disappoint in this part. The artwork and fanservice for most of the heroines in the main game and the DLC are very good, although I did notice an inconsistency in which Soma has fair features on his portrait, whereas he has a tanned complexion in the H scenes.

The artbook DLC contains all the in-game CGs (including R18 content), character sprites, and concept art.

Audio

The voice acting is a bit soft compared to the background music under default settings, making it hard to hear the voiced dialogue, although it helps to make sense of some of the English translation errors in some parts, and bring out some of the better moments in the story such as when a heroine expresses her concern, surprise or is moved by Soma's actions.

Among the soundtracks, the theme song Moonlight Destiny and the PC88 version are my favourites as they describe a heroine's affection for Soma in a melodic musical composition. Erica's battle theme - Return of love is also one of the more stirring tunes among the Match-3 battles.

Gameplay

The match-3 battles have some variety in which every opponent has around 3 different moves, although it can be hard to figure out for players who have not played Match-3 games before as Wish does not have a tutorial, and it can be hard to figure out how to get skill blocks and super blocks without referring to published Steam community guides.

Also, there is one luck-based achievement that require creating 10 super blocks in one battle that may be difficult if the player chooses to level up Soma's physical and magical attack powers early on, although there is a published community guide with helpful tips for this achievement.

Once you obtain all the match-3 battle related achievements halfway through the main story, it is possible to speedrun through all the battles by levelling up Soma's physical and magical attack to maximum level, and clear a level within 5 rounds or less by using specific items.

Overall Thoughts

It took about 15 hours to read through the visual novel, obtain all achievements, and unlock all CGs. Wish has great ecchi/adult artwork and animation, a good theme song and BGM, and decent gameplay mechanics. The harem fantasy storyline featuring multiple girls accompanying the the hero was compelling, but there are some drawbacks in the inconsistent art, storytelling, and rough English translation.

Given that the Steam community (including a friend who recommended this game to me) has complimented the developer for fixing some of the bugs and formerly broken/buggy achievements, it would be nice if the developer could consider engaging with the player fanbase to fix the English translation and improve the visual novel aspect.

If you don't mind the listed drawbacks, and some of the more extreme adult content if you are going for all the Steam achievements, I can recommend Wish and all its DLCs at any time.

Pros	Cons
- Good visuals and audio - Engaging harem and fantasy narrative - Decent gameplay mechanics - Free uncensored DLC - Reasonable price	- Adult content required for all Steam achievements and may be controversial - Rough English translation - Inconsistent artwork, character personality, and names