Player Comments on By the Light of Day

This is an entertaining vampire read with an interactive twist added a level of depth to the story. I was thoroughly engrossed, though maybe a bit of this is recency bias from having seen Sinners.

You play as Thomas, a village family man (for now) armed with the words of a God he loses his faith in and a selection of weapons and potions dedicated to good ol' vampire slaying.

Having the option to select your background is a nice touch for those who take advantage of the opportunity. I tend to find backgrounds distracting and I use the reader with stylesheets suppressed, so I didn't really benefit much from it. But for those who like the option, it's a neat addition to the story. While on the topic of visuals, I really did enjoy the images of various locations and the Nephilim.

I did notice a bug at the end of the story where if you don't pick up the side quest to find Emily, once you get to the Revenge page, the link to the Final Battle page still appears, which is where both Emily and Sebastien are involved and speaking to you as if you aided them in their side quest. Obviously it doesn't make much sense for these characters to praise you for your help if you didn't even meet them. This should be an easy fix I would think? My guess is a variable is being set incorrectly on the page where you choose whether or not to pick up the side quest.

** GAMEPLAY **
Throughout the story, you collect ingredients for potions that you use to "anoint" your weapons and prepare them for combat. This adds a unique gameplay element that makes you strategize which weapons to enhance and when, as trying to min-max your loadout will leave you at a severe disadvantage since both weapons are used often. I think this system would've worked well for a longer story, but it has its merits and enjoyability here too.

** CHARACTERS **
The son of a friar with a library of forbidden knowledge, Thomas feels as if he's at odds with the Church, which can bring him into conflict with its fanatical members. I find him to be a sympathetic character, and I root for him even on his warpath to revenge, which was beyond justified. His conflict with his own vampirism after he gets turned is also interesting to read.

Going into this story, one may think this is a "man vs. supernatural" tale, but having the Church as an antagonist is a smart decision. The Bishop is a more sinister monster than a good lot of the vampiric creatures you encounter. We see the Church use the Nephilim crisis to its advantage in order to act as an extension of the law; they even go as far as to sacrifice 200 people every full moon to the horde as a means of keeping them at bay but also as a way of controlling the human population. When there aren't enough criminals to sacrifice, they send people with minor misdemeanors to death. I think this is a really good portrayal of a fanatical Church for its time period, too, as the medieval-era religious authorities (hell, even beyond medieval times) were often zealous with their faith to a fault, especially in times of chaos. Witch trials, anyone?

Back to the other characters - I really like the banter and interaction between everyone. The dialogue feels human and realistic. I like that Thomas can let loose around Father Manneilli, while straightening himself up for the more Church-fearing Father Greslet. The Redferne family is cute, even if they don't have too much page time. I think the addition of a "benevolent" vampire like Sebastien underscores the lost humanity of the vampires who still have a conscience and are in tune with their moral compass, which is something Thomas can relate to as someone who becomes a vampire himself.

** WRITING **
I found the writing enthralling, and the author does a good job of keeping your attention. Each setting is immersive, and tasteful descriptions illuminate each scene you step into, from vibrant sunsets to guts and gore-filled churches painted by the aftermath of a vampire attack.

I like the worldbuilding done here beyond the lore book you carry throughout the story. This book, which is one of your father's forbidden books about the Nephilim and the apocalypse, describes crucial events relevant to the lore. None of it is *absolutely* necessary for continuing through the story, but it adds a nice touch. There's enough information you pick up on through dialogue and internal thought that you can use to piece together the conflict and setting if you want to skip the exposition dump, but they're entertaining to read in their own right for those curious.

There were sparse incidents where the prose felt a little clunky. There are some sentences that may sound better if they were divided into multiple, or at least broken up by em dashes or semicolons.

Additionally, there are some SPAG issues. Nothing that detract from the story really, but they're worth mentioning nonetheless. Proper nouns like Father (i.e. a priest) were sometimes lowercase; there were some minor misspellings of character names and words (a few times, "vial" is misspelled as "vile"); and there were some points where a character was accidentally typed, like a comma after an exclamation mark or something like "you0." Towards the end of the story, there were lines where closing dialogue tags were missing. Again, nothing fundamentally incorrect or annoying, but I would've liked a little more polish.

There isn't a whole lot of branching in this story. I played through it a few times, and aside from death pages, there are only really two endings that I found. It seems that the choice with the greatest effect on the story is whether or not you leave Emily and Sebastien to do their thing. I thought the story ended a bit abruptly, and I would've liked to see Thomas' next steps after killing the Bishop and burying his family. The "Happy" ending sees Sebastien describe a home for peaceful vampires in Casterton that they could all retreat to. It's open to interpretation whether or not Thomas goes with Sebastien to Casterton or if he embraces a solo journey. I think I would've liked to be able to make this choice in the story and see a different ending based on what I picked.

** RATING **
I found By the Light of Day to be a fun read, and it's worth giving it a look if you're a vampire fan (not the gay sparkly types, the cool badass seven foot types). It's not without some issues, but they're simple to overlook. I commend the author for their effort!

6/8.

First thing: this was fun. I enjoyed the theme and the style, I thought the background contributed well to the atmosphere, and I thought the anointment system was an interesting mechanic. I appreciate the work you put in on scripting this thing, such as customizing the inventory. Including a lore book was also a nice touch that adds depth for those who want it without encumbering those who do not.

What I didn't like: A minor thing, the combat could have (in my opinion) been streamlined. Clicking the item then clicking Use Item (and in one case, the sword wasn't even usable mid-combat with no clear reason) each "round" felt a little clunky. Combat was highly descriptive with few interventions, however, so this was easily offset.

Another thing was the protagonist's anachronistic concern about the child's age in the side quest. I'm not sure when exactly this story takes place, but from what I understand, as off-putting as it may seem to us today, her age wouldn't have been much of a concern until much more recently in history.

Tidbits: (1) I'd recommend spelling out smaller numbers, such as 12, 40, etc. (2) Be mindful of quotation marks, the bishop's first line of dialogue had me rereading to make sure that he wasn't mind-speaking since they were missing. (3) Be careful not to lose track of your composition when adding asides, such as a description mid-sentence (<- an aside), causing you to double up on conjunctions.

Example [...they are a sin, *yet*, and far be it from me assume that I should speak for the Church, *but* is it not..]

None of the flaws were so grievous as to detract from my enjoyment, though.

Overall, I liked this game a lot. I had the pleasure of triggering the official rating for your game and I look forward to your future works!

I came just wondering why this's rated so high and to look at pretty pictures. I read it all because of the story. Great job! This was a fun read.

as a Christian, i think this is well written. Though it has all the angst of a high school nerd and a half, it was enjoyable to read.

It was very antichristian, but it was great. I loved the part about the main character meeting the good vampire and that there was a chance he would stay good too. I would like to see sequels, spesifically about the other good vampires if there are any, if the one vampire is right about what happens if you die or if something good happens to good humans and vampires, and if the humans will be able to join with the good vampires to defeat the intire hord.

Two more quick notes: at the crafting pages, first you have to use the required items, and then a potion will appear. Then you have to use it an anoint a weapon, and THEN the story will continue.

Also, if you find yourself dying in a battle and don't see a "go back" button at the bottom, obviously use the one at the top.

I didn't have time to fully test this, so there may be some unexpected script problems. But if you find yourself in a dead end, just go back until you reach a point where you used an item and change something. Anyway, thanks for playing!