Celestia: Chain of Fate Visual Novel Review (Spoiler‑Free)

Table of Contents

• The Game Details
• The Game Trailer
• The Storyline
• The Art and Music
• The Gameplay
• The Characters
• The Localization
• Issues With Celestia: Chain of Fate (Minor Spoilers)
• Verdict
• Purchase Celestia: Chain of Fate
• Game Credits

Celestia: Chain of Fate Details

Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Otome Visual Novel
Platform: Nintendo Switch and Steam
Release Date: September 12, 2024
ESRB Rating: T for fantasy violence, language, and suggestive themes.
Game’s Official Site: https://pqube.co.uk/games/celestia-Chain-of-fate/
Developer and Publisher: Agate & PQube

Celestia: Chain of Fate Trailer

Celestia: Chain of Fate Storyline

“The perfect life you’ve known as a daughter of a Duke is about to change forever. With the revelation of your new hybrid identity, as a descendant of Angelus and Daemon, you must learn to live in a new world.” 

In Celestia: Chain of Fate you play as a duke’s adopted daughter who suddenly receives a letter to attend a magical academy on your seventeenth birthday. This is how you suddenly learn that not only magic is real, but so are angels and demons. Not only that, but you’re the only person alive with both angel and demon blood as your biological parents were one of each!

At the Academy of Celestia, you have to balance friendships and budding romances with your education. This won’t be easy as the drama surrounding your mixed heritage results in you having many enemies to deal with which make things much more difficult for you than the average student. You must pass three trials to graduate. Those who score the most points during these trials will have one wish granted. The Academy is said to have the power to grant any wish, making this a particularly sought after prize.

Can you take on all of these challenges and come out on the other side with a new love of your life?

Celestia: Chain of Fate’s Art and Music

With the game originally being for cell phones, I had concerns about the art quality. Those concerns turned out to be completely unfounded! None of the art is mind-blowing, but everything is done competently and beautifully enough to be quite enjoyable. I’ve seen similar quality art in games that likely had much higher budgets which is impressive! Everything seems to have scaled up to a full PC sized screen nicely as well. Plus, the game even has ten new CGs so even if players have gone through Celestia: Chain of Fate before, there will still be something new to experience.

For the most part, I honestly forgot the background music was even playing in most places, which I say as a compliment. Every composition fits the scenes they are put into and nothing is particularly jarring in a bad way. It may not be a soundtrack you’d listen to in your spare time, but it does its job well.

A few potential cons: There aren’t isn’t any voice acting in this game, it’s a text-based with sound effects kind of affair. There are also a surprising amount of side characters who are simply shown as black silhouettes. This doesn’t really hurt the story in any way, but it would have been nicer to have a few more fully drawn characters.

Celestia: Chain of Fate’s Gameplay

If it quacks like an otome game and walks like an otome game… In all seriousness, Celestia: Chain of Fate plays like the most standard visual novel you can think of. Players click to advance the story, make choices, and read what happens because of their choices. The game doesn’t revolutionize the world of otome game mechanics but it doesn’t need to. As the game was originally made for cell phones, it doesn’t surprise me that features were kept simple. Still, everything seems to have been translated quite well to the PC.

There are a few nice touches, like an affection status menu which helps players keep track of how far they have gotten with the three available romantices. Having the chapters’ potential romantic encounters listed is also nice as it helps players not miss any potential amorous liaisons needed to ensure their one true pairing is available at the end of the game.

Players will be able to fully romance all three of the boys available without any problems, no one accuses you of cheating and nothing seems to fully block out any potential romantic routes. For some, this will be extremely convenient as it helps prevent needing excessive replays of the game to experience everything has to offer. For others, they may feel like these lack of consequences make their romantic choices feel less impactful.

There are also plenty of side stories unlocked as the game goes along that players can dive into to gain a little more insight on the characters. Players also have the option to skip through all text if they’re trying to get to specific sections or toggle to only skip text they haven’t read yet, which is convenient for players who want to go through multiple playthroughs to see everything. This is also convenient for those who don’t remember to save as often as they should (guilty as charged) and may be forced to replay huge chunks of chapters after accidentally stumbling across one of the 20+ “bad endings” the game has to offer.

The only problems I encountered were rare crashes when I brought up the text log menu. This only happened a few times, but resulted in needing to replay through large sections of chapters.

Celestia: Chain of Fate’s Characters

Ash Winterlight

“Ash Winterlight is a half-angelus human, with a special royal heritage. Close to his chest he holds the dark struggles of his kingdom, and a desperate wish he will only share with those closest to him. A seemingly cold and standoffish disposition, Ash softens and melts in Aria’s presence. The one person who has managed to break through his defenses…”

A cool, calm, and collected character who shows minimal emotions and has blue hair while using ice magic? Whose icy exterior only melts when he’s with the love of his life? I’ve never seen that before! Oh wait, he’s a prince too? All sarcasm aside, Ash is the absolute stereotype of a kuudere so if that’s your type, he’s your man!

Luke Alastair

“Luke Alastair is an Angelus who, despite being of high-born lineage, bears the cross of a heavy fate. He is gentle and kind, an enigmatic yet warm presence who is emotionally supportive, and honest with his feelings. He may be soft-natured, but anyone treating Aria badly will bring out his dark-side!”

Luke smells of flowers and controls plant magic. This little soft wisp of a man is incredibly kind, gentle, and thoughtful. All of that gentle softness hides a great deal of pain underneath caused by a tragic fate he’s desperately trying to escape. We’ve gotta have a soft spoken gentle guy to have the hots for, right? He is very much a soft smol bean of a character perfectly designed to make you want to protect him at all costs!

Val De Lucifer

“Val De Lucifer a Daemon, who just like his surname suggests, comes from a famous lineage. A dark cloud hangs heavily over him, a tragic loss weighing him down with sadness. Despite this, Val is an energetic, charismatic presence. He may seem loud and rough around the edges at first, but breaking through his defenses reveals a sweet, hidden core.”

The demon is a hot headed redhead? Say it ain’t so! Yeah, if it isn’t clear by now, these romanceable characters really don’t break out of stereotypical molds very much. He does have a particular obsession with enjoying rabbit meat which is something I’ve admittedly never seen before? It is pretty cute just how flustered this otherwise ultra confident and powerful man can be at times though. He also controls electric magic instead of the expected fire, which is a nice touch. He’s likely the most original character on the romantic roster.

Your Family: The Silverwings

You have an adoptive father who is a demon, an adoptive mother who is an angel, and two demon brothers. Your younger brother Flynn is absolutely adorable and doesn’t want you to treat him like a kid anymore! He’s all grown up now, you see. Damien is the standard reliable older brother who is wise beyond his years, caring, and sweet. At least, on the surface. Damien turns out to be one of your eventual teachers at the Academy of Celestia.

Celestia: Chain of Fate’s Localization

In terms of translated otome games, Celestia: Chain of Fate does a pretty good job. While there are a couple of past tense participles dropped and occasional clunky sentences, nothing is egregious enough to completely pull anyone out of the reading experience. I wouldn’t be surprised if I only noticed some of these because I write and edit professionally as part of my living too. It could be better, but it’s certainly not bad enough to turn players off.

I will say it’s nice to see a game localized from an Indonesian company when most games to get that treatment all seem to come from Japan. It’s nice to see a well done story from another culture for once!

Issues With Celestia: Chain of Fate

Some of the information in this section contains minor spoilers for events that happen in the game. None of these will relate directly to the twists of the main storyline or reveal any majorly important information that should hamper enjoyment in a significant way outside of spoiling one “bad ending” which will be clearly marked so it can be skipped if readers want to.

A Little Too Much Like Another Magical World

Bluntly, this game has so many homages to Harry Potter that it will be impossible for anyone to not notice. Seriously, some of the plot points will leave people saying, “oh, they’re pulling an [insert book here]” because they are that specific. For those who have largely abandoned that magical world due to J.K. Rowling’s absolutely horrendous opinions about trans people, this could result in one of two outcomes.

Outcome one: You may reasonably still miss a story that was a huge part of your childhood and find that Celestia: Chain of Fate is a way to touch on some similar stories and themes without helping put more money in the pockets of a notorious bigot. This might honestly make the game very appealing to you.

Outcome two: This will make the game remind you of said franchise and make it quite a miserable experience. This happens particularly strongly at the beginning when the game is making its first impression which just makes the problem that much worse. The vibes of the game with how it approaches certain social issues are a little too close for comfort to Harry Potter in the worst ways possible as well, so it won’t get better after that initial stumbling block.

Neither of these outcomes is wrong, better, or worse in any way. This is just an important factor I couldn’t ignore while playing the game and should be mentioned to anyone considering purchasing it.

Why Did They Name Her That?

One character in the game is named Ms. Loli. Yes, you read that right! Loli is apparently short for Loliana. While this is a name that real people can have, shortening her name down to Loli when she is a smaller built blond haired woman who looks particularly young is certainly a choice. Especially because the name could have easily been changed to Liliana in localization, it feels like a choice that was made on purpose. It’s not the end of the world, just likely to be extremely off putting to certain players. But hey, she’s married and has kids if that makes you feel any better?

A Problematic “Bad Ending”

Celestia: Chain of Fate clearly wants you to romance one of its three main boys to the point where it turned out to be mechanically annoying in one place. Despite there being many cases of what some might call “yuri bait” placed throughout the game, one of the “bad endings” involves the main character giving up on boys all together, and living happily ever after with another woman! The idea of two women living their happy lesbian lives together being played off for laughs as a technically “bad” ending just rubbed me extremely the wrong way.

Considering how the game also plays off “yaoi bait” moments for laughs too, I suppose all the gays are a fair target here for jokes, but it still doesn’t feel great. The fact that the game immediately drops more “yuri bait” in the very same chapter it tries to tell a “happy lesbians funny” style joke doesn’t make it feel any better either.

Verdict

While I got a few chuckles out of particularly good jokes here and there, I had to sit down and schedule my time out to ensure I got it played through to review. It wasn’t a game where I was itching to play each coming chapter and I don’t expect I’ll be returning when Book 2 of the series comes out.

However, I couldn’t help but feel that while this game wasn’t for me, there is absolutely an audience that would adore Celestia: Chain of Fate and would absolutely eat it up. Some would say eating an entire portion of cheesecake is too rich and a bit overwhelming; this is how I felt being able to romance three boys at once while they all constantly adored me in cheesy ways all the time. A different player would indulgently drown in the extremely cute boys throwing themselves at you until they were left a giggling mess rolling all over their bed.

I’ve played a lot of visual novels in my life and tend to lean towards those that are a bit more experimental and daring at this point as I want to experience something new. The fantasy tropes and the angel x demon romance  made for a game that felt a little “samey” to me. But I know I love certain tropes myself and am willing to experience them over and over again too, just not these ones. There’s also nothing wrong with savoring the romance visual novel equivalent of junk food because sometimes it hits the right spot better than anything else! It just didn’t for me this time.

If you know you love stories with angels and demons, want to be surrounded by a harem of cute magical boys, and want to explore a magical school as a high society cute rich girl with special powers? Purchase this game immediately! Just don’t expect anything that much different than other games you may have played. If that isn’t your cup of tea, I suggest hunting down something else.

Purchase Celestia: Chain of Fate

• Purchase on the Nintendo Store
• Purchase on Steam

Celestia: Chain of Fate’s Credits

Developed By: Agate
Published By: PQube

Production Team

• Product Manager: Novita Elisa Fahmi
• Producer: Sarah Rahmania Hanif
• Design: MDK and Angelina Novemita Santoso
• Story: Marcelina Nathania Tjandra and Ria Apriyana
• Visual Art: Farahdilla Muqarrabie, Nadira Larasati, Nika Trie Budiana, Maria Viviane Angelica, Liamella, Christian Martaleo, and Beatrice Nauli Pohan
• UI Design: Bilal Ichwan
• Programmers: Neneng Purnama Anggraeni and Mark Christopher Fairley
• QA: Nasya Rizki Niswah Nabilah
  

Porting Team

• Product Manager: Geoffary Akra
• Producer: Aldi Febriyan Wicaksana
• Programmer: Asmin Juari, Moch Iqbal Fauzi, and M Syarief Hidayatulloh
• Artist: William Joelian
• QA: Aulia Andre Kusuma, Kristian Adi Sutanto, Eric Hansel, Antonius Bhara Trimahardi, and Ardi Hilal Itsna
• Business Manager: Ardita Silvadha Erlangga

Support

• Senior Leadership: Shiny Aprilia and Cipto Adiguno
• Creative Production: Yuliandri Nugraha Putra, Yusuf Arif Saputra, Insan Adiguna, Adrian Sinatra

Localization

English Translator: Dhara Cintya Paramasita and M.Reza Harbowoputra

Additional Resources

Background: BGSPOT, minikle, Shutterstock, and DLsite

Music: Peritune, ISAo (AIRYLUVS), Bitter Sweet Entertainment, Hobby Atelier Carrot Wine, OTOGOYA, TK.PROJECTS, Kyaai, Fukagawa, Yuuki Wataru, Imataku, Hasimami, Moppy Sound, Manbo Second Class, Sachiko Gamo, Sumochi, Shimtone, Nekozou, Keido Honda, Nagaty Studio, peritune.com, musmmus.main.jp, maoudamashii.jockersounds.com, purple-planet.com, dova-s.jp, zapsplat.com, and daviddumaisaudio.com

Thanks to PQube for providing a free review copy. Receiving a free copy has in no way impacted the thoughts in this review.