Vampires, demons, and monster hunters! Oh my! When The Night Comes is a delightfully dark visual novel dealing with a mysterious town and mysterious murders that you, the Hunter, are sent to investigate and bring the monster responsible to justice.
Originally released in 2019, When The Night Comes received a “ReVamp” edition in 2021 with partial voice acting, giving us a bite of some juicy voices to go along with the supernatural cast.
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WTNC fell into my lap shortly before the ReVamp, back in my baby otome days, and it holds a special place in my heart as the first game that allowed me to choose my pronouns. I was an enby living in a maiden’s world, and the disconnect on gender was keenly felt, despite falling in love with the love stories I read. Having a game where I could be NB and romance a NB character was something I desperately needed, and helped me feel represented and included in the community.
☆ Game Name: When The Night Comes☆ Developer: Lunaris Games☆ Publisher: Lunaris Games☆ Platforms: PC (Steam & itch.io)☆ Age Rating: Mature☆ Price: $12.99
Disclaimer: The developers describe the content as containing dark humor, harsh language, violence, and sexually suggestive content.
Ratings
Premise
Play as a renowned Hunter; a creature slayer who has been called to the quiet, strange little town of Lunaris to assist the local Enforcers with an investigation into a series of unsettling and unexplained supernatural murders.
Immerse yourself in the world of witches, vampires, demons, and Lycans as you slowly unravel the dark mystery that lies deep within the roots of the town.
– Steam Page
If you ever had a power fantasy of being Van Helsing, this is probably the closest you’re going to get in a visual novel where you can also befriend or bang the monsters that live among the populace. Yes, you heard me right, monster f**ker fans, but we’ll get into that in the story section.
Since coming across When The Night Comes in 2020, and waiting for the ReVamp in 2021, I haven’t encountered another game that quite matches up on this unique take of a supernatural murder mystery where the MC is a powerful Hunter. The queer representation, choices of pronouns, control over the romance and the spice, and linear storyline are all things I haven’t seen in many other games, at least not grouped together in quite the same way as WTNC.
Game Trailer
Characters
‘Mundane’ doesn’t exist in the vocabulary of Lunaris Games, the creators of When The Night Comes. They’ve designed a cast of characters that are anything but ordinary. Not only is the MC a Hunter – a supernaturally gifted creature hunter – but the love interests include another Hunter, a vampire, two witches, a demon, and a lycan.
I was delighted to see the diversity in the cast, not just in terms of supernatural characters, but in gender and sexuality. MC is able to be male, female, or non-binary, and the cast includes four men, one woman, and one non-binary love interest. There are also two possible poly routes, and the ability to play the game with no romance at all, all offered with no punishment for choosing the non-romance options.
In total, there are nine routes you can choose from. One for each LI, two poly routes, and one non-romantic route. Due to the linear nature of When The Night Comes, there isn’t a route order. However, the poly routes are only offered with the male LIs, so if you’re aiming for a throuple, pick one of the male characters.
Main Character (MC) – Hunter
☆ Name: No default name☆ Pronouns: She/her, They/them, He/him (selectable)☆ Appearance: Never shown
One of the best things about WTNC is its ability to bring a MC who can be anyone you want them to be. While MC is intended to be a self-insert that never appears on screen, and formulated for any gender choice you make, I found them to be interesting and perfectly suited for the story.
They have an inner monologue that resonated with me, were active in their role in the story – they are a Hunter, after all – and they were the right amount of flirty or professional when I made those choices. I never felt like there was a “right” choice, and they moved seamlessly through every interaction in a way I found understandable and well thought out by the writers.
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I tested out all the different pronoun options and I didn’t find any off-putting behavior for whatever gender I chose for my MC. It all felt so natural that I easily fell into how supernatural the game was. Truly, WTNC MC is the best “blank” MC I’ve ever played, surpassing even established MCs in my enjoyment of character.
Ezra – Witch
You meet Ezra on your first night in the town, and he is everything he appears to be. There is no hidden agenda with this soft-spoken witch. He instantly offers you some tea and tells you to chill for a while. It’s been a journey, so why wouldn’t you accept the kindness of a stranger? And he is kind. Probably too kind. I bet he gets taken advantage of in that regard.
Ezra takes on the role as the go-to for everything you could want, except a murder machine because he’s entirely too kind for that. Not that he couldn’t, there are just better options if you want someone dead than the guy that heals the wounded and takes in orphans. He’s very much like his shop in that he collects the interesting – both magic items and people.
Finn – Vampire
Speaking of doing things with kind witches and the interesting people they collect, Finn is the second LI you meet. This golden-eyed vampire, that has to be centuries old, is way more human than you might expect. I don’t know what I expected, to be honest, but Finn wasn’t anything at all like I thought he’d be.
He’s funny, he’s considerate, he’s passionate, he’s very much a man that lives on the edge of the human world and seems to want to be part of it, knowing he can’t any longer. He’s full of sad, but never really sad. For a guy that has been dead for several hundred years, he has a lot to offer a young(ish) hunter like the MC. One of those things is incredible support in any way he can, even if he isn’t your LI for that route.
August – Witch
Are you like me and enjoy romancing the taboo? I mean, dating a vampire is pretty taboo in When The Night Comes, since you have probably killed vampires and all that, but I mean the more mundane taboo… Is that a thing? What I’m trying to get at is: Do you want to date your boss? I do. I will always choose to date my boss. You can do that with August.
August puts up a demanding and dismissive front upon first meeting, but you’ll soon find out that they’re just love-starved. And I love love-starved characters. I cannot get enough of needy, clingy, vulnerable, emotional vampires- but not real vampires, just ones that feed off your feelings.
I picked August first for a variety of reasons, but mainly because when I got to throw down that first really flirty line about doing amazing things together, they responded with interest and then made sure to remind you to call them General no matter what sort of “things” you get into. Yes, General! Whatever you say, General! I’m all yours, General! It’s the power dynamic that I love, I know, but August is pretty interesting to me as well.
Piper – Hunter
Piper is the female LI in this game, and she is just like the MC in the fact that they are both Hunters. She comes in like a storm and is an incredibly unbridled woman that I thoroughly enjoyed getting cozy with. She starts off swinging, but is easily redirected if you know how to take all that power and aggression that she has just waiting to be used for some fun and frightening times – this is a murder mystery after all.
I found Piper to be a very compelling character since she exists outside of making any other LI look better, which is usually what female characters in games are regulated to. A low bar to pass, I know, but it’s the truth. Piper says what she is thinking. She acts on what she is feeling. And she thinks and feels a lot and I never tired of hearing her thoughts or seeing where her feelings would take us while I was on her route or on someone else’s.
Alkar – Werewolf
Alkar is the resident tsundere character of the pack, though he doesn’t consider himself part of the pack at all. In fact, he kind of hangs out on the fringes of every route and only really gets involved with the MC and Omen (the last LI to be introduced).
He swears a lot, and I guess that’s cool; as someone who also swears a lot I know that it has absolutely no bearing on one’s intelligence. But he also likes to spin things up, and I’m not into the bad boys that are assholes just because they can be. This was a tsundere that I didn’t care to pursue, so I don’t know what kind of romance this half-werewolf would give you. I assume a very aggressive dom who probably makes some “alpha” jokes. He does seem to like to joke.
Omen – Demon
Lastly we have Omen, who isn’t sure if he’s a good omen or a bad omen, but I’m going to say from my time with him that he’s good. He’s a soft-spoken demon that illusions himself as a humanoid, and when he gets emotional he catches fire. No, seriously. You heard about people burning up from embarrassment? Omen will literally burn up. It. Is. The. Best.
He doesn’t understand humans or humanity all that well, and is basically a puppy that needs to be constantly watched over, and I think there’s something really cute about him being hopeless and helpless in almost everything. I didn’t manage to get around to dating Omen, because the game is linear so I didn’t spend the time working my way through every character when ¾ of the story is the same. Which is unfortunate for Omen, because I would have set his world ablaze. Probably.
Story
As a Hunter – which is not just a title and profession, but a process started in childhood – like Witchers from the Witcher series – you are called to Lunaris to investigate a string of murders. You hunt and kill monsters that harm society. Pretty cool, right? I thought so.
Once you meet all the important people, you then get down to business trying to find what monster is killing people and all the while adding in some romance along the way- or not if you don’t want to! The game allows for a non-romantic route that isn’t a bad end.
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The main game is a linear story, which means that even when you select a different route it’s still largely the same with only the romance portions being different. Whichever character you decide to keep close by ends up being your buddy cop during the big climax, but the climax is exactly the same save for who is there. This isn’t a terrible idea, but it does lend itself to being less replayable because you’ve already played the story.
The linear storyline works for those that don’t want to play through every route for new information, because there isn’t any new information hidden within routes. It also allows for every route to feel like it could be the “true route” since every route could be the only route you do, so each LI is given as much attention as everyone else. This certainly allowed me to fall more in love with the characters I played, but have less of an opinion of the ones I didn’t romance.
The writing, art, and music are great at creating a moody and dark atmosphere. And while I was deeply immersed in the story from start to finish, there were some writing issues that were apparent early on. Time is wonky af. It isn’t expressed in a clear way, so sometimes hours have passed and sometimes it has been weeks. There are even times when the story will tell you that it had been a certain number of days, only to tell you later that it had been fewer days from the event than previously stated.
Some parts feel cobbled together, as if they added them for the ReVamp. I’m not sure, since I didn’t play beforehand, but certain scenes flow easier into others than some LI scenes. While the story stays the same, you will be told about events that you supposedly were part of, except that you weren’t. Like referring to seeing you again, when you never saw them before.
The game also uses the tactic of keeping information from the reader as a means of creating “mystery.” The MC even notes that it’s frustrating that no one will give them info to do the job they’re there for, so it is clearly intended to build suspense and keep us engaging with the town. Eventually, it is revealed why, but it felt like such an underwhelming reason that it didn’t come close to assuaging the frustration I felt for having so many parts of the story dangled in front of me, only to not let me grab it.
To Romance or Not to Romance, That is the Question
Have you ever played a romance game where the romance felt 100% natural and there was no question on why the couple got together? I hadn’t until I played When The Night Comes. Granted, it was one of the earlier games I had played, and I didn’t go through every route, but for the ones I did, I had no questions at all about why the two were into each other. This is likely because of the “have it your way” choice system in WTNC.
First, when choosing a route, you can pick the “No Romance” route and play through the story without being prompted with romantic options or moments. A very cool feature for those that are aromantic, imo. Second, when you do choose a LI route, you then are prompted with “romance” options for choices. They’re marked with a ♥ for sensual options, and even noted when it will lead to sex, though this isn’t AO content so everything fades to black before any funny business takes place.
You’re never pressured to pick the romance option, and never punished for not picking it. Which is so, so, very fucking cool. You control the pace of your relationship, and there’s as much spice or as little as you want. This is also how the poly relationships work, you’ll get a choice to add another, and if you say no, everyone is totally chill with it. Consent is key!
My only complaint about this system is that the ♥ choices seemed to always involve a kiss for the LI rather than another sort of romantic gesture. And while I can understand that there is a need to establish what will lead to making out and touching, I think a kiss isn’t always the best choice in initiating physical intimacy. Why not an ear nibble? A neck nuzzle? There’s more to getting physical than twining tongues.
Final Thoughts
The things that When The Night Comes does well, it does REALLY well! I was amazed at how easily Lunaris Games integrated pronoun options, inclusive characters, no punishment for choosing a specific romance or no romance, and mature content that is all about consent and in the player’s control. These are all things I’ve heard are difficult to manage, or cause the game to fall flat due to poor execution- but not here!
The things that ended up messy in execution were pacing and story continuity, and I’m not a fan of the linear storyline. Allowing one route to give the entire story left me with little reason to check out characters I wasn’t interested in- which I want to emphasize is not a bad thing for players that don’t want to play all options. I just wish there was something different offered for someone who wanted to play most of the cast, like myself.
Overall, I really enjoyed the game, and I will remember it fondly for the things it gave me that I hadn’t experienced before. I was new in the otome scene, and struggling with my identity, and When The Night Comes gave me the option to play someone closer to myself and showed me it was okay to not fit the mold – that I was still welcome to be part of the community.
You’ll like When The Night Comes if you like: Supernatural romance; Player-controlled romances and spice levels; Being a badass MFer; English voice acting; No wrong answers in romance.
Game Info
☆ Game Name: When The Night Comes☆ Developer: Lunaris Games☆ Publisher: Lunaris Games☆ Platforms: PC (Steam & itch.io)☆ Age Rating: Mature☆ Price: $12.99
Disclaimer: The developers describe the content as containing dark humor, harsh language, violence, and sexually suggestive content.
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