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More recently, t japan, the Japanese developer of 3D animated erotic visual novel, New Glass, had a run-in with the infamous SakuraGame. SakuraGame reached out to the developer offering to publish his game on Steam. In the translation of the tweets below, t japan lists the timeline of events as he describes his encounter with the publisher and notes that the Steam page for New Glass has been put online even before he officially signed any kind of contract with them. Of particular note in the description is the lack of professionalism when forging new contracts with new developers. SakuraGame complied to t japan’s request, but before the actual page was removed it was modified to “Blank,” with most details about the game removed. The page was modified just after t japan voiced his complaints to them about the store page being up without him having signed contract. It is safe to assume SakuraGame decided to modify the page instead of outright removing it to either escape criticism of having acted without the developer’s consent or to have the page as a backup in case t japan decided to go through with the deal with them. Whichever the case may be, the whole exchange related by t japan shows that SakuraGame either does not care for proper business relations with their developer partners or they are running on extremely low amounts of competence. After the New Glass page was finally removed, the Japanese developer deleted all of the tweets regarding the case, in order to avoid causing an unnecessary uproar. Sauce (NSFW)

... *weeps like a small child* Seriously, I haven't run into an utsuge/nakige hybrid like this since Karenai Sekai last year. Imoten (the nickname for this one) is the latest production by Alcot Honey Comb, the mid-priced subsidiary of Alcot responsible for Satsukoi, 1/2 Summer, and Hatsugamai. For some reason, in most years, the larger majority of the high quality VNs for the year tend to be put out in the first or last three months of the year... at least, that's the way it has been since 2011, when I first started playing most of the games released during the year. A 'good month' is a month with two VNs that are VN of the Month quality, and of the three I've played so far from October's releases (setting aside the fact that I'm reserving the rest of Freaks for a later date) two have been of that level of quality... and I haven't even started Baldr Bringer. This VN is based in the same universe as Satsukoi, which was itself a first-class utsuge/nakige hybrid (I won't tell you about the link, since it is a spoiler for both games). Now, this game technically has heroine paths... but by the nature of the way the game's story is told, this game is more focused on the protagonist's struggles than on the heroines. In fact, in order to see the true ending (Touka's), you have to make a rather sad choice near the end of the other three heroine paths. The 'happy endings' of the first three heroine paths are rather short and end abruptly... which makes a lot of sense, in retrospect. This game's protagonist, Yuki, is the son of two famous actors, who present a good face in public but have been living separate from each other and him since he can remember. After discovering that his mother only birthed him for the sake of putting forth a good social image, he briefly considers suicide, but upon meeting the archangel Touka, who convinces him life is worth living, he agrees to sign a contract to become an angel candidate, with the intention to one day take over from the present god, who is at her limit after a century and a half of keeping humanity from destroying itself and the world. Unfortunately, after a year of living together (Touka having altered reality so that she is seen as his little sister), he has yet to become a true angel, much less reach god's throne. As such, he is regularly scolded (verbally and physically) by Touka and has to endure regular meetings with two other angels... a shinigami (Shizumi) and an angel who is also an idol (Mia) where they try to figure out why he hasn't become an angel yet. The VN starts out humorous... and indeed, the typical fourth-wall breaking humor Alcot abuses is present constantly here, but things get grim really quick. This is not a kind world, after all. I'll be straight with you... if you just want normal romance with a great happy ending, this VN isn't for you. The world in this VN is as cruel and cold as the real world, in its own way (think about it... this is the same world where mermaid sisters have to eat their oniichan in order to live... and humans in order to extend that life)... all the more so because the characters are in a position to know, to an extent, why the world is the way it is. If you have a heart, each of the paths will reduce you to tears, each for a different reason... and the choices of Yuki (the protagonist) in order to reach and complete the true story lead to a bittersweet ending which will be hard on those who absolutely need a happy ending.

But language doesn't matter. If you want to download, you will download any version regardless of language. Theres is no point to buy japanese version if don't understand that language. English fan TL brings only new potential customers that may(or not) buy this game. Also if we assume the English community as a bunch of filthy pirates, then prepackaged edition is even better, because it is useless for those, who want to play in original, and people who download it - will never buy original version. Then what the point? You should be proud if someone want to translate your work for free(bad TL is another story...) and share it with more people. I just can't see how this can bring any harm for sales...

This. Is the thing that bothered me most. I like fantasy/supernatural elements a lot. Love them even. But not in this random tasteless way. For example. In Fate works, the rules of what you can and cannot do are clearly defined. The magic system is defined. It is something I can appreciate.In Kannon, there is no mention of supernatural, and then in the routes, after finishing the common routes they introduce random supernatural events.(Looking at Mai's route. Makoto's was decent enough that I could enjoy it regardless, the best route in kanon imao.) They basically make events happen with no respect to the world they created and then fix any possible tragedy, with its magic, so it became alright. That's not good writing. That's using a crutch. I mean there is suspension of disbelief and then there is insulting your intelligence. Rant over

Maou no Hajimekata, maybe? From what I've seen of the manga it's nowhere near the level of Overlord (and too much H) though.

I guess price tag was too low for him? That guy an asshole, btw. https://vndb.org/t8891

I didn't think it would leave me hanging like that.....

https://vndb.org/v15288 This one comes the closest, to my knowledge... though there are no religious connotations or death. To be honest, I don't think any VN has yet done what you are asking for, since I immediately pictured this horrible MMO I played a few years ago, where the only fun part was that you could run up walls and kidnap offline people to sell them as slaves.

I'm sure you've played Rewrite, however, I consider the handling of the secret organisations more than a tad clumsy, in a lot of aspects.

Since you apparently about to try Ever17, then I would recommend you to check both of I/O and Root Double. Also apparently you interested with both of Cross Channel and Yume Miru Kusuri, so I would suggest you to try Rewrite there. For more recommendation, I think Higurashi could be good for you considering that it's the same series as Umineko. You could try Cartagra as well considering that it was has same setting as Kara no Shoujo duology. Hope my recommendations here will be helpful to you.

Maybe try a game from the Steampunk series, assuming you're up for that kind of atmosphere. Gahkthun is the only one with an official release and I really enjoyed it, but Inganock is a better game (with a worse translation...). Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0 are both probably good choices. Symphonic Rain might be a surprisingly good choice, though it starts off a little slow, and some of the initial routes aren't the greatest. Shadows of Pygmalion is underrated and would probably be a good fit for the request here. People don't talk about Demonbane much, but I think that's mostly since the game and the TL are both pretty old by now. Probably also a good fit, though. Demonbane is maybe the only VN I've played which I would describe as campy, but in spite of that, it has its fair share of dark themes as well.