Helix Waltz
Helix Waltz is a freemium phone game where you play as Magda, a young woman from a pseudo-European fantasy country, trying to increase her family's social standing by attending balls in pretty outfits and forming connections with the people there. INCLUDING GIRLS. WHO YOU CAN DATE. I've been having a lot of fun with it!
If any of you already play it, my friend code is 301040. I picked the username Firebrand after unsuccessfully typing in various other vaguely fantasy names.
Note: Rape warning for one quest
The overall tone of the game is an enjoyable mix of cynical and fluffy. The society is highly unjust, full of shallow scheming, and the only way to get ahead is for Magda to pretend to have the opinions people want to hear. But she's a basically sweet, decent girl, and forms genuine relationships with people. And there's enough humour and tropey fun to keep things entertaining.
I haven't gotten super far into the ongoing plot, it's interesting so far but slow moving. The bulk of the game is spent going to balls and grinding for favour and information, mostly via short conversations which can sometimes be interesting but tend to repeat a lot. A chunk of the gameplay involves acquiring and wearing pretty clothes with the right stats to impress people and win "who has the best outfit" beauty contests at balls. The art is very nice and the clothes are varied and fun to play with, even when you're just starting out.
There's also an ongoing costume contest between the players. You have to work within a set of randomly generated clothes, but can generate a new set with in-game currency. My costume currently has a whole 13 votes ;_;
So far I haven't felt very tempted to spend any real money, but there's definitely the option to spend arbitrary amounts getting all the best new outfits and resetting counters etc. My only "friend" is a random stranger who added me, but if you add me I think you can borrow my "maxed stats" outfit which could be useful at low levels.
Here's the default outfit I gave my Magda (which has mediocre stats but looks cute in cut scenes):
The writing is...well, the original Chinese clearly had a lot of thought put into it, but the English translation is appalling. Also the ends of long paragraphs get cut off a lot. I get the basic gist enough not to mind too much. (Afaict it's a Chinese instalment of a Japanese franchise which is why the preview trailer is in Japanese)
The characters are pretty great, mostly very thinly sketched but varied and interesting with complex relationships.
The worldbuilding is fairly standard Eurofantasy, with mages, elves and little cat-eared folk called Oren living in a highly stratified society whose nobles only care about their own little world. There's also fantasy!England, Steampunk!America, fantasy!China, and fantasy!Japan, which we get interesting small glimpses of. No other countries though, afaict, asides from the Demon Realm, and the only ethnicity other than fantasy!European or fantasy!East Asian is exotified!fantasy!Roma.
The setting is fleshed out in ways that are certainly holding together so far, and even though many of the characters are prejudiced, the game makes a moderate effort to treat all humans like people regardless of class or background, even the sex workers. (Oren are treated...less like people) Magda herself was adopted out of the slums, something she thinks about silently to herself every time her affectionate but bigoted mother rants about how Those Folk From The Slums Can't Be Trusted.
The treatment of fat characters is simply bad. There's a likeable fat love interest but while good natured he's spoiled and lazy. The one time disability came up it was treated ok, I guess?
The treatment of queerness is mixed but better than I was expecting. So far Magda has expressed no interest in anyone, and it's assumed by everyone, including her, that she will enter an arranged political m/f marriage. I don't think I've seen any same sex relationships mentioned explicitly. But the mild flirtation and dancing at balls has involved women as well as men, and there's multiple female love interests (in theory. None of the romances have been fully written yet) I've encountered two queer men, who afaict are the only men to do beauty contests: a trans man, who is treated mostly the same as the cis men except for sometimes getting casually misgendered when other people discuss him, and a fashionista mlm (probably gay?), who is sometimes looked down on for being weird/"too girly".
Ok, on further investigation, Willow also does beauty contests. Now I'm wondering if he's bi or just Elvish, lol.
Here's all the love interests according to a list I found online. There's stars next to those who seem to come up in the plot/attend a lot of balls etc. There's a bunch of the unstarred ones who I haven't met yet, these are just rough impressions from the wiki etc.
Female love interests:
Male love interests:
A guide I found helpful:
Guide Part 1
Guide Part 2
Links I keep open in a browser to help while I play:
All the dances
Character List EDIT: This spreadsheet is more efficient
The reddit has a nice list of links
I'm trying to max out my points with everyone I meet, but with a specific focus on Nyx, who is adorable. This happened on the main path (not even Nyx's personal questline!):
Magda: You can't sit in a corner reading all night. Let's dance.
Nyx: Two girls?!
Magda: There's no rule saying we can't. Come, Miss Bavlenka, I'll lead.
Nyx: Please. Call me Nyx *.*
And then she sent Magda a breathless letter about NOT HAVING KNOWN DANCING WITH GIRLS WAS A THING but being QUITE A FAN :D
I haven't met Bergyna or Helena yet. Rincole and Shatina didn't click with me, but Foggy was interesting even if most of her dialogue was the writers having fun imagining explaining Chinese culture to a 19th century European.
Of the guys I've met, I like Xavier and Alan the best. I find Matthew interesting, but not to date.
My favourite unromanceable NPCs so far:
This entry was originally posted at https://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/726780.html. There are
comments.
If any of you already play it, my friend code is 301040. I picked the username Firebrand after unsuccessfully typing in various other vaguely fantasy names.
Note: Rape warning for one quest
The overall tone of the game is an enjoyable mix of cynical and fluffy. The society is highly unjust, full of shallow scheming, and the only way to get ahead is for Magda to pretend to have the opinions people want to hear. But she's a basically sweet, decent girl, and forms genuine relationships with people. And there's enough humour and tropey fun to keep things entertaining.
I haven't gotten super far into the ongoing plot, it's interesting so far but slow moving. The bulk of the game is spent going to balls and grinding for favour and information, mostly via short conversations which can sometimes be interesting but tend to repeat a lot. A chunk of the gameplay involves acquiring and wearing pretty clothes with the right stats to impress people and win "who has the best outfit" beauty contests at balls. The art is very nice and the clothes are varied and fun to play with, even when you're just starting out.
There's also an ongoing costume contest between the players. You have to work within a set of randomly generated clothes, but can generate a new set with in-game currency. My costume currently has a whole 13 votes ;_;
So far I haven't felt very tempted to spend any real money, but there's definitely the option to spend arbitrary amounts getting all the best new outfits and resetting counters etc. My only "friend" is a random stranger who added me, but if you add me I think you can borrow my "maxed stats" outfit which could be useful at low levels.
Here's the default outfit I gave my Magda (which has mediocre stats but looks cute in cut scenes):
The writing is...well, the original Chinese clearly had a lot of thought put into it, but the English translation is appalling. Also the ends of long paragraphs get cut off a lot. I get the basic gist enough not to mind too much. (Afaict it's a Chinese instalment of a Japanese franchise which is why the preview trailer is in Japanese)
The characters are pretty great, mostly very thinly sketched but varied and interesting with complex relationships.
The worldbuilding is fairly standard Eurofantasy, with mages, elves and little cat-eared folk called Oren living in a highly stratified society whose nobles only care about their own little world. There's also fantasy!England, Steampunk!America, fantasy!China, and fantasy!Japan, which we get interesting small glimpses of. No other countries though, afaict, asides from the Demon Realm, and the only ethnicity other than fantasy!European or fantasy!East Asian is exotified!fantasy!Roma.
The setting is fleshed out in ways that are certainly holding together so far, and even though many of the characters are prejudiced, the game makes a moderate effort to treat all humans like people regardless of class or background, even the sex workers. (Oren are treated...less like people) Magda herself was adopted out of the slums, something she thinks about silently to herself every time her affectionate but bigoted mother rants about how Those Folk From The Slums Can't Be Trusted.
The treatment of fat characters is simply bad. There's a likeable fat love interest but while good natured he's spoiled and lazy. The one time disability came up it was treated ok, I guess?
The treatment of queerness is mixed but better than I was expecting. So far Magda has expressed no interest in anyone, and it's assumed by everyone, including her, that she will enter an arranged political m/f marriage. I don't think I've seen any same sex relationships mentioned explicitly. But the mild flirtation and dancing at balls has involved women as well as men, and there's multiple female love interests (in theory. None of the romances have been fully written yet) I've encountered two queer men, who afaict are the only men to do beauty contests: a trans man, who is treated mostly the same as the cis men except for sometimes getting casually misgendered when other people discuss him, and a fashionista mlm (probably gay?), who is sometimes looked down on for being weird/"too girly".
Ok, on further investigation, Willow also does beauty contests. Now I'm wondering if he's bi or just Elvish, lol.
Here's all the love interests according to a list I found online. There's stars next to those who seem to come up in the plot/attend a lot of balls etc. There's a bunch of the unstarred ones who I haven't met yet, these are just rough impressions from the wiki etc.
Female love interests:
- Bergnya chaotic evil lesbian horse riding knight
- Helena Chaotic good sex worker
- Foggy Scary mysterious chaotic neutral fortune telling not!Chinese woman
- Nyx Bavlenka* Adorable chaotic good book nerd bff
- Rincole Chaotic neutral 100+ year old elf who has a bunch of (mostly/all male) lovers on the go
- Shatina Chaotic evil demon soldier
Male love interests:
- Biggus Skeezy Servant
- Leslie Bavlenka Loyal warrior
- Willow* Elf singer with a penchant for danger.
- Alminas Sad elf
- Balfey Olineaux* Cheerfully spoiled noble.
- Hamilton Sardonic commoner.
- Barris Sakan Serious minded noble.
- Alan* Boyishly self conscious soldier.
- Carlos Quietly mysterious mercenary.
- Gocheau Morose demon.
- Gedanh* Goodnatured peddler.
- Barbalius The not!English ambassador.
- Ivan Mischievous servant.
- Xavier* Serious minded mage with a demonic spirit...thing following him around.
- Black_Glove Casino owner.
- Brala Cheerful catboy theif.
- Matthew* Charming con man.
- Starr Mayphis quiet mage.
- Randall Charming merchant from not!America.
A guide I found helpful:
Guide Part 1
Guide Part 2
Links I keep open in a browser to help while I play:
All the dances
Character List EDIT: This spreadsheet is more efficient
The reddit has a nice list of links
I'm trying to max out my points with everyone I meet, but with a specific focus on Nyx, who is adorable. This happened on the main path (not even Nyx's personal questline!):
Magda: You can't sit in a corner reading all night. Let's dance.
Nyx: Two girls?!
Magda: There's no rule saying we can't. Come, Miss Bavlenka, I'll lead.
Nyx: Please. Call me Nyx *.*
And then she sent Magda a breathless letter about NOT HAVING KNOWN DANCING WITH GIRLS WAS A THING but being QUITE A FAN :D
I haven't met Bergyna or Helena yet. Rincole and Shatina didn't click with me, but Foggy was interesting even if most of her dialogue was the writers having fun imagining explaining Chinese culture to a 19th century European.
Of the guys I've met, I like Xavier and Alan the best. I find Matthew interesting, but not to date.
My favourite unromanceable NPCs so far:
- Coco A tiny catgirl who threatens anyone who bothers her at balls with a bomb :D
- Marvelia Hull Ambassador from Steampunk Not!America, keeps complaining about women being expected to wear dresses.
This entry was originally posted at https://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/726780.html. There are
comments.