a review of "misericorde, volume one" by xeecee

I've never written a proper review before, especially not of a piece of media I've grown so fond of, so do take this with a grain of salt.

I'll subdivide my opinions into different categories, so as to be a bit more organised.

But before that, I just want to say that I loved this VN sosososososo much!!! So this is definitely not an impartial review ;p

Story.

One of the sisters at a 15th century Benedictine convent deep in the northern English moors has been murdered; decapitated, no less. Hedwig, the convent's anchoress, is forced to break her oath of consecration and is thus ripped from her symbolic tomb by her Reverence, the Mother Superior of Linbarrow Abbey to investigate sister Catherine's murder. What a premise!

I have to admit that my copy of Revelations of Divine Love has been gathering dust on my shelf for a while now, but now I'm deadly interested in the lives of anchorites, so I might have to give it a go soon!

Of course, this is only the first volume, so the story itself isn't complete yet, but what we're given so far is, by itself, an absolutely wonderful set up to the mystery. The convent's past and the intricacies of the interrelations between the characters only grow more complex as the story progresses, especially those concerning Catherine the Second, the murder victim. As of the ending to the first volume, red herrings are abound for a lot of the characters, though clear motives are yet to be properly established; seemingly supernatural apparitions frequent Hedwig's surroundings, and characters in whom the beginning tried to show us we could trust are beginning to skew disturbing.

I hope and pray [hehe] that the payoff lives up to my expectations, because this first volume has certainly set them very high. I especially want to see how the wonderful prologue, which introduced a certain element of political intrigue and gave promises of regicide, ties into the main plot!

Setting.

Undoubtedly one of the best aspects Misericorde has going for it (for a mediaevalist geek like me, anyway). Linbarrow Abbey and Linbarrow Tor, the village over which it presides, are really quite well crafted, in my opinion. The art helps this purpose a lot, but the writing and overall setting descriptions are excellently visual as well. 

The convent receives very little activity from the outside as it is situated atop a steep hill, which deters the townspeople from seeking counsel there. Which only helps isolate the nuns from the rest of the world in this homicidal situation. Some hints of the Gothic?

Linbarrow Abbey feels very authentic, the author has clearly done their research, and I appreciate that descriptions are not too messy or disorienting in terms of the convent's floor plan (I'm looking at you, The Name of the Rose).

Dialogue and writing.

I must say the prologue caught me quite by surprise with how well it was written and got my hopes up for a visual novel which finally had a good, literary-adjacent type of writing style. The writing is certainly more developed than other VNs, but the level the prologue established did diminish once we began hearing Hedwig's story and her conversations with the other nuns.

This is not to say the dialogues are not good. They are more than good for what they intend to accomplish. You get a great sense of who these characters are when reading their conversations, and they seldom read strained or fake.

I would say it's a type of writing you don't really tend to notice. Which is definitely a compliment. I think more often than not, being aware of a novel's writing is to its detriment, since it manages to take you right out of the story. It's not bad, neither is it overly ornate, but you can't really say it's excellent either. Which is fine; literary excellence is not usually what you look for in a visual novel. 

I feel like the beginning sections could have used some more editing (some lack of commas, a few whos instead of whoms, nitpicky stuff like that). Nothing that would keep you from enjoying the story unless you're a freak (like yours truly).

I can definitely say I was expecting many more anachronisms than the ones I was able to find (I don't think "hear, hear!" was a used expression until much later, for example), which is very commendable. Writing mediaeval era characters is quite a hard task, since their knowledge was so limited in some areas compared to ours, even things we would never think twice about. I remember reading that when Eco was writing The Name of the Rose, which is set in an abbey in the early 1300s, he had to call for a reprint after having found a scene in which a character made reference to a second as a unit of time, since time wasn't measured in seconds until much later! Just a neat fact about historical fiction :P

Art.

Probably one of my favourite parts of the VN. The backgrounds are filtered black-and-white photos of real abbeys, over which the author blends in the characters excellently for CGs. The sprites aren't half bad either, the author is clearly a very talented artist. My absolute favourite is that of the Mother Superior, it looks incredible!

Here are some of my favourite CGs (sorry that the background kinda blends into them):

Aren't they terrifying?!?!? So simple and so awesome!

Characters

I don't want to talk too much about the characters, so as not to give a lot away, but I can definitely say that they are a fascinating bunch and a great contrast to Hedwig's expectations of what a nun's life and conduct would look like, with scripture and the Rule of Saint Benedict being her only reference points. The game highlights the sad reality of the Middle Ages (and much further onwards) where most nuns weren't there out of devotion and a true desire to serve God, but simply for necessity or from being forcibly sent to live in a convent by their families at a young age. Hedwig herself was made to take the vows of an anchorite as a girl.

I've taken a special liking to Moira and Chastity (obviously), and surprisingly to Angela, the surly and irascible Prioress of the abbey.

I hope this review has stirred your interest in this incredible novel! I am very happy to have found it myself and wait anxiously for the second volume. Whodunit? Whydunit? Who the hell was Catherine anyways? I wanna know dammit!!!

You can buy the first volume of Misericorde on Steam and Itch.io, as well as wishlist the second volume.

Trust me, you won't regret it if you do!!

Kisses!