A visual novel featuring Pinoy-made character art is currently on Kickstarter

“Once More,” an adventure visual novel featuring beautiful art by Filipino artist Lawnielle, is on Kickstarter.

Under development by Malheur Games with assistance from people from all over the world, “Once More” aims to be a grounded and realistic exploration of “the intricacies of romance.”

So while magic plays a key role in its story, the game also has players experiencing the joys of falling in love, and the struggles of dealing with heartbreak, grief, and moving on.

You can check “Once More” out for yourselves by downloading the playable demo from itch.io.

Rewrite your story

“There exists a library where books rest without words. Instead, those who read these books see what the authors themselves imagined.”

It’s in this library that you, playing as a young man named Felix, meet the “reaper” Shifa.

Shifa makes a deal with you: show her the difference between romance as it’s depicted in fiction, and romance as it is in reality, and she’ll let you add a single book to the library’s collection.

You accept the deal. After all, the book you’re hoping to add to the library is the diary of your late girlfriend.

Will you stay in the past? Or will you move on and find someone new? You choose how your story plays out.

“Once More” features fascinating characters and potential love interests. Apart from Shifa, there’s the upbeat film student Cami, your childhood friend and passionate computer programmer Nia, the gifted pianist Yuria, who has a tendency to push others away before they get too close; and, of course, Mima, the love you lost.

You’ll be introduced to all aforementioned characters in the free demo. The women are fully voiced by international voice actors, singers, and YouTube personalities who’ve done work in other games and animations. For example, Shifa’s voice actress, Xanthe Huynh, voiced Haru in the hit JRPG “Persona 5.”

“Once More” also features an enchanting world brought to life by lovely music, writing, and art.

After reading visual novels like "Rewrite" and "Grisaia," Texas-based Avery Howell, became inspired to create “Once More.”  He soon became the project's director and co-writer and the person who brought in Filipino artist Lawrence Madrid Yap a.k.a. Lawnielle on the Lemma Soft Forums, while looking for an artist.

“Our working relationship is fairly casual,” said Howell. “[W]e discuss the art and ideas from time to time, and together we’ve created the character designs. I think we get along pretty well.”

As Character Artist for “Once More,” Lawnielle is thrilled to be working on their first visual novel project.

“I’ve long wanted to be involved in this kind of work,” they said. “Right now I’m doing my best so that this project becomes successful. It’s good that everyone on the [“Once More” team] is an enthusiast; this is one of the things that encourages me to push myself to do my best.”

Lawnielle is also grateful to all their supporters, both local and international, for taking interest in “Once More.”

Looking to the future

As polished as the “Once More” demo is, Malheur Games has numerous other features planned for the game’s full release, including multiple endings, side endings for characters you didn’t romance, 30 hours of content, and loads of new artwork. Additional voice acting is included in the Kickstarter’s stretch goals.

The Kickstarter campaign also offers incentives to backers. Some of the most significant rewards include a body pillow, a digital and physical copy of “Once More,” a digital artbook, acrylic charms, print art, the opportunity to design a computer graphic (CG) sequence, and more.

Malheur Games plans to commercially release “Once More” via Steam and itch.io within a year of its funding.