A delightful visual novel with some RPG elements and tons of choices.

Magical Diary: Horse Halls has you beginning magical school as someone who just learned about magic and that they've got it. It does feel a lot like Harry Potter the visual novel, if Harry was female and had a lot of romance options.

As a student, you get to make lots of choices. This could be what to do with your time - such as which of the five schools of magic you will study - or it could be who you want to romance. There are lots of smaller interesting choices, such as running for class office, joining a secret society, etc. You plan your schedule every week, and encounter events as they appear.

The magic you learn may give you additional options during events, and will be the key for solving the game's tests - where you're thrown into a first-person dungeon and must use your magical prowess and smarts to get out again. The tests are the game at some of its most creative, as your school of magic absolutely influences your approach - red magic may have to brute force its way out by burning everything down with fire, while a sufficiently capable blue magic could just teleport herself out of the dungeon.

When you're not learning magic, you may chose to be out romancing people. Your romance options are pretty vast. You may romance girls, boys, professors, demons... You have some options.

What most surprised me is how much branching there is in the game. One playthrough saw me join a secret society, another saw me run for class office and get elected, a third had me making out with a fairy, and a fourth had me expelled from the school. The game absolutely warrants multiple playthroughs, and even playing it four times I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of what content is hidden away in the game.

A delightful visual novel with some RPG elements and tons of choices. Magical Diary: Horse Halls has you beginning magical school as someone who just learned about magic and that they've got it. It does feel a lot like Harry Potter the visual novel, if Harry was female and had a lot of romance options. As a student, you get to make lots of choices. This could be what to do with your time - such as which of the five schools of magic you will study - or it could be who you want to romance. There are lots of smaller interesting choices, such as running for class office, joining a secret society, etc. You plan your schedule every week, and encounter events as they appear. The magic you learn may give you additional options during events, and will be the key for solving the game's tests - where you're thrown into a first-person dungeon and must use your magical prowess and smarts to get out again. The tests are the game at some of its most creative, as your school of magic absolutely influences your approach - red magic may have to brute force its way out by burning everything down with fire, while a sufficiently capable blue magic could just teleport herself out of the dungeon. When you're not learning magic, you may chose to be out romancing people. Your romance options are pretty vast. You may romance girls, boys, professors, demons... You have some options. What most surprised me is how much branching there is in the game. One playthrough saw me join a secret society, another saw me run for class office and get elected, a third had me making out with a fairy, and a fourth had me expelled from the school. The game absolutely warrants multiple playthroughs, and even playing it four times I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of what content is hidden away in the game.