Marvelle’s Note: I found this lurking in my document folder. This is a review from my old site before I lost everything.
The latest from SWD is Castle Break! 
Castle Break has an interesting premise. The MC wakes up with amnesia and it’s up to you to both get your memories back and survive the dangers of the castle you’re stuck in. 
For my first buy, it was hard to choose between Roy and Jordan. On one hand, the fickle and maliciously playful nature of Jordan seemed like it promised an interesting story, but on the other hand, Roy couldn’t speak at all during the prologue and that seemed very mysterious as well. Why is his voice gone, anyway? Lance looked generic and his storyline seemed boring. I’m not sure I’ll ever buy his.
So it came down to… looks. Roy won. Simple as that. 
Hmm, I have mixed feelings on this route. Overall, it is very sweet. There are a lot of declarations of feelings, a lot of blushing between both parties, a lot of sugary-sweet moments of sweet passion… but overall I feel that it lacks that je ne sais pas that a great romance has. 
I like the concept of both parties not having a memory, one being mostly mute, and working through that to fall in love. But in the beginning, it seems like MC only likes him because he dotes on her, and there isn’t a strong enough transition in between for me to believe that she truly loves him. Oh, they say it constantly. 
Not so much the “L” word, but the synonyms for it. It felt like a “Oh, Romeo!” “Oh, Juliet!” type of romance. I don’t respond well to those. Some people do, and love them. If you know that you like your romances filled with declarations then you will probably like this story. 
During gameplay you get to solve mini logic puzzles. They are very, very, simple. All you do is click through the options then decide on a solution based on the multiple clues, then click the correct answer. But it was a nice change from the usual SWD games, so I’ll give it a pass. It does get annoying when you’re trying to play multiple times to get the endings, however. 
The artwork is beautiful, especially some of the backgrounds. The CGs are wonderful, as well. I rarely complain about the art in SWD games and this is no exception. At the very least if you hate the route you bought you’re guaranteed pretty pictures. 
Hmm, I actually didn’t screencap anything in this review. I mean, for all the stuff I read through, there wasn’t really anything that moved me. I actually like the main villain, Astaroth, a lot. I kinda want a route with him. 
Because I never screencapped anything noteworthy, I don’t feel like I can give it three stars. It’s just a little too bland for me.
My heart scale is defined as follows – 5 hearts = a story everyone will fall in love with, regardless of preferences; 4 hearts = a well-done story that people who love the concept will adore, and people who don’t may end up liking it; 3 hearts = if you like this type of story or this type of hero, then you will enjoy this, but those who do not like either of those things will probably not; 2 hearts = it had potential, it squandered it; 1 heart = just a waste of time from the get-go; 0 hearts = why was this made?
At the time of this writing, Astaroth’s route was not released. But it is now, and here is the review for his route here.