A Year of Springs Game Review

Games offer a wealth of storytelling opportunities, giving players a chance to experience stories and characters far removed from their day to day lives–from supernatural romances to high fantasy adventures, each new game is a one of a kind experience. However, there are still many stories and characters that are often overlooked by the broader gaming industry. In recent years, indie games have become a hub for marginalized creators to tell their own stories and create characters that are representative of the diverse gaming community. Over the years, I’ve stumbled upon some true gems, but one series that always manages to tug at the heartstrings is npckc’s Springs series! Three LGBTQIA positive games that touch on the lives of three very different women as they come to an understanding about themselves, life, and friendship.

So, you can bet I was super excited to see that npckc had compiled all three games in the series into one compilation game, A Year of Springs! This new game comes with all three titles in the Springs series–One Night, Hot Spring, Last Day of Spring, and Spring Leaves No Flower–and as an exclusive bonus, npckc included a new epilogue that follows Haru, Erika, and Manami after the events of all three games!

Game Details

  • LGBTQ+ Positive | Coming of Age | Slice-of-Life
  • Where to Play: Itch.io | Steam
  • Price: $5.00
  • Gameplay:  4 Hours
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Spring Leaves No Flowers – Game Review

Spring Leaves No Flowers is the third game in the LGBTQ positive One Night, Hot Spring visual novel series developed by npckc. The first game followed Haru, a 19-year old transgender Japanese woman as she goes on an overnight trip to a local hot spring for her oldest friend Manami’s 20th birthday. The second game focused on Erika, one of Haru’s friends as she attempts to plan a spa day for the girls, but she finds that accommodating all of her friends is a little difficult.

Spring Leaves No Flowers Review Minami

This third game, Spring Leaves No Flowers brings Haru’s friend Manami to the forefront as she comes to an understanding about herself as she thinks about what friendship and romance mean to her. Spring Leaves No Flowers picks up a few months after the events of Last Day of Spring with Manami coming home after a night out with her boyfriend Tatsuya, and her friends, Haru and Erika. While chatting with Tatsuya later that night he asks Manami why she never told him her two best friends were dating. Confused, she denies his claim, but the next day she notices that both Haru and Erika are acting strangely… maybe there really is something going on between her two best friends afterall…

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Last Day of Spring – Game Review

Last Day of Spring is the sequel to npckc’s LGBTQ positive visual novel, One Night, Hot Springs—which followed Haru, a 19-year old transgender Japanese woman as she goes on an overnight trip to a local hot spring for her oldest friend Manami’s 20th birthday. The game focuses on Haru’s experiences during the trip and the affect they have on her—One Night, Hot Springs delves into many of the anxieties Haru has over not being treated as the woman she is and while it does have its fair share of heavy moments, the game is ultimately very positive.

Last Day of Spring Review 8

During the trip, Haru meets Manami’s friend Erika and while they have a shaky start, there are opportunities for the two to spend more time together and eventually become friends. Last Day of Spring, picks up a few months after the first game and follows Erika, who at this point has become really good friends with Haru. At the start of the game Erika learns from Manami that it’s Haru’s birthday and decides they should do something to celebrate. So she sets out to plan a special spa day for her, Haru, and Manami.

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[Pride Month 2019] 10 More LGBTQ Positive Visual Novels

Hey Hey Heroes, Travelers, and Wandering NPCs,  LGBT Pride Monththe annual celebration dedicated to the richly diverse LGBT community!! Last year I celebrated with a list of 10 LGBTQ positive visual novels, I highly recommend giving that list a read, there are some seriously great titles there that definitely warrant a look. Because it’s June once again, I wanted to compile another list with even more LGBTQ positive VNs!

Representation matters, so I did my best to come up with a list of games that gave a positive look at members of the LGBTQ community, whether that meant shedding light on an often overlooked group of people or offering a positive portrayal of members of the LGBTQ community. Like last year, I will include links to each of the games and I’ll even spotlight which aspects of the LGBTQ community is referenced. As always, this is not an end all list, there are plenty of great games out there, so if you have some suggestions definitely feel free to drop them down in the comments section!

So, without further ado, here are 10 More LGBTQ Positive Visual Novels that you should totally check out this Pride Month!


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