High School Romance: Magi Trials is a new magical-themed visual novel from Dharker Studio, available now on Nutaku.net. A loosely tied sequel to High School Romance, this installment features a magical city reminiscent of Dalaran from World of Warcraft, complete with a prestigious Royal Academy of the Magi where the protagonist seeks to make his career.
In the previous installment of the High School Romance franchise, the male lead was forced by circumstances to dress up as a girl and hide the fact from the faculty - no matter how awkward it may have gotten in the locker rooms. In High School Romance Magi Trials, this premise is taken even further in a series of arcane mishaps that lead to serious gender-swapping action.
The tale opens with Shaun, an ambitious young student of the arcane arts who possesses a talent that his senpais and teachers quickly recognize in him. One fateful night in the library, he tests his mettle with a spell so complex and dangerous, he later finds, it is actually illegal under wizard law. As expected, he blunders this advanced spell, surviving certain death by a sheer luck. When Shaun wakes up, the spell he cast turned him into a girl, and he must hide this fact lest he faces expulsion from the school for his ambitious experiments.
The story focuses on the relationships between Shira, Charlie, and Sophie, although a cheeky succubus is summoned to join the fray with them. The male cast is in the background, while the women take front and center throughout the narrative. Shaun may be Sophie now, but he is still into girls more than guys, and there are a number of romantic subtexts throughout the dialogue.
Sophie struggles to get used to her new body, including wearing panties and brassieres, as well as using the "right" restroom. Talking about guys and sex with other girls is even more awkward for him, though he is helped through this "transition" by Charlie, a snappy brunette who cuts to the chase without asking. Charlie becomes Sophie's practice partner, in preparations for the mage trials - an important test for any aspiring wizard. Success in the trial determines a magi's career advancement prospects, and in Sophie's miserable case, possible unemployment is in the cards. If players are careless in their decision making, their pet succubus Eri might pull some tricks of her own during the challenge...
The artist for Magi Trials the same as in the original High School Romance - though he’s clearly taken it up a level, as this time the characters' unique anime noses are even cuter. The art style is unique to this franchise, which is a fluid mix of western and eastern influences and hits the appropriately whimsical tones for a story set in a teenage magical academy. If you enjoyed the first title, this second installment will hit the nail in the head for you. Few western visual novels have attempted games featuring full-on gender swap, though AJTilley is clearly unafraid to tailor his titles to audiences with very specific fetishes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ALEXuEkDU
The visual novel has several routes to explore, including eight different endings. Some of these are are decidedly dark, with death and slavery both being real dangers. There are a total of one hundred CGs to unlock and collect, many of which will require multiple playthroughs to reveal. Though filled with racy material and adult themes, the game is completely "safe-fork-work" and does not feature any explicit sex scenes.
High School Romance: Magi Trials is available for downloadon Nutaku.net for $10.00
