Kaifukushoku no Akuyaku Reijou
From Villainess to Healer: I Know the Cheat to Change My Fate

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Read it if you liked Shangri La-Frontier, or game-based worlds in general.

The manga suffers from the most common problem of any stories of this type (gaining past life memories/isekaied into otome game): If I found out I was a fucking game character, I would be really confused, then I'd feel trepidation, then existential panic will hit, and then most importantly an identity crisis. After all that I'd try to have a sense of agency while questioning it at the same time. Not for this girl. After gaining memories of her past life, she decides: Hey, let's go on an adventure! Sure.

(Spoilers:)

Let's put that aside. The ... manga's world is a game, so obviously the mechanics are very 'gamey'. Stats, levels, skill points, treasure chests, dungeons, classes, adventurers,... all of that common isekai/game stuff. The protagonist seems to be an addict with how much she knows and remembers about the game. Sadly, seems like that's the only thing the protagonist seemed to gain from her past life, such a shame... Imagine remembering your past life's memories, you find out that it was Lincoln, and you only remember his last concert in 1080p HD detail, nothing else. This is like that.

The protagonist's personality also changes. You'd assume: dark magic, trained from birth to become a queen, villain of the game,... the protagonist should have a kind of pragmatic personality realistically. Actually, no - after gaining past life memories, she just completely changed 180 degrees and became bright, cheerful, always loving and curious. Maybe it's her "fascination" with the game world?... Doesn't make that much sense.

If we ignore all the psychological inconsistencies, then, the story is well-paced, progresses naturally and realistically, although all the mechanics can be really hard to understand with how it's being described (maybe it's because I'm reading the English TN). The story focuses more on the side moments of the character with each other rather than the cool fights, which isn't bad, but for some readers, it could get boring. Talking about the side characters: they're written decently well, though the hero's party part is a bit shallow and should be explored more in the future, for example, why exactly was she chosen as the 'hero'? What was the mechanic behind it? Is the 'Hero' a gifted class from birth, or was it pre-determined by the story? And what is the purpose of the hero (to defeat whom?)? The arcs feel naturally connected and caps off satisfyingly.

If you enjoy game mechanics and just characters having fun with each other, then this is for you to pass time.

Overall score: 7/10