Once on a windswept night

About

Once on a windswept night is a single player action game with romance and anime themes. It was developed by ebi-hime and was released on February 6, 2017. It received very positive reviews from players.

A yuri (GxG) VN about a traveller who runs across two nuns in an abandoned church.

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Single-Player

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91%Audience ScoreBased on 138 reviews

story42 positive mentions

grinding4 negative mentions

Deep, emotionally touching story with multiple layers and surprising plot twists that reward repeated playthroughs.
Creative and innovative meta-narrative structure that engages players uniquely, including story within a story and breaking the fourth wall.
High-quality writing, well-developed characters, fitting soundtrack, and charming art contribute to a memorable and immersive experience.

Gameplay involves tedious repetition and RNG-based achievements that require numerous restarts and can be frustrating without a guide.
Technical issues such as crashes, save file bugs, slow/unresponsive menu system, and a single save slot complicate the experience.
Minimal and simplistic visuals with limited backgrounds and character expressions, which may feel insufficient for some visual novel players.

story
151 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
69%
3%
The story is a multilayered, metafictional narrative that unfolds as a story within a story, gradually revealing deeper emotional and romantic themes, especially yuri elements. While praised for its interesting concept, well-written characters, and emotional impact, many players found the need to repeatedly replay and reread sections tedious and the structure somewhat convoluted, often requiring guides to uncover the full plot. Overall, it is considered a touching, ambitious, and memorable visual novel with engaging twists, though its pacing and repetitive format may not appeal to all.
- “The story has many layers and it is a really interesting experiment with the limits of the VN genre and interactivity within it that's very well integrated within the story of the game.”
- “With likable, engaging characters, an interesting framing device, a story with plenty of twists and turns, and an ending that had me close to tears, it's one of the best visual novels I've read yet.”
- “What’s stunning about this novel is that it is an interwoven story of stories, and each attempt to find new paths reveals more and more of that story.”
- “Though it's a really cool concept, having now finished the game completely I have to say it was pretty convoluted for how short of a story it was.”
- “You have to reread the exact same story over and over again just to uncover one tiny puzzle piece of a detail to progress the story then do it all over again.”
- “It was already boring enough having to hold Ctrl through the same exact story, but then the game will abruptly close after certain details forcing you to go to the unskippable dialogue at the beginning of the game repeatedly.”
emotional
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a deeply emotional and touching narrative that explores themes of loneliness, grief, love, and self-discovery, often evoking strong emotional responses such as tears. Its well-crafted writing, compelling characters, and heartfelt endings create a moving experience that resonates with players, making it a standout title, especially notable given its free-to-play nature.
- “The ruminations on loneliness, grief, coming-of-age, hunger, toxicity, love vs obsession, self-actualization, emotional desperation, fairy tales, authorship, and narrative arcs are recognizable themes from ebi-hime's other works.”
- “This is such a beautiful and heartbreaking game once you fully understand everything.”
- “I'm not usually one for visual novels, but an acquaintance recommended this, and I am very glad she did, because Once on a Windswept Night is masterfully written, designed intelligently, emotionally gripping, and shows choices of style, convention, and subtlety which are hallmarks of higher literature.”
music
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
26%
11%
The music in the game is widely praised for its quality and emotional impact, with specific songs like "My Beloved" and two voiced tracks at the end standing out. It effectively enhances the storytelling and atmosphere, contributing significantly to the overall experience. Many players find the soundtrack beautiful, peaceful, and worth owning.
- “Music's great, specifically a song called 'My Beloved', but great soundtrack all in all.”
- “The music elevates the moments, sincere or tongue-in-cheek, and helps to bring the whole experience together.”
- “The two voiced songs at the end are also worth it, I think I'm going to buy the OST just for those two beautiful, heartfelt songs.”
- “Music and CGs are not many, but we have everything needed to get a decent feel from the story. Characters could've been a little more unusual, more like 'Lycoris'.”
- “The art and music are rather simple, but apart from one sprite, I quite enjoyed them.”
graphics
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
41%
18%
The graphics in the game are generally praised for their charming, well-executed art style and high-quality visuals, especially impressive for a free title. While some find the artwork simplistic or limited in variety, it effectively conveys character personality and complements the story, with beautiful backgrounds and pleasing character designs. Minor criticisms include a lack of extensive CG artworks and some stylistic preferences, but overall the visuals significantly enhance the visual novel experience.
- “The quality of the visuals and the music is extremely high, not to mention the amount of content included, in this completely free game.”
- “For what concerns gameplay, it's a standard visual novel anyways with only female characters; it features multiple choices, different endings and very beautiful artwork on the backgrounds and the characters.”
- “Once on a Windswept Night has beautiful artwork, captivating characters, and nice music.”
- “I could see it as a regular visual novel that would be sold for 5 euro or so if the visuals and audio were upgraded.”
- “Visuals are very simplistic, however well done, and for a free game it’s more than enough.”
- “The only dissatisfaction for me is lacking CG artworks; they are quality but few. However, it's a free game so I think it's okay.”
gameplay
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The gameplay is primarily that of a standard visual novel with multiple choices and different endings, featuring beautiful artwork but lacking clear explanations of mechanics. While some find the concept interesting and engaging, others criticize it for poor execution, confusing elements, and tedious clicking through poorly written dialogue. Overall, it offers a free, short interactive experience with mixed impressions on its gameplay quality.
- “For what concerns gameplay, it's a standard visual novel with multiple choices, different endings, and very beautiful artwork on the backgrounds and characters.”
- “This game in its mechanics will mess with you and you will like it.”
- “There are some minor issues, but this is a free experience and took me a little over 2 hours to play through.”
- “Cool game concept that is heavily tainted by poor execution and annoying gimmicks, very confusing and time consuming without relying on a gameplay guide.”
- “As a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature any notable gameplay; it's just a lot of clicking through badly written dialogue that would never have been accepted or published in print.”
- “No explanation of game mechanics.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in this game is characterized by repetitive and tedious replays, requiring players to restart the story multiple times to progress or earn achievements. The slow, click-by-click delivery of the narrative compounds the sense of monotony, making the experience feel drawn-out and frustrating.
- “Having to restart the story over and over again is tedious and repetitive.”
- “I really dislike having to rewind a story multiple times just to progress: it makes the experience tedious and repetitive, waiting for the game to get to new parts, but without knowing when that'll happen.”
- “Lots of replays to get achievements, a grindy visual novel.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game offers strong replayability through engaging achievements, emotional storytelling, and multiple endings, encouraging players to revisit and explore different outcomes.
- “Really cute game with lots of fun replayability.”
- “This was an experience to read, and it had a good amount of replay value due to all the achievements.”
- “Well written, emotional, and has a ton of replay value.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor is characterized by sharp, witty writing and clever fourth-wall breaks that provoke genuine laughter, while also balancing emotional depth. The dialogue is consistently funny and contributes to well-developed characters with just a few words.
- “The writing is really lovely, funny, and sharp at some points, and highly emotional at others, giving the characters depth with few words.”
- “There are some serious fourth wall breaks here that made me laugh out loud a few times (your genuine reactions may vary), especially as my computer puts itself in a deep sleep in protest.”
- “Sharp dialogue and some very funny humor throughout.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is enhanced by appealing artwork and character designs that add personality to a limited cast, complemented by strong writing and engaging storylines.
- “The artwork does a good enough job conveying the character designs and giving a few extra flares to give the limited cast some added personality.”
- “Lovely character designs, writing, sound, and storyline(s).”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is praised for being cozy and thoughtfully crafted, with a striking and unique world setting that enhances the metafictional yuri visual novel experience.
- “I love metafictional yuri visual novels with striking atmospheres and unique world settings.”
- “The premise is cute yet thoughtful, and the atmosphere is cozy.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from frequent crashes and bugs, leading to instability that disrupts gameplay and causes frustration.
- “In theory, this should take less than 1 hour to complete, but the game is very buggy, keeps crashing, and has RNG issues.”

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Frequently Asked Questions

Once on a windswept night is a action game with romance and anime themes.

Once on a windswept night is available on PC, Mac OS, Windows and Linux.

Once on a windswept night was released on February 6, 2017.

Once on a windswept night was developed by ebi-hime.

Once on a windswept night has received very positive reviews from players. Most players liked Once on a windswept night for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

Once on a windswept night is a single player game.

Similar games include Lucy: The Eternity She Wished For, Siren's Call, Lake of Voices, The Confines Of The Crown, Cinderella Phenomenon and others.

Once on a windswept night

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story

emotional

music

graphics

gameplay

grinding

replayability

humor

character development

atmosphere

stability

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