Fictif: Interactive Romance Reviews

by Andy Marcotto

Got Fictif cause I saw advertisements on Instagram about the option to romance female characters. Rarely ever do I see a story game where there are female love (FL) interests, so of course I was pretty excited to play it. Only to find out that this game completely prioritizes the male love interest stories above basically all of the FL interests. In fact, there’s only ONE FL interest available out of all the stories. And she has the least amount of chapters, too. It’s embarrassingly obvious that the creators of Fictif don’t really care about the female routes since nearly every male route has many chapters, as well as two male love interests per story, as opposed to the one female love interest route (that you can’t even play because they haven’t even released their routes), aside from the singular FL Anisa, who only has two chapters released. Wouldn’t really care as much about the lack of options if they hadn’t advertised the FL interest in the first place. And considering this game has been out for 1-2 years (I think?) and the max amount of chapters for a singular FL interest is 2, I’m not expecting much to change. Disappointing, really liked the art and the story. I suppose if you enjoy ML interests, this would be great for you. But the hype I had for the game, only to be left with disappointment is just too great for me to give this anything but a one star.

by St4123

Not trying to sound like an ungrateful reader. I love reading your stories and love the creativity you guys have for The Arcana and now this app. But I felt like the statement you guys put out on instagram about the female route is an unfair statement to make. You can’t expect the female routes to get the same traction as the male routes when the ratio of chapters per male to female is like 5 to 1. Multiple chapters for the male routes get put out months ahead before a single chapter for the female route. Obviously the male route that already has 5 chapters is going to have more engagements than the female route that only has one. If you want them to be “equally popular” maybe put the same effort on the female routes like you do the male routes and release the same number of chapters at the same time, then we could really see if readers prefer the male routes over the female. But this blaming it on the readers when you guys definitely haven’t been treating the characters equally is not fair. I don’t mind if you guys only have male leads, but if you’re going to have female leads, do them some justice.

by Alexa-444239

I have been playing this app back when two against the world, catch me in Miami and Hollywood land were all together and when Anisa had a different story line. Now this is out of hand, Nix Hydra has been ignoring the female love interests for too long (yes I understand that the Arcana has shown that the male characters had more activity than the female characters, but can you really say that when there were only two female characters and the rest were male?) let me highlight some stuff : Tess from roadkill has only one ending and no where near the same amount of chapters as Poe or Howie, Anisa from last legacy has been paid less attention than sage and Felix (yes I know she is on hold while Nix Hydra is looking for a new writer for Anisa but there is a good chance her story will be cut short like Tess) and then Hollywood land is the same problem, plus she barely even lasted that long before her story ended. Now I love this app and I love Anisa and all the female characters truly but they need more attention to be paid to them.

by Malpal703

I played Who Killed La Dama Roja? first, and I really enjoyed it. The characters are interesting, the art is nice, and the premise has me hooked. The writing is not as good as Nix Hydra’s other game The Arcana. Sometimes the flow is weird, and choices often lead to non sequiters that don’t really connect to what you chose.

The thing that really bothers me is that you cannot reread anything and you cannot access premium choices that you paid for. It definitely feels like a little bit of a rip-off. My sausage fingers often tapped choices too quickly as I was getting used to the UI and I would pick things that I never would have otherwise, and there’s no option to go back and pick again or read what I missed. There’s no resetting or rereading once you’ve started. I paid for a few premium choices, but it feels like I just poured money in a black hole because I can never access what I paid for again and I can’t read the normal choice to see what’s different. Overall, I will continue to read, but I think the decision to build the games this way is a serious error, and one I hope they decide to fix.

by Ashe☪️♐️

I understand you’re supposed to read more story’s to gain more stars, but my brain will not let me do that if I simply don’t find the story interesting.
I’d like more than eight stars if you check in every day considering it would take a little under a month to get 30 of them (which barely pays for one story choice).
Also, about watching ads to get stars: It doesn’t work. I’ve waited months for this to be fixed, but nothing yet. Every time I try to watch an ad to get a star, it goes through the ad like normal and then the X to exit doesn’t work, or Fictif completely freezes. I feel like I’m getting scammed on that front.
Other than that, I love some of the stories. I understand not all of them are going to be for me, but I truly adore the ones that have interested me so far. I can tell how much hard work the writers and artists put in and I’m thankful for that. I just wish it was more like The Arcana with its rewards system and not every other vn app where you have to basically pay for stars to choose any star option at all. I’m broke I can’t do that.

by Ho Sete Bob

I never write reviews but I decided to for this game. It's impossible to fully play half of the stories. Every option is 23-30 stars whereas you get 2 for each chapter you play and 1 a day. So you get 7? if you play 3 chapters and get your daily reward. I played ghosted and only got to buy 1 star option out of like 8. You can watch an ad for a star, but have to wait hours to get another ad. I think it just takes away from the story. When playing ghosted we got barely any romantic scenes and we couldn't do half the things that were smartest because they cost. The game wants you to spend real money on their game to get the best stories and I guess that's true for most stories like this, but atleast in other games you get more romance. The story was great and I enjoyed playing it, but parents aren't gonna let their kid buy 40 bucks worth of stars just to get the best story. Most adults wouldn't want to pay that much either. If you don't care about star options and are okay with waiting 3 hours for a pass. This game is for you!

by BattleKitty18

I’m happy that there are now more ways to earn stars and I was able to blow up all my stars on bold choices that don’t effect the game’s endings of the library of visual novels. It’s all about the quality over the quantity here. The paid choices are always neutral like I said before and it actually feels like an option.

However, I take issues with the hourglasses. While thankfully we don’t wait 24 hours just for one hourglass to charge, only two hours in fact, there as of the date of this review, there is no other way to get hourglasses besides waiting a total of six hours for all your hourglasses to refill.

I highly recommend Fictif for people on mobile and iPad devices who want a taste of the visual novel experience, but do keep in mind that the in-game currency is optional for real here and you have to wait for the hourglasses to fill up.

by Catwhiskers13

Okay so first of all, this is a pretty good game. I personally like Roadkill and Last Legacy but my biggest problem is how difficult it is to get stars and how long it takes for the hourglasses to reappear. Why do we have to wait a total of 9 hours for 3 hourglasses? Each hourglass takes 3 hours. That’s right. EACH HOURGLASS TAKES 3 hours. It isn’t like you wait 3 hours for three hourglasses. No. And I know you guys have probably read reviews like this already but some of these positive reviews are pretending like you have to wait 3 hours for the 3 hourglasses when that’s not the case. I just want y’all to be prepared and maybe find something else to do for the 9 hours lol.

With this game, they make it difficult to gain stars. I’m not sure what’s up with nyx hydra and them wanting to make things difficult but I dislike that a lot.

Side note: please stop making simple choices like “who do you want to sit next to?” Star choices. It is incredibly dumb and pointless. I get that y’all need money but not everyone is gonna willingly shell out like 20 bucks. Sometimes, the characters will semi guilt trip you for not choosing the star choice option and I find that dumb and suspicious. Y’all need money, I get it, but there are other ways of gaining money from this game

by 😄Ashley😄

Just 3 days into Fictif and i’m already in love with it! It has so many intriguing stories, and so much potential. My one problem is though how hard it is to earn stars. In other games i’ve played similar to this, there where daily quests, log in gifts, wheel spins, or mini games. But as far as i know there’s little to no way other than to buy stars.

I think a good idea is to where you could add a feature to where you could watch a few ad’s to earn stars, it’s not a bad idea and is easy to make revenue off of! I also adore the idea of having wheel spins, or daily log in gifts. Anything I could do as long as I could earn a few free stars would be fine!

I sincerely hope you think about adding this feature later on, and once again I absolutely LOVE Fictif! I really hope it takes off even more than it already has. Thanks for reading!! 😌

by Sw1021

I’m loving this new cast of immersive games!! As soon as I saw that Nix, the same one that made The Arcana Game, I jumped to check it out! All of the stories are fun and different which I adore but there are a few things that bummed me out. I don’t want to compare it to The Arcana Game too much but since it’s my favorite one, it’s hard not too, haha. I really think players will have a better time if there is a rewards system to gain stars and hourglasses. More than that however I was really bummed that we couldn’t go back to certain chapters or even the prologue chapter! I really want to replay them and see different options, I’ll happily give my hourglasses for that!! It makes me sad thinking that I have to wait all the way for the end of the story to possibly go back to different points in the story. I think it would make the playing experience more fun! Anyway, great work on these games so far! My favorites are definitely, Two Against the World and Last Legacy! I can’t wait to see more! <3

by DreamWolfLoner

It’s a really fun game and all and its super addictive.... I’m currently on the story Last Legends when something catches my eye, I see that once you reach chapter 6 there’s no more chapters. But anyway all I’m trying to say is that can you plzzz make a seventh chapter for each of them or better yet conjoin the story and decide which person you would choose or better yet just continue the story line. Last Legends is my favorite story on Fictif ( only because I love love, action, and romance) and will gladly read it again and again. Secondly, I’m heartbroken when I want to desperately do something and it costs stars. I would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t put stars on all the romantics choices in the story. And third of all, I just want to ask( and beg) that you plz reduce your time on getting hour glasses. It is very frustrating when you have to wait 9 HOURS for three hourglasses.

Side Note:
It would mean a lot to me if you read this review and considered fixing these problems. Bye🤗

by Cideshi

I usually never write reviews, but Fictif was just too good. I see a lot of people complaining about the time for tickets, but I see it as a rather common thing in otome or immersive games. 3 hours for one ticket is long, but I 100% think the chapters make up for it. They are long and complicated which make you attached to the characters. In less than a week, I was able to finish 10 incredible chapters which isn’t as common as you think since you would usually have to wait 2 hours for one minute long stories while this app has at least 10 minute choice based ones.

Though I do have to disagree with the stars as there should be some better way to get them easier and using the stars, there was no feeling of temptation as the choices were bland. Basically, you could comb Sage’s hair, but would there really be anything intimate about it, so I would just opt for not going with some of the choices to save money. Though the illustrations are sometimes worth it. Anyways, I think that’s why I would rate it 4 out of 5 instead of 5 out of 5, but it’s really a great game. Better than most of the choice-based story games out there. It might be because I didn’t play Arcana since many people seem to compare this game with that one, but yeah it’s a good game compared to other ones I have played before.

by Three Crows In A Trench Coat

As per usual the stories are pretty compelling and I do genuinely enjoy all of it, the artwork is never short on beauty and it’s always gorgeous to look at. Makes you want to get the premium choices even more, like the variety in different stories and how it’s all different from the last one you’ve read.

My only problem with Fictif , and why I’ve got to give it four stars instead of five is because of how expensive each premium choice, it’s usually some variety of 20/30 stars for one choice, with multiple in one chapter. Making it where you have a keep pausing, which can be frustrating. It also takes some time to really save up the amount of stars and then you just have to wait again. Know you don’t really have to choose the premium but it unlocks more development of the relationships, and it would really just be nice if the premium choices were less expensive.

Know you have to make money somehow but ya know

by Jasmyn Reviews✌️

Love the current story I’m reading taking place in the 1920’s however the other stories didn’t really catch my attention, and now I’m just waiting for this one to be updated (which isnt expected until march) I understand developers need time, but its aggravating that I’m gonna have to wait a month to get to the next chapter, and I can’t replay the older ones. Also, the story (or maybe stories I’ve only read the first chapter of a few and all 4 of Nicky) they jump quite a bit. There’s a lot of loss in the stories, and Nicky’s is only 12 long (with 4 already out) I feel like they can definitely be stretched to provide a longer & more detailed game play. I also noticed on one part of Nicky’s even when you choose a choice they still mention something else (I would go in detail, but again I can’t look back or replay it). The story so far is good, but it jumps a little & is short if I’ve already gotten through 1/3 of it and just got Fictif yesterday using only the energies of That Night I got it.

by SyrsiLesath

Like most people, I tried this game out because I love Arcana and I wanted to see what else Nix Hydra had to offer. It’s a cute game, the writing isn’t always excellent but it’s better than most story apps I’ve played. Tbh the only story/route I care enough about to use stars (the in-game currency) on at this point is Sage’s route in Last Legacy, so it should be easy enough to save up for that. But for people who actually want to try more options for free, maybe adding a wheel or ad watching option would be nice? You get stars for completing a chapter for the first time, but once you’ve got all those, there’s no real way to continually save up stars. Also, while they made it so you can replay routes, you have to start all over, you can’t just replay a specific chapter. It saves your purchases, but still... starting all over just to replay one chapter is kinda annoying. Aside from that, it’s a fun game; try it out if you like interactive story apps and keep in mind that it’s still a work-in-progress so the features aren’t all perfected yet :)

by CatKittyLOL

I can tell this game has much potential in it and more to come, I love almost everything about it, the art style, plots, characters, music. I can tell this game has been worked very hard on and I appreciate everyone who worked on Fictif to make it what it is. But in The Arcana you had ways to get coins and keys by spinning the wheel or doing the town thing (sorry I forgot the name) and I think that was really helpful especially for the people who can’t pay online or don’t have enough money. And I would really appreciate it if there were more ways to get stars then by having to use money and pay for them, I did notice that when you finish an episode or prologue you get 3 stars but you could play every introduction and path and still not have enough stars to play one of the games and get every star choice. So if you could please add more ways to get stars without having to just pay that would make the game even better then it is and help out a lot of people, maybe you could make some days where you have infinite stars like how in The Arcana you can have infinity keys! I really love this game and I expect more in the furture that can make this game even better! Keep up the good work! 🙂☺️

by Anger Owl

I wish it was as easy to earn stars in this app as is it to earn coins in The Arcana. I would GLEEFULLY watch ads if I earned 10 stars per ad instead of ONE (1) STAR. It’s kind of insulting, tbh. 10 coins per ad in The Arcana nets you 40 coins, and it adds up fast! I love it! Nix Hydra gets their ad revenue and I don’t have to spend money on coin packs if I don’t want to! But 1 measly star per ad in this app? Come ON. Oh, AND—the coins stack up in the daily checkins in The Arcana from 10 on day 1 to 240 coins on day 7. That also adds up fast! And it’s an incentive to keep opening Fictif every day and play new romance routes or replay old ones with new choices! But 7 stars after 5 days, IF you check in every day in this app, and only 1 star earned per ad, is soooo not an incentive to keep opening Fictif every day.... I really, REALLY wish earning stars was as easy in this app as it is earning coins in The Arcana. That’s literally my only complaint. Meantime, I’m patiently but VERY eagerly awaiting Sage’s next chapter in Last Legacy 👀🙏

by Fatso Flo

So far I’ve only played a few chapters for Two Against The World and I am really drawn to the world and mystery of the character and what’s going to happen in the story. Just realized there’s only one route out so far, but I’m playing Last Legacy on another device and that one is also incredible with world exploration and character backstory.

These chapters are certainly not for bingeing in one go. I collect the daily stars every day for a period of time, and in time I can rack up enough for an enjoyable experience with the premium choices. Each chapter probably takes almost 100 stars...? It takes a bit of time to get that since we have 28 stars every 5 days. Truthfully, this game requires patience if you’re not able to pay, but I don’t mind that. The story is just wonderful to read, and it’s understandable that game developers need income just as us fellow players do... I’m okay with having patience when there are games that require $30 cost upfront anyway.

Each chapter with all the paid options was probably a 10-15 minute read or so? I wasn’t really timing it, but yea. I get the criticism but I still love the content and want to support the creators. 🙌

by OzzieUwU

So, here’s the story. I downloaded The Arcana quite a while ago and fell in love with the beautiful story, music, and art. When I found Nix Hydra had released another game, I was psyched!! And to my great joy, it did not disappoint.

The stories are SO immersive! I am a music freak, and the music that plays in the background of each story is wonderfully composed and enhances each story uniquely. The art takes your breath away. The characters are relatable in their own ways, and you can’t help but feel like you are actually in the story with them.

To sum it all up, I am obsessed!! 🙌

I only have two suggestions to make playing experiences that much greater. First, I am a student, so I don’t have much money to spend on stars. I will, don’t get me wrong, but maybe the team could add some features (like in the stand-alone Arcana app) like daily log-in bonuses or the choice to watch a video ad? More options for free stars would be MUCH appreciated! ❤️

Also, replaying entire routes gets a little tedious. I like the option The Arcana gives of replaying just a single chapter and buying the chapter/book with coins so I don’t have to wait for hourglasses to replay it.

Other than that though, this game is utterly amazing and definitely worth a try!! 10/10 would recommend!

by MountainMoon

Between the beautiful artwork, wonderful soundtrack, complex stories, and engaging characters, this easily tops my chart of best visual novel games I’ve ever played!

It is romance centric which is nice if you like that, and I think its best quality is the more complicated and pragmatic standard personality of the main character of each of the books. I also really appreciate how it goes out of its way to avoid guilt-tripping the reader for not taking premium options, with no disappointed reactions from the characters, just skipping past the whole ordeal and sometimes even implying that event still does happen but it’s just off-screen, which takes a lot of stress out I think.
I think not having an avatar for the main character was a good choice and enables the reader to have more control over their image of their character, though I do wish there was more physical description, just vague things like ‘my clothes were formal and silky’ or ‘my clothes were thick and tough but mostly ripped and torn’, or something like that.

I understand why a lot of female love interest routes aren’t out yet due to their unpopularity, but I hope that changes because Anisa and Tess are really so good. Maybe even some non-binary love interests in the future.

Also I had a major crashing problem, but it got resolved somehow, so I’m good.
I did have a longer review here, but I guess it didn’t get saved, so this is the cliffnotes.