Dear god, and here I thought Lupin’s or Finis’ route were going to be the weakest ones of the game, but much to my dismay, Sholmes’ epilogue managed to prove me wrong, and earned the title of the most boring route of the entire game. Man, I can’t tell you how disappointed I am. It astonishes me how their chemistry from Future Blessings didn’t carry over into this game. And it certainly didn’t help how Sholmes’ proposal was the most unromantic thing I have heard in a long time.
Not to mention, I am genuinely shocked that Idea was not dragged into this. When the predicament was established with the Horologium becoming active again, I thought for sure, we would see Idea targeting Cardia again. But no, instead they never showed up. This kind of blows my mind, especially since they had Idea approach Victor of all people in Future Blessings, because they still considered Cardia a hazard, despite Victor having made an antidote to successfully keep the Horologium in check. That’s why I thought it was so weird for them to be absent. Of course it could be argued that they never had to show because they really didn’t waste any time of having her take the drug that would give her a temporary death for a prolonged period of time, so they could buy time to finish the cure for her.
Another factor that contributed to my lack of enjoyment, was the route just not lining up to my personal tastes. You see I am not a fan of cheesy scenes, in fact I can be extremely picky about them. 99% of the time, they make me cringe and experience second-hand embarrassment. And that’s exactly what happened when Sholmes took Cardia out on their date which I thought was super sweet at the time, especially with all the accommodations he made for her to enjoy it…. that is until he delivered a surprise of putting on a performance and announcing it is for his beloved. At that moment I thought, “Look I appreciate a man who can play the violin, but OH MY GOD, THE CRINGEEEEE. SO EMBARRASSING.” Hilariously, Cardia felt the same to the point she accidentally downed wine and knocked herself out. She’s definitely my spirit animal in that sense.
I also must confess, it was really weird to play a route without Finis alive in it. In the matter of fact, I find rather bizarre how all of the stories on this are following Finis’ alternative ending, yet this one being the odd one out. How should I put it… It makes it feel out of place. Of course it can’t be helped, that’s just the way it played out. Perhaps it wouldn’t have felt as awkward if I played this route first instead of putting it off to second-to last.
Of course it wouldn’t be fair to say there weren’t any cute moments. There certainly were, such as Sholmes sweetly taking Cardia on a date, carrying her home, being his usual silly self, or showing us his flustered side. They also finally got their kiss CG, but sadly, as lovely as all of these things were, I didn’t experience any butterflies like I had in Future Blessings. I never found myself giggling or squealing or my heart twisting when the Horologium started to become active again. At that point I was no longer invested in their love story.
Final Verdict: 2/5
I think it is an understatement with how disappointing this route turned out to be. I came into this hoping to enjoy Sholmes story and character as much as I had Future Blessings. Unfortunately, given the way the set everything up with being forced to make Cardia Sleeping Beauty to buy time for the cure, it really didn’t leave much room in terms of giving us a chance to see them flesh out their relationship.
At best we had the (cringe-worthy) date, and Sholmes carrying her, but that’s just about it really. It doesn’t even come close to satisfactory. I suppose if there’s one thing I really liked about this route, it was seeing Cardia have the courage to not to run away from her problems, despite Aleister haunting her in her dreams. She had considered to flee London, so that she wouldn’t hurt anyone, but she didn’t. And for that, I was actually quite pleased with her resolve to not give up, so good on Cardia!
Read More Code:Realize Wintertide Reviews
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➛ Code: Realize ~Wintertide Miracles~ Alternative Story: First Christmas – Victor Frankenstein Review
➛ Code: Realize ~Wintertide Miracles~Alternative Story: First Christmas – Impey Barbicane Review
➛ Code: Realize ~Wintertide Miracles~ Alternative Story: First Christmas – Saint-Germain Review
➛ Code: Realize ~Wintertide Miracles~Epilogue: Finis Review
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➛ Code: Realize ~Wintertide Miracles~ Special Epilogue Review
