The Nature of Magic
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android
Magic is dying.
With every passing generation, fewer and fewer are born with the Affinity. Where once every human, elf, and orran could wield magic, now only half of those born to Eorþe's six Great Families develop the ability. Outside the Families the percentage drops significantly.
And worse, a spate of suspicious deaths have left only two men with the Affinity alive, both among the Families: Cymhen Grym and Cyril Cenric.
Unknown to all but Cymhen, however, a third lives in secret, shunning the intrigue and exploitation of the Families.
You.
The Families are never denied for long, and a threat soon forces Cymhen's hand. Your old mentor seeks you out and offers you a place with the Gryms. In exchange for their protection, he asks that you aid him in his latest endeavor: to determine the cause of the dwindling number of those born with the Affinity.
Will you mend the wounds rent by your sudden disappearance five years ago? Will you stay true to yourself under the weight of the Great Families?
Will you discover The Nature of Magic?
Now that the overly dramatic description is done, what is TNoM really about? The titular quest, obviously, but also 'found family', support, and acceptance. Expect some laughs and some tears (hopefully, more of the happy kind) and no small of amount of romance and intimacy. And, yes, there will be unprotected hand-holding.
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Development log
- Public Patreon Poll: Chapter Two, Part Two Additional Tasking45 days ago
- Chapter Two, Part One Public Release61 days ago
- Chapter Two, Part One Release Dates78 days ago
- Public Patreon Poll: Chapter Two Release, One or Two PartsApr 08, 2025
- The Nature of Magic Chapter One ReleaseDec 24, 2024
Comments
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great story keep up the god work
There is no reason for this game to not be on the top of the visual novel tag, I would even dare say that this is on the same quality as "once in a life time" and " my bully is my lover". If you want a VN that will make begging for more, then absolutely download this
Thanks!
I feel like I repeat myself every single time I "review" one of these games, but damn. This game was fucking good.
Everything about this one screams gold and it's got a lot of neat little touches that usually only show up later into a dev's first game or only in their second game. The visuals are great right from the start, the characters' facial expressions are very expressive and well-made, it's got a lore tab, facial expressions that actively change during the h-scenes as a response to the dialogue, it shows you how to pronounce some of the words, and the spell menu is a nice little touch too as it shows everything the MC can do.
The story/setting itself is pretty damn good. It takes place within a modern world with magic, but it has a teeny tiny difference that makes it feel much different than some of the others. I won't say it here, since it might be a little spoiler-esque. But instead I'll go based off of the game's page alone. The MC is one of the only men left with magic capabilities and as such is practically sought after by everyone, with the hopes that any children he has will be able to use magic. He starts living with Cymhen during a wardship program the Families do. And ends up getting a few goals. Discover the nature of magic, convince the wards to join the investigation, and uncover the truth behind the suspicious string of deaths. The game is early in it's story and as such, you barely scratch the surface of magic and the deaths. But, you get a surprising amount of bonding with the wards. As well as a lot of content to play through.
The characters are pretty great too. Each almost completely unique both in appearance and personality, with only minor similarities that make sense for those characters to have, like if they were related or something. All of them have their own problems they're dealing with and none are the same. From being forced to be a "picture of perfection" by her family to learning that the man she idolizes might not be that good of a person after all, each character's problems are almost entirely unique when compared to the other's. You get a staggering amount of information about each of the 8 girls as well, even the wards who are introduced a little ways past the initial 3. Which allows you to really understand or feel for them.
I should probably stop myself from continuing to ramble on or I'd probably be able to submit this as a scholarship essay. So, all in all, the current content serves as an amazing appetizer for the future of this game and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for interesting stories, settings, characters, etc. I'm really looking forward to the second half of chapter 2.
Thanks!
Note: The Discord invites in game and on this page are invalid.
Just tested both and they appear to be working fine. There is no expiration on the invite and someone joined via it ~2 hours ago, so as far as I can tell there are no issues with the links.
Привет очень хорошая интересная игра спасибо за хорошую игру очень ждём новую версию этой прекрасной игры
Had me at unprotected hand holding!
There's a lot of potential here for a really special story.
Wow. I had a couple of other AVNs in my backlog that I was about to play right after this but this one killed my interest from them. The renders had me intrigued and of course the premise but once I saw there was a Lore Tab, I was hooked. Any AVN that has a Lore Tab means the Author means business. So fuck you and thank you for creating this gripping tale
Not bad sudo nim you create a good game hear thanks to it my appetite from playing adult game awake again I display any In month because of burn out.
Am I missing a prologue? I see renders (on the main screen) that we never get to see in the story.
Nope, no prologue. If you're referring to the main menu in-game, those renders are unique to the menu.
Very glad I bought this one. This story is outstanding. The visuals are unbelievable. The dialogue is perfect for each character. In short, this is going to be a masterpiece. The only problem I have with it, is now I'll have to wait months for the next update. That's the only thing wrong with starting a story before it's finished. I hate that it takes so long. But this one is worth waiting for. Very well done, so far.
Thanks! Appreciate the kind words.
Noticed a presumed typo:
Under Great Families: Colter, it says their partnership with O Riains has the third largest number of Parlimentary seats, behind the Faye/Grym and "Colter" parties (says the same thing under O Riain's entry). Since the Cenric entry says they're second only to the Faye/Grym, I'm guessing the line should be "behind the Faye/Grym and Cenric parties" ...
Good eye. That, and a few other Chapter One typos, have been fixed as part of the Chapter Two, Part One release, which will find its way here on the 27th.
Do yourself a favor and play this game.
Despite this being the dev’s first game, and only one release out to the public as of this writing (though the 2nd is currently out with Patrons for early access and improves upon perfection), the game is absolutely amazing and already has hours of content to play in the first chapter.
There is a complex world built from scratch here. There is an in-game reason for the story to lore dump on you, but it doesn’t beat you over the head with too much of an info dump in my opinion. That being said, prepare for a little more reading than your average more “casual” AVN. The magic system is fresh, the political family drama is intriguing, and there’s a cast of beautiful women that are unique in their physical appearance and personas so there’s surely someone to love for everyone. They’re all believably their own person, and each have their own motivations for being part of the story that you can either assist with to keep them around in the future, or choose not to and you’ll be able to keep them as a platonic relationship for now and possibly turn them away later. The overarching plot is a mature and well written story, and the banter dialogue between the characters is fantastic. The animations in the initial release could’ve been better, and good news, in the next release that’s currently out with Patrons, it is!
Each of the relationships themselves feels earned and rewarding, and while the MC has a benefit of being one of a declining number of men in the world born with the Affinity that makes him more valuable as a partner, all of the relationships with the woman feel like they’re earned if you want it to be based on more than your political value/unique trait. Additionally, all the relationships have the option of being entirely platonic, not only between each of the girls in the harem, but also between all of them and you, meaning you’ll be able to do a romance-less run if you want, or encourage a romance between some of them in addition to yourself. The choice is really yours.
For me, this game sets a bar that’s going to be hard for other games to match for initial releases, but I could not be more impressed.
有中文吗？
Not yet. English only for now. Translations are planned for later, but no estimate on when that will be. This was translated from english to chinese from google, so I apologize for inconsistencies.
还没有。目前只有英文版本。翻译计划稍后推出，但具体时间尚未确定。本文由谷歌翻译成中文，如有不妥，敬请谅解。
It's just a single episode so far but that one episode has Eternum-level quality. (Except for the animations, those don't feel quite right. I like the split screen idea though!)
Harem-focused & flirty, but still quite slow burn. Great worldbuilding, thank god there's a codex, and lots of cool ideas overall! Can't wait to see more.
10/10, off to the launch pad with you.
Thanks!
Wait until you see the animations in the Ch2 part 1 release (if you’re not a patron and haven’t already). They got so much better, and he really stepped it up with the emotion in their facial expressions overall. The game was already fantastic, and he improved on it still.
Yeah I've seen them, they're great! The old animations are still in their original form though, so I wouldn't entirely revoke my criticism for now.
Not sure I can wait another Year for a second chapter it was so good. Wish it was progressive updates.
Next update is out with Patron subs, and goes public on the 27th! Almost doubles the play time, even though it’s only part 1 of chapter 2.
Great Balance so far of story and adult content
This game is too good. You delivered a very strong first chapter, the writing is awesome imo. I instantly fell for Cerys, Áine and Anwen, plus Orlaith and Aerion really caught my eye, too. Bael and Fiadh are also nice, and Leala seems the least likable of the girls so far.
All in all, I'm hooked and can't wait for the next update!
Nice start to the game and I look forward to seeing the rest of the story unfold. I've added it to my list of game recommendations FYI
https://merigold.tech/wibble/WibbleList.php
Thanks!
Good start! Interesting world building and plot, looking forward to learn more about it. I love Cerys and her relationship dynamic with the MC! And I wanna hug Orl' pain away and hunt the bastard who did it!
Amazing so far. Ended way too soon. I can't wait for the next update.
Fantastic so far!
so fucking good
Has anyone else gotten this to load in Joiplay on Android? I mostly play on a tablet, so games without an Android build go through Joiplay. I've tried downloading from both Mega and MediaFire, just to make sure I didn't get a bad download, but NOM refuses to launch for me at all. It instantly crashes with this error:
Full traceback:
File "renpy/bootstrap.py", line 359, in bootstrap
File "renpy/main.py", line 483, in main
File "renpy/script.py", line 359, in load_script
File "renpy/script.py", line 854, in load_appropriate_file
Exception: Could not load from archive chapter1.rpyc.
I realize this probably isn't a supported method of play, so if the answer is "you can't do that" that's fine. But if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. The game looks really good from what I've seen!
I’ve tried getting it to work, but I can’t either. I’m running the latest Joiplay, with the all the renpy plugins and every setting I can think to try. I’m running it on a Galaxy S22 ultra, so not exactly a slouch, but still can’t get it to run. I do have a friend that was able to get it running on his S24 ultra though, but he’s the only one I’m aware of. FYI, a android release is in the Dev’s plans to release after he gets Ch2 out.
So after playing this I'm assuming almost every Love Interest in this is bisexual? Because that's how it reads to me
hope so
For all the Wards at least, yes. The way the harem dynamic works in this one isn’t a traditional harem for them, but more of a polycule. Each of them that joins the relationship will be in a relationship with both you and Cerys, not just you. Anwen and Aine will be more like Cerys though and probably not have a relationship with each other cause they’re related (Anwen and Cerys are cousins, with Aine being their aunt).
disapointing this looked good but not interested in any bisexual stuff personally not a fan of sharing the LI's also on another site it was said lesbian would be avoidable but based on what you said here it seems that is not the case.
Feel like I should clarify here: girl-on-girl content (and most other kinks/fetishes) will be avoidable. "Relationships" can be either platonic or romantic, so while there is potential for MFF situations, they won't be forced on the player.
Yea, I should’ve been more specific that’s my mistake. While the wards are going to be in a relationship with both you and Cerys, that doesn’t automatically mean their relationship with her will be a sexual/romantic one. You’ll be able to make the choices for those between the girls to be platonic/familial if you want instead. We’re already seeing how that starts with guiding those other relationships in the Ch2 part 1 release out now with Patrons.
just to make sure by relationship with Cerys you mean i can so choose between romantic or just friendship
Correct. Starting the romantic route of a love interest, like Cerys, is dependent on player action/choice.
Yup! You can choose a full harem everyone romance run, a no romance completely platonic run, and everything in between. All the relationships are flexible and up to you, and different from one another. The pure platonic run is more fun than I thought it would be too.
idk...unprotected hand holding is super risky....
ton of content in the first chapter really jazzed for the rest of the story
great start.
Thanks!