Machi de Uwasa no Hakushaku-sama ( 街で噂の伯爵様)

Title: Machi de Uwasa no Hakushaku-sama
Released Date: June 1, 2010
Platform: PC
Number of stills: 19
Number of endings: 16
Official Site: http://erfolg.main.jp/muh/index.html
Synopsis: After saving her when she got lost in the forest, Siena showed her gratitude to her savior by working diligently as the maidservant. With her new life, Siena will discover different things about her three housemates…even their darkest secrets.

Translation of the official summary:

A family that was affected by a wave of recession
Dispersed by such an event that they are chased out from their separate homes
Siena, who got lost in the forest, whose heart and body are both at its limit
She was helped where she was found unconcious and wanted to return the favour..

“You, who trespassed my territory is mine.”

Provided with food and shelter, she now becomes a maidservant but..

The owner of this mansion Waltred
The servant Dalim
The person that came out of a box Jurij

A black fantasy, living together with the residents of the mansion who has various sides of themselves..

I have finally managed to finish this game. Initially lured by the art, I came to love the story as well. Not bad for a free game. ≧(´▽｀)≦

Machi de Uwasa no Hakushaku-sama is a dark story and some may find some scenes rather creepy. However, I find this the strongest point of the game. The story is nowhere grand. It is rather pretty straight-forward and simple yet it never ceased to pique my interest whenever they revealed something. Even if its theme is fantasy, you’ll see its resemblance to real-life situations. For instance, if you choose option A this will be the ending. However, if you choose the other option the ending also changes. That’s how big the impact of a seemingly trivial answer to the story, much like what happens in reality. The other options and endings are like showing the “what ifs” that you have in mind.

I was only after the Earl, Waltred, when I started this game but Dalim was adorable enough, making it impossible not to like him. This mute butler has been working for the Earl for who-knows-how-long (it may have been revealed in the game and I’ve just missed it ^^;;). He is gentle and ever smiling that Siena finds it easy to talk to him. Dalim is dedicated to his work which is evident by his never-failing care to the entire estate. Apparently, his care also extends to Siena. He likes patting her head while smiling and lovingly looking at her (or his eyes are just expressive xD) . There is more than meets the eye with this guy, though. That, you should look forward to in his ending.

Next is the guy from the box, Jurij. Let me say this, I dislike this guy :/. I mean, everything about him is weird, ranging from where Siena first find him, to his real age and connection to the rest of the household, and to his so-called ‘experiments’. He is good in medicine and often asks Siena to be his test subject. So I’m really indifferent to this guy and it goes stronger when I realized that he is the flippant-looking-yet-emo-outside type of character ( ￣っ￣). It does not help that he only blushed for, like, 2 times during his entire route. Meh. Moving on to the Earl…

The tsudere Earl~! o(〃＾▽＾〃)o
Out of 16 endings, most of it is on his route. He also have 3 endings: romance, gag, and dark. Obviously, the main guy of the story. Waltred is the one who saved Siena from the forest. He appears serious and grumpy but he is actually a tsundere! ≧(´▽｀)≦ On his 3 routes, Waltred shows a different side of him. Not only him, but Siena as well as she changes personality in each route.

Romance Route:

This has most of the drama of the story. This is where his tsundere-ness shows the most lol. He is sooo cute when he blushes~!

Here Siena is in her usual self: optimistic, naive, and meek.

Gag Route:

My fave route! (*゜▽゜ノノ゛☆ Siena trolls him a lot since he believes her words easily. He falls into tricks without breaking a sweat. Thus, he is the usual victim of Jurij and Siena’s pranks. He’s like a cute, grumpy kid when he realized he’s being trolled.

Siena is also quite scary in this route. She isn’t afraid to tell whatever she is thinking, even taming the pet wolf when it entered the mansion uninvited. I loved seeing the terrified faces of the guys whenever she outrages lol.

Dark Route:

Thanks to the gag route, the images from this was erased from my mind lol. Waltred shows his dark self (no pun intended ^^;;) which can be both scary and interesting. He isn’t his usual tsundere, kid-like self but he seems to have a grudge for Siena or something. Honestly, when he confessed to Siena, I was like (￣_￣ i). I find it hard to believe it since he is quite hostile towards Siena throughout the route. ^^;;

On the other hand, Siena is doubtful to everyone. She acts all friendly, complete with a carefree smile but deep inside she is contradicting whatever the other characters are telling her on her mind. Though I think, this is like the most natural reaction she showed throughout the game. Hearing that kind of rumor, makes you a little queasy right? So being doubtful is not bad. I only don’t like what she decided to do after that…but uh, I guess, that’s kinda human nature? (｡・ε・｡)

As I’ve mentioned above, the art is the very reason I’ve started playing this one. IMO, the stills are better than the CGs. I think the only likable CGs are Dalim’s ending and Waltred’s dark ending. But the overall feel of the art is very fitting to the theme of the game. Same goes for the music as it blends accordingly and appropriately to the mood of the story.

The only downside of this game is it’s not voiced. But no worries, Machi de Uwasa no Hakushaku-sama will keep you entertained with its interesting story, pretty art, and fitting music, not to mention that this is FREE. Who says good things need to be expensive? X3

NOTE: ERFOLG is nice enough to make this beautiful game a freeware one. As a token of appreciation for their hardwork, please enjoy the game in its original languange. Bear in mind that reproduction and/or republishing is not allowed. More about this in this link: http://erfolg.main.jp/terms.html

PS Many thanks to animationfreak for the information and for reminding me about what I’ve mentioned above, and the people from MNR for the walkthrough. ^_^