izigame.me

The magical girl aesthetic and Shakespeare aren't usually my thing, but This Way Madness Lies was charming enough to hold my attention throughout the 14-ish hours it lasted me.
The way this game handles the unite mechanic is pretty interesting. They start at a 'level 1' of sorts and become stronger the more turns pass before actually using them, with a cap of level 10. It was a neat idea that sometimes had me wondering 'oooh should I use my unite now because I need it in the moment, or should I save it for when it's stronger?'. It's worth noting that going hyper will boost unite levels by 2, but iirc they still abide by the level 10 cap. Going hyper on turn 9 would not give a lv 11 unite for example.
Another neat layer of decision making is in the traits that the girls unlock as they level up. There were a few traits that came with very good stat boosts but I didn't find their main effects to be particularly useful, while others were the opposite, having very useful effects but with smaller stat boosts. Even after beating the game, I'm still not sure if it's optimal to just prioritise the stats, but it was fun to experiment as the game went on. One of my favourite traits was the one that gives you the Unstoppable buff immediately. It was a nice safety net.
On the topic of buffs, one of the problems I had with Cosmic Star Heroine unfortunately persists in This Way Madness Lies. I still couldn't find an indicator on the battle UI pointing out how long buffs last, so I would sometimes forget that someone even had the Inspire buff active for example. I hope Zeboyd Games considers adding some sort of buff indicator to their future games, for the sake of convenience.
A more minor complaint with the gameplay is that I wish the game would let me experiment more with the party members. You're forced to use specific teams in each Act and you're only given the option to swap freely starting with... Act 9 I think? And there's 12 Acts in total. Given the game's short runtime, I would have liked more freedom sooner. I wanted to use Rosalind more in particular. I liked Rosalind because she has a lot of type coverage! Instead, we're forced to use Miranda for a lot of the game, and her starting attack move is very RNG-dependent! It's funny to gamble sometimes, but she doesn't unlock a consistent attack option for a while iirc.
As for the story and characters, don't go into this game expecting a deep narrative or thought-provoking character writing. Even with the game's short runtime and fast-paced plot, I feel there was a bit of room to flesh out the characters that the writers didn't quite take advantage of. Still, a lot of the lines had me chuckling. At one point, Imogen wonders why this game doesn't have a Run Away command and I'm like 'I don't know, Zeboyd, you tell me!'. At another point, Imogen finds Miranda slacking off on her assignment and instead playing... Cosmic Star Heroine... Very clever, Zeboyd.
Great game overall! It's got funny writing, an engaging gameplay loop and from my experience the higher difficulties can put in quite a bit of work! I'm very pleased with what Zeboyd produced here.