The Blind Griffin
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
The Blind Griffin is an otome game developed by Asphodel Quartet for NaNoRenO 2015. Our team is made up of artists Auro-Cyanide and Rins, writer/programmer Lorelei, and composer/musician Noyemi K. The game features three different character routes (Giovanni, Alexei, and Emilio) and has 10 different endings. The game is free with a pay-what-you-want system in place for people who'd like to leave a tip.
Trigger/content warnings for mentions and/or depictions of: death, execution, suicide, drug use/abuse, alcohol. We recommend that players be at least 13 years of age to play this game.
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S T O R Y
It's the roaring 20's. Alcohol-loving Americans are chafing underneath the restrictions of Prohibition, but speakeasies have thankfully risen to fill the void with ill-begotten booze. The Blind Griffin is one such speakeasy in San Francisco, California, but it's about to go out of business...because its employees are a den of magicians who are more concerned with their magical studies and experiments than moonshine! Desperate not to lose the building that has become their haven, they hire the first streetsmart guttersnipe they find with some experience to help turn things around, but could she perhaps turn out to be the strongest magician of them all?
C H A R A C T E R S
GIOVANNI (GIO) // The speakeasy's premier violinist. He moonlights as a saxophone player but he's awful at it (nobody tells him). The laid-back older brother of the group and widely regarded to be the strongest magician of the coven, Gio takes the safety of the group as a whole very seriously. Specializes in earth magic.
MARIE // The owner of the Blind Griffin. She was disowned by her high-class family because of her gender identity, but is allowed to keep the building provided the business turns a profit. Cultured and delicate, Marie is unfortunately a busybody for whom money seems like it's water. Do NOT make comments about her height.
ALEXEI // The displaced nobleman. He and his family were part of the Russian imperial court, but had to emigrate to America after the revolution. Though he acts cold towards people he's unfamiliar with and comes off as blunt and awkward at first, he is actually kind at heart and easily flustered. Specializes in water/ice magic.
EMILIO // The working class baby of the group. Emilio is the most junior member of the coven until the heroine arrives. His family runs a small bistro, but they barely make ends meet. His bad experiences with non-mages have put a chip on his shoulder and added fuel to his already hot-tempered, megalomaniacal tendencies. Specializes in fire magic.
??? // The heroine. The youngest child of a large Chinese family, she had to make herself useful from a young age and thus never received any formal education. She is practical, street-smart, and no nonsense. For some reason, she hates her actual name so she goes by a nickname (that the player sets). The extent of her powers is unknown.
VIVIENNE (VIVI) // The songstress. A city slicker originally from New York, she saw Bessie Smith performing live once and was so totally star-struck that she decided right then and there that she would put her all into becoming a singer. Vivi is bubbly and sweet-natured, but also quite headstrong. Specializes in air magic.
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So, is there really no way to romance anyone other than Emilio? I'm sad I could only be with the one I couldn't stand
All three guys are romanceable. And they each have wonderful stories to them.
!!!!!!!!!????!!!! WELL THEN! Guess I'll keep trying. Thanks, I completely wouldn't have thought I just missed stuff
omg this is such a great game, IM OBSESSED. I love this game. thank you so much for this game. I got all the endings but every single one of the LETHE endings broke me sm 😭 such a well-written game and story. music is immaculate too,
Alexei is my favourite but reminds me of Nanami from Jujutsu Kaisen 😭💗
great characters and very well-written!! love the prohibition era and having fantasy on top of it
I love this game!
the fact that I can't romance Marie is criminal~
i'll come back with more commentary after playing more but UGHHH MARIE
unironically one of my favorite otomes of all time - I played it ages ago and I still to this day add it in my top recommendations
I played this game years ago and I loved it so much! I recently downloaded it again and I'm thinking of not exploring the bad endings again so I don't break my own heart lol. Now that I'm older I kinda wish Marie was romanceable, I adore her.
I just finished playing Gio's route and It's...weird, I didn't get to have a bond with him, it may be because I played the game in parts, I feel it was rushed or didn't have a lot of development, just two or three decisions define your whole relationship with him, I think it could've had more depth or more things, overall it was nice to me, but just that, nice, I'll play the game later to see with the rest of the routes, I hope they're different, maybe it's actually good but I had very high expectations, I downloaded the game not long after having finished Our Life: Beggining and Always, so maybe it's the differencies in length that make me feel like that, maybe it's because I personally like longer and way more developed VNs, I think it's both (I'm not saying The Blind Griffin isn't developed or not developed enough, just that other ones have more development) also, I liked that it happened in the 20s and that it shows the words used at that time, that's really nice!
I downloaded this for a while now and I just played it and dare I say that I love it so much! I really really love Giovanni and he reminds me of my person. It has a great story and each character has a good background!
this was the first game i downloaded on this website and i dont regret it! its been months since i played it but i thought why not actually comment on this amazing game for once!
finished this so quickly. i love it!
i played this thinking marie had a route—
(i completely ignored the image at the top where only the guys were, ahem.)
it was good nonetheless, with gio and all, though. lmao
i explored all endings and the bad ones are very much devastating (this is a compliment i swear it's just so sad-) the happy ones accompanied with good cgs are great as well. i hope this game has like a sequel that focuses on vivi or marie <33 nonetheless, one of my fave games now :D
I played this game a few years ago and I still remember it as one of the best vns I've played. I loved all the romance routes. Bad ends devastating though. 10/10
I'm five years late, but I loved this game! I adore it when games take place during the Prohibition, because it showcases a different style of life and all sorts of cool slang. Getting all the endings took a little while, but it was so worth it. Some endings almost had me crying - of either joy or sadness, I should add. The personality dynamics between the characters were so well written, and I swear I'm in love with Viv haha! Incredible game :D
I loved this and OH MY GOSH the glossary, it helped me learn other slangs. Plus I love the art style and the choice of color of this game. Though with the menu screen, it's quite difficult or too dark to see the options such extras or save/load since it is in black color font. Maybe if the color font is white, then we can see it more. Though it's only an opinion so you don't have to change it. Overall I liked the game, looking forward for your other projects.
This is honestly a great visual novel to play in one sitting! Although this was released a while back, I did write a review on here if you wanted my full thoughts - https://myonettesilver.wixsite.com/geekishblog/post/random-reviews-the-blind-gri...
TLDR though - I enjoyed it and it was very memorable.
Ive enjoyed so much this story, and i got the happy ending with Alexei at first, and omg hes russian and hardworking ahhhhhh i loved this so much thank you guys who created it ahaha i hope to see more from you in the near future, i enjoyed the characters section in setting so much, there were even the two grannies ahahah
TLDR : The stories are excellent, the glossary is marvelous and you really should try it out.
Longer version:
Pros:
Cons:
Suggestions:
All in all, I strongly recommand it!
Just wondering, what made you hate the way the character was written? Ive only played one ending so far (LÁrmour or something?), so i dont know if im missing some lines or something, but besides being mentioned once that the character was a trans woman it never came up, did it? Isnt that fine? It was just a character like everyother character?
If I had to take a guess, it's the "born in the wrong body" narrative that rubbed Andraoise the wrong way (and tbh it annoyed me a bit too), but considering the game's setting, I ultimately didn't mind that much. (Obviously YMMV)
For those unaware, the "born in the wrong body" narrative is an essentialist way of describing trans people. It assumes that there is a rigid male/female sex and gender binary (which excludes/disregards intersex and nonbinary people respectively), and that trans people must have always expressed the desire to be the "other" gender and behave according to the norms of their gender identity.
eg. (According to this narrative) A trans woman is just "a girl in a boy's body": she always insisted she was a girl when she was young, she experiences physical dysphoria over her body and will transition in all the ways that are available to her to correct this, and once transitioned, she will completely conform to female gender roles.
There are absolutely some trans people who describe themselves this way, but it's generally associated with an older understanding of sex and gender (which is why it bothers me less in this specific context: Marie is from the 1920s, where that kind of understanding of trans people was more common).
I don't know if the creator(s) of Marie or this game are cis or trans, but generally it's frowned upon for a cis person to invoke the "born in a wrong body" narrative for trans characters because it's a very oversimplified way of describing the trans experience.
A short but good game worthy of play. I usually prefer visual novels with a fantasy genre, but this was a good change of pace. Good to pass the time!
Came here years later to tell people who still hasn't played this game yet to give it a try. The characters has hidden depths and backstories that can be revealed in each LI's route. I loved exploring all of them and despite the lack of CGs, they are just beautiful (Of course, I'm talking about the happy ending CGs). And man, this game just makes you want to bring back 1920s slangs XD. So if you haven't tried this game out, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???
man, i was only able to make a comment and rate it now!!! when i first played this, i fell in love immediately. the characters, the story, the music--- they're all super awesome!! i love it a lot!! i hope this gets more love and appreciation that it definitely deserves!!!!
Came back 4 years later to make an account and properly pay for/appreciate this game. Still the best novel-style game I have ever played, to this day, and something I cherish. Thank you.
I loved this game so much it was so much fun to play but I keep getting hung up on emi's routes I keep getting " rivals " any tips??
Really loved this game! Did all the routes + all the endings on my plane flight. I was really sad when I saw there wasn't much fanart for the game so I started drawing some myself-
Thank you for making this wonderful game!
An absolutely great game! Very charming setting, and every character was so lovable, including the protagonist. I absolutely fell in love with it, which is surprising considering it's so short, I didn't think I'd have the opportunity to be charmed the way I have been.
The art is full of soft lines and warm colors (which I love), the music is enchanting, and the storyline is so simple yet engaging. Definitely a game I'll be coming back to when I want something short, sweet, and familiar ♥
Aahh I am so in love with this game! Love the storyline and the art!
this is great!! i've completed all of emilio and alexei's routes so far and i'm playing gio right now. i love the graphics and the unique storyline! i was hooked from the very start.
I played all the endings and I have to say that this is such an amazing game! It is definitely one of the best visual novels I've tried. Favorite route is Alexei, but I think Gio's bad route was the saddest. Great game, keep it up!
jeez I'm sorry for noticing weird things but at the start of the game where shes wearing that cap um why doesn't she have eyebrows? once again this doesn't help anyone but I just find it so funny plus the game seems good so far haha
Really fun game!
AHHHH i love this game sososo much! i've played through all the routes and gotten all the cgs, and i can say without a doubt that this is one of my favorite visual novels. everything from the music to the characters to the writing makes it a perfect 10/10 for me. alexei is honestly my dream guy and his was definitely my favorite route (though giovanni's was a close second)! all of the characters have complex issues they deal with, such as emilio's history of racial prejudice and alexei feeling like he'll never live up to his family's standards. i felt such a strong bond with all the characters and i hope their stories will continue sometime in the future. i would love to get to know more about vivi and marie!
thanks asphodel quartet for making such a masterpiece <3 *chef's kiss*
this was such an adorable game! i grinned almost the whole time. emilio is such a cutie!!
hehehehe hey lois look im blind
but seriously, great game!
Id love to see a LGBT version of this the female characters are just as charming as the male!
I would like to one day see a sequel to this game, but on behalf of other(new) characters.
So I finally downloaded this game and I had just started playing but for some reason the game hangs or something, everytime Alexei and Giovanni walk in. I restarted the game and the same thing still happens. Does anybody know how to fix this?
I just finished the game with the "rings of promise" ending in Emilio's route and omg, I love this game so much! The art is just beautiful, the story is really sweet and interesting and the setting is super cool. The characters are amazing as well (and of course, how can I forget my boy Emilio, did I mention that I love that cutie?). Overall the game is very polished, a bit short but that's part of the charm! Love it, 5/5~
I'm now trying to play in Alexei's route, let's see how it goes
I tried Emilio and he got revenge cycle. He gets executed :'(
oh god nooo
the worst part is that it is death by electric chair D':
oh my goodness NO
How did you get " rings of promise " ending no matter what I do I keep getting the " rivals " or his bad route any tips
I'm sorry I don't remember, I played this about a year ago... If I happen to remember anything, I'll tell you (maybe I'll give this game a quick re-play)
oh hi again, I found a walkthrough for you!!
https://otomemoonplus.wordpress.com/2017/10/19/19h-oct-17-the-blind-griffin-walkthrough-pc/