Hervé is a cute story that balances well its melancholic elements with its subtler romance. When it comes to conveying character relationships, this project does really well at showing rather than telling. Characters are grounded, if a little too edgeless, and dialogue flows well. Hervé suffers with a couple of minor ESL-isms (where expressions and phrasing from the writer’s mother tongue manifest awkwardly in English), but nothing that renders the experience unintelligible. While the age difference between the characters plays a major role in their relationship, it is not very well established (neither visually or in writing) and can surprise the player once it starts to play its part in the story. Most of this VN’s issues are easily overlooked, however. If you’re looking for something easier to consume but not saccharine, Hervé will satisfy you plenty for its short duration.

Kind of an uneven package in a lot of ways – the prose is pretty full of ESL-isms ("I'm making the clown") but not to the degree that it would feel actively distracting to read, and the presentation does a lot of things but not all of them work. For instance, I feel like it was not perfectly clear what some of the camera movements were trying to convey, and the previous line fading out quite slowly hurts the readability a little. The slick title screen transition does earn some points, though.

As far as writing goes, Hervé is one of those VNs using the protagonist's internal monologue instead of proper narration, and it always feels kind of awkward to me. Moreover, structurally speaking, I think opening with a long explanation about the relationship between him and the man of the hour is probably less interesting than finding out some of that gradually as the story goes on. But despite the rough start, I think the game is generally a pleasant read; the cozy vibes work, and the winter survival imagery feels grounded in reality (those damned electricity prices...)

Also nice to get something set in a small village in the Alps, even if it's a shame that the guys didn't meet a young witch trying to solve the disappearance of her neighbor's cat.

Very cozy.