(Review is as of Chapter 3. Disclosure: Thor's Hamster is a beta tester for Mythos.)
Mythos is a murder mystery adventure with a healthy dose of ancient lore and the supernatural tossed in to present a fresh, fun and sometimes hilarious take on the genre. When you accidentally find out that your ex-girlfriend — with whom you haven't spoken in over a year — just died, something doesn't feel right. As you start to pick at the circumstances surrounding her death, you discover things about her — and yourself — that challenge everything you thought you knew about the world. What really happened to your ex-girlfriend? And who among your expanding circle of friends and acquaintances can you really trust?
STORY AND CHARACTERS ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Mythos bills itself as a murder mystery, but there's a lot of unconventional elements here that make the story stand out. Elements of lore — drawn from such influences as Judaism, Greek mythology, and ancient Egypt — are re-imagined to weave a much larger fictional world than the premise would initially suggest. The murder is really just the tip of a very large iceberg, and the fun of the game is discovering just how deep the rabbit hole goes.
The first feature that distinguishes Mythos from most of its peers is that the player can select the gender for the main character. Both a female and male version of the MC are offered; the female version is considered "canon", but both versions are handled very well — particularly in the sexual encounters, where the difference will obviously be the most pronounced. Separate versions of each encounter have been designed for both genders, with the same level of care afforded to each version. Consequently, the game has something for players who prefer to play a female MC as well as those who prefer a male MC.
(Note: regardless of which gender you choose for your MC, the cast of available love interests are all female. In other words, you will play as either a straight male MC or a lesbian female MC.)
The cast of characters is varied and quite interesting. You start the story with several existing friends, and as you begin your investigation, your list of acquaintances steadily grows. Each core character has unique personality quirks that makes them fun to interact with, and they are all memorable. The extended cast of characters includes a number of visual novel crossover cameos and some additional characters that show promise of becoming more central to the plot later on. Some of these are at times a bit more forgettable, but often only because their place in the story is not yet obvious.
The story pacing seems to be spot on, though with only three chapters out so far, it's difficult to say for certain. So far, clues and reveals have been doled out at a healthy rate — not too quickly, but just often enough to keep things interesting and keep the story moving forward.
The world-building behind Mythos is showcased in the supplemental stories that have been written about the characters and their backstory. Dubbed "Tales from Mythos", the stories were originally offered as standalone reading but are now available to read directly within the game. These are text stories only — no visuals — but they offer exciting peeks into the broader Mythos world and some of the elements that seem to be converging on the present-day story.
GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Mythos visuals are Daz Studio renders, and they look wonderful. The 3D scenes are all interesting to look at; and although the lighting is, at times, a bit one-dimensional, the shots never look flat or difficult to parse. The character design is superb, and the facial expressions are lively but not overdone. Mythos incorporates a lot of fun visual effects to liven up the presentation, including original animated scene transitions, dramatic and often humorous character introduction sequences, cartoon-style visual depictions of key sound effects, and other dynamic moments to really bring the story to life.
Animations were employed in Chapters 1 and 2; these were simple but all well done. Chapter 3 did not include animations, and this trend may continue for future Mythos chapters. If you are dead set on having animated sexual encounters, this might come as a disappointment. Nonetheless, the detailed narrative and the quality of the still shots combine to make the sex suitably titillating, even if not a perfect replacement for a fully animated experience.
SOUND AND MUSIC ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Mythos boasts an almost completely original soundtrack composed by the author. An original soundtrack is something of a rarity in the visual novel space, and an author-composed soundtrack more so. The music is well done and never takes itself too seriously, which is an appropriate reflection of the overall tone of the game itself. Each character and location has a unique musical theme, which adds an additional layer of personality to both people and places.
Sound effects are used throughout, and critical sound effects are accompanied by visual cues (often animated and stylized). The sound effects are good quality and are leveraged appropriately.
GAMEPLAY AND EXPERIENCE ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Mythos is powered by the Ren'py visual novel engine, and the core of the gameplay is the standard choice-based visual novel experience. However, Mythos adds a number of creative elements to breath more life into the user experience. A "heist" encounter empowers the player to customize who will handle what job during the operation, resulting in a plethora of different ways that the heist might play out. An in-game achievements system rewards the player with custom artwork for different characters (generally nude) in response to unusual circumstances in how they play the game. Easter eggs in various places provide humorous reactions to player interactions. As the investigation gets under way in full force, the player can click on bits of conversations that seem particularly noteworthy, often being rewarded with additional clues to ponder. And the aforementioned "Tales from Mythos", consisting of additional stories that are unlocked at key points throughout the main story, offer players the opportunity to delve into the world of Mythos more deeply.
While all of these features exist with the aim to make the experience more varied and entertaining, some of them work better than others. Many of the achievements are based on such specific and niche conditions that they might never be achieved without prior knowledge of what those conditions are. (Until they are unlocked, they offer no clues as to what they might be.) The easter eggs are similarly oblique, with nothing resembling clear hints to the player that a particular scene might have a hidden gem. Finally, dialogue that hides additional clues has no distinguishing characteristics, so players may not even be aware that an additional clue is available.
The difficult-to-find extras are purely optional, but completionists may nevertheless find their presence vexing. These days, the standard formula for extras like these is to provide adequate hints to players who specifically want to pursue the extras, while still ensuring that they are sufficiently challenged in their pursuit. This is fairly difficult to do in the visual novel format, in which the gamut of interactions that a player can have with the game is limited.
The dialogue of Mythos is funny and witty, with some really hilarious moments and a few instances of brilliant fourth wall breaking. The author has a wonderful sense of humor that really shines in the storytelling and keeps things from ever getting too somber or heavy.
OVERALL ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Mythos has a solid story with a lot of interesting lore behind it, and the story is told in a fun and engaging way. The pacing is on point, and the cast of characters is diverse and distinct. The visuals are well done and include some animation elements that go beyond the basic visual novel experience, and the original musical soundtrack complements the storytelling beautifully. While not the focus of the story, there are a number of sexual encounters to keep things spicy. The "Tales from Mythos" stories expand the world-building and make the main story even more interesting. Mythos is definitely worth a play!