“Yuzhnogorsk is a quiet university town hidden among the endless hills and mountains in the south of the country. Winter here lasts no longer than a week, and summer shines for six months at a time. Our protagonist, Maxim Anisimov, is a prospective student who has come here from Siberia… In addition to his studies, Max hopes to find his childhood friends who ran away from home three years ago.

Of course, in pursuit of his goal, he will learn more about the town and its inhabitants. Yuzhnogorsk has a lot to tell an attentive listener: the story of the graffiti queen from the local anticafe, the case of the explosion in an abandoned movie theater, the mystery of the sudden disappearance of the best pianist in town… And maybe Max will be able to find someone his missing friends Chris and Sasha were looking for—the mysterious master of the theater scene, whom they called ‘The Master of the Given Circumstances.’

And, after all, what better place to meet the bright dawn of your first love than a college town where summer is always in the air?”

The game demo contains two (and a half) chapters of prologue, which introduces the main characters and plot of the story.

Two complete stories (a little over two)

The whole plot of the visual novel ‘Young Hearts’ is represented by a prologue and four different stories, each of which is related to one of the girls, friends of the protagonist, in one way or another. Which one of them we will learn more about, how their common adventures with Max will end—it all depends on the reader’s choice. At the moment, the game contains two finished stories, and we plan to release two more, which will be included in the already purchased copy of the game. Below you can get acquainted with the main characters.

Forte and her ‘Youth-Adolescence’

Anya Fortova. Friends rarely call her by the name, though; she’s more often just Forte. A first-year architecture student, the protagonist’s groupmate. A blue-eyed shortie and an irrepressible source of optimism, always full of energy and ready to spend hours zooming around the streets of Yuzhnogorsk on her favorite skateboard. Her pianist friend Nika told us that Forte is no stranger to singing, either. ~

We also heard that, like Max, she came to Yuzhnogorsk from another town a few years ago. Only she is in no hurry to talk about the beginning of her warm youth. At least not during the first walk.

Forte’s story—‘Youth-Adolescence Beyond the Northern Snow.’ Reading time: ~4-6 hours. 3 endings.

‘The Ocean’ written by Kathrin Richter

It would be hard to find a more aristocratic person in Yuzhnogorsk than Kathrin Richter, another student from Yuzhfed whom Max met. A guest from Germany and a first-year journalist, she often has her head in the clouds and likes to be alone, and in her free time she can be found in crowded places around town, drinking coffee and watching people go about their business. This is how ideas for new stories appear in her notebook, because Kathrin is a writer first and foremost.

But the paths in the park and the benches along the riverbank remember that she wasn’t always so unsociable. Just a year ago, Richter could easily be found in the company of the guys from the ‘To Samoe’ anticafe, where they spent whole days playing board games or hiking in the Yuzhnogorsk hills. But does Katya admit how much she misses the past? Or have the memories of a long-ago friendship become anchors dragging her to the bottom?

Kathrin’s story—‘The Black Hearts Ocean.’ Reading time: ~6-9 hours. 3 endings.

Stories in development—Nika and Dasha

Two more stories are currently in development—we will do our best to finish them as soon as The Black Hearts Ocean is released. You’ll be able to meet two more of our heroines there—pianist Veronika Sennhova and Max’s school friend, artist Dasha Grafova; you’ll also learn a lot about the history of Yuzhnogorsk, theater and jazz, and who knows—maybe you’ll finally hear about Maxim’s missing friends...?

We have high hopes for the stories of Nika and Dasha, and we’ll keep you posted.

Young Hearts reviewExceptional by Anastasia Walker

Young Hearts review
Exceptional
by Anastasia Walker