Lock & Key: A Magical Girl Mystery

Very good game! The story and relationships are strong and has many unexpected plot twits. I was pleasantly surprised as it was better than my original expectation starting the game. The art style is super cute and whimsical.

This is Studio Elan at their best. When I saw that it was going to be magical-girl themed, I was worried it might be a little too cliché, but they do a great job at mocking the genre and making this feel grounded in reality even though it's a fantasy story.

There are maybe two or three little contradictions here and there (for instance, in one scene they say Elle's family still believes she's alive somewhere, later they say they reported the body to the police). I also spotted one mixup where the good dialog was showing in the bad path and vice versa (there's a scene that says "as for Ruby, she's..." and goes on to either say she's doing well leading the magical girls or that they're worried about how she's heartless when killing, but the first prompt is showing when you have low affinity with Ruby instead of high affinity, and the second is showing for high affinity). But honestly, for a story this big, the plot remains surprisingly consistent. Which is hard. I write literature, and I know how hard that can be.

Anyway, solid story. 10/10. Studio Elan is my favourite VN developer and this is one of their best works.

This is a good yuri visual novel. It has great art and character designs. I especially love that it focuses on a 30-year-old married couple - not something you see every day. Nor is the religious Jewish and trans representation. It makes this story feel really novel because of those perspectives - these aren't the same old characters and situations we've seen 100 times.

However, I think this story really had the potential to be great and not just good. The story it tells feels like it should be epic and emotional - it's about magical girls saving the world after all. But the game's lightning quick pacing keeps you from connecting as deeply with the characters. The mystery is also very obvious and revealed very quickly.

It feels like the game was intended to originally be much larger and greater in scope. For example, the game's "Data" feature updates a ton in the first hour, but only shows up once after that and ultimately feels superfluous since there is only one case in the game.

In the end, this is a story that probably needed 10+ hours to be at it's best - both for the characters and it's plot.

Despite these shortcomings, I do think it's worth reading, especially if you like magical girl media and/or you've had enough high school yuri and are looking for something different.

I really enjoyed Lock and Key as a fan of Studio Elan vns already. In terms of Studio Elan games I found it to be fairly more simple and short then most of their other offerings, but still lengthy enough to tell its story. One of the big things about this one I really liked was the main couple of Sherri and Kealey already being married. I loved every scene of them being romantic with each other, it's so nice seeing them have a stable relationship without any of that will they won't they/ /focus on tension in their relationship. As much as those things can be enjoyable, it was so refreshing to see the pure love of the two here, especially since it allows more focus on the plot threads of the murder and training of the next generation.

The magical girl plot was really well done. I love seeing how the aging magical girls try to find their footing now that their magic is fading.I also find it a nice juxtaposition with Ruby trying to find her place as a magical girl. Without spoiling I do wish there was more time in the early segments just because I feel the reveal of the murderer came way too early. While I like how the rest of the game deals with the fallout, it really does not feel like a mystery when most of the game there really isn't one. That being said, the game is still overall really enjoyable story wise. This was one of the visual novels I found myself hooked on until it was over, and with its short run time it never outstays its welcome. My only real other complaint is I do think the game needs a longer epilogue, the good ending is nice but it definitely feels bare bones. This is especially the fact that we don’t even see Ruby at the end of the good ending, just a slight mention of her. It was kinda a bummer we don’t get a more in depth what happened after but still the journey was good.

I loved the characters and the dynamics they carried. The themes of letting go of the past or being buried by it was really well done. I also really enjoyed how it portrayed the magical girl life, especially from the pov of 29 year olds about to hang it up for good. There was a good mix also of normal studio elan dialog and the more horror aspects that come from it being a story about murders. Definitely worth checking out.

I really had a great time with Lock & Key! Despite its shorter length compared to the other VNs by Studio Elan, it's still a fun time with a lot of moments that made me giggles, made me scream WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥ so many times, and made me cry.

Sherri and Kealey are great protagonists as they embody a very grounded experience of a lesbian couple who has been together for over a decade. They bounce off with each other really well, they have great communications with each other, and most importantly they trust each other when facing internal struggles and the murder mystery.

Ruby is a really great newcomer character and sort of acts like a social commentary on our hope towards the younger generations. She's hot-headed, insecure, naive, and tech-savvy, but most importantly her heart is in the right place. It's a good trait that can lean her towards the good or bad endings very naturally (also Jude deserves more screen time and they both need to date each other uwu)

Nina is a very complex character to discuss because of how well-written she is. It'd take an entire day to discuss everything about her. All I can say for her is that it's always an exciting moment with her, and... #STANNINA

All these characters blend in with the great storyline that flows so effortlessly and accompanied with amazing soundtracks that also invoke some sense of nostalgia towards the 2000s stuff like The Sims 1 or 2, the mall vibes when those buildings used to be alive and festive, the 2000s RPGs, jazzy coffee shop music, and most importantly the 2000s mahou shoujo series like Tokyo Mew Mew, Shugo Chara, and Precure

The only major gripe I have with Lock & Key is that the save slots are too tight for the amount of choices we'd have to take. Being confined to only having 27 save slots without any additional three quick saves really makes it difficult for people to save some of their favorite moments to go back to later on. I know I struggled with it, given that almost all of the save slots were for the ending-altering options and I only had literally one free-for-all save slot by the end of it. Some people may also be overwhelmed with the numerous dialog options here, but this issue wouldn't be as overwhelming if the game could have more save slots.

Another smaller gripe is that Lock & Key could use some ambiance SFXs to keep the game alive, even during quiet moment without a BGM. There are only two moments when the game went very quiet without any sound effect or soundtrack that caught me off-guard a bit. Perhaps ambiance SFXs or a little bit of clicking noise when clicking through the story would help break the awkward silence. Again, not a dealbreaker by any means, just something that I think would help improve the experience.

Overall, Lock & Key delivers a nice package of fun, drama, and contemplation. The characters will hook you up throughout the story while the soundtracks and overall vibes from the visuals (CHICAGO IS CANON TO THE STUDIO ELAN LORE!111!!!1) will keep you seated comfortably all the way to the end.

Thank you to Studio Elan and the people involved for creating Lock & Key!