The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty

The Hungry Lamb is one of the games that truly stay with you. Set during a famine in Ancient China, it's a deeply emotional and symbolic story that’s dark and brutal at times but also very emotional and pleasing at times. I think they've nailed the atmosphere perfectly as you feel dread, a sense of urgency or even disgust as you play through. It gives you perspective on how different people like the rich, commoners and bandits (and more) were affected by the famine. It dives into a lot of dark and mature themes which could have easily made the game take a turn for the worse but they handled it quite well. I think it does a great job at conveying that people can go to any extents for survival. The characters are really well written, especially the protagonists! The story keeps you compelled throughout, which is decently rare in VNs lol. The length of this is just about perfect. I LOVED the storytelling, the soundtracks (peak) and the voice acting in it!! (I played in jp) Overall, I would highly recommend this game but there are moments that can be difficult to get through (due to how disturbing/graphic they are). It's definitely a steal for its price!

This visual novel is set during the famine in ancient China, really emotional, dark and deep story. It explores topics of how the world changed for worse; people changing and revealing their true colors because of the hunger, but, it's hard to judge since they are at the end of the line and searching for survival. This novel not only explores the life of middle/lower class people, you can also have a small vision about the rich people and how their life is. Main story explores the topics of vengeance and forgiveness; for example, if a person ruined your life, would you be willing to forgive him if they changed for the better? Characters are good, well written and their backstories are well elaborated, really good character development. This visual novel has a lot of choices so it has multiple endings. Personally i liked all the endings, it gives you different perspectives about the "what would've happened if". Art is amazing, the drawing style really goes well with the OST and since this is a story about ancient China, it really gives you the vibes. Overall pretty good visual novel, amazing art, good OST, and amazing story.

In Malthusian times, leisure was a luxury that others paid for. At the end of this game, you will see how trickle-down theory doesn’t work in a world where a widespread famine eating people alive. Sure, you can enjoy art, politics, religion, philosophy, at the cost of the many. But remember that the poor harvest in the 1780s led to famine and ignited the French Revolution, and the Irish Potato Famine fuelled its independence 76 years later. There are four levels of soldiers' willingness to fight or run: fear of punishment, shame before comrades, anger at the enemy, and enthusiasm for a cause. The famine and seeing many people die of hunger would be the last cause. In agrarian societies, famine triggers peasant uprisings, leads to large-scale rebellions. If you ever time-travelled back to a world with famine and you are the one sitting on the throne, either feed everyone for free, or pack up your bags, pick up a sword, and hide...that’s the best advice learnt. Btw I like the skip function in the game. It makes you feel like flipping through the pages of life, a rapid mental replay of some key moments, each scene was a vividly clear, and her innocent voice carries so much emotional weight, with both love and hate – the strongest emotion a person can have, all throw onto the same person. It’s nothing like those Korean or Thailand drama, nothing sweet and crazily dramatic. It has a depth, and you will find it interesting to peel back layers of lies and deception, only to find that she is too complicated to fall in love with, but still, don’t want her getting hurt. The storytelling of this game is one of the tops on the market.

the first few chapters of the story can be distasteful but it gets better. the later chapters are great, full of drama, surviving and plot twist. great story.

The negative reviews freaked me out from playing this when it first got recommended to me, but they all over-exaggerated the issues. Frankly, I think people fail to realize that Liang being generally villainous serves as a catalyst for the game's story and a lot of his actions near the beginning of the game reflect that. The things reviewers talk about that couldn't be defended in that way aren't weird in the slightest. The story is genuinely really good and sheds some light on how being a Late-Ming Dynasty peasant would've been like. Frankly, Man Sui is the stand out character from this game and while I'd like to see more from this cast, the meat and potatoes of the inter-personal conflict has been wrapped up with this one story.

Amazing! This is the kind of game whose story stays etched in our minds and hearts for a very long time. With wonderful characters, beautiful art and a very well-written script, "The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty" shows the best and worst of the human species. A game with different endings based on the player's choices throughout the story, but all of them are very emotional and make us reflect on many problems, which unfortunately still exist today. I highly recommend it!

The hungry lamb is a hidden gem. I usually can't bring myself to play novels but this one hits differently, maybe it's the tension, maybe it's the depressing story. But one thing is certain, the story is captivating and will leave you in tears. Notably, the story takes place in a period of famine and during the journey you will see how this may bring some people into insanity. Perhaps for some it's better to sell their humanity then to die starving. What you as the player chose to do will reflect your destiny in the game. But that aside, I would recommend this game if you like gut wrenching stories that don't shy about sensitive topics.

A short, but beautiful and heartbreaking story. I really loved it.

The author has admitted that to cater to its audience, this work inevitably incorporates many elements that appeal to otaku. However, in terms of its subject matter, it can still be regarded as a milestone in domestic galgame. And I'm really looking forward to its sequel.

Short but sweet. Lots of heart-wrenching scenes. Very graphic; doesn't pull any punches. Worth the buy, 100%.

A beautiful, heart-wrenching story that will keep you enthralled until the end!

insane game with insane story

Fun af

in fucking tears rn (I finished it on the switch)

Absolute cinema

Touching

6/10