Frozen Essence



"In a World balanced by essence, you play as a girl unsealed from her Crystal Prison. Without a memory and with dark powers feared by many, will she get by? Will she find love? With the guidance and protection from the oracle within her realm, her journey begin."

- Description on game's official website

Frozen Essence is a Freeware otome visual novel created by VenusEclipse. The story centers around Mina, an Ill Girl who has been sealed in a giant crystal for 1,000 years, but as she has no memories from before that time, she doesn't know who put her there or why. One day, a strange, hooded figure breaks her out of her icy prison. She wakes up hundreds of days later in a protective realm that she apparently mentally created, cared for by an Oracle and her three bodyguards, Rune, Caius, and Aysel who are responsible for bringing Life essence to Mina in order to keep her awake and alive.

Although Mina must stay confined to the realm she has created for her safety, her curiosity causes her to venture outside the protective field and into a nearby village where a festival is being held. As the story progresses, we learn more about the characters, not only including Mina, the Oracle, and her bodyguards, but also others who she meets at the festival, some of which are trying to kill her. From there, things get worse.

Although the plot narrows according to whose path you choose, the whole story can only be pieced together after reaching 100% completion, or by exploring every man’s path.

The latest version can be found at the creator’s website.

This Visual Novel contains examples of:

 * Amnesiac Lover
 * Attempted Rape: Some guards of the White Order responsible for guarding  try to rape her; she kills them in retaliation.
 * Barrier Maiden:  acts as this for the Death Essence, while   is the male equivalent for the Life Essence.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: When Mina is stuck in the woods with Caius, their forced cohabitation leads to some tension between the two.
 * Bittersweet Ending: 's "True End."
 * Career Killer:  is revealed to have descended from a clan of assassins, and later during Rune’s path,.
 * Chosen One: Those who have the ability to harvest life essence or are chosen to guard a Hex Monument are far and few.
 * Combat Sadomasochist: Caius
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: Happens in 's ending, at the hands of the Complete Monster.
 * Cry Cute: Caius completely breaks down in his Light path after, pinpointing the moment where he goes from a Jerk With a Heart of Jerk to a Jerk With a Heart of Gold.
 * Crystal Prison
 * Dark Is Not Evil:  Naturally, this makes it hard for her to win friends.
 * Dramatic Unmask: In the Water Path, Mina accidentally . The player doesn't recognize the character (whose face isn't shown in any other path), but Mina does and the shock is enough to break her out of her Trauma-Induced Amnesia.
 * Energy Absorption:  is capable of absorbing the Dark Essence, and acts as a vessel in containing it.
 * First Girl Wins: The first attainable character Mina meets is Rune, whose path is the only one that has a possible "True End", so he appears to fit this trope as well as a Dating Sim character can.
 * Four Man Band: Mina's bodyguards seem to fit these roles, minus The Big Guy.
 * The Hero: Rune
 * The Lancer: Caius
 * The Smart Guy: Oracle/
 * The Chick: Aysel
 * Golden Ending: Frozen Essence is notable in that its "True End" is a Bittersweet Ending with . However, the True End differs from all other endings in that it's the only one in which . Additionally, many players consider the Water Path's Light End to be another "true end" of sorts because it's the only one in which the mysteries surrounding Mina's identity and her dreams that remain unexplained in even the True End are resolved with.
 * Golden Path: The only path that solves the mysteries of Mina's lost memories and dreams and explains a lot of things that show up in other paths is the Water Path, which is unlocked only if the player doesn't fulfill the requirements for any other path. Interestingly, the game's proclaimed "True End" is actually on another path (the Life Path) but explicitly states that Mina never regains her memories, hence still leaving the player in the dark about much of the game's backstory.
 * Healing Factor:, who is also immortal and eternally youthful because he is.
 * Ill Girl: Mina constantly needs more life essence in order to remain awake and moving.
 * In the Hood: The Oracle.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:  towards Mina in the Light Path, when he decides to help Mina.
 * I Will Wait for You:.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Jerk: Caius initially appears to be a typical Troubled but Cute Loveable Rogue who claims that he's helping Mina just because it benefits him and doesn't care if she gets herself hurt or not only because of his Dark and Troubled Past. Except that in most paths, it turns out that he wasn't lying about looking out for only himself and killing being the only thing he cares about.
 * Jerkass: Caius is insulting and sarcastic most of the time.
 * Knife Nut: Caius
 * Knight in Shining Armor: Aurelius
 * Knight Templar / Light Is Not Good: The White Order.
 * Lady of War: Cascade
 * Last of His Kind:
 * The Last Thing You Ever See: Oryon says this to Mina, when he decides to freeze her.
 * MacGuffin Girl: Everyone is after Mina because.
 * Mercy Rewarded: Not using Mina's destructive power on after he severely injures Rune during the Life Path allows him to live long enough to thwart Oryon from recapturing Mina and Rune. Doing the opposite causes  to die of his wounds instead and leads to one of the game's worst endings.
 * Mr. Exposition: When you seek him out for information, the Oracle is more than willing to explain who you are, where you are, why the place exists, and what the Hex monuments are.
 * Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Being nice and helpful to causes him to become visibly uncomfortable and tell Mina outright that helping him will not help her.
 * Older Than They Look:
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You:  attitude towards Rune during Rune’s path.
 * Ontological Mystery: Mina wakes up in a crystal with no memory at all. This extends to not only her identity and past, but also the very nature of the world she lives in.
 * Powered By a Forsaken Child: The White Order figured out that
 * Psycho for Hire: Caius
 * Rival Turned Evil:  during Rune’s path, who starts off as a Jerkass towards Rune, but escalates to.
 * Secret Character: Not completing the requirements for any character's path unlocks 's path.
 * The Stoic: Rune
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend:  unless you choose his path.
 * What Happened to The Mouse?: This is invoked if you do not complete most of the endings, as after the, you typically only get to see the details pertinent to the love interest's path you have chosen, and you don't learn the whereabouts of the other characters.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: who, in spite of being one of the leaders of the White Order and hiding his face underneath a black hood for most of the game, is one of the kindest characters in the game who helps Mina as best as he can and values her happiness above everything else.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?:  feels this as a consequence of being immortal as a result of being the Barrier Maiden for the Life Essence.
 * Yandere: 's Dark ending has him becoming one.