Perhaps I was right to wait until 2021 to play properly this game that came out in 2017: the game received a number of updates until 2020 that fixed, among other things, a whole lot of typos and awkward sentences I remember reading back in 2018 when I only bothered playing Oscar’s route and liveblogged it on Tumblr. While a number typos still remain, the overall reading experience was much more satisfying this time around.
Beyond Eden is an adult BL game by the Korean circle Studio Pie Plus. It is a revenge story set in the Victorian era where you wear the shoes of Alex Wake, a businessman with an agenda who makes a trip to the countryside and into the house of the Edenics, where he and his sister once lived. He is dead set on causing their downfall –in all sorts of cruel and creative ways.
Characters
Alex Wake
A handsome, cunning and charismatic young man who spent part of his childhood with the Edenics. He’s visiting them once more to avenge his late sister, who he loved dearly.
He doesn’t hide his bisexuality and knows no shame, yet can be surprisingly dense when it comes to love.
Oscar Edenic
Eldest son of William Edenic, Oscar is an uptight and responsible man who is willing to do anything to protect his family, which is something Alex is quick to take advantage of.
He’s rightfully wary of Alex upon his arrival.
Joshua Edenic
William Edenic’s least favoured son, Joshua is quiet and more perceptive than his older brother. An “accident” left him disabled and he needs a cane to walk.
Alex doesn’t bear a grudge against him, but he’s curious how far Joshua can be pushed until he snaps.
Jeremy Edenic
The youngest and most loved of the Edenics. Jeremy is a sweet and innocent 13 years old boy who bears a strong resemblance to Alex’s dead sister.
Unlike the 5 other routes, Jeremy’s is non-romantic and safe for work. Beyond Eden: Dear Edward takes place after his good ending.
Laurence de Lafayette
Alex’s friend from his university years, Laurence is a cheerful and wise Frenchman who insisted on accompanying Alex on his trip to the English countryside.
He’s not privy to Alex’s revenge plans. Alex thinks Laurence only likes women. The fool.
Morris Bell
The Edenics’ family doctor and an old friend of the Baron’s. Morris has a gentle personality and used to care for Alex and his sister.
Alex only has good wishes for the doctor, but he won’t be so kind should Morris stand in his way.
Theodore Burton
Son of a maid, Theodore used to be the Edenic brothers’ playmate and thanks to the Baron, received education and rose to the rank of butler.
Cunning and diligent, he seems to hold deep respect towards Alex. Maybe a little too deep, actually.
Edward Edenic
Third son of William Edenic. Edward hates his father, yet his impulsive personality and appeal for hunting and gambling make Edward reassemble him the most in terms of personality.
He immediately develops a crush for Alex, which sadly never goes requited unless you play his own game, Beyond Eden: Dear Edward.
William Edenic
The Baron Edenic and the biggest object of Alex’ hatred. He used to have an intimate relationship with Alex’s sister Elisabeth.
He appears to have mellowed out since her death and only seems to care for his youngest son, Jeremy.
Elisabeth Wake
Alex’s beloved older sister who haunts him and, in his mind, begs for revenge. Elisabeth was a sweet and caring young woman, as well as Jeremy’s biological mother.
She had her own shares of secrets that even Alex himself wasn’t aware of.
Simple, but efficient
Beyond Eden uses Ren’py, a visual novel engine that’s quite popular with Western developers. They don’t do anything particularly flashy with it, but a few of the game’s features add just a little more to the player’s entertainment or immersion during some scene.
The most prominent one is the “Interactive mode”, which appears in several scenes. By hovering over certain elements of an image, you can get a description and sometimes some additional lines of voice acting from the characters. For me the most memorable use of it is a certain scene in Oscar’s route, when, upon entering Interactive Mode, you, the player, are actively participating in making the eldest Edenic son uncomfortable by gazing at his body inappropriate ways –even though he’s fully clothed.
Another simple but neat little trick you may encounter during your playthrough is choices in the shape of two items or characters you can click rather than text choices.
All in all, these little tricks are just fluff that could have instead been replaced with several more lines of writing or two plain text choices. They are still nice little touches that show how much love PiePlus poured into Beyond Eden.
You’re the villain
In Beyond Eden, finding your way is a rather easy affair. The choices are obvious enough that you know what to pick to get on a certain character’s path, and once Alex has chosen a victim to pick on, figuring out which choices are “good” or “bad” usually boil down to evil you want Alex to be: should he drive the Edenic brother further into the mess they already are in, or should he find himself helping them? Does he think Morris is a good man or a pitiful man?
Alex will top in a route, bottom in another and let you choose in a couple ones as well. One route contains only what you’d consider bad endings, another has “neutral” endings, and yet another is apparently set leaving things open to interpretation and have no proper ending.
Some characters get completely overwhelmed by Alex’s scheming and blackmail, while others will try to one-up him or try not to enter his game at all. As such, you never know where a path will take you, or what kind of information you will glean from it, either about the character’s route in question, Alex himself, or the overarching mystery behind Elisabeth’s death.
As the main driving force behind the majority of the conflicts and incidents happening in the Edenic’s domain and through Alex’ actions and mode of reasoning, you, the player, are by extension given far more power than if you were to only react to some Big Bad’s scheme. In Beyond Eden, you are the Big Bad and you are invited to squeeze Alex’ villain potential for what it’s worth.
If I were to voice one complaint about Beyond Eden’s writing, it would be that at times, the characters’ actions or characterization are a bit too convenient and lose some of their credibility. Some characters are a bit too easy to forgive, or suddenly become more stupid or insensitive than usual to further Alex’ scheme. Edward especially falls victim to this, and he even comments on it during a bonus scene once you’ve completed every endings. This is the biggest flaw of Beyond Eden, but thankfully doesn’t happen in all the routes.
The best Boy
If I were to choose which character entertained me the most in Beyond Eden, I would choose Alex without hesitation. However the award for the best boy goes to Joshua.
I always had a weak spot for (seemingly) emotionless characters who had wounds to hide and many will probably relate to Joshua’s role as the unfavorite, unnoticed child. In his route, Joshua displays a surprising amount of resourcefulness. He somehow manages to make the best out of the situations Alex put him through while having to navigate his disability and how it affected his dreams, his future careers and others’ perception of him. He also happens to -openly- enjoy Alex’s physical advances and the last couple CGs of his route made my heart melt.
A special mention goes to Laurence, and more specifically Laurence’s voice actor, Nam Doh-hyeong. I don’t know how he does it, but that man moans in a certain sex scene like he prepared his whole life to this moment and the result is absolutely glorious and beats anything I heard in any language. See for yourself:
Long story short
Plot: 8/10
Prose: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Music: 7/10
Overall rating: 8/10
If you are looking for something heartwarming and know you wouldn’t enjoy Alex’ dubious morals and the many dubiously consensual sex scenes present in the game, this game is not for you. As for me, the varied content and scenarios provided in each route, complete with the power you are given over the fate of the House of Edenic made Beyond Eden one of the better BL game experience I had thus far.
