# The Arcana: A Mystic Romance — user reviews > 1,188 indexed App Store user reviews of The Arcana by Dorian, rated 4.60/5 from 16,100 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-arcana-a-mystic-romance/id1165696961/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-arcana-a-mystic-romance/id1165696961.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 12,992 · 4★ 1,715 · 3★ 604 · 2★ 262 · 1★ 527 ## What do users think of The Arcana? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 💕 Gorgeous art and character design - 🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly with pronoun options - 📚 Compelling and well-written storylines - 🎨 Immersive fantasy world and atmosphere - 🤩 Addictive and engaging gameplay **Cons** - 💰 Expensive in-app purchases for premium content - 🕰️ Long wait times for keys to refill - 🪙 Difficult to earn enough in-game currency - 🤔 Paid choices not always clearly worth the cost **Commonly reported bugs** - Crashes and freezes after recent updates - Issues with saving progress and transferring accounts **Most requested features** - More ways to earn in-game currency without spending money - Ability to replay completed chapters without using keys - Character customization options for the player character - Expanded storylines and romance options for side characters ## Newest reviews (20 of 1,188) ### 3/5 — Don’t really have a choice in the game *2026-07-14, version 2.52* Your game would be a lot better if you didn’t hide all the interesting options behind a pay wall. Love the art and the concept but it’s pissing me off, you hardly get a choice if you don’t have money. ### 3/5 — Freezing/Crashing *2026-07-04, version 2.52* I love this game so much, the graphics and art are insanely talented but here lately during routes the game will suddenly freeze up and start flashing. The only way to fix it is to restart the app by closing it and reopening it. ### 2/5 — Broken app? *2026-06-27, version 2.52* My app has been straight up freezing and not letting me play lately. I also absolutely hate Dorian so the connection to them bumps it significantly down. ### 3/5 — Freezing problem? *2026-06-14, version 2.52* Trying to play this game again, but I can’t seem to go 10 minutes without the game freezing. If I don’t have WiFi, it freezes pretty much immediately and it freezes my whole device. Would like to play but it’s getting a little impossible. (Also really tired of losing out on the prizes due to this issue) ### 3/5 — App fica fechando *2026-05-13* Eu amo esse jogo e tenho uma conta faz tempo!! Recentemente tentei instalar ele novamente e toda vez que vou logar com a minha conta do facebook o jogo fecha, já instalei e desinstalei varias vezes e nao resolve ### 4/5 — Cute game *2026-03-13, version 2.52* Art: Gorgeous. 10/10 Characters: Memorable and lovable, but written inconsistently and with backstories that sometimes feel at odds with their behaviors and motivations. (Asra is the most gaslighting pile of red flags ever and I trust nothing that comes out of his mouth. So obviously he’s my fave.) 9/10 Story: Entertaining, but skews very Tumblr Meme mixed with Fanfic Tropes. Don’t look too closely at the lore. Would have preferred more leaning into the horror of the plague and court politics and less fan service and predictable jokes. 6/10 Prose: Serviceable. Leans hard on cliches. 5/10 Now for the actual reason I’m writing this review: look, Dorian, I get that y’all want to promote your other app, and that’s fine I don’t mind most of the pop ups but I despise Asra/Julian as a ship so having them constantly in my face looking like they’re about to kiss is infuriating and has left me with deeply negative feelings towards your other app. Especially bc it’s so FREQUENT. Please. I’ll take five hundred pop ups about the stupid serial killer game I have no interest in over this. ### 4/5 — Amazing except for this one thing! *2026-01-26, version 2.52* The Arcana: A Mystic Romance is a visual novel game I have always come back to over many years. The story is well written, the characters are very fleshed out, the art and music are wonderful. I find doing my dailies very fun and rewarding and it always keeps me coming back for more. However there is a quite infuriating and game breaking bug revolving around the Heart Hunter daily minigame. Occasionally the game will just break, your screen will freeze up and you will be forced to turn off your phone to be able to get it unfrozen. The second you reopen the games tab your screen will start rapidly flashing in what I can only describe as an epileptic’s worst nightmare. Once the flashing starts,your screen will be frozen once more as the flashing continues. The only way to get it to stop is to close out of the game entirely and reopen it, once you do however it ends the round of Heart Hunter and you cannot continue it or be refunded a stamina point for the exited game. Since you only get three turns a day you can see how this can be incredibly frustrating. But truly besides that one bug, The Arcana is a truly wonderful and fantastical game. I would recommend it to ANYONE who enjoys a good visual novel. ### 2/5 — Disappointing *2025-12-28, version 2.52* I’ve been a fan of The Arcana since I was 13, I’m 18 now. The total lack of interest the new developers have for the actual app itself is absurd. Watching a beautiful game with fun characters and interesting storytelling despite my criticisms with some of the inconsistencies in the writing, turn into an out-of-character mess is awful. I still do my dailies and occasionally read through the routes but that’s all that’s left to be enjoyed. ### 4/5 — Bugs after last update *2025-11-29, version 2.52* I really appreciate authors of this game, its awesome, i’m absolutely in love. But after the last patch its dead, i cant download assets anymore, cant watch adds. Main screen almost always takes me on endless waiting for download game :( Is it my phone’s bug or game need some fixing - idk, but i hope you will check 🙏💙 ### 5/5 — Obsession is an understatement *2025-11-17, version 2.51* I first discovered this game through a fanart post on Pinterest on March 16th, 2024 (I literally have the date engraved into my brain) It is now late 2025 and to say I am obsessed with this game is the understatement of the year. I LOVE LOVE mysteries, especially murder ones that involve horror. I LOVE any stories that involve like cults or something with the devil. Although i won’t always admit this— I LOVE romance plots mixed with said mysteries especially involving the player or reader as their own original person (for the most part). And lately I LOVE medieval stuff. This game is all of that mashed together and essentially a thanksgiving meal of PERFECTION. I have a handful of merch now, I plan on cosplaying one of my favorites (VALDEMAR‼️) and one of these characters have seriously become a comfort character (*cough* Muriel). I have had so many moments of my heart pounding with anticipation and excitement playing this, hands trembling and literally screaming. Yes I am neurodivergent and yes I am not normal when I rlly rlly like things. I got some earrings at a thrift store just because they reminded me heavily of the red beetles and then the other pair of Asra. Everytime I see a white snake, I think Asra. Everytime I see a dark coated canine, I think Muriel. Every time I see any beetle I think Vulgora and just the game in general. I’m more in love with anatomically correct Hearts and have many replicas of them in my possession now because of Valdemar (and Lucio too technically but mainly that creature I adore). I’ve also made many fanarts and have written and am writing many fanfics based off it. Nonetheless this game is PHENOMENAL, art is beautiful (srsly taking inspo from it in my own art) and characters and story is amazingly written. Idk what my life was before discovering this game, rlly wish I found it earlier than just last year, especially considering how long it’s been out. ### 4/5 — 🫡 *2025-11-11, version 2.51* i definitely funded someone's bonus 😐, i like the game mhm mhm 👍 ### 5/5 — Jeu génial *2025-10-25* À savoir : uniquement en anglais / free to play (mais possibilité d’acheter) J’ai adoré ce jeu et les graphismes. Je trouve que certains sont malhonnêtes: vous pouvez TOUT débloquer gratuitement sans verser un € ou $, il faut juste de la patience. **Developer response:** 💖 Thank you so much for the amazing review! ### 3/5 — Won’t let Facebook sign in *2025-10-24, version 2.51* The game is not letting me sign in with my Facebook account and I’ve been playing the game for years now with Facebook but now it’s not working anymore please fix this issue besides that I love this game. ### 5/5 — gg *2025-10-20, version 2.51* gg ### 4/5 — I am in love! *2025-10-15, version 2.51* So I just got this game a couple of days ago and I am obsessed with it. I love the plot, the characters, the scenery but I just want to know on what would happen when I finish it all would I start all over again or is it just done forever, and I have a 17+ thing so I can’t get any thing like that. So like are the characters stories going to continue or will there be different characters or is it just done forever. I really like all the characters and it just don’t want it to end. Please 🙏 respond when you can I really need to know. Sincerely, a fan. ### 3/5 — Beautiful artwork, brutal monitization *2025-10-14, version 2.51* This is one of the more aesthetically pleasing games of this type that I’ve ever seen. Every choice that isn’t “ok, never mind/ no thanks / let it go” costs game currency (50-100), but don’t worry! You can get a few coins daily. If you saved up for a month, you might have enough for a satisfying gameplay session! ### 5/5 — Amazing *2025-10-06, version 2.51* I adore this game so dearly! The art and story are absolutely stunning and the love interests are unique and fun! ### 4/5 — 10/10 app, -10/10 for coins *2025-09-04, version 2.51* Okay, this is a petty review on ONE thing. I’ve had this app for over 5 years now and have enjoyed every single second of the stories and characters. I log in almost every single day to collect my wheel of fortune and tarot coins BUT NEVER IN MY OVER FIVE YEARS OF OWNING THE APP HAVE I EVER LANDED ON THE 1000 COIN PRIZE!!! I know it’s absolutely ridiculous to complain about but come on man, at least one time? Other than that, the characters are easy to love and grow attached to and their stories are very entertaining and full of fantasy. I recommend this game to adults, hopeless romantics, and story based players. ### 5/5 — Memorable and witty *2025-08-31, version 2.51* I really love this game, the story and characters and art style are so iconic and memorable. The beautiful prose is so descriptive and does an amazing job of setting the mood and letting the imagination run wild, I get shivers with how it describes the magic tension of intense scenes. I've played it on and off for years. No matter how many years it's been I seem to always come back to pick it up again and slowly keep playing through the various routes at my slow snails pace of collecting free coins. My only issue is that, as a mobile app, there's always the chance that one day it will be removed from the App Store and no longer hosted on servers anymore. Which is the only thing stopping me from spending real money on it. I genuinely think the devs should consider making an offline version ported to other platforms to preserve the story in the event this ever happens. I'd hate for the game to be lost to time like a lot of similar ones have. Sure having a live service game can be more profitable in the long run but ultimately in the end great stories tend to get lost forever. ### 5/5 — Bello ma complicato *2025-08-29, version 2.51* Bel gioco ma parecchio complicato ma per il resto è fatto molto bene e forse tornerò a giocarci prima o poi. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Old Device Broke, will not transfer *2025-07-29, version 2.51* My account was on my old phone and linked to my Facebook. I had hours of work, trinkets, images bought, etc. and now it will not let me connect to my account on my iPad and every time I try to connect it just completely closes out of Arcana. I am beyond angry and upset. ### 1/5 — Changes to the storyline made me delete 🥲 *2025-01-28, version 2.51* 🗣️🗣️EDIT: After getting the response :“when the app was purchased from its creator, no changes were made” Thanks for clarifying that you never played this when it was released, and I’ve deleted the app :/ thanks guys! I re-downloaded this game after a long time hoping that they changed the coin usage, I was obsessed with the storyline and loved how you could play the chapters and interact with every character within the main storyline, but shocked to find that when I re-downloaded, it’s become a dating game fully. I love dating games don’t get me wrong and back in 2019, When I downloaded this the first time it did have a dating option. But you could play the storyline if you didn’t want to use the dating option.. This time it seems to stop at chapter 6 or eight. I’m not sure. I remember part of the story having you “hunt” for these guys in animal masks running around the maze in the duchess’s garden, that was one of the challenges in the storyline. ### 1/5 — Ugh *2024-07-13, version 2.51* All of the good story moments are paywalled. It makes the player feel taken advantage of. ### 1/5 — Everything is gone??? *2024-07-03, version 2.51* I’ve played the arcana for YEARSSS since it first came out. I played it on and off and just recently I redownloaded it to play again just for every. Single. Thing. To be gone. All my coins. All my progress. My entire account was completely GONE. What am I even supposed to do now? All the money I spent for things that was supposed to remain unlocked is completely gone without a trace?? I wish the original developers never sold it. ### 1/5 — Too gay/hj *2024-06-26, version 2.51* I love gay, but this is millennial cringe gay. Like, isn’t my character supposed to date them? 🤨 breaks the point of a dating sim. Asra hot tho so 1 star. ### 1/5 — Гидры лучше *2024-05-31, version 2.51* После передачи прав Дориану от гидр все стало намного НАМНОГО хуже, бесконечная дебильная реклама стримов, реклама другого предложения разрабов, умоляю, отец небесный, если ты есть, верни мне мой 2020 и старую игру когда только выходил рут люцио ☝️ ### 1/5 — Again *2024-05-15, version 2.50* Support was no help in getting this to work with logging me into my account thru FB. They only offered to get me back the things I had receipts for but that’s not going to get me back all the choices for 3 whole character & the extra stories I purchased. Don’t spend money on this or any other DORIAN game ### 1/5 — Too expensive *2024-02-27, version 2.49* The game is great, but way too expensive! There is no way to get coins other than to buy them or try to win them in obviously rigged games designed to give you the least amount possible. It would be a flawless game if it wasn’t too expensive. The coin buying options are outrageously priced as well. Make it cheaper or at least let me have a better way to get coins, like games that are fair or an ad watching option. Too expensive to enjoy ### 1/5 — The Ads don’t grant you the promised rewards *2024-01-31, version 2.48* Great game! Amazing plot, character designs, visuals, etc. But earning coins is very difficult, nearly impossible. The Ads that promise you 10 coins don’t work either, as I’ve watched dozens of ads and not received a single coin for doing so. Love this game, but please get that fixed! ### 1/5 — sad *2023-12-24, version 2.45* I love this game a lot but ever since new developers took over it’s just one big ad for they’re other app. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Very good game! *2026-08-30, version 2.52* Downloaded and then deleted several other romance games because the gem systems required to play vexed me, and/or the stories were either too crude or too childish. But I came across this game being mentioned in a forum post (while looking for suggestions for actual free-to-play romance games) and decided to try it. I loved the game instantly, from the great art, the magical and believable fictional world, and the awesome and realistic characters and the outfits that they wear! I always enjoyed the tarot anyway, and it was a joy to see a story that involved it so much. Everyone’s character arcs are so intertwined, so you HAVE to romance more than one character to see more and more of the central story. The music in the main menu is gorgeous. The two things that I would suggest is that the coin cost for some of the optional dialogue or actions is a little too steep in some parts of the characters’ stories. If you want to avoid buying coins, it’ll take a week or more to save up 175+ coins for that choice. There were a few choices that were quite low (50 or so) that I thought were perfect. The second is that while I like that keys for chapters regenerate on their own without having to buy any, each key regenerates after three hours. I love this game and I have to wait 9 hours so I can play some more! If the timer was 2 or even 1 hour that would be far better. I hope there will be a sequel or additional stories in its universe available. ### 5/5 — good *2026-07-02, version 2.52* I’ll always come back to this game ### 5/5 — Baby pls come back, the kids miss you *2026-06-30, version 2.52* I’ve played countless otome games over the years, and nothing has ever captured me the way The Arcana did. The story, the characters, the sound track, the art, the romance… everything was unforgettable, it truly set the standard for visual novels, and years later I still find myself coming back ### 5/5 — The Arcana Lover *2026-06-24, version 2.52* I absolutely love this interactive visual novel, have played it since the initial release and have revisited it on and off over the years. I highly recommend it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ### 5/5 — Fantastic Game *2026-02-19, version 2.52* I have played this game years ago, and wanted to come back and replay it. I absolutely love how all the stories are threshed together someway somehow and the character designs for not just the dateables but for the other characters are amazing! I want/NEED to know if they’ll ever be made in a separate game or something to be able to date them. Specially Lucio’s mother, Morga. I need to know. PLEASE let me date her 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 PLEASE let me date her or make more content of her 😫😩 ### 5/5 — I love you Guys *2026-01-09, version 2.52* I love arcana always have had it with my googleplay account years ago , the only thing is I just wish you guys did coin rushes and key rushes that’d be so much fun ✨🔥 I hope that maybe you guys will consider it at least in the future ✨ ### 5/5 — definitely above average in romance games *2025-12-26, version 2.52* the story was well- written, and the character designs are definitely top notch. I found myself enjoying every characters ' stories, although probably not equally ### 5/5 — loooveee *2025-12-10, version 2.52* such beautiful art, amazing storyline and great characters! one of the only romance role playing games i’ve ever played that’s an amazing experience without paying! ### 5/5 — I’ve been playing for years *2025-11-20, version 2.52* I remember playing this game in my 7th grade classes, I am now in my second year of college. This game actually helped me find myself and shape who I am as a person. It’s such a simple story but it works so well. It’s been a pleasure watching this game grow, I remember when it was just the first 3 routes and the rest hadn’t even been added 😂 I’ve never had a game stick like this for me, but I’m glad it has :) ### 5/5 — Muriel *2025-11-20, version 2.52* Need more Muriel stories from Og writers --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-03.*