Nova Hearts - A Quick Summary
- silvercanonllc
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
After finishing both Boyfriend Dungeon and Nova Hearts, visiting a town and dating around for the summer (or indefinitely) isn’t all fun and games.
This post will include minor and major spoilers for the story, so keep that in mind. I won’t go over every detail, but instead hit plot points I loved, and ramble about some characters I found interesting.
I highly suggest you grab the game on Steam or any console you choose to play your games on. It’s well worth it, and only takes about 10 hours to complete. Heck, you might even get a different ending than I did.
Nova Hearts is an amazing experience. Targeted mostly at young adults (actually young adults, I’d say 18-25), the game drops you into the life of our main character, Luce. After years of living in the big city, our heroine moves back to her mom and her hometown, Vermillion.
Vermillion is perfectly introduced to us by Luce’s friends, Will and CJ. They’re childhood friends, with CJ not being as close to Luce as Will is. The characters chat for a while, and Luce finds it difficult to connect with CJ initially.
It’s through these awkward introductions that we learn about another one of Luce’s childhood friends and former flings, Sacha. It seems Sacha has exercised his true talent and organized a grand party. Being the perfect time to reconnect with everyone, Luce attends.
Unfortunately for Sacha, the party is attacked by these adorable fuzzballs. Through this encounter, we have our first experience with the trio (Luce, CJ, and Will) morphing into their “magical girl”/”sentai” superhero team! The combat takes place on more of a timeline than traditional initiative. Where instead of just moving down the line of initiative, characters and enemies choose what ability they want to queue, and that ability takes a certain amount of “beats” on that timeline that may be faster or longer than other characters’ actions (to put it into my own words, haha).
The first boss fight of the game is lots of fun. We find that the attacks on the party originated from Sacha, but not as we know them. Instead, Sacha is transformed into this beefed-up werewolf monster with silky hair.
We defeat Sacha and their furballs, revealing that Sacha had no idea what happened. There’s certainly something strange going on in Vermillion, and everyone’s going to know about it.
Our local reporter, May, runs the Daily May. An indie newspaper reporting on the city’s events. From politics to terrifying monsters, May’s on top of it.
But let's bring the focus back onto our friend CJ. They’re by far my favorite character in the game and the most powerful party member, in my opinion. In my playthrough, I managed to become one of CJ’s partners. I’m disappointed there weren’t more dates with them, but I love the art and cutscenes the developers slid in there. CJ’s mom is also the mayor of Vermillion, Irene.
Before the second boss is revealed, Luce’s mom signs her up for coaching to get her back into track and field. The coach chosen? Donald, Irene’s second in command at the Town Hall.
Donald is a romanceable character, although not a magical girl, unfortunately. This doesn’t mean he can’t transform, though, per se.
A sketchy letter is sent to Irene, threatening to reveal her “secrets”. Luckily, CJ intercepts it and brings it to the group’s attention. Unsure what the letter could be referring to, the trio plans on doing some snooping.
CJ suggests checking the safe in Irene’s office, and we plan the heist. After filling in the non-magical friends we’ve been introduced to along the way, and finding the perfect time slot, we’re set.
The team makes their way to Town Hall and slips into the mayor’s office. After a series of fights/one big boss fight against The Knight. We learn the Knight is Donald, another victim of the strange happenings in Vermillion. All friends regroup after the fight and discuss their findings. The safe was empty, Donald wrote the sketchy letter, and May had the contents of the safe. A USB drive, unfortunately corrupted. At The Breakfast Club, the party discusses what they’re going to do now. They have the evidence in hand now, thanks to May, but they can’t read it. Julietta, a bubblegum rave girl steps into the conversation. Being a tech genius, she asks the party about the error. Will is rude in response, basically doubting Julietta’s skills in technology.
“I wish people would stop thinking I’m just some dumb bimbo!" Paraphrasing, of course.
This simple interaction creates the evil genius, The Doc. Julietta is taken over by her desire to be taken seriously and unleashes teams of robots upon the local mall. Luckily, our trio is here to get rid of the pests.
After defeating the Doc, Julietta apologizes, and the group makes up, adding Julietta to the group chat. She is just as adorable as she is a genius. Her texting style is unique, using many, many text emojis and basically spamming messages. Excited to share her expertise with the group.
In Julietta’s hands, the USB drive is able to be read again. We find a folder titled “2008-2009” with photos of Irene, CJ, Will, Luce, Sacha, and a mystery boy in an elementary school photo. The party has no recollection of Irene being their teacher during those years, as she was the mayor during that time. Things are getting so much weirder.
As it turns out, the mystery boy in the photo is Luce’s brother. Did I mention throughout the game that Luce was texting a nameless ghost in her phone? No? WELLLL It’s her brother! Surprise!
The group mentions this to Irene, and we connect the dots that during not only Irene’s sudden reign as Mayor, and Luce’s brother disappearing from everyone’s memories, Will has been witness to these events- “wishes”, even.
Remember when Julietta stated she wanted to be taken seriously? Yep, Will granted that Wish, fitting right into her superhero nickname. At the beginning of the game, Luce also joked that she wished the trio could be awesome superheroes. It’s a neat detail that before the game outright tells you, the player pieces together and goes “woah”.
It’s been exactly 7 years since the last round of wishes was granted, the first time Will was conscious during a specific comet, I forgot the name of. Something starting with an “A”.
Well, nearly a decade later, here we are. Will is witnessing wishes and uncontrollably granting them. You see, Will is cosmic dust, a child of the comet.
After two boss fights (that felt pretty pointless in my opinion,) Will ultimately chooses to go back to the comet to master her powers. It’s not safe for her in Vermillion or on Earth anymore.
I’m going to assume I got the most mediocre ending. I still loved the game, don’t get me wrong- but the ending I got was just… Boring. I wanted more. I wish more of the minor details were resolved, and that I got to interact more with Julietta and May. Then again, being a game that’s about 10 hours long, I can’t expect Bethesda levels of freedom.
I have a lot of love for this game. This is why I’m writing this recap. To share the story with those interested.
You can buy Nova Hearts on all platforms now. The game runs beautifully on the Switch as well as the Steam Deck. I highly recommend it, as the game is a touching experience and respects your time.
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