Another day another VN
https://chanimk.itch.io/a-pact-with-me"A Pact with Me" was the next one on the list, and it is a perfectly fine 5/10 VN. It was about four hours long and had three main routes with multiple good and bad endings for each boy. The story follows Belial, a demon who 100 years ago fell in love with the man he had made a demonic contract with. After the twenty years of the pact were up, he had to collect his lover's soul and ate it, leaving no trace of the man in existence. Now heartbroken, he avoids making any more pacts, but after years of no contracts, he is weakened and starved, on the brink of death. Lucifer tasks you with forming a pact with someone to eat a soul so you don't die.
The game is spread out over six days, with one scene for each route given each day, though you can sleep to skip the rest of the day if you don't care about a character.
The main romance options are Renan, a struggling musician who was probably the least interesting. His father hates him, and he's dealing with a stalker and self-consciousness about his ability to perform. Shilo, a businessman who is the sadist psycho option, has some Light Yagami energy and was my favorite as he cuts down people who get in the way of his company. And lastly, Lior, a very shy boy who is just seeking friends. His route starts really childish as you basically help him go viral on a social media site so he can make friends because everyone who see him hates him, but then it reveals
he's actually hated because of demonic possession by Lucifer, and the route gets substantially better in the last few days.
I don't think I'd recommend it even if you like demon stories. Most of the routes just kind of feel derivative and lack an extra "punch" that would make them unique. It has a good core concept, and I like Belial as a protag, but none of the routes are gripping.