Left to right: Anastasia, Niklas, the heroine, Ty, Melanie, Rhys.
Kisses & Curses is a Visual Novel romance app for iOS and Android by Voltage Entertainment USA.Start your journey as a young Witch in the peaceful but uneventful town of Werbury, Vermont. As the Stargazer, it is your role to absorb infrequent bursts of Wild Magic known as Starfall.
Despite your magical heritage your life is pretty ordinary… until an increase of Starfalls known as Starfloods start to plague the world. You are approached by a mysterious member of the Witch Council who says that only a ritual involves you, a human and another Witch can calm the source of Starfalls.
Love Interests include Rhys, a witch councilman from Wales; Ty, the friendly boy next door; Niklas, a Tall, Dark, and Handsome witch from Europe; Anastasia, a sweet and shy but deadly witch hunter; and best friend and fellow witch Melanie.
Kisses & Curses was released in February 2016. It shut down two years later, on April 1, 2018.
Kisses & Curses provides examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: Anastasia's uncle calls her "Anushka". When she was little, she was called "solnyshko" ('little sun') for her bright red hair.
- Alchemy Is Magic: Melanie's Birthright gives her skill in alchemy. In one fight, she dispels shadows by turning the moss around her phosphorescent.
- Allegedly Free Game: It's possible to play the entire game without paying a cent, but not very quickly. The coins for clothing and better ingredients are hard to come by, and stamina- which allows you to continue the story- regenerates at a one per four hours rate. Both can be bought for real money.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: A player character who romances Niklas falls under this.
- All There in the Manual: The official website
had profiles for the love interests. Also available here, with some slight differences. - Apocalypse Cult: Yvette's group want the Starfloods to happen because they believe that the destruction they will bring is the natural order.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When Anastasia explains her life debt to the heroine, she makes it clear that she will not help her with organ harvesting, kidnapping children, or animal sacrifice… or making coffee, or doing laundry.
- Badass Bookworm: Rhys, who's a scholar and member of the witch's council, and the player character, who runs the family bookstore. To a lesser extent Anastasia, who reads romance novels unironically.
- Badass Normal: Anastasia and other Hunters. Ty can hold his own in a physical fight, thanks to his military training.
- Bilingual Bonus: Welsh from Rhys, German from Niklas and his family, and Russian from Anastasia's.
- Black Dude Dies First: Ty references this trope when venturing into his haunted house with the heroine; he makes a comment about “the brother” always dying first.
- Boy Next Door: Ty, who's friendly, non-magical and has the support of your father.
- Brains and Bondage: Academic Rhys is into BDSM.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Alix calls her father by his first name.
- Capital Letters Are Magic: Some magical terms are capitalized. Some Hunter terms as well, which the protagonist lampshades.
- The Cavalry: Either Joanna, Holly, or Jean will come to your rescue in Salem.
- Chekhov's Gun: You're warned that healing Luna might have consequences down the line due to the Threefold Law. It does.
- Childhood Friend Romance: If you romance Melanie.
- Christmas Episode: The Christmas special stories.
- Compelling Voice: Niklas' Birthright. It doesn't work on other witches, though.
- The Dark Arts: Forbidden magic, which can be Light or Dark. Life-sacrificing spells are forbidden, among others.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Dark magic can be used for good causes, just as light magic can be used for bad ones. The Threefold Law applies regardless of intent, however.
- Deadpan Snarker: The protagonist, even if you don't pick the snarky dialogue options. She describes it as a coping mechanism.
- Dreaming of Times Gone By: The protagonist has dreams about her mother throughout the story. They are suggested to be memories absorbed from Wayward magic.
- Erotic Dream: One is had on Anastasia's route. It turns out Anastasia had one at the same time.
- Equivalent Exchange: After the main character is shot/cursed and killed while traveling with Melanie or Niklas, they revive her, in exchange for either a part of their magic (Melanie's ability to use glamours on herself, or Niklas' Birthright) or part of the human companion's lifespan. The character being romanced is the one to make the sacrifice.
- False Friend: Catherine, a member of the Werbury coven and an old friend of Claire, is the one who killed her. She's also willing to kill the main character, who she's known for years, in pursuit of her goal of resurrecting her sister. However, at the end, Amelia reveals that Catherine had a spell crafted that would protect the main character in the event of Catherine's death. Why she would do this is left unexplained.
- Fantastic Racism: Hunters towards Witches.
- First Girl Wins: Could apply to Rhys, the first character introduced in the game, or Melanie, who's been friends with the player character since they were ten.
- First-Name Basis: On Rhys and Anastasia's routes, they will eventually switch to this with the player character. (Rhys, being the formal type, starts out calling her Miss [Last Name], while Anastasia just addresses her as "Witch".)
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The player character seems to have this dynamic with her little sister, Alix.
- For Want Of A Nail: There's a major change in how the Niklas storyline plays out, depending on whether your human companion is Anastasia or Ty. At one point, the heroine is weakened and Niklas takes out a dagger. If Anastasia is there, she'll charge in to kick the dagger out of his hand, and Niklas says he was trying to do a ritual to give her strength. If Ty is there, Niklas does the ritual but something goes wrong, and he and the heroine end up mind-linked. It's also revealed that his actual intention with the ritual was to steal her Stargazer magic. This ends up drastically altering the tone of their relationship, and the mind-link continues to affect the plot.
- Funetik Aksent: Jean has a thick Scottish accent rendered in text.
- Gay Option: Anastasia and Melanie.
- Gentleman Snarker: Rhys, on occasion.
- Glamour: Glamour spells are used for disguise.
- Green Thumb: Joanna's Birthright.
- Harmful to Minors: Anastasia's training, which started when she was a child and included learning how to resist torture.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The protagonist is nameable, with the default name being "Julie Grier".
- Halloween Episode: The Halloween special stories.
- I Know Your True Name: True names are usually the person's full legal name, or whatever they personally identify with.
- Imagined Innuendo: The heroine rounds on Niklas when she learns that he was "making lightning" with Alix, only for him to clarify that it was literal, as in they were doing storm magic together.
- Informed Judaism: In the Thanksgiving side-story, Ty mentions his hopes of bringing the PC home to meet his family for Passover seder.
- Invisible to Normals: Starfall is invisible to humans. Witches can see it out of the corner of their eye.
- I Owe You My Life: Saving Anastasia indebts her to you, to her extreme displeasure.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Melanie and Ty if you don't pick them.
- Living Shadow: The shadow beasts.
- Look Behind You: If Anastasia isn't on your team, she drops by briefly to let you know there's Hunters tailing you. She says she's lost track of them and that for all she knows they could be "behind those rocks over there", then disappears while your party turns to look.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Anastasia's family, as witch hunters, would never accept her being in a relationship with a witch.
- Master of Illusion: Yvette, a Senseweaver, has the power to create illusions.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: If the main character goes to Alix's mentor Jean for help and brings her along to the crypt, Jean will end up dying there when the group is attacked.
- Miss Conception: According to Anastasia, she thought human babies came from the stork until she was about 19.
- Monster/Slayer Romance: Witch hunter Anastasia is a love interest option for the protagonist, who is a witch.
- Muggle–Mage Romance: If the player character romances Anastasia or Ty. Also describes her parents' relationship (Witch mom, non-magical dad) and Joanna and Andreas'.
- Oblivious to Love: On Melanie's route, the MC is unaware that Melanie has developed feelings for her, despite Melanie describing the person she has a crush on to her.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The witch's council disapprove of the quest and refuse to help.
- Overly Long Name: Rhys and Niklas both have three middle names. Long names are customary of old witch families, to make their true names harder to steal.
- Perception Filter: Trickster's Slip is a glamour that makes you go unnoticed.
- Perspective Flip: The special stories take place from the love interests' perspectives.
- Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Anastasia fails to catch a lot of pop culture references because of her sheltered childhood that focused foremost on learning witch hunting.MC: So instead of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, you were reading The Very Hungry Witch?
Anastasia: The very hungry what? - Posthumous Character: The protagonist's mother, Claire, who died many years ago.
- Power at a Price: Due to the Threefold Law, all magic is this. Any spell cast causes a karmetic imbalance three times the power of the spell, either good or bad.
- Power Incontinence: Witches can release telekinetic bursts in moments of strong emotion, but most of them get it under control at a young age. Alix is an exception — she's broken many of her smartphone screens this way.
- Power Tattoo: Niklas has one on his arm. Ty obtains one on his back in his storyline.
- Precision F-Strike: From Catherine: "The council is full of shit!"
- Psychic Link: In the Niklas+Ty storyline, you form one with Niklas after a spell goes wrong.
- Running Gag: The protagonist keeps forgetting to give Amelia the book she ordered.
- Safe Word: With Rhys, it's "onyx".
- Salem Is Witch Country: Salem is the setting for the casting of the Pact spell.
- Saving the World: The quest to cast the Pact, in order to stop the Starfloods from, well, flooding the world with dangerous wayward magic.
- Seeks Another's Resurrection:
- Catherine seeks the resurrection of her twin sister Cassandra.
- Waltraud and her family seek to eliminate death itself.
- Seers: Rhys' Birthright allows him to see possible futures.
- Shout-Out:
- On the Ana+Mel route, you can tell Anastasia that she can "be our sweet bodyguard."
- One Anastasia special story has the protagonist getting a passport with the name "Barbara Eddricks".
- Sibling Yin-Yang: The MC's sisters. Alix, the younger sister, is a dark witch who loves the big city party life and surrounding herself with admirers. Joanna, the older sister, is a light witch living in a small town, running a herbal store and engaged to be married.
- Solitary Sorceress: Jean lives in the middle of the woods; the party has to seek her out before they can get her help.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Anastasia pulls this a few times.
- Straight Gay: Melanie and Anastasia. The MC and Melanie promised to keep each other updated on developments with Ty, which MC notes means just her, unless Ty somehow became a woman. Anastasia recounts how she tried to like the boys in high school and even thought she was crushing on one, but unfortunately, he was a boy.
- Superpowerful Genetics: Witchcraft is a genetically inherited trait, and 95% of witches are female.
- Sweet Tooth: Anastasia is fond of pastries and other desserts.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Niklas, with shades of Tall, Dark, and Snarky.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Anastasia, if you choose her for the Pact. Additionally, out of the six possible team pairs, the following will come into conflict: Anastasia and Melanie, Anastasia and Niklas, and Ty and Niklas.
- Tempting Fate: With lampshading, after they retrieve the charm from the Stirling family crypt.MC: Well, that was easier than I expected.
[Cave threatens to collapse]
MC: Why did I SAY that?! - Thanksgiving Episode: The Thanksgiving special stories.
- Unique Protagonist Asset: The protagonist has the rare Birthright of Starsight, making her uniquely suited to take part in the Pact. Her Aunt Cheryl is a Stargazer as well, but her role is to take over your duties while you're out of town, thereby allowing you to leave.
- Virtual Paper Doll: You can buy clothing for your character. In some parts, it's required to continue the story.
- The Von Trope Family: The Reylanders have "von" before their surname, as they are nobility.
- Weather Manipulation: Alix's Birthright.
- What You Are in the Dark: During a conversation with Alix, you can refuse to entertain the possibility of using a charm spell on Anastasia. She overhears this and it helps repair her trust in you.
- Wild Magic: Wayward magic, which falls from the sky randomly and always has unpredictable effects.
- The Witch Hunter: Anastasia. She's a witch hunter who kills around 4 witches a year.
