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This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – Fantasy, Romance, Slice of Life Play Time – 35 hours Developer – COMPILE HEART and STING VNDB Steam Spirits In Love Being a spin off of the Date A Live franchise, Rio Reincarnation is saddled with a set of pre-existing expectations from fans while also not having the ability to progress the overarching narrative of the series. In many ways this is an impossible situation for a game to produce something meaningful out of and many similar titles have ended up as throw away junk. However, Rio Reincarnation manages to avoid this outcome through leaning into what made the franchise popular in the first place, its girls, and providing an emotional core story which wraps up in a way that means it has no impact on the original work. It is a tightrope walk to maintain this balance and it comes at the cost of any attempt to appeal to potential new eyes on the series, yet there is something undeniably charming about its open love for the source material. Is it able to keep this up over the course of the three games contained within the package or does it collapse under the weight of expectations? Let’s go on a date and find out. Utopia and VR – Narrative and Themes The first two games in this package, Rinne Utopia and Arusu Install, form the majority of its content and follow a similar structure. Each is made up a series of character routes with a final true route to act as a conclusion for their respective stories. Adopting this structure lets these titles focus on what Date A Live sells best, its cast. The player’s pre-existing attachment to them is a convenient avenue to an easy form of engagement where familiar events and personality traits are paraded around in this new context to feed a sense of nostalgia. It would be easy to fall into the trap of simply rely on this technique as the sole hook for the game, but these titles realise they need to go beyond this starting point in order to be something that is worth coming back to again and again. To achieve this they have small character arcs with suitable dramas attached that provide a unique direction to each route. They act as a means to enhance the memorable traits of the characters by playing up what the player has come to expect from an entirely new angle. A lot of effort has also been put into ensuring they do not in any way effect the greater cannon of the franchise and so it can exist as a form of throwaway yet distinctive fun. Throughout all this hints of the greater plot of the game are sprinkled in and these reach a crescendo in the final true route. This serves two purposes, firstly it helps draw together what are otherwise of disconnected character interactions and secondly it acts as an incentive to play all of the routes in order to get the full picture rather than just the ones focused around characters the player likes. Promoting another angle of engagement as well as a proper conclusion helps add some much needed texture to the game and allows it to form an identity of its own within the franchise. Just like the character routes, the final route also makes sure to end in a way where its events can be reasonably not mentioned by the cast in the main series which could irritate someone who was looking for something more substantial from the narrative. Bringing these two game together is the final part of the package, the titular Rio Reincarnation. This is a much smaller affair and aims to tie up some lose ends in order to offer a complete experience. In many ways this is as far as these games ever drift from the core cannon of the main franchise and it must instead rely on the investment the player has developed over the course of the previous titles. It seeks to encapsulate all that the Date A Live series is from its own angle and leave the player with a lasting impression to encourage them to come back again. A lot of its success can be attributed to the way it weaves in small nods to the arcs each character has been on throughout this package and relates them back to its own new characters in a way that heightens the drama surrounding them. The new characters are obviously somehow related to the cause of what is going on yet the sympathetic light the game thematically places on them makes the player wish that the inevitable confrontation and resolution could be put off for just a little longer. Rio Reincarnation bears a lot similarities to the true routes of the previous two games and so it can at times feel rushed as a result since there is not as much time to space out events and give them the proper room they need to express themselves. Even with this issue, it serves its overall purpose of acting as the package’s binding element and the experience of playing through the games is enriched by its presence. Balancing Emotions – Characters As a title firmly aimed at existing Date A Live fans, the original characters are the primary focus as it is their antics that most players are here to see. Each one is an incredibly faithful rendition of their cannon counterpart with all the reactions and playfulness expected from them. Since they are given their own routes, they have the space needed to sell a more intimate look at the emotions which underlay their actions and their relationships with the rest of the cast. Their character arcs are a natural extension of this closer perspective and tend to focus on single familiar angle on their personal conflict. It offers just enough development to make the arc feel like it has substance while not stepping on the toes of any future changes in the character. The results are somewhat uneven with characters who possess an existing source of tension to tap into, such as Kurumi and Origami, fairing far better as the narrative gains an inbuilt source of drama it can easily lean into in order to create a powerful impact. Other characters, in particular Tohka, can run into the issue of having nothing substantial to do and fall into a pattern of repeating the same basic elements of their personality to act as a distraction. It is also worth noting the increased presence of previously minor side characters who are here given a sizeable spotlight through optional side events and their role in the main characters' events. Through their inclusion the world of Date A Live is given an additional texture, each one provides a glimpse into the lives of people not directly involved in the Spirits conflict and humanises both themselves and the Spirits they interact with. Each of the titles in the Rio Reincarnation package includes at least one new character who acts as the focal point for that game’s plot. They get a lot a screen time to fully flesh themselves out since the game cannot rely on the player’s pre-existing understanding of them as it does with the old cast members. As a result they stand out against these almost static old characters and naturally draw attention to themselves which is both a blessing and a curse. On the positive side it makes them far easier for the player to empathise with due to the sympathetic struggles and growth they are allowed to undergo as well as the intimate emotions they express. Each feels as if they are not bound to the same obligations to continuity as the old cast and this freedom to be themselves gives a concrete anchor in order to bond with them. However, it is precisely the way that they stand out which introduces a lot of narrative weaknesses to these games. Most prominent among these being the complete inability to hide anything about how the plot is going to play out. It is obvious from the start that the new characters are responsible for what is going on and often it is easy to call exactly what their motives and actions will be. This results is an overall weaker feeling narrative experience as the player knows the outcome long before it happens and so the games rely even more on the player’s love for the characters to carry the story. Normal Life In An Abnormal World – Visual, Audio and Technical Capturing the essence of the Date A Live anime, rather than the original light novel, was clearly the intent when it came to the visuals and audio of Rio Reincarnation. Its art style relies heavily on its expressive Live 2D character sprites to sell the idea that these are the same characters the player is familiar with. In this role they do a brilliant job through all the small movements as the characters emote from tilts of the head to their whole body bouncing up and down, all of which are tweaked to help showcase the subtle difference in the cast. It makes sure these movements and character designs are a close to the source material as possible from their casual clothing to their spirit forms and the new character designs follow these design principles to the point of appearing completely natural along side the old characters. While the audio does not pull as directly from the anime as the visuals do, they still remain faithful in terms of the tone and mood they set. Slice of life with a splash of action are the ingredients that define Rio Reincarnation’s soundtrack. Light melodies echo as the cast laughs and silly antics play out which switch into dramatic and sweeping tracks as the stakes rise and characters assume their spirit forms. Overall the OST is not particularly original or memorable but instead it focuses on do its job in the moment and exists as something to reinforce the experience in its entirety rather than be able to stand on its own. Conclusion Many tie-in visual novels struggle with the competing demands of their obligations to the original material and the need to create something new and Rio Reincarnation showcases a shining example of how it can be done correctly. It adapts the existing Date A Live cast smoothly into its structure and gives them each a small character arc for their route which allows them to show off their personalities while not interfering with cannon. Visuals and Audio are something the package utilises to further draw on its connection to its source material and immerse the player in this setting. New cast members are made empathic and flexible since they stand out due to their more expansive emotional development and this helps make them memorable despite being only featured here. The titular Rio Reincarnation part of the package acts as a nice round up for the games’ plots and characters in one last concentrated form. A somewhat confusing to navigate choice system is the most noticeable flaw which does bring the player out of the experience to look up a guide. This is a game made for fans to tie into an existing franchise and the alterations made by Rio Reincarnation are about as far as the developers could have pushed the material without upsetting the people they are selling the package to.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. The Magic Of Buttons One of the most underappreciated areas in a visual novel is the work which goes into its UI design. An ideal UI will never draw attention to itself and become a natural extension of the player’s engagement with the game. This is not an easy thing to achieve since a balance has to be struck between its presence on screen, its ease of use and its aesthetics. Over the years a standard set of expected practices have grown up for both ADV and NVL UI design and the majority of visual novels follow them to avoid the pitfalls of invasive UI. However, if the developer is willing to run the risk of potentially irritating the player with unfamiliar layouts, there is value in breaking these conventions for the sake of creating a memorable overall experience. How do these differing approaches influence the form and function of visual novels? Let’s press some buttons and find out. Standardised Structure In order to ensure the best player experience, visual novel developers have learned from the mistakes and successes of the past and formed a cohesive set of standards for UI which most modern titles adhere to. These rules of style manifest slightly differently depend on if the game uses ADV or NVL as its means of text presentation. For an ADV title we can look at how Sabbat of the Witch handles its UI elements and given Yuzusoft’s prominence within the industry they make for a good bar to gauge how standards have been cemented. The first thing which will strike the viewer is the layout of the text box comprising the bottom eighth of the screen. Here it is a translucent orange textbox and this use of colour and opacity is done in order to make the text clear to read while not entirely obscuring the background and sprites behind it. Being as nonintrusive as possible is the aim here as it means having as few barriers as possible to the player’s immersion in the narrative and this prevents them for being reminded of the fact they are playing a game. Along the bottom of the screen are a series of small buttons that provide access to the various load and save features, the ability to skip in differing ways and other important settings. These are made as small as possible while having the ability to let it disappear if the player decides it is in the way and this is done to remove as much clutter from the screen as possible while still providing access to all the needed features a player expects to have at their fingertips. As for the text in the text box, the name of the speaking character is sits above the main body of the text aligned with its left side and the text itself does not fill the entire box, but instead leaves about a third of the text box as empty space. This formatting of the text placement on the UI keeps the text feeling like a consistent flow as everything occupies roughly the same amount of space regardless of how much is said and it prevents the text from feeling disorderly. All these common UI elements are in service of the general aim to make itself as easy to ignore as possible while still being clear and navigable. There is also a light overall feeling from the small size of the UI and the way it takes up so little of the screen allows for the character sprites and CG to have an immediate and striking impact. It is for these reasons that ADV is favoured by many visual novels which want to keep their tone bright or those which want to place an emphasis on their characters. Hidden UI The standardisation of NVL has a lot of similarities to that of ADV since both stem from the same design philosophies, but they manifest in different ways and for different purposes. A common trend in NVL titles is to have no UI buttons on the interface at all and instead require the player to open and entirely separate pause menu to access other functions like loading and saving. On the surface this inconvenience might seem to be a major issue but it is a trade off to compensate for the much larger amount of the screen which is covered by the NVL textbox. Since it covers much of the portraits and CGs and puts a greater emphasis on itself compared to its ADV counterpart, there is a need to avoid drawing the player out of the experience through the large UI and removing an unnecessary element helps keep the focus on the narrative. Thinking Outside Of The Box Breaking the rules and conventions of a medium has a strong impact on the viewer and UI can make good use of this shock factor to play on their emotional state. Rather than being clean and out of sight these visual novels make their UI take up large sections of the screen and be loud and obvious at all times. Such a direct presentational element is impossible for the player to ignore and helps the imagery and messaging this interface is aiming to convey. Parts of the UI might also change over time to keep itself interesting and reflect the narrative or mental state of the characters at any given moment. The uniqueness of these aspects helps the title to stick in the player’s memory through its contrast with the familiar UI from other games and encourages the player to return and experience the distinctiveness they cannot find anywhere else. However, standards exist for a reason and a visual novel using an odd or expansive interface may run afoul of frustrations stemming from the inconvenience and confusion caused when attempting to do something as simple as saving. For an example of what this kind of UI looks like in practice we can turn to Girlfriend Simulator. It uses a style of frame UI which encloses the backgrounds and sprites while taking up a large section of screen space. Large and clear buttons occupy the left hand side for easy access to the core features of a visual novel and are presented as part of the edges of the main window alongside the text box to create a feeling of importance and continuity with the rest of the visuals. Behind all of this an ominous image of an eye hang in a sea of unsettlingly dim orange which communicates the tone and atmosphere of the game before a single word has appeared on screen and remains as a constant reminder of what underlies everything. In the top left sits an unease meter that slowly ticks up as the player makes their choices and acts as a constant communication of the protagonist’s decaying state. Together these powerful elements show how a large UI can impact a player's perception of a work and the way it can influence they emotional state. Conclusion As the part of a visual novel which is always present on screen, it is important for the design of the UI to meet the needs of both the developer and the player. Standardised rules have formed for what UI should look like and these have influenced many titles. Those using ADV aim for a clean interface where the player has easy access to all the key features they need while not distracting from the visuals. NVL takes this to a greater extreme with many games often having no visible buttons at all and those with them try to frame them within the aesthetics of the narrative. Rejecting rules and guidelines can provide a powerful impact for a visual novel UI and further the tonal and thematic ideas the game is presenting. When it comes to UI there is a temptation to consider it as the last element in the design process for a visual novel, but to do so is stripping yourself of understanding a valuable angle of how the player will experience your game.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Beyond The Screen Directly addressing the nature of the medium and the player has a long tradition within video games as a means of introspection and entertainment. The Meta Fiction genre is something visual novels have dipped their toes into over the years with varying degrees of commitment to its use. This manifests through everything from playing with the games systems, jokes by characters about the nature of the game they are part of to the game directly talking to the player. Each approach offers something subtly different to the experience while overlapping in surprising ways. Despite the limited design space available for many visual novels, they have found ways to integrate this genre into almost every part of their structure. Let’s break the fourth wall and find out how all these elements work in practice. And There Goes The Fourth Wall Of course the first and most immediately recognisable way a visual novel can lean into the Meta Fiction genre is to address the player directly. This breaking of the fourth wall takes the player’s established role as an observer to events and recontextualise them as a participant on the same level as the characters they have been watching. Immediately the player is drawn into the story in a personal manner as the game pulls them in by responding to the player’s presence and engaging in a form of dialogue with them. It also draws the fate of the cast closer to the player since it is another avenue through which the characters can present their humanity and appeal in order to create investment in their plight. A major part of the strength of using the Meta Fiction genre in this manner is the tension it gains through the way it points the narrative threat directly at the player. Obviously this is a fine line to walk as everyone playing a game is aware of its inherently fictional nature and so it is difficult to feel any danger from something so distant for them. However, through not losing sight of its core tone, a visual novel can make the tension from the fourth wall breaking appear to be a natural extension of the already established narrative. When utilised in this way it can give some much needed spice to what might otherwise be a standard title and leaving the player with an exciting and memorable experience. The poster child for shattering the fourth wall would have to be Doki Doki Literature Club and the creative ways it keeps the Meta Fiction fresh throughout its entire playtime. Much of the plot centric drama stems from these meta elements as the situation degrades with the player becoming the focal point of everything that is going on. When it addresses the player directly it often does so in a way where it is unclear if the character is talking to the protagonist or the player creating a sense of unease where the boundary between the two becomes unclear and there is still an uncertainty about what is going on. Once the fourth wall has finally been completely shattered the game maintains a playful sense of danger where it threatens the player in a tongue and cheek way. This acknowledgment of the fundamentally silly nature of Meta Fiction allows the player to invest themselves in the experience by alleviating the friction between the presented danger and the reality for the player. AI: The Somnium File – nivarnA Initiative takes a more structural approach to its Meta Fiction genre. Its defining meta moments are entirely player facing and have little influence on the characters and so it has to deal with them in specific sections where the game turns and openly talks to the player about the plot twist it is revealing. The benefit of this method lies in the way it can preserve the central plot and character and prevent them from losing their sense of being part of separate world while still having the flavour of Meta Fiction. Of course this runs the risk of creating too much of a division between this meta twist and everything else the player has experienced which could leave them feeling cheated by something they could never have seen coming. For The Sake Of A Joke Rather than making the fourth wall breaking a plot element that the player has to take seriously, many visual novels simply uses it as a cheeky wink to camera to get a laugh. They focus on the silliness inherent in the Meta Fiction genre as a source of comedy with a self aware irony underlying it. This is often an accompaniment to a game which already prides itself on its absurd and over the top tone so the meta jokes feel right at home in its chaotic nature. They offer another axis for the comedy to play on and help keep it fresh for the long duration of an entire visual novel. It is not as simple as slapping in some fourth wall breaks and call it a day since this runs the risk of coming across as self indulgent. Balancing the presence of Meta Fictional elements requires a sense of timing as to where and when to place them so they come across as a natural extension of what is already happening in the scene. Using them too frequently is another issue often encountered by this kind of visual novel with the temptation being to fall back on them whenever there is a gap they could fit into resulting in them becoming predictable and thus lose their intended impact. As such delaying their use has the best effect to keep the player from being able to predict exactly when one is coming and making the surprise when they do appear all the more entertaining. Looking at Ren’ai x Royale reveals how intermittent use of meta elements can be leveraged to enhance an existing atmosphere. The overall light tone lends itself to being malleable when it comes to its contents as the player will likely accept it within their understanding of the game’s world rather than being drawn out of the experience. Nevertheless, there is an effort to not overuse the meta jokes in order to still make them feel special and not run the risk of straining the tone by pushing it too far. On the opposite end of the spectrum sits Lamunation which pushes meta fiction as humour to its absolute limit. Fourth wall breaking meta jokes are a common occurrence throughout and it relies of the constant stream and variety of its absurd brand of humour to keep things fresh while not giving the player enough time to think too deeply about the implications of the meta elements. What results is a frenetic title which understands its brand of comedy will not be for everyone since Meta Fiction can alienate certain audiences who prefer when things are played straight. The meta elements are in many ways a form of silly glue to bind the other out there ideas Lamunation utilises and provides a sort of passive justification for their inclusion through these self-aware nods. Engaging With Player Perceptions Beyond the winks to camera and fourth wall breaking there is a version of Meta Fiction far more interested in mechanically linking itself to the world beyond the visual novel. This involves playing with how the game is being engaged with and highlighting its edges and point out its own restrictive nature. One of two extremes can be achieved through this approach, either it creates an immersive blurring of the lines between the game and reality or a complete breaking of the game as a believable self contained world in order to sell certain plot elements. The first can be seen in action in Hate Plus through the system where the player can only progress one in game day before they must wait twenty-four hours of real time which matches the amount of time passing in the narrative. Linking the passage of time helps create a sense of the game’s world as something reflecting parts of our own and operates on a familiar and tactile axis. It is also a relatively indirect method of communicating this feeling as it draw attention to the artificial nature of the game but not a way that demands the player remains focused on this aspect and instead lets them smoothly transition in and out of this mechanic. Conclusion Fiction exists in its own space within our minds, one separate from the real world and yet alive so when a visual novel steps over that divide it can leave quite an impact. Meta Fiction as a genre comes in many forms and provides a unique avenue to engage with the player. A simple smashing of the fourth wall can give a scene a sense of tension whereby the player themselves feels threatened and in the same position as the characters. It can also engage on a mechanical level by relating the actions it requires of the player to the real world or giving them the ability to mess with its files. This does not have to be used for serious purposes and a lot of titles like to commit to a Meta Fiction element as another angle of humour to add to their own brand of comedy and surprise the player. A genre like this is hard to recommend including in a visual novel given the way it warps the entire structure and experience around it. However, if it serves your narrative and tonal aims it may well be worth integrating on a foundational level.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – Mystery, Sci Fi, Slice of Life Play Time – 40 hours Developer – Blank Note & Frontwing Steam VNDB Blooming Under The Sun A girl mysteriously falling from the sky and changing the protagonist’s life is a well worn cliché. So when Aries crash lands the player likely thinks they already know where this is going, but Himawari has more than a few tricks up its sleeve to prove them wrong. Divided into two halves, earth and space, this is a tale of love, sacrifice and loss played out by a broken cast of colourful characters. It is an odd mix of an early slow burn with a dynamic second part where the game shifts genre dramatically which will either turn people off or intrigue them. The twists and turns present in the later parts of the game work to keep the game feeling fresh, but there is a definite feeling that the game does not quite understand when it should stop. Does this story of heaven and earth glitter brightly or collapse under the weight of its own dramatic reveals? Let’s escape from space and find out. Crash Landing From The Heavens – Narrative and Themes The opening section of the game is a decidedly slow burn in terms of pacing with the narrative content taking its time after Aries arrives. Slice of Life antics become the focus of events and there is an effort to establish a baseline for the characters and world which the later parts can build upon or undermine. Having the Space Club being the binding element helps provides a means to connect the sci-fi existence that is Aries and Co. to the otherwise grounded presentation of the setting so they do not feel out of place. It also works as a means of giving the characters an objective to aim for in the form of their miniature spacecraft in order to offer a sense of direction these opening hours might otherwise lack. On a surface level, there is nothing here that the player has likely not seen many time before as it leans into a lot of the standard story tropes of the Slice of Life genre, but it is in the finer detail where Himawari begins to expose its true nature. There is an unsettling air hanging over the entire of this section with character’s behaving very slightly off and key gaps beginning to form in the player’s understand of what is going on. If the player takes a step off the beaten path and into one of the bad ends then they are greeted by events which call into question the reliability of the protagonist and the intentions of those around him. These feelings build up over time while the game still maintains the bright and happy veneer which does a good job at keeping long term interest and unease. All this build up is paid off when the first part ends and the mask comes off as Himarwari reveals what kind of story it really wants to tell. Once the narrative shift occurs the game moves into being more direct with its themes and character arcs. Despite the dramatic change in setting there a sense of continuity maintained through the duality of earth and space as a core motif around which it can place its twists and turns. The new characters introduced do a good job of getting the player invested in them quickly so the plot does not have to slow down and returning ones are looked at from a new angle to make them stand out once again. The many twists and revelations come to define the feel of this half of the game with it often adopting the approach of putting major plot reveals in every other scene. As the truth nature of what was witnessed in the first part becomes clearer it retroactively adds layers to its story while keeping the focus firmly on what is happening in each new event. If a player remembers anything about Himarwari it will be these sections given the contrast it utilises to carve out its own identity. After these twists are finished the game returns to the original setting to wrap up the remaining plot threads and bring the other characters back into the narrative to provide closure. This return to the familiar works well as a means to bring the game down from its previous high into a more grounded sense of place so the themes and ideas can once again be examined from this angle in light of the new information the player has learned. At the end of this route there is a feeling of conclusion to all that has come before as the important characters reach a suitable resolution. Unfortunately the game does not end at this point, there is still one last route before the final credits roll. It focuses on a side character who up until this point has been mostly a plot device to motivate the primary antagonist. This does give them a chance to shine after being sidelined for so long and there is no doubt that an expansion to her role within the story was a much needed element. However, it is in its execution and placement within the overall structure of the game where it falls down and creates the feeling of the game not knowing when to stop. Part of this stems from the attempt this route makes to have the primary antagonist appear sympathetic which in theory sounds like a good idea, but in execution does not sit well with the rest of the game. The issue stems from the way the antagonist has been shown to be irredeemably horrible to characters the player has been made to care about and then game then turns around expecting the player to forgive them without them really doing anything to make amends for the harm they have caused. It also hurts the side character who is meant to be the focus of the route by cutting into their presence within the story and undermining their character arc. Overall the route is messy and leaves Himawari feeling inconsistent and unable to end its own story properly. A Field Of Sunflowers – Characters Nobody is what they first appear in Himawari as their scars run deep and twist them in ways which are not immediately obvious from the outside. It is this duality that provides much of the tension within the narrative as the player constantly finds themselves uncertain about what motivates the characters. Rather than framing this act of concealment as negative and deceitful, it is instead shown as a desperate act of someone afraid of the pain they might risk from opening themselves up to another. Each character plays this fear from a different angle with some putting on a confident and energetic front while others choose to be cold and abrasive, but all do so for similar and interconnected reasons. The exploration of how and why they became the way they are forms a lot of the appeal of Himawari as it gives a long term feeling of progression for the player to dig into and an easy means of tracking it. Through this concealment and revelation, the characters can reflect the change between the first and second section by performing the character equivalent to plot twists and keeping up with the increased narrative drama. The unique textured and sense of humanity this gives to the cast cannot be oversold and makes them memorable long after the game has concluded. On Earth And In The Stars – Visual, Audio and Technical The version of Himawari available in English is not the original release, but instead the remaster. This is reflected in the higher quality visual and audio design as well as some interesting technical features for player convenience. Visually there is a core moe art style with cute and round characters who fit right into the slice of life and light hearted opening section and act as a contrast to the darker elements displayed later on. It works as an upgraded version of the original game’s visual design by preserving the intent of its choices while giving it a much needed facelift to allow it to appeal to a wider audience. The soundtrack has received a similar injection of new life where the tracks have been provided with a wider range of sounds and an improved audio quality. This invokes the same feelings as the original but smooths off the rough edges to give the player an overall more engaging experience with the fewest barriers to their enjoyment as possible. In this vein the scene viewer Himawari has available offers access for the player to any of the content they have already seen without having to play through the entire game again. It is rare for a scene viewer to allow for the picking of any scene in the game and most just show a select few important ones, so the presence of such an expansive viewer here is notable and leads to a more pleasant repeated play experience. Conclusion More than most visual novels, Himawari relies on its plot twists and the overall structure of its narrative and characters to present its ideas and themes. It is a good thing then that all these elements are so strong. The plot starts out as a slow burn where tension is built up and it transitions into a plot twist driven drama before coming back down to earth for a grounded wrap up of loose threads. Backing this roller-coaster ride up is a cast of dynamic and deeply flawed people who hide behind masks out of fear of being hurt again which gives the narrative a unique texture. The game does have its weaknesses such as static feeling characters at the beginning and the story going on far beyond the point it should have reached its natural conclusion, but none of this is enough to overshadow the outstanding and human tale being told. Verdict – There are few titles which can match the perfect balance of personal and thematic storytelling of Himawari. Even if it does stubble in executing the pacing of some character development and dragging on beyond its narrative conclusion. Pros - + Early slow burn adds tension and makes you question the character’s motivations and reliability. + Once the twists start to kick in things are appropriately escalated and lean into the key dramatic moments. + Cast is an engaging mix of dynamic and fragile characters with each offering something unique, but they are also deeply connected to one another. + The visual, soundtrack and accessibility benefits of being a remaster improve appeal of the title to wider audience. Cons - - Story does not know when to stop and continues on beyond its natural conclusion. - Characters are relatively static early on which can make it difficult to invest in them to the degree the game wants.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Capturing The Action When visual novels wants to enhance the drama and impact of a particular narrative beat or intimate character moment they turn to Event CGs. These large and intricate graphics depict these key moments with a vivid detail which the character portraits are no capable of replicating. Each one has such a profound effect on the player due to the infrequency of their use. In the majority of games they only exist for important moments so the title does not to deviate from the expectations set throughout the rest of the play time. Alongside the detailed Event CGs sit those in the super deformed style and these are one of the most impactful tool for comedy or slice of life visual novels to sell their lighter tone. While many CGs are shown on screen in full and simply remain there for the entire time, some games utilise camera tricks such as zooming and panning to breathe an extra level of life into these images. How do all these different uses of Event CGs manifest in practice? Let’s snapshot a heroic pose and find out. Standard Use Cases For the vast majority of titles, Event CGs have one common form and this is as tools to emphasise key moments within the game. The way this is used varies from visual novel to visual novel, but broadly the graphic is simply presented to the player in full with some type of impactful screen transition. This way each CG is given an immediate presence and pushes the player towards experiencing the emotions intended by the developer. Enhancing the emotional impact is the way the CGs differentiate themselves from all other elements of visual presentation found in visual novels. They are single monolithic and direct images rather than the multiple moving parts, from portraits to particle effect, which compose the vast majority of the game’s content. Through this contrast a heightened sensitivity is given to the ideas and actions presented in the CG can be achieved as it becomes a memorable moment of a player’s experience of the title. It is also an extremely flexible framework where the developer can slot in whatever imagery they need to express a specific moment and ensure its importance and message is understood from the correct angle. A romance story can use them to block out every other thought and make the focus solely on the pair in love which titles like Giniro Haruka achieve through intimate kiss CGs capturing the height of their emotional ride. On the opposite end of the spectrum, in a horror visual novel CGs can provide a sense of the impending danger in every corner of the game’s world as Death Mark does with its carefully framed images of its monsters and the destruction they can cause. Almost every genre and title can benefit from the broad expressiveness offered through this standard use of Event CGs given its neutral and easily adaptable nature. The only exception would be games where the entire point is the deliberate lack of visual input, where instead they want the player’s imagination to do all the heavy lifting which is a valid approach when used in a coherent artistic fashion. Super Deformed CGs It is worth separating out and looking at the style of Event CGs featuring super deformed characters from the rest due to their overall different implementation. Super Deformed CGs are fundamentally tied to a specific style of comedy and a light hearted tone due to their exaggerated and cute leaning presentation. As such this heavily restricts the kind of visual novels which can utilise them and where it is appropriate to place them to not undermine the mood of a scene. Despite this seemingly limited usefulness, they are wide spread throughout the medium with many being found in titles which are otherwise entirely serious. The reason they are valued by so many games is the way they can quickly and easily establish a moment of downtime between the drama and action. Coupled with this ability to swap tone is the flexible appearance of these CGs. They can appear in the standard full screen view of other Event CGs, but they can also be presented in a small window overlaying the background and portraits already in the scene and not obscuring them to create a link between these elements. In this ability to shift to the needs of the developer can be seen the impact Super Deformed CGs have due to their flexibility originating from their exaggerated nature. This means they does not have to be the sole focus of attention and can instead be used to highlight a broader mood without needing to be on screen for long. The 9 -nine- series provides a good example of how this works in practice due to way it shifts smoothly from high octane action and drama into low stakes comedy and slice of life. Here the Super Deformed CGs act as a dividing line between the supernatural danger the characters face and the comfortable familiarity of their everyday lives. Each one is used to sell value of these small moments and frame them as something worth fighting to protect while contrasting against the monstrous actions of those who are attempting to disrupt them. They also work to stimulate player empathy through cute and humorous imagery which aims to make them smile in order to give them an emotional reason to cheer for the success of the characters. At the same time they do not contrast too much with the rest of the game’s narrative tones through sticking as close to the original art style as possible and making their appearance on screen brief so they can maintain their impact without undermining the real world nature of the setting. CGs As Dynamic Objects Adding motion to a scene can completely change the way it is perceived by its audience. As such it should come as no surprise that Event CGs benefit heavily from this technique due to their static nature. This movement comes from a variety of camera tricks such as zooming in on specific key areas of the image to match what is being described in the narrative or slow panning across a landscape to establish the location of the upcoming events. These offer a means through which an Event CG can be reused in multiple contexts with only a change in its framing and acts as a way for a game with limited resources to get the most out of every CG it produces. While they do provide a lot of flexibility in presentation, this dynamic movement is not suitable for every type of visual novel and favours a more action and drama orientated title rather than something aiming for a subdued slice of life tone. There is also the issue of how these camera tricks can easily be overused if the developer is not careful and they can actively harm the pacing where the player feels as if they are constantly waiting on overly flashy movements to finish rather than actually playing the game. Conclusion Nothing in the medium has quite the same impact and utility as Event CGs and as you would expect this means almost every title has at least one. In their most standard form they work to emphasise key moments in the story through the contrast they provide with the rest of the presentational tools available for the game. By adding dynamic elements, such as camera tricks, an Event CG can be provided a sense of motion and excitement its otherwise static nature would not normally allow. Super Deformed CGs offer a more flexible and lighter tone version of what a standard CG can do and can work wonders to create clean divides in mood without feeling out of place. If you are creating a visual novel you are likely already planning to include some Event CGs, but it is worth considering how you implement them as they can offer a lot more to your game if you are willing to put the effort into properly utilising them.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Pixel Hunting Creating a sense of immersion within a fictional world has always been one of the greatest strengths of visual novels so it is only natural they would end up paired with a style of gameplay about interacting with the details of that world in the form of Adventure Games. These are titles which involve clicking on elements of the environment in order to solve puzzles or meet certain objectives and they use this space to fill in the details of people’s lives to contrast with whatever threat hangs over them. As such Adventure Games can make use of the character centric nature of visual novels to help sell the connection between the characters and the world they inhabit. It can leverage this to create mysteries and puzzles which span both halves to improve their connection to each other. There is also an aspect of role-play found in this hybrid whereby the player gets to act out the actions of the protagonist and fully put themselves in the character’s position. Let’s repeatedly click on an object and find out exactly how such a harmonious merger of gameplay elements can work so well together. Environmental Interaction In its focus on the world around the player, Adventure Games present it as tactile place filled with the objects of function and mundanity that define our lives. The way every detail of these items is presented and their role in progression helps them take on an intimacy by being a physical window into this familiar yet alien place. This is in many ways a prefect partner for visual novels due to the way they concentrate on different aspects of intimacy so, while the Adventure Game half can handle the world, the visual novel half can deal with the characters. Through this combination a player can be brought into the experience and provided reasons to emotionally invest themselves in the outcome of the journey they are being guided down. They are shown a constant stream of empathetic ideas and people from each half of the game which offers a variety of perspectives on their lives so the player is on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens to them next. What prevents this barrage of elements from becoming emotionally draining is the constant forward momentum provided by new areas to explore and new drama to witness that keeps the player on a ride of fresh experiences so they invest just enough for the desired effect without wearing themselves out. The backbone of this harmony is the way a visual novel element can easily and quickly be overlaid on top of Adventure Game sections in order to smoothly link the narrative to the items being examined which reinforces the connection between the two. Last Window: The Secret of Cape Wast demonstrates how this harmony of intimacy can be used to sell a location as lived in with history etched into every wall. The entire game takes place in the titular Cape West, a set of apartments containing various tenants including our protagonist. As such the player will naturally become familiar with the spaces within the apartments and the game uses its Adventure Game half to have the player interact with everyday objects in order to solve puzzles. This draws parallels between the location and the player's own life making it easy to come to understand it as somewhere inhabited by grounded people. The visual novel half of Last Window furthers this link through humanising the people who live within the world built by the Adventure Game sections. Over the course of the investigation the player will interact with the residents and come to know this snapshot of their lives while also getting a sense of how they relate to the protagonist who many have as their neighbour. The closeness afforded by the way the visual novel sections frames the character interactions is immensely personal and supported this sense of Cape West as a living place where people the player knows spend their time. Narrative As Role-play Perhaps the most interesting interaction present in this type of hybrid is the way the narrative and the mechanics frame each other. Due to how Adventure Games promote extensive examination of the environment, it can create a sense of role-playing as the protagonist given that these interactions are often a direct reflection of the character's actions within the story. This is a favoured element of visual novel integration for mystery or detective titles where engaging with clues and crime scenes can be made a key part of both styles of play. Leaning into this role-play provides a cohesion to the experience such as with Danganronpa and its investigation sections. These aspects ask the player to engage with the Adventure Game mechanics through a narrative context which focuses their mind into the same space as the protagonist. The act of picking through the crime scene and interviewing suspects takes on a new emotional resonance and draws the player into the experience through blurring the line between the game and reality with role-play. Without the visual novels to give a personal connection to the events surrounding the mechanics, this role-play would be a cold affair where the player would not be invested in the stakes of investigation and instead merely see it as a simple puzzle to be solved. Puzzles On Two Levels Presenting the game on two levels offers an opportunity to engage the player’s mind from different angles and help maintain interest in the long term. To achieve this effect the two halves of the title lean into a puzzle style element to give the player something to chew on. The visual novel and Adventure Game aspects do this through the differing time-frames they operate under in order to direct the overall experience. Given the narrative centric nature of the visual novel, the puzzle tends to take the form of a greater structural reveal or long term mystery as with titles like YU-NO. Here the game presents a mystery and then feeds the player a steady stream of clues hidden within the story to help them construct theories on the truth. This means they are constantly reevaluating what they thought they knew so there is always excitement when a new fact is shown to them. YU-NO utilises this method by encouraging an exploration of its wide narrative structure, time travel ideas and the way each of the routes drops new hints as to what is going on overall and in previous and future routes. This lends it a feeling of interconnectedness which its Adventure Game elements can rely on to form the backbone of the long term engagement. The area a visual novel aspect can fall short is in the moment to moment sense of forward momentum and it is here the Adventure Game half can flex its muscles. If there is one thing that Adventure Games are good at it is offering lots of small victories as the player finds the right item or place to interact with in order to progress. This simple loop provides just enough motivation to continue to the next small dose of progression that it can work to keep people moving forward. Take the Somnium sections in AI: The Somnium Files, these are a constant parade of small rewards where even the wrong choice for an item or place still gives some amusement for the player such as in the form a joke. This helps alleviate the feeling of tension provided by the time limit and support the long term mysteries of the visual novel half of the game. Conclusion In many ways the Adventure Game and the visual novel come from the same end of the video game spectrum with a focus on a similar mechanical tone through differing angles. They have complimentary elements of intimacy which they hold as important to their presentation, environmental and characters, which work well together to sell a sense of place and this world as something close to the player’s own experiences. Puzzles also play a large role in keeping people invested with the two halves offering complimentary short and long term mysteries and engagement to keep a sense of forward mementum. Alongside all these elements there is a strong undertone of role-play in the way the player can act out the actions of the characters both through actions as well as the narrative which surrounds them. Adventure Games are worth considering if you are making a visual novel, or vice versa, due to this exceptional compatibility and the potential it holds for interesting and moving titles to be made.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre - Sci-fi, Mystery, Thriller Play Time - 18 hours Developer - Spike Chunsoft Steam VNDB Split In Half Where do you go with a story after all the lose ends of the original have been tied up in a nice neat knot? This is the dilemma which nirvanA Initiative faced and the solution it chose was to split its play time between two new protagonists. Indeed the idea of division permeates every element of its structure and narrative from the way the murderer splits their victims in half to the way the new characters come in pairs. There is a well thought out consistency to the presentation of the game’s themes and ideas allowing for the creation of a compelling mystery where everything appears to have significance. However, this transition has not been without issue as the older cast members inevitably get under explored and there are some questionable plot twists which seem to exist for the sake of having them. Is nirvanA Initiative able to balance these weaknesses or does it forever live in the shadow of the original title? Let’s dive into the subconscious and find out. A Tale of Two Detectives – Narrative and Themes Choosing to have two protagonists opens up a variety of opportunities for interesting narrative presentation and differing angles on the same information which nirvanA Initiative takes full advantage of during its play time. On the one hand you have Ryuki and on the other Mizuki, each one offering their own thoughts on the mystery while showing the consequences of past actions and foreshadowing future revelations. Binding them together is the Half Body serial killings where only one half of the victims body is found at a time posed in a twisted fashion. The shear oddity of these murders instantly captures the player’s attention and maintains the uncertainty right until the big reveal. Focusing on dual perspectives helps this along through adding an additional layer to the reliability of the information the player is being given as Ryuki spirals wildly down a deteriorating mental path and Mizuki is having to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of his failure. As the game progresses it is careful to give out just enough breadcrumbs for theories about the truth to be formed and yet it never truly shows its hand until the moment the curtain is pulled back. It is the same delicate dance of anticipation which defined the original title and is alive and well here in its new form which will delight returning fans while existing in a new context so as to not alienate any new players. Character drama has a far more important role in nirvanA Initiative than it did in the original game. Both titles are character centric, but, where the original used them as a means to supplement and enrich the narrative, nirvanA Initiative relies of them to maintain the player’s interest over the length of the story. Part of this difference is due to the majority of the victims of the murderer being people who are framed in a negative light or have appeared suspicious and so there is little reason for their deaths to hold any interest outside of the mysterious circumstances of their demise. As such the emotional tension has to be generated from other sources or else the player will rapidly become detached from the events in front of them. The method nirvanA Initiative chooses to combat this shortcoming is a strong through current of character drama. Each one generally involves a pair of characters who somehow relate to the protagonists and the game follows them as they wrestle with their emotions under the strain of the murders going on them around them. Their arcs all deal with the theme of the characters being half of a whole and it is only through overcoming their doubt and fear to be honest with each other that they can be happy. In doing so they lean into the idea of division the game pushes and it puts them on the opposite end of the spectrum to the murderer with their obsession with pulling people apart. A player’s overall enjoyment of nirvanA Initiative will rely heavily on how much they find these dramas interesting as a fairly large amount of time is spent focusing on them. It has been a while since there has been a game with a plot twist which are so elaborate and yet completely meaningless as this one. The twist is so complex that the title feels the need to break the fourth wall and sit the player down to explain it to them in detail through a sequence where all sense of immersion is broken. There was clearly some fear on the part of the developers that the player would not be able to properly understand the twist if it told to them in universe so they took them aside to talk them through it. As a result the revelation feels irrelevant to the plot itself and the characters who are living it since it only really matters on the player’s end and the characters are the same both before and after its reveal with no meaningful change resulting from it. In general it is just an odd choice as once the story resumes it is fairly easy to forget about what is meant to be a major element of the narrative given nobody talks about it and the game immediately moves on to its action packed climax without so much as a backwards glance. Maybe the developers felt the need to include a big twist because the original title had one and they wanted to recapture the magic of those big moments, but lacked the proper space within the story to so. This does mean that it is relatively inoffensive and is not likely to effect the player’s overall enjoyment of nirvanA Initiative since it is such a once and done affair. However, for those invested in the build up to this reveal it might be a betrayal they cannot tolerate. Divided Personalities – Characters To further the idea of two halves which nirvanA Initiative pushes as its central motif, the new characters all come in pairs. Kizuna and Lien, for example, are joined by a common uncertainty about the future and a concern that they will never be more than they currently are which they can only overcome through their combined strength. This quality is a trend among all the new cast members and the changes they undergo between the perspectives of the two protagonists reinforces both their connection to each other as well as the gap between their hearts. Many of the routes focus in on one of the pairs in order to dive into their relationship while giving the player a sense of who they are at their core. These are careful to place the cast into situations specifically tailored around their weaknesses in order to ensure they have the chance to express what defines them in a sympathetic manner. Despite this intimacy the developers still manage to maintains the possibility that any of them could be the murderer in order to keep tension high in the player’s mind as they are torn between the humanity they have witnessed and the suspicion in their mind. It is through playing this line that nirvanA Initiative crafts such a memorable new cast to fuel the mysteries around them. When it comes to the returning characters there is a much wider divide in terms of quality. The majority of them are static for the duration of the story since their arcs have already reached their conclusion and as a result they feel shallow when standing next to the new cast. In order to avoid drawing too much attention to this fact, the game makes sure to never focus on them for too long and ensures the player is never given an opportunity to compare them side by side. They exist as a nod to the events of the original that can satisfy old fans while not causing new players to be confused by their sudden appearance. Only two exceptions exist to this level of quality and they are Mizuki and Date. Mizuki has been promoted from secondary character to protagonist and as such gets the improved characterisation and development expected from that role and it enhances an already strong personality with the depth needed for it to easy to place oneself in her shoes. It is clear a lot of thought went into how a more adult version of the Mizuki from the original game would behave and the result is a believable and human character who can pull at the heart strings. On the other hand, Date is a manifestation of everything wrong with the original’s sense of humour. As part of his personality he has always been him being somewhat of a pervert which is where a lot of the original game’s jokes came from, but it was always kept in check by the serious nature of the murders he was involved in as well as the character arc he went through. In nirvanA Initiative all of that nuance is gone and what remains is a series of gags about how much of pervert he is and this quickly becomes irritating and repetitive. He is a shadow of the person he was at the end of the original and it feels as if the nirvanA Initiative wastes his old characterisation just for a cheap laugh. In Dreams And Reality – Visuals, Audio and Technical From an audio and visual standpoint there is a continuity with the original game’s near future sci-fi aesthetic and tone. Many of the areas found in game are reused with just enough new ones to give nirvanA Initiative its own identity, but integrated cleanly so as to appears as if they were always a part of that universe. The music is a similar story as it has a new soundtrack which mixes parts of the original’s sound with the tang of fresh material to balance out the flavour and remind people that this is its own title. As a sequel it only has a little room to manoeuvre in terms of what unique aspects it can bring to the table. It still manages to make these elements stand out through leaning into a glitched universe style to contrast with the otherwise clean and familiar spaces which make up the world. There is the obvious manifestation of this as a part of the Somnium sections where these errors reveal more about the people involved, but it is also taken further with it leaking out into the real world and creating a visual sense of uncertainty designed to unsettle the player. Combined these elements ensure there is no mistaking nirvanA Initiative for the original game while allowing it to utilise what made the original tick in a new and exciting way. Conclusion As a sequel to a complete experience, nirvanA Initiative does its best to live up to that legacy while carving out its own identity even if you can feel it struggling at times. The use of dual protagonist allows for the game to offer vastly difference angles on the murders while casting doubts on the reliability of each of their testimony. Couple this change with the increased focus on the new cast and their pairings and the result is a very character centric narrative where everything takes on a personal quality. There have also been some important additions to the gameplay and aesthetics side with a leaning into a glitchy presentation and crime scene investigation sections which help give the game its own style. It is a shame how much it is undermined by the main twists of the story being so irrelevant to the narrative and instead existing only on for the player rather than for the characters in the world. Even with this issue there is more than enough to enjoy about nirvanA Initiative to make it an easy title to recommend to fans of the genre. Verdict – nirvanA Initiative is a riveting murder mystery which keeps you guessing from beginning to end while it hooks you with its fun cast. It is brought down only by its reveals being weak and some odd character choices. Pros - + A compelling mystery split across two vastly different perspectives. + Focusing on character drama gives the narrative a personal feel and resonates with the player’s own experiences. + The pairing of new characters reflects the central themes and ensures strong character dynamics. + Maintains the high quality visuals and sound design of the original while adding its own glitched aesthetics. + Crime scene investigations sections add some much needed variety. Cons - - The big plot twists are ultimately meaningless as they lean so hard into the meta level they become irrelevant to the story itself. - Older characters are a mixed bag with some getting the space to shine while others are left showcasing their worst traits.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Recording Your Progress Almost every game has some form of system by which the player can save their progress since a developer cannot expect them to complete the title in one sitting. How this manifests varies wildly from the freedom to save as many times as the player wants to a single save slot only available at designated intervals to an autosave system out of the player’s hands. Yet people do not often consider how this pervasive element of game design shapes the titles it is a part of and visual novels are particularly influenced by this factor due to their longer length and choice based nature. The structure of the visual novel has to be considered when choosing a type of Save System as the aim here is to prevent the frustration of having the replay content while still shaping how people engage with the game. It is this tension which makes the Save System such an important element to consider within the overall theming and presentation of a visual novel. Let’s save our progress and examine the ways Save Systems change the foundations of a game. Freely Save By far the most common type of Save System chosen for visual novels is the save anywhere and at anytime style with no restrictions. The reason for its popularity stems from the convenience it offers the player as it lets them dictate their own play experience around the time they have available. Player control is at the core of this type of system and this philosophy is generally extended to the rest of the game through a variety of choices for the player to explore. Due to the prevalence in the medium this Save System has become what player’s expect from visual novels and the majority of them adhere to this preconception since it has a high degree of utility for them. As a genre slice of life and romance visual novels are the prime example of this trend, such as title like Aokana or Riddle Joker. This is due to their flexible structure stemming from the way each route acts in a self-contained fashion and few of them use negative outcomes to their choices, which means they do not care if what order the player engages with their content. Autosave Only On the opposite end of the spectrum there are visual novels which forgo any form of manual Save System and instead take this function out of the player’s hands entirely through autosaves. This is where the game will save of its own accord at intervals set by the developer and the player is forced to wait for them if they want to preserve their progress. From this system a power dynamic favouring the developer’s intended pacing and interaction appears in which the player is funnelled into specific lengths of play section. A risk exists in this approach that the player might lose interest in the title or become frustrated by this restrictive autosaving due to them feeling as if their limited time is not being respected. The result of this need to balance the desires of the two side has led to this style of Save System being limited to games which are either forced into it by technical limitations or those possessing a segmented structure where saves are frequent. As evident from these two extremes, autosaves are not popular in visual novels as player agency holds a great importance in the mind of developers. However, when they do appear they allow for some no standard narrative structures and mechanical elements not normal found in the medium. On the one hand take ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos, a VR visual novel, where the nature of its chosen platform demands the inclusion of an autosave system. Navigating menus in VR is awkward at the best of times and so asking the player to constantly be moving in and out of them to save their game would not be conducive to a pleasant experience. As such the autosave ensures the player's focus can be on immersing themselves in the events in front of them, which is VR’s greatest strength, rather than constantly reminding them that they are standing in the middle of their living room with a pair of TV’s strapped to their face. On the opposite end we find games like 428: Shibuya Scramble, where the title is constructed on lots of distinct smaller sections for easy and frequent autosaving points. These saves are often enough for the player to be able to have their desired length of play section without the developer losing control of the game’s pacing since it is determined through the length and content of each section. It also helps that the game leans into this modular nature in its structure with it expecting the player to jump around between scenes and perspectives and this makes the autosaving feel natural due to the convenience it offers by allowing for this distinctive method of traversing the narrative. Single Save Slot In between the extremes of the free save and the autosave sit Save Systems where the player is provided with only one slot to save in and must choose to override the previous save in order to preserve their progress. Presenting the player with saves as limited resources where they have to trade one for another creates a scarcity dynamic which encourages saves to be seen a valuable. This creates some interesting behaviours during play with some players saving at every opportunity presented to them while others may choose to see how far they can get without saving as a sort of challenge. It is difficult for a developer to control what kind of reaction they get out of a player since there is still an important element of control in the player’s hands. As such this style of Save System is not common in modern visual novels for exactly this reason and is instead a historical relic present in older titles due to hardware storage limitations. Take visual novels on the DS as an example, the majority of these employ a single save slot system since the DS cartridges had extremely limited space available on them. We can see this in the DS era Ace Attorney games where the structure of the title gives specific narrative pauses for the saves to occur in and also they have a linear progression so the player does not feel as if they might need an old save to redo a choice. The remasters add a standard multi Save System, but it feels odd when put alongside the game’s structure as it is clear that this a later addition due to how unnecessary it feels to use more than one save slot. Linearity and designated save intervals were common features among DS visual novels and resulted in them having a somewhat similar overall feel to them. Conclusion Saving progress is a key system for both players and developers and this is especially true for visual novels due to how influenced they are by even the smallest change in their structure. The most common type of Save System employed in visual novels is in the save anywhere kind due to the convenience it offers the player, but at the same time is can make controlling the pacing and overall experience difficult. An autosave system on the other hand gives the developer the ability to precisely dictate how the visual novel should be played at the cost of potentially alienating players who only have limited time. Between them sits the single save slot system which gives saves a feeling of scarcity and encourages the player to consider the importance of when to save. Each type offers something different for a visual novel developer and they are worth considering as you design your own titles.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Until There Is Nothing Left As a species we have a strange obsession with the inevitable demise of everything we have built in the face of sudden and uncontrollable disasters. There is a kind of catharsis at seeing this scenario play out in a fictional setting and witnessing how the characters attempt to adapt to the end of the world as they know it. This genre of Apocalypse stories covers everything from the collapse itself to the survival immediately afterwards to the world rebuilt from the ashes. Many visual novels like to take this genre as a kind of background element to a greater narrative while others make it the primary focus, but both sides still share the ruin which echoes through every aspect of the game from visuals to character motivations. It is easier for this medium to lean into the personal tales of the end times than many more mechanically complex games due to its much more grounded and direct presentation of characters which interacts in various ways with these tales of demise. Let’s watch the world burn and find out exactly how visual novels play with this genre. At The Heart Of The Maelstrom From the angle of dramatic tension, there are few settings more potent than having the end of the world. Nothing is quite able to get the pulse pounding like watching the things we hold affection for be torn apart by the uncaring march of an unstoppable force. It is the immediacy of the conflict that visual novels can take advantage of in order create an action or thriller narrative. They present the apocalypse as a personal story of people swept along as they try to deal with the calamity any way they can. Often this involves a large amount of interpersonal conflict or disputes between groups who cannot see eye to eye even as everything around them burns. Taking an angle like this is necessary in an apocalypse story as the actual disaster itself is normally inhuman in nature and so does not make for an interesting focus for a long form game. Visual novels lean heavily into this through the importance they place of the protagonist’s reaction to the events and people they interact with during this decline and in doing so they can easily keep things in on a personal level the player can understand. It also gives them room to comment on the themes and ideas tied up in the nature of their apocalypse, such as an environmental disaster, through what the characters witness from their small slice of this much larger event. Perhaps the most iconic visual novel featuring an ongoing apocalypse is Muv-Luv Alternative and its Beta invasion pushing humanity to the edge. Here the Beta are a constant threat and yet they only act as a motivator rather than the central focus due to their monstrous nature making them incompatible with any form of narrative complexity. This mantle is taken up by the political and personal conflicts with the alternative universe versions of characters the protagonist knows. Each one has their own agendas and even in the face of their demise they cannot let go of their desire and differences. This reveals them to the player at their purest, where the end of the world causes them to drop the masks they wear and be true to themselves regardless of the consequences for everyone else. Alternative pushes this as the main angle for its drama and uses it to put pressure on the protagonist and have something for them to overcome on the moment to moment level since the Beta exist beyond the scope of what one individual can hope to challenge. This way the inevitable threat of the Beta can hang over the events of the game and provide a tension as they creep ever closer to overwhelming humanity while still having a human focus. After The End Another common kind of apocalypse story is one set in the immediate aftermath of the destruction and follows those people who remain. For visual novels there is a common trend to instil a sense of quiet and a calm after the storm in which the characters pick through the remnants of their old lives, literally or metaphorically, and try to find some kind of meaning from the chaos. Leaning into this angle is how they manage to make this style of narrative distinct from those similar to it since the emphasis becomes a dual one of personal struggle and a greater sense of the world around them. Now that there are so few human spaces left it adds an extra layer of importance to those which remain or those created by the characters afterwards and these places often represent the trauma of the disaster and the longing for those past days which echoes through the people. This makes for an engaging feedback loop where in order to move on from their pain and accept what happened they must reshape the spaces around them or abandon those that symbolise their past. From a visual angle this allows for the game to play with dramatic shifts in colour and tone for those places alongside scenes of exodus framed with the importance they embody for the characters. In Tokyo Babel the remnants of humanity from various different universes, demon and angles have all lost their homes and gather together in the last place left to them where they reside in a school as if attempting to recapture the spirit of what they have lost. While they do not use the buildings for its intended purpose, there is an underlying sense of trying to relive a lost youth be that either one stolen from them by this apocalypse or the memories of one which provide a comfortable space to retreat into. It is telling then that the characters must leave behind the school in order to reach for the promise of a new future. They shed the place symbolising their past as well as the place of temporary calm to find the will to overcome their collective trauma and move beyond the event which has upended their lives. While the seemly safe and warm locations and memories of the world now gone might seem enticing, it is ultimately clinging onto a phantom which no longer holds value and the people within it slowly decay in their pain rather than trying to build something of their own. Into Tomorrow The final type of apocalypse setting is that of the world rebuilt after the event and yet still fundamentally shaped by it. While on the surface the people of this new age might seem to have returned to a state of normality, there is still an undercurrent of instability present as the scars of disaster live just out of sight and threaten to return if given the chance. Such worlds often remain mostly uninhabitable with humanity living in limited, but prosperous safe zone they have constructed and this makes their existence a tenuous one surrounded by danger. In the context of visual novels these elements manifests as an underlying tension where the player and characters are both made intensely aware of how much of balancing act the current peace is to maintain. As such when this existence is threatened there is an immediate sense of danger provided to the situation to help fuel exciting plot twists as the context of what is at stake has been established. There are less humans in these settings adding weight to every life lost as a serious blow to humanity and this allows for a more personal narrative since the cast hold a greater significance to each other’s survival than in a modern day setting. Conclusion Nothing else carries the same power over the human imagination quite like an apocalypse and visual novels love taking advantage of this trait to push their stories in interesting directions. By placing the player in the heart of an ongoing world ending situation they can lean into the protagonist’s reaction to events and push characters to extremes in order to reveal their true colours. In a world rebuilt after the apocalypse, visual novels present the scars of the calamity and juxtapose this new world’s brilliance against its precarious existence to create an underlying tension. Those using the immediate aftermath tend to present the calm after the storm and a clinging onto the past of places now in ruin while showing how the characters need to move on to truly rebuild. Leveraging such an emotionally resonant genre can offer a developer a variety of different tones and themes even within a similar design space and this is something worth keeping in mind as you create your own titles.

I feel the need to clarify my statments about the rpg system since this comment has made me realise I came across far harsher on it than I intended. The rpg systems of Death End Request 2 have a fundimentally soild design and there is a reason Compile Heart has stuck with it for so long. It is a smooth experience to play and demands a resonable amount from the player without overstepping its bounds (with the exception of the final boss difficulty spike). On its own this is a jrpg system the developer's target audience are likely going to appreciate and enjoy. My issues with its stem from its odd relationship with the series gimmick and the way the recycled systems do not fit their new shell. Firstly, the gimmick, this being the bouncing around of enemies by the player, is not really used in any way beyond what is initially introduced. You will never have to use the gimmick to achieve anything, it just exists and happens by accident during the battle. It is so oddly unimportant that it is strange it is still here in the second game despite neither of the Death End Request titles really seeming to know what to do with it. Then later in the game as heavier enemies get introduced you can easily forget the gimmick exists at all since the enemies will barely move when hit which is doubly true for bosses. Overall, it feels like a system the developers thought was cool, which it is, but could not decide what to do with it after adding it to the game. Then we have the matter of if the systems fit within the game. In the original Death End Request the combat all took place in the game world so having rpg systems made sense within its narrative and tone. However, the second title no longer has this link between setting and systems and so the question must be asked, is this combat suitable for what is at its core a horror game? There is a certain tonal clash between the humour of knocking your enemies around like bowling pins and the horrific deaths going on next door to it. Am I meant to feel fear in the face of the dangers or feel power as I smash through swarms of enemies? Perhaps I am being too harsh on Death End Request 2 given I do not know what an rpg system which blends well with horror would look like, but the general point still stands. I hope that this slight extension of my thoughts of rpg systems helps future readers understand the thoughts expressed in my review.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Making Yourself Desirable Many outside the visual novel space often make the mistake of referring to romance visual novels as Dating Sims and at a glance it is easy to see why given their shared focus on pursuing a chosen heroine or hero. The two types of game have had a long and connected history with Dating Sims utilising visual novel elements to sell their story sections and building up a sense of who the player is romancing. This leads to some interesting interactions between the two aspects as the emotive narrative is placed next to the cold stat checking without either coming across as out of place. Both sides carry themselves with an understanding of how they fit together to form the final product where the pursuit of love is quantified but never detached for the character’s humanity. Let’s plan out our day and discover what this hybrid brings to the table. Common Pursuit of Romance Presenting a believable build up of love between two people is always a challenging prospect and this is even more prominent under the restrictions of Dating Sims. The event centric structure found in them could lead to the execution of the romance feeling bitty and uneven if the pacing is not controlled with a proper escalation in their frequency near the climax. Using visual novel elements for these events helps alleviate these problems by promoting a focus on the scene in front of the player with a personal perspective on the intimate moments of this blossoming love. These scenes also tend to increase in length over the course of the game to simulate the growing time the pair are spending together and this allows for a showcasing of their compatibility from both a mechanical and a narrative level. From moment to moment, there is an effort made to shape a unity between the player and player character via an aligning of the protagonist’s emotions with the intent of player in order to close the perceived gap between the two. Together the two styles of gameplay form a concise reward loop for the player that provides them with the advertised love story without negatively impacting the stat management side which Dating Sims are well known for. Quantifying Love Numbers define how a Dating Sims interacts with its themes of love and relationships. They are by nature an attempt to systemise the process of dating and romance which presents a unique blend of opportunities and consequences due to subjects being highly emotional rather than detached like many other sim type games. It is difficult to feel the love between two characters when you are doing the equivalent of your dating tax returns. As alluded to in the previous section, the addition of visual novel elements helps to return a human touch to the game’s tone and progression. These events are not as entirely detached from the number based nature of the Dating Sim as they might at first appear. Take Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side as an example, here the building up of stats by the player is often acknowledged through making the unlocked event be somehow related to stat milestones, a related location or through characters talking about the changes in the protagonist. While each one does not amount to much more than a simple nod on their own, in their totality they form a feedback loop that communicates to the player how the stats they have been working on have a meaningful impact on the shape of the narrative. This acts as a powerful motivator to continue to push towards the requirements for future content as they know it holds some meaning within the context of the protagonist’s personal story. On the flip side it provides a connection to the player character through the process of self improvement they undergo with your management. It can also feel like you are shaping the protagonist to match the preferences of the heroines and through this demonstrate a commitment to them. This link with the player character is further reinforced in the visual novel sections such as in Love Plus where they utilise the unbroken protagonist perspective to sell the idea that the heroines are talking to the player and lower the barrier between the game and reality. Achieving this requires the abandoning of more intricate narrative trappings like complex introspection or scene descriptions and instead adopting a streamlined approach, much like the Dating Sim itself. This is done in order to remove as many distinguishing features as possible and give the player a large space to insert themselves into and by extension bond with their chosen heroine. A romantic fantasy such as this is at the core of the Dating Sim’s appeal and other forms of event presentation would lack the needed intimacy for the desired results. Stat Checks and Deadline Love is not all fun and games when it comes to romance in Dating Sims as the player will have to pass certain stat tests and milestones to process or risk losing their chance to impress their chosen heroine. This is how much of the difficulty is implemented in order to provide a pressure to the time management element of these games while still focusing on their stat based nature. In doing so weight is added to the narrative events by presenting the possibility of failure and allowing it to hang over the otherwise bright and upbeat atmosphere. Rather than undermining the visual novel sections it instead helps support the sense that this romance is genuine through the hardship and risk that exists on the path to its ending. This form of mechanical dramatic tension is key for the pacing of Dating Sims and how it escalates alongside the growing demands for higher stats. Sunrider Academy provides a good example of this practice through its mixing of club and stats management. Here the player is assaulted on two fronts for stat checks with the clubs demanding ever growing members while the personal stats demand upkeeping in order to pass the various tests the game throws at you and this is all before considering the pursuit of a heroine. This creates a sense of frantic progress which peaks around each deadline and sells the intimate moments with the heroines in the visual novel sections as a breathing room valued by both the player and the protagonist. Through this lens the relationship between the pair is contextualised as an important but fragile thing in the face of the chaos around them and invests the player in ensuring it blooms into something more concrete. Conclusion Given the close relationship between visual novels and Dating Sims it is no surprise that the two have developed many interesting interactions to complement each other. Their common focus on romance allows the event centric nature of the Dating Sim to avoid feeling narratively disconnected by constantly presenting a consistent core tone which meets the player’s expectations. Deadlines and stat checks offer tension and a fail state in order to give a sense of consequence that is reflected in both halves of the game and helps invest the player in the value of the relationship when it is threatened. The quantifying of the romance inherent in Dating Sims is played by the visual novel sections as a manifestation of the player’s achievements so a connection can be formed between player and player character. As natural bed fellows there is much for an aspiring Dating Sim developer to gain through integrating visual novel elements into their game and maybe you too can achieve the heights of the titles showcased here.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – JRPG, Horror, Mystery Play Time – 16 hours Developer – Compile Heart/Idea Factory Steam VNDB Hack The World There are two ways to make a squeal, either you stick close to what was established in the first game and provide more of the same or you take the basic ideas of that original title and reinvent them in a new form. Death End Request 2 takes the latter path by shifting the series from being about people trapped in a video game into a tale small town horror with a vastly smaller scale of narrative. The core tension and RPG integration remains as the solid foundation around which its new vision can develop. Not everything it inherits is for the best with issues about the use of the titular Death Ends being ineffective and the combat system long having reached its limit, all of which the game makes no real effort to solve. Does this reinvention breathe new life into the series or does it undermine what made the first game good? Let’s get trapped in the countryside and find out. Digital Horror – Narrative and Themes In choosing to embrace small town horror as a core part of its tone and content, Death End Request 2 invokes the genre tropes associated with it. The game does not simply play them straight instead choosing to lean into them from interesting angles or using them in unexpected ways all in service of creating tension. Take the almost cult like religion which dominates the town, its followers range from normal believers to insane fanatics, but it is often unclear who falls into which camp or what involvement they actually have with the mysterious monster appearing at night. On one level the player is expecting the religion to be the source of what is going on so will be jumping any time something related to it appears on screen. Meanwhile the seemly innocent believers muddy this gut reaction lending a sense of paranoia as the game places enough doubt for questions to form about if they are genuinely uninvolved or so far gone that they cannot see how wrong their actions have become. In a small town everyone knows each other and the player is rapidly introduced to the majority of the important cast and thus unknowingly to all the enemies and allies they will be interacting with over the course of the story. Due to their close proximity the characters’ lives and emotions, these people become well known to the player and come across as reasonable people with their own issues and dreams. As such when the curtain is pulled back and their true nature is revealed it furthers the established feeling of paranoia as the characters whom the player thought they knew turned out be hiding their true face which causes the player to reevaluate the rest of the cast. Gone is the stark divide between the visual novel and RPG halves present in the first game and in its place is an emphasis on the personal nature of the game’s mysteries. The cast members remain constant through both sections as does the location they take place in which lends a sense of continuity between the two sections and avoids the disjoined feelings prevalent in the original title. When night falls the familiar scenery of the town is warped and twisted into monstrous forms and seemly safe spaces take on a sinister shape and it adds to the already unsettling setting established in the daytime. As the night is the RPG half of the game it is home to the monsters which form the backbone of the supernatural mystery elements surrounding the town. Events that occur within the night effect the town as a whole even during the day creating a sense of interconnectivity from these consequences. Having the main cast remain the same between the two halves allows all of the threats faced on both sides to take on a personal angle as they are pulled backwards and forwards by the challenges each presents. Without the grand conspiracies of the first game, this intimacy is necessary to maintain the player’s interest and leads to a highly character centric narrative where placing them in danger contributes a lot to plot progress and a slow escalation of stakes. As a series Death End Request has always had a problem with how it handles its signature feature, the Death Ends, and this continues in the second title. The game seems actively ashamed of them and fearful that a player might accidentality stumble into one so it signposts them aggressively. Manifestations of this can be seen in how the choices have a very clear bad option leading to the Death End or have the characters more or less spell out which option is the correct one to progress the story. This removes any impact the surprise of choosing one by accident might have had since the game removes any element of uncertainty and by extension any threat. Death Ends themselves lack any interesting content to justify going out of your way to experience them. The majority are simple violent deaths for the characters with no substance to them and there is only so many times you can see people die horribly before it becomes familiar and boring. A good bad ending reveals a small hint about the plot or some interesting character morsel for the player to chew on and keep them coming back for more. There is no such draw to most Death Ends and so they ring hollow as a narrative device. New Found Family – Characters A tight focus defines the core cast with it only consisting of three characters whom the game follows consistently throughout its entire duration and it rarely leaves their perspective. Couple this with each one of the trio having distinctive personalities which compliment and contrast with each other and what forms is an entertaining group dynamic. Due to this small main cast each of them get a sizeable amount of screen time in order to humanise them and in doing so provides room for them to bounce off the other characters to reveal more about themselves. Take the protagonist Touyama Mai, she suffers from trauma and self loathing from having murdered her abusive father, but rarely does she openly and directly express this and instead it is communicated through her social awkwardness, frank answers to people’s questions and her general rejection of those who treat her kindly. Yet there is a kind side to her that she cannot suppress especially when it comes to children and these two halves balance themselves out in a subtle manner resulting in a well rounded character. The rest of the cast are similarly layered and react to the ongoing horrors around them in an organic way which helps the player form a bond with them as they share a similar emotional state and knowledge. Everything about them is a carefully harmonious mixture of contrasting pieces that works to keep the characters feeling fresh. Corrupted Normality – Visual, Audio and Technical The visual and audio style of Death End Request 2 inherits much of the glitchy and data corruption styling of the original title, but here they are recontextualised as a perversion of the real world rather than of a game. As such it has toned down the more fantasy themed elements from that first game in order to keep the parts of the town the cast visit at night still looking recognisably like their day time equivalents. It plays off this combination of two familiar and yet vastly different aspects to create a sense of unease since these mundane places are similar to those the player likely sees every day and yet they all wrong. During the day time sections when only the normal town is shown it adopts a brighter visual and audio style to show the warmth of the orphanage and the girls which the cast interacts with. However, even this takes on a darker undertone as the truth behind the town is revealed without the need for any dramatic changes and this compliments the subtle build up the game is based around. The resulting mixture lead to a feeling of texture to the world beyond the direct narrative being presented to the player and it works on them in a subconscious level to push them into experiencing the desired emotions. Compile Heart has a RPG combat system that they have been using since Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 and the Death End Request series uses a variant of it focusing around knocking enemies into one another. While it is never not satisfying to hit enemies around liking bowling pins, it was always a limited gimmick pasted over an ageing battle system which has long ago reached its limit. The symptoms of this stagnation are clear from its lack of meaningful mechanical escalation to enemies who do not encourage the player to engage with the unique selling point of the gameplay. Alongside this is the recurring problem in Compile Heart’s games in their inability to balance difficulty properly. At about the half way mark there is a dramatic escalation in the health pools of enemies with little to no other changes resulting in the fights taking longer to complete without actually becoming more challenging. This makes the latter sections of the game feel like a slog to complete which really hurts the player’s ability to enjoy the other elements of the game. To top it all off the final boss is such a massive jump in difficulty due to its insanely damaging attacks compared to anything else beforehand and it would perfectly reasonable for the player to rage quit in response. Conclusion Death End Request 2 is a game defined by when it inherited from its predecessor and by how it shapes this into something uniquely its own. It takes the glitch and data corruption visual, audio and narrative elements and reshapes them into the context of a small town horror story in order to provide an unsettling atmosphere. The more personal focus and smaller cast also contribute to the claustrophobic and paranoid atmosphere where the player becomes intimately familiar with both the main cast and also the people who will reveal themselves to antagonists. Not everything it inherits is of such a high quality, it continues the first game’s inability to properly utilise the titular Death Ends and old cast members feel out of place in this new tone and setting. On top of this the RPG systems have long ago reached their limits and can bore or infuriate the player over the course of the game. However, none of these issues are enough to undermine what is one of the strongest examples of RPG horror. Verdict – A sequel which is not afraid to take the series in a new small town horror direction and create something distinct to great effect. It is only held back by being shackled to an ageing RPG system. Pros - + Excellent utilising of the small town horror genre to create a tense and compelling experience. + The smaller focus and scale contribute to make the game feel intimate while promoting paranoia in the player’s mind. + A small main cast allows each of the characters to be properly fleshed out and given the subtly and humanity they need to make them likeable and interesting to watch. + Glitches and data corruption pervert the mundane world of the town creating a distinctive and unsettling visual and auditory identity. Cons - - Death Ends continue to be poorly utilised, overly signposted and uninteresting to engage with. - The returning cast members feel out of place in the new setting and tone while not receiving any development of their own. - Compile Heart’s ageing RPG combat system is unable to produce interesting encounters consistently over the course of the game and is balanced poorly.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Pressing Fast Forward A simple feature like a Skip Button might seem too minor to be worth covering in any detail, after all most visual novels have one so they must be a normal part of them, right? It is only when it is taken away that its impact, both on how the player interacts with the game and their perception of it, becomes clear. Presenting the option to skip content is always a double edged sword for a game as it offers player convenience at the risk of them skipping over something important to the narrative and in a game so focused around story this can be a major issue. Then there are the different types of skip functions from the standard skipping text to skipping between scenes to skipping to the next choice. A common bed fellow to the Skip Button is the auto play setting where the player can let the visual novel progress at a pace set by the player without their input which presents some odd design considerations. Let's speed through the game and discover how skipping influences visual novels. The Standard Skip Of all the types of skip functions found in visual novels, the skip read text and the skip unread text are the most common and shape how the overall experience is perceived. Skipping text the player has already seen is the easier of the two to understand the impact of on the game. It is a simple quality of life feature to enable a smoother transition from one route to another without boring the player with repeated content. With this their interest can be maintained while allowing for an unimpeded exploration of the choices and endings on offer. This reduced barrier does have a slight drawback in that it brings the player onto a system level engagement with the game rather than an emotional and personal one making it damaging to the impact of key moments which the player is suddenly thrust into after some detached skipping. Take a game with a long common route like The Fruit of Grisaia as an example. Here the length of time it would take to reach another route would be an unreasonable amount to ask the player to put themselves through and so letting them skip the text they have read is a basic method of avoiding tedium. By doing this The Fruit of Grisaia runs into the issue of the player’s attention wandering as, even with the ability to skip, it can take a long time to reach new content and thus their interest in continuing to play drops. The more expansive the visual novel, the worse this problem becomes and there is no way to properly balance it without introducing new content into the common route based on routes completed, but this expands the scope of the game and takes a lot of time and resources to implement. Sitting right next to the ability to skip read text is the option to skip unread text, meaning lines or scenes the player has never interacted with before. The role this occupies is as a means for players who have already played the game before to skip to whatever part of the game they want to go to without having to reread the whole title on a fresh install. It also serves as a means for the player to skip sections they might be finding uninteresting so the game can maintain their engagement rather than having them put it down and stop playing. Of course this comes with the ever present risk that they could accidentality skip past a big revelation or key character moment without which they will not properly understand later events. This matters significantly more in visual novels which rely on plot as their primary driving force since a twist can come out of nowhere if its foreshadowing or setup has been skipped. It also further takes control of the experience out of the hands of the developer since they cannot account of any amount of skipping the player does and so have to assume that they are engaging in good faith in order to pace their game. However, the convenience offered to the player is seen as the worth the trade off and so its inclusion has become a standard feature in the medium. Jumping Between Scenes And Choices In a large visual novel even skipping the text might still result in long wait times where the mind might wander to what other games could be played instead of watching text fly by. The solution many titles reached was to allow the player to jump to either the next scene or choice. This bypasses the issue of wasting time and quickly puts them exactly where in the game they want to be in order to progress down a new route. Jumping features like these are essentially the logical end point of the convenience of the text skipping options and so exist to promote a smoother flow of the narrative and keep the player engaged. As such it suffers an exaggerated version of the same weakness in its system level interaction drawing people out of the experience. Using jumps inherently leads to an element of confusion as the sudden shift between scenes is disorienting and it takes a moment to remember what happened there. In this moment the player is made acutely aware of the artificial nature of the game and it impacts their perception of the title by distancing them for the immediate and personal strengths of visual novels. Auto Play While an auto play function is not a type of skipping, it does operate on the same axis of player utility and often influences them in a similar manner. This option allows the game to progress through the text at a set pace decided by the player before it starts. No further input is required once it has started outside of choice selection and it will keep going until the credits roll. The main advantages of this feature are twofold. It presents the visual novel in manner where the player can do something else at the same time and lightly engage with it or simply to make it as relaxing as possible. Alongside this is the role it has in making the titles more accessible as not everyone can repeatedly click a button and having the ability to let the game perform this act allows them to be included among its players. However, there is an interesting design problem introduced with auto play and this is how it contrasts with the way a person progressing under their own steam since they do not do so at a constant and even pace. This is mainly due to the way a game has fast and slow paced scenes and a player’s progression through each generally matches the style presented to them and designers can use this knowledge to fine tune the experience to keep the player engaged. Since auto play moves forward at a constant speed all of this subtle control is lost and it can in fact be damaging since its original purpose has been undermined so might feel odd when viewed at the wrong pace. Due to its wide spread nature just about any visual novel can serve as an example of this feature, but its issues are most noticeable in title focused around action like Sorcery Jokers. The extremes of emotion that the games based around action rely on stem from a control over the narrative pacing to express these ideas to the player in a compelling fashion. Auto Play completely irons out those peaks and drops into a flat line making their presence feel awkward and distracting. As such developers have to keep this possibility in mind and try not to make the visual novel’s pacing mechanisms obvious when view outside of their intended speed in order to account for the players using this feature. Conclusion Giving someone the option to skip the content in a visual novel is necessary for convenience and yet it can indirectly harm the overall experience when not properly considered. Skipping read text is the most basic tool to avoid wasting the player’s time while skipping unread text can be a useful feature for returning players to get them into the action. An expanded version of this is the ability to jump to the next choice or scene which allows for faster traversal of the game at the cost of drawing the player completely out of the game’s immersion. The auto play function exists as a complement to the skip button and offers the ability to customise the pace of progress in order to make the title more accessible. Overall the skip feature is important part of the visual novel and so should be properly considered when you are making your own game.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Of Robots And Sorcerers At first glance sci-fi and fantasy might seem incompatible with one another since the first focuses on extrapolations of concepts from our scientific present while the other deals with impossible events and powers. However, behind these differences they share a common desire to explore the nature of humanity through situations as distant as possible from our everyday lives. When combined with this angle in mind their union forms the Science Fantasy genre. For visual novels this marriage is formed of several different approaches which characterise their similar material in distinctive lights. Maybe it is an exaggerated reflection of our own world, often it is the rule of cool which decides how things go and sometimes it is just an extremely tight and interconnection web of concepts that brings the package together. Let’s find our wand and phaser as we look at what this hybrid genre brings to visual novels. Reflecting The World A common trend among Science Fantasy visual novels is their tendency to have present day settings. Here the sci-fi element is founded in an exaggerated version of modern science and used to justify many of the common elements of Urban Fantasy through which the narrative tells its more dramatic elements. This union focuses on sticking to the familiar parts of a present day setting and using them to create a bond of empathy with the characters as they go through the mundane realities of life. Yet at the same time the fantastical events give a framing to those mundane actions which draws out their artificial nature and the absurdity when placed alongside a life and death struggle. The sci-fi half keeps the fantasy from causing the player to disassociate from events on screen by tickling their sense of vague familiarity with modern science and keeping the magic and superpowers firmly in a grounding of the known world. By adhering to all of these elements the Science Fantasy can present ideas about the present day through a lens detached enough to allow for a proper consideration of them without being so far away as to prevent them from having the emotional resonance necessary for their desired impact. Take Chaos;Head for example, here a scientific conspiracy is mixed with teenagers possessing superpowers in order to take a look at what the modern world does a person’s psychological state. The sci-fi elements here focus around the human psyche and how the conspiracy seeks to take advantage of it for their own gain. It includes a lot of familiar scientific and pseudo-scientific terms the player is likely heard about even if just in passing and so registers as vaguely realistic which allows it to serve as a basis for the fantasy half to bounce off of in order to better serve its core ideas. On the other side, the superpowers work to enhance the sense of being detached from the real world which alongside the protagonist’s unreliability questions the effects of the modern social features, such as internet forums, introduced through the sci-fi side. The Rule Of Cool Sometimes the choice of Science Fantasy as a genre in visual novels is not in service of some grand presentation of themes and is instead due to the developer thinking it was cool. This originates from the way the genre takes the familiar trapping of each of its parts and puts them through a new lens in order to make them fresh again. Having a strong sense of novelty provides a means of keeping the player engaged over the course of the game and creating a visual and narrative style completely owned by the title. This brand of Science Fantasy tends to lean into a specific aspect of one half while the majority of the rest of the experience is focused around the other. For example of one extreme there is Deus Machine Demonbane. Here is a game leaning heavily into its fantasy elements with magic and lovecraftian powers shaping events and forming the bulk of the reoccurring elements. With one large exception being the titular Deus Machine which is a giant mech, something generally found in a more sci-fi setting. Obviously this is passed through the fantasy filter in order to justify its existence, but its out of place nature makes it memorable and this in turn creates a unique texture to the game that remains in the minds of many even to this day. Stronger Together So far the uses of the Science Fantasy genre shown have placed various kinds of clear divides between the two halves or put an overwhelming emphasis on one over the other. However, there are a group of games under this genre which use it precisely because the challenge of balancing these distinctive parts results in a potent and memorable experience through how they link to one another. For this union to succeed the two parts need to hold a similar thematic purpose within the narrative while also justifying their place within the wider world, so their existence does not stand out too much and disrupt the player’s sense of immersion. In return for this delicate work, the game can provide a unique sense of place for its setting which serves a directed purpose of pushing the core themes and ideas of the story in a way simultaneously in the player’s face and also subtle enough to seep into their minds through continual exposure. An approach like this is only effective for visual novels where there are complex or emotional elements to explore rather than something aiming for clean and clear messaging for common themes which need no introduction and where the game not expecting them to be considered deeply. This can be seen in seen in the fault series where the technology level of the world is both higher and lower than our own to organically integrate it into the areas of people’s lives which magic is not used in order to sell them as complimenting elements. It is through their subtlety that the power of drawing the player’s attention to them originates since being made aware of something previously in the background reshapes the understanding of the elements surrounding it and lends to a clarity of messaging. Utawarerumono takes this approach to its logical extreme by using the presence and absence of each half of the genre to highlight key narrative beats through the divide between the world of the ancient past and the one of the present. Conclusion As with many hybrid genres, it is how the union of the two halves manifests and interacts with the visual novel format which makes them an engaging experience. Science Fantasy succeeds on multiple fronts due to how well sci-fi and fantasy play into each other’s strengths. It can mix the fantastical with the mundane to offer a frank representation of the modern world and its issues. The unity can be so coherent and well thought out that the themes and ideas are communicated without needing to say a word or through clever highlighting of key elements. On the other hand, sometimes it just about the rule of cool and the strength comes from impressing the player with spectacle and keeping them amused. There is no denying the flexibility and narrative power found in Science Fantasy and it is a genre more titles should consider branching out into.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – Romance, Fantasy, Mystery Play Time – 35 hours Developer – FAVORITE Steam VNDB Coming To Know Love Everyone has a wish they want fulfilled before they die, this can be anything from unrequited love to becoming rich to seeing the world. However, the world is a harsh place and many of these wishes go unanswered as people pass from the moral coil. It is the value of these wishes that forms the core of Irotoridori No Sekai’s themes and how they intertwine with the idea of learning to love is key to their lasting appeal. There is a delicate balance struck between the procession of the story and the journey of its characters. This is a game concerned with the dramatic emotions of its characters. The other worlds are brought in to provide additional stakes or push home a key narrative beat. The issue of this approach appears when the title cannot properly pay off the tension it has built up and resorts to deus ex machina in order to get it out of the corner it has written itself into. Do these inconsistencies undermine the core message of the game? Let’s set the basement clock and find out. Answering Your Wishes – Narrative and Themes Other worlds are by far Irotoridori No Sekai’s most immediately distinct element and how they play into the narrative build up burns them into the player’s mind. Each one is a representation of the vastly different wishes of humanity and how the circumstances surrounding them can dramatically alter what they desire. Sometimes these places are never shown but is it quite clear what effect their unique environments have had on the characters from them. These in turn reflect the heroines who are associated with these worlds and allow a view of their actions or wishes through the unique factors which shaped them. Having the ability to lean into fantastical elements provides room for the exploration of the individual heroines in varied fashions to keep things feeling fresh. At the same time most of the actual otherworldly events happened before the game even begans so the game can play with them without losing the grounded setting it has established as a place where the characters can be themselves. Take Toumine Tsukasa’s route, it invokes certain elements from her original world in order to sell the danger while being firmly planted in the town and its community where the people she works with are a large part of her life. Striking this balance is key to holding the player in suspense without losing sight of the reason they are invested in the character’s journey in the first place. Hanging over the entire game are the duel mysteries of the recurring dream and the ghostly Shinku. These act as a constant throughout each route and do a good job of making the title feel like it is a cohesive experience which is building towards a greater ending. Their intimate relation to the protagonist, Kanoue Yuuma, means they have an impactful screen presence where they shape how he sees the world and people around him and by extension the key heroines. Such an approach gives the small bread crumbs of truth a greater sense of importance while not taking the limelight away from the stars of each route. It also helps that the pay off from all of the build up is and exceptionally strong final route where the themes and ideas the game has being presenting are tied up in a nice bow. The characters are provided a similar resolution within this revelation as each one has a victory lap where we get to see the traits we fell in love with on full display. Altogether this route is excellent to the point at which it is worth playing the entire title just to experience it which is a testament to how effective the mysteries are at capturing and holding interest. When it comes to how this story is presented to the player there are noticeable cracks in its implementation. Chief among these is the game’s tendency to have the characters explain their past through narrated flashbacks using Yuuma’s magical powers rather than through organic reveals or by being placed in the character’s shoes. It leads to extended dry sequences where the character in question tells the protagonist the feelings and events of the past in a way which lacks impact and instead comes across as if they are talking about someone else. If this was done sparingly it would not be an issue, but the flashbacks occur in every route and sometimes multiple times in a route which massively disrupts the flow of the narrative. Being told about events is a quick way for the player to lose interest, especially in a game so focused around the emotions of its characters where it would make more sense to keep the player in the current tide of feelings rather than taking a sudden turn into telling them about the past. On some level Irotoridori No Sekai realises this is an issue as it has intermissions in the middle of these flashbacks where the characters in the present briefly stop the telling their story and share a few words. This is a clear indication of the developers' concern that the player might become bored with their narrative. Flashbacks are not inherently a bad thing as there is an example of how to do one properly within the game’s final route where the player gets to experience the events of the past first hand rather than simply being told them. It is strange then that the Irotoridori No Sekai choses to deliberately damage itself with every other instance of flashbacks. Girls Falling From Lighthouses – Characters A colourful cast is something the game always presents front and centre. Each one has a strong and easy to identify personality, from Kana’s constant flirting to Tsukasa’s innocent energy, which helps sell them and make them empathetic. Their wishes are worn on their sleeves, but these desires are never what they first appear, there simple nature is picked away at throughout their routes until a complete picture of them comes out. Doing this gives these characters a sense that they are layered and complex beyond their initially presented personalities and works to keep the player on the edge of their seats as they can never be sure they truly know a character. Backing this up is the interactions between the heroines and Yuuma with each heroine having their own memorable dynamics with him. This is extremely important given how much emphasis the game places of these individual pairings and isolating them from the world around them. Without their strong and varied banter the sections solely dedicated to them might prove dull, but instead they are some of the most vivid scenes in the entire game. By far the strangest choice when it comes to the characters is how they do not really interact with each other or share a group dynamic. They might appear on screen together but they will often talk solely to Yuuma and not really engage with the other people present. The few scenes where characters are allowed to form their own bonds are undermined as they are either completely forgotten about, as in the case of Mio and Kana’s rivalry, or simply used as a plot device to motive one of the characters, as in Kyou’s route with her friendship with Tsukasa. Absent from these is any sense of an organically growing dynamics and it instead feels like they exist purely to serve whatever narrative needs Yuuma has without any proper regard for other characters. The result is the dorm feeling somewhat mechanical in nature where the characters are pieces in a plot rather than a warm place where friends live together. It is fortunate that outside of Kyou’s route the game tries to not emphasises the characters’ relationships and so mostly avoids this making this a large issue through focusing in on their main pairings to compensate. Shattered Moon – Visual, Audio and Technical As you would expect from a game so focused around other worlds, there is a distinctive visual style in play which is backed up by a keen understanding of how to use colour to invoke emotions. The everyday lives of the cast are shown through the standard images of mundanity the player expects from a romance visual novel which are used here as a clever baseline to contrast with the more fantastical angle. Once the characters step through basement doorway the art style takes a noticeable shift into a more abstract and emotive presentation where clear objects give way to vague shapes. It is clear what kind of place each is without having to spend a single word on its background lore and this works well given their role as conduits for characters and narratives rather than as fleshed out spaces. Even the normal world is not without its own eye catching imagery, the shattered moon hanging over the town is a constant reminder that even this world is not quite like our own. Colours not only play a role in creating distinctive feeling worlds, but also using the emotions associated with colour to empower the key dramatic moments. Deep oranges and blues are contrasted with blacks and reds to keep the player in a sense of suspense as they are buffeted by the roller-coaster of each heroines’ route. Conclusion Capturing the complicated emotions caught up in wishes and love is what Irotoridori No Sekai is about and through them showcasing just what a colourful world we have within ourselves. It leverages its other worlds as a core driver for the plot and this allows it to more freely explore its themes, even if it can stumble at time while doing so. The strong uses of distinctive art styles and colours for these worlds and key moments also plays into the game’s ability to invoke emotion. An overarching mystery keeps the player hooked through the various routes and offers a great pay off for the ideas which the title has being presenting. Add to this the distinctive characters and excellent dynamics with the protagonist and the result is a well rounded experience that uses the romance visual novel as a means to express greater ideas of the value of wishes and desires. Verdict - An emotional examination of what it means to wish for something seen through characters who know what it is to have that snatched away. It is only held back by some strange choices in narrative presentation and character interactions. Pros + The other worlds are a strong narrative device which gives the game room to present its ideas with greater freedom. + Each character sells themselves in a believable way and plays off the protagonist in an engaging fashion. + Overarching mystery helps maintain interest while providing a suitable send off for the core themes and ideas. + Strong art styles and impressive use of colour sell the emotions and otherworldly nature of the story. Cons - Overuse of dry flashback scenes where the player is told rather than shown important information. - Characters have no group dynamic and often feel like a strangers to each other. - Does not commit to the other world concepts completely which leaves them feeling hollow or misplaced.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. The Many Faces We Wear Upon booting up a visual novel, the first thing the player will see is the main menu. Over the course of their play time they will pass through it countless times and come to memorise its details. As such altering this key feature will immediately be noticed by the player and the more dramatic the change, the greater this impact will be. A wide variety of visual novels utilise this approach and it has become a staple to underscore some kind of narrative progression in order to signal an upping of the stakes. It can also go a long way to set up a tone shift even before a single word has appeared on screen and helps maintain it for the duration of what remains of the game. Sometimes the change occurs after the entire title has been completed and communicates all that the player has achieved. Let’s transition to a new frame and find out what Multiple Title Screens provide for visual novels. Indicating Progress By far the simplest implementation of the Multiple Title Screens is to tie them to key milestones in the forward momentum of the visual novel. This is commonly seen in games with an unlockable true route or other such route and the menu change reflects it becoming available to the player. Here the intended effect is twofold, to communicate to the player that more content is open for them to experience and to sell them a sense of progression as a means of rewarding them. People like to feel that their actions have meaning and the natural forward momentum of games is an easy way to take advantage of this emotional response. The larger the signal of progress the better and there is nothing larger than the menu the player will see every time they load up the game. It shows them that their hard work pushing through the game is being acknowledged and acts as a form of encouragement to keep going into the last section of the title. It has even become an expectation for many of those familiar with the medium and acts as a comfort blanket to reassure them that they are moving in the right direction. Take Irotoridori no Sekai for example, this game has a main menu change after all of the main routes have been completed and the final route has been unlocked. Initially the main menu shows a brilliant blue sky and later it transitions into a deep orange evening sky. This communicates two things, firstly that something has changed and the player should investigate to uncover what it is and second that this marks the final section of the game. The evening sky makes the player think of the coming night and since the night is the end of the day so to must this new content be the end of the game. All of this is conveyed without the need for a single word and provides a good motivation to continue to the end and a sense of how far the player has come through the main routes. It smooths over what might otherwise be an awkward transition between the major acts of the visual novel in a manner which will leave a strong impression on the player even after they put it down. Setting Tone When the mundane is transformed into the novel, there is something about it which draws the mind away from the past and firmly onto the present moment. We take notice of the change and what it says to us enables a framework from where we can pull how to understand this transition and everything that accompanies it. As such the changing of the main menu can be used to convey a change in tone or ideas without demanding any narrative connection or time consuming scenes. Simply looking at the menu immediately fills the player in on the sort of story they are in for after this transition into the depths of the game. This is important for visual novels as it conserves resources and adheres to their general ethos of high impact uses of limited space and so does not come across as out of place. Setting the tone is most important when the game is seeking to move from a more non-linear route structure onto a single direct pathway and acclimatising the player to this shift is key to keeping them engaged. Hello Lady! showcases this in practice with its multiple main menu changes in the Complete Edition. As an amalgamation of several different version of the title with shifting tonal needs, there is the possibility this change between these sections might take the player off guard if they are not familiar with the game’s history and so a clear divide needed to be established between the parts. The Multiple Main Menu’s fulfil this need perfectly due to how much Hello Lady! already leans into locations and CG’s with strong colours and imagery in order to add impact to its combat so large changes are within what the player expects. Each changed menu offers a distinctive tone separate from the others in order to ensure there is never any confusion about what these shifts mean for the tone of the game. A Constant Reminder The final major use of Multiple Main Menus is as a monument to all that the player has achieved and witnessed over the course of the visual novel. This type appear after all the content has been completed and are generally the first thing the player sees after the credits have rolled giving them a greater emotional impact. They also remain present whenever the title is revisited and will stay regardless of what part of the narrative is revisited and so act as a constant reminder of how this is all going to end and a monument to the player’s success. Generally this type of Multiple Title Screens comes in two flavours, a wholesale shift in the imagery being used or the addition of key characters to the existing picture. Fate/Stay Night is an example of the first kind with its menu shifting into something bright and hopeful from its formerly darker or more conflict orientated original. What this larger shift achieves is to communicate the key themes and ideas the title has been building up to in a simple fashion which will inform the player’s future playthroughs and cause them to have a greater sensitivity to them. This is an especially desirable trait for games which lean into plot and themes as it can give the player something new to unveil in old material rather than feeling as if it is something known by heart. Conclusion The effects of Multiple Title Screens cannot be underestimated as the power of such a sudden change and its constant exposure have a profound impact without the player realising it. It is often used to indicate progress within the game’s structure and provides a sense of accomplishment and motivation to continue onwards. Selling a tone plays a large role in the strength of these title screens as they can communicate a shift in the game’s story without having to say a word and help smooth over any possible confusion. Once it has changed the new title screen acts a constant reminder of all the player has experienced as well as key thematic or character elements that can recontextualise any subsequent playthroughs. Integrating a change in the main menu may be something you want to consider for your visual novel especially if you are planning a longer game with unlockable routes.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Fight Start! As a style of gameplay Fighting Games are at once wonderfully expressive and yet incredibly restrictive and so combining them with visual novels make for an interesting hybrid. The primary feature which binds the two together is their heavy focus on characters and invoking strong emotions through their expressiveness. Visual novels offer the chance for fighting games to expand on those characters in a direct narrative where they can be explored in more depth than just before battle conversations. This is especially true for Fighting Games which are spin-offs from a story heavy game series and need to meet the audience's expectations for storytelling while merging smoothly with the combat on offer. Let’s allow the wheel of fate to turn and see how these two gameplay styles are able to form a harmonious hybrid. Selling The Characters Larger than life personalities define the Fighting Game. Since the characters have so few chances to show the player who they are, these games make the most out of each second of it. However, on the flip-side this also makes them feel flat and lacking the depth and emotions needed to pass as a believable person. To compensate for this weakness the visual novel can provide a means of expanding on the characters established by the Fighting Game in an environment where their personalities can be shown off while not feel out of place. This is due to how visual novels naturally lean into character centric stories and it allows the conflicts depicted in each section to blend together through how they focus on the same key notes of a story with differing levels of details. On the reverse side a Fighting Game can express events in a much more direct and player interactive manner and so it can create a more intimate experience by punctuating key moments of the visual novel with these combat encounters. They act as highlights which increase tension and allows the visual novel to focus on the surrounding events without having to spend time depicting complicated fight scenes. Having the two form a hybrid helps sell the characters which are the main attraction of both in a more holistic manner than either could achieve on their own. UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH provides a good example of how this shared focus on characters enhances what each part has to offer. Its modern fantasy setting where people possessing unique magical powers clash is a perfect breeding ground for the mechanics of a fighting game and the drama of a visual novel. The powers match the expressiveness of the characters allowing them to maintain a sense of continuity between combat and story through the way they frame the characters and expand on different elements. By jumping backwards and forwards between the two halves and their magical powers, the game can keep the characters fresh and provide a means for the player to feel what it is like to be them from an immediate and an emotional perspective. There is also a level of narrative tension offered by the player's direct involvement as they feel a desire to help the characters they have come to love through the story and might choose to continue to play them after it is over. Substitute For Another Style Of Narrative Sometimes the hybrid is born because the game is a spin-off of a series known for its narrative focus. Here the visual novel elements act as a substitute for the storytelling style of the original titles while not being invasive to the core Fight Game when compared to something like a full blown RPG. A spin-off aims to offer the fans something new without challenging them or investing too many resources into the game’s creation and so the visual novel is a cost effective and easy to understand stand-in for what their audience expects. This is often a tightly told narrative where the characters get a chance to show the traits the player has come to love without changing over the course of the game so the main series does not have to deal with the events of a spin-off. Battles seek to express the characters in the same expected way by showcasing their unique skills through the combat moves they have been given with each one being a nod to their original appearance. Working in tandem, this simulates the titles it is based off and provides a dose of something new for the players to inject life into their love for this world and its characters in an organic manner. Choosing a more complicated system of narrative expression than a visual novel could alienate or confuse the players as they have would to grapple with a disconnect between story and battle mechanics while a visual novel provides a clean and clear method of storytelling designed here to be as modular as possible. Narrative Ambition Not all Fighting Games are satisfied with being just an expressions of their characters where the gameplay is the only attraction. There are a subset of them which have grander narrative ambitions with a desire to utilise their many characters to tell a sprawling tale. Merging with a visual novel is an option to achieve this approach which is at once flexible to their needs and simple and cost effective to implement. Visual novels can present the complex narratives the designers want while keeping the character focus of the Fighting Game front and centre. Compared to other methods of storytelling like an RPG or Cinematic style cutscenes it lacks the more immediate strength of their impactful moments due to its more abstract nature, but in exchange it can easily express intricate ideas and engage in route based stories. So rather than simply being the best option for a merger with Fighting Games, it is instead a narrative style which offers a specific toolbox that a subset of Fighting Games lean into due to their desire for intimate and complex storytelling. We can see an example of this with the Blazblue series and how it handled its story over the course of multiple games. As the series has developed each entry has tried to push the visual novel element in a new direction to fit their extensive use of narrative. Calamity Trigger experimented with an open structure and Continuum Shift offered a wide range of character stories and this variety was enabled by the flexible and inexpensive nature of visual novel presentation. It also allowed the large cast to act towards their own goals while preventing the player from becoming lost in the web of motivations through the clear divisions between sections. The narrative outcomes even stretched into the Fighting Game sections with victory or defeat having different and interesting narrative consequences which encouraged the player to explore and experiment. Conclusion Adding a visual novel element to Fighting Games creates a hybrid where both sides can showcase what makes them special. Their common focus on characters and expressing them in a distinct and memorable manner furthers this connection by presenting the same traits from different angles. Having visual novel sections in a spin-off title can work as a substitute for an expected type of narrative structure while not being invasive or confusing for the player. Then there is the way it allows for a game with narrative ambitions to express complex stories and routes in a flexible and smooth manner. Overall, Fighting Games are a good partner for visual novels and taking the two together should definitely be considered when designing a title where the larger than life characters need another avenue to express themselves.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – Cyberpunk, Dystopia, Romance Play Time – 5 hours Developer – RadiArt Steam VNDB Are These Feelings Real? Dealing with romantic emotions can be a difficult and this is doubly so when the entire world seems to reject what you are experiencing. Such is the situation Cila finds herself in when she develops feelings for the mysterious android Mara as the powers in the shadows will not allow their happiness to last. Synergia is an extended exploration of this pair’s relationship through a mixture of mechanophilia, yuri and dystopia. The result is a case study of their identities which grounds them within a sense of place many longer games can not match. Move outside of this core bubble and the cracks begin to show with the secondary cast lacking proper development and certain plot elements having little substance. However, is this inconsistency enough to undermine the strong foundations of the core relationship and the ideas it explores? Let’s get lost in the neon lights and find out. Mechanical Love – Narrative and Themes No matter how small an element might be, everything returns to being about the romance between the two leads. In making their relationship such a cornerstone of the narrative it forces the player to see the world through the lens of their emotions. Synergia is very much a title which wants people to engage with it on an immediate and visceral level. It puts a lot of effort into placing the player inside the head space of Cila by putting them into her perspective and dragging out the contradiction between her work and her own feelings. This tension is a core part of the underlying momentum that the story uses to keep the slow pacing from causing players to lose interest through the promise of what will happen when she eventually choose what she values. Prospects for the pairs future together are initially presented as bleak given how their world’s views on romance between human and machines. Here Synergia draws parallels between real world discrimination over who it is correct for a person to be able to love, with the most noticeable being the treatment of homosexuality especially since the pair are both female. Through this the narrative can present grounded themes and ideas about the subject without spelling it out in a way that insults the player’s intelligence and adds something solid to all the emotions they have been immersed in. Drawing these elements into a whole allows the game to offer something for every part of the player’s mind to engage with from the emotional to the intellectual and this ensures even after they put it down they will still think about it. Acting as the backbone supporting this focus around the main romance is a strong sense of place within the decay of this cyberpunk dystopia. While we are never given a complete picture of the state this city is in, there is never any doubt this is a civilisation long past its prime with its ailing emperor and oppressive government. It sits on the edge of collapsing into nothing as it totters along and yet it still have teeth to bear against those who stand to oppose its beliefs. In many ways it is a perfect reflection of Cila’s own internal psyche as she remains trapped in the past and slowly rots away in the life she finds herself consigned to walk. Without Mara’s arrival she would probably have sat forever in that pit and so overcoming and moving on from the city which has constrained her acts as both as a literal and metaphorical escape from her own prison. Beyond this metaphor the world works as means to explain why people act the way they do and create a thick atmosphere of melancholy to contrast with the moments of happiness between the two leads. Leaning into this emotional representation of a lived in place gives an intimate feeling to the player’s time there as it offers an easy to grasp idea of place in a way they can draw parallels with their own experiences. When everything is so heavily focused on a single narrative and emotional direction, it makes the parts which go against this route stand out in a distracting manner. For Synergia this takes the form of Cila’s past and in particular her nature as a Daughter of Velta who was created from an artificial womb. This is used to explain Cila’s ability to heal from injuries faster than normal, but does not tie well into the otherwise machine facing narrative nor does it add anything meaningful to her dynamic with Mara since that role is already taken up with Cila’s past love for another android. It is brought up out of nowhere and is dismissed equally as fast creating a sense of whiplash where the smooth tonal flow and pacing of the game is broken abruptly. The only place where is take the spotlight as the core element of the plot is in the second ending where all previously established ideas take a backseat including Mara. However, nothing revealed during this ending is of any real consequence and it mostly just spins its wheels until events beyond Cila’s control allow her move on with the plot. It does not help that Cila has already come to terms with her origins and so lacks any character arc related to them leading to an absence of dramatic tension. The absence of Mara or events relating to her means this ending struggles to justify its existence in a visual novel so focused around Cila and Mara’s relationship. This leaves Cila’s creation feel like an odd inclusion which could have been written out and takes up space that could have been better utilised to expand on side characters or other themes. Of Man And Machine – Characters Above all other characters stand Cila and Mara, it is their individual characters and the dynamic they share which create the game’s compelling hook. Cila is our protagonist and point of view character and she makes for an interesting choice to narrate this journey. She is at once deeply involved in this world through her job and her past, yet detached as she merely meanders through her life without making any meaningful connections. Despite this she never comes across as cynical, she knows how unfair the world can be but even in the face of this harsh reality she can never quite give up on the feels which have defined her. As such Mara makes for the perfect contrast to Cila. As a bubbling ball of curiosity and smiles, Mara acts as an excuse to have the world explained to the player and to communicate just how sheltered she has been from reality. There is an innocence to her actions which disarms Cila and gets her to open up to Mara, but at the same time she not without her own intentions and desires to drive her. For Cila, Mara is a rudder to guide her life towards some kind of future and help her understand her own emotions. This creates an unbalance in their relationship with Mara being the driving force and Cila being dragged along behind and plays into their dynamic for the eventual pay off to their relationship. Our Grimy Dystopia – Visual, Audio and Technical The title’s relatively low budget is clear to see in its lack of the bells and whistles found in larger visual novels. However, this is not something the player will notice in the moment as Synergia knows how to milk every drop from what it does have available. Each part of the visuals and audio works to push a specific sense of what this dystopia is like to live in and the emotional mood of the characters. This manifests as stripes of striking colour in an otherwise dark and muted landscape, their beauty a fleeting reminder of the happy moments of people’s lives and the grim reality which surrounds them. Even at its brightest the colours are always muted as if smothered by the smog of the city’s factories and it adds an almost dreamlike quality to the intimate moments between the cast. The music adds to these vague feelings through its synth tones and it conveys a world of technological brilliance coated in a thick layer of soot out of which only glimpses of what came before can be seen. It leans heavily into promoting this atmosphere to the point that even outside of the context of the game the audio sells the experience of playing it and the fragile mix of oppression and hope it represents. Conclusion Cyberpunk is a genre which has gone relatively unexplored in visual novels, but Synergia provides a compelling case for why more games should make use of it. The wonderfully all consuming romance between Cila and Mara makes for a space where the themes and ideas can be explored freely. Supporting this is a sense of place which paints a bleak picture of the pairs prospects and yet feels alive in its own unique way. It also helps the narrative to have Cila and Mara be such strong personalities with their dynamic being a selling point for the game as a whole. Making sure these parts for a cohesive is the visual and audio which present a vision of this world and its characters without saying a word. Verdict – The seamless blending of engaging themes, strong characters and an atmospheric world make for a highly memorable and immersive cyberpunk story. Pros - + The romance between Cila and Mara wonderfully engages with the game's core themes and ideas. + The grim reality and decay of this dystopia are palpable at every turn. + Cila and Mara’s characters and dynamic is endearing and complex. + Careful and considered use of the strong visual style and soundscape help sell the experience. Cons - - Cila’s past relating to her creation feels out of place with the heavy theming around machines and Mara. - The secondary cast lack development and come across as one dimensional.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Love In All Its Forms As a genre Yaoi has an interesting kinship with masculinity which leads it down some distinctive narrative pathways. In many ways it is a mirror of its stable-mate Yuri since it also has the two extremes of commercialisation and thoughtful representation. Much of the genre’s output tends to be aimed at a female audience with the characters and relationships setting out please their sensibilities. There is also a smaller group of titles who are more interested in a looking at the realities of a gay romance and the sort of feelings and conflicts it brings. Despite the vastly different reasons these two groups choose to create a Yaoi visual novel, they do share a common element in the form of their utilisation of relationships to provide a unique perspective on the human nature and how it is applied to everyone equally. Let’s find ourself some handsome men and discover what make Yaoi visual novels special. The Female Gaze Much of the output from the Yaoi genre is created with a female audience in mind and seeks to appeal to them through its content. Just as with Yuri, the target demographic is the opposite to the characters’ gender and as such bears little resemblance to how someone of that gender would behave and instead presents an idealised vision of what someone of the fairer sex might think of them. Rather then the purity and almost religious sanctity of Yuri’s presentation of its romance, Yaoi leans towards the ideas of masculinity and the violence and possessiveness associated with it. This is not a negative violence, but rather a playful type like two lion cubs pouncing on each other. It is rare for it to be taken to the extreme of doing meaningful harm to the other person and is a means showcasing their bond in a way which stands out from a standard heterosexual relationship by leaning into the lack of a feminine aspect. Of course this dives into the perception of men being the dangerous gender and it has no interest in the reality of the situation when it can just make this element a source of excitement. It is worth noting the exception of this rule, Traps, which sit in a strange middle ground between Yuri and Yaoi with elements of both purity and masculinity. However, they are such a complicated subject that they deserve their own article and will not be discussed further, but it worth keeping their existence in mind for a more complete picture of the genre. For examples of this female leaning take on masculinity in Yaoi we can look to Absolute Obedience and Tokyo Onmyoji. The prior displays this through its intimate character interactions while the later takes a much broader angle. Absolute Obedience plays this masculinity and the violent undertone to the relationship in a style where everything is taken to extremes in order keep the player on their toes. It a strong implementation of the lion cubs mentality where a lot of what they do to each other is never presented in a manner where it could be taken negatively and instead adds a layer to the mixture which is their relationship. Tokyo Onmyoji takes a much broader method to implementing its masculinity through interactions beyond simply the main relationship and into the more general bonds between the cast. This is partly due to the more openly serious nature of the narrative and the way it has to weave its character beats in between its plot ones without harming either. As such spreading out the violent tension between the male cast serves both to spice up the dynamic and add impact to important moments in the story. Both games present these elements the player as a selling point to be desired and assumes their audience will find it appealing. Sympathetic And Expressive Of course not every Yaoi game is made with the intention of simply appealing to a target demographic for sales purposes and instead there are many titles which use the genre to dive into the emotions and ideas surrounding male homosexual relationships. These paint the romances in a sympathetic light and aim to present them through a lens of the character’s humanity to make it easy to understand regardless of whether you have experienced the same emotions or not. However, the games still have the flavour and feelings unique to a male centric relationship, but rather than focusing on displays of blatant masculinity there is an awareness of the mixed nature of actual male bonds and how they are not so straightforward. Such titles tend to be from amateur or indie groups or individuals who are open to expressing their own feelings on this type of relationship and can accept that their product will not have a mass market appeal. They serve a valuable function in offering an antidote to the exaggerated takes on Yaoi existing in larger visual novels with a more grounded take on the genre, but grounded is not the same as not knowing how to have fun. To see this in action we can look to What Happened The Night Before. This game follows a single relationship between Mikage and Noah which is key to ensuring there is the space to properly paint the bond between them. Having a focus around how relationships change over time, especially when you are young, gives the narrative a common emotional resonance to help build its distinctive romance in a way that appeals to all players. When it comes time to the culmination of their love, the title presents it in a gentle and loving manner where their masculine nature is never taken to an extreme but is instead an extension of the love they feel for each other. What Happened The Night Before shows us how a Yaoi narrative can be sympathetic while still maintaining its appeal. Unique Angle On Our Humanity In our differences we can find the common threads which link our humanity and experiences, but also how those differences can demonstrate the particulars about our nature which would otherwise go unexplored. Yaoi is a genre where this side of human nature can be investigated and put through the lens of this type of relationship. The games utilising this element tend to place the Yaoi in a prominent position, but do not make it the sole focus and instead place it alongside other genres, such mystery, in order to highlight important aspect of one using the other. This allows them to act as mirrors for the characters to explore who they are and in turn express themselves in a raw and honest manner to the player. In particular the heavy leaning into a male centric cast from the Yaoi provides a heavily masculine leaning world view, but in a way where the vulnerabilities of the male psyche are on display and truths relating it to a common human experience can be teased out of the character’s actions. Conclusion Despite not being the most prolific genre in visual novels, Yaoi still offer one of the most distinctive narrative styles of any game. It can create an experience tailored to appeal to a female audience through a mixture of masculinity and playful violence. On the opposite end of the scale there are plenty of games which present a more grounded and sympathetic homosexual relationship to express its value to a wide audience. Yaoi can also be a part of a greater whole where it acts as key ingredient in an examination of human nature through the unique masculine perspective it offers. Overall, Yaoi is a flexible genre which expresses a distinct angle on romance which is not open to a more conventional understanding of love.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Puzzle Pieces Scattered To The Wind Putting together a mystery in order to find the truth is one of the most rewarding narrative and mechanical feelings it is possible to give the player. The route based structure of visual novels places them in a unique position to take advantage of this niche. They can spread their mystery over the course of their story in a non-linear manner by giving each route a piece of the puzzle to show the player which make sense in whatever order they viewed. This is often referred to as a Multiple Route Mystery style of narrative and is commonly found in longer visual novels where there is a need to hold the player’s attention with some sort of overarching thread. It is also incredibly easy to overwhelm the player with information through this approach and it requires a deft hand to ensure the complexity is appropriately distributed to prevent confusion. Let’s put on our deerstalkers and unveil what the Multiple Route Mystery brings to the table. Making Every Route Relevant For a visual novel with a large number of routes it is difficult to create a feeling of unique identity for each of them and maintain the player’s interest in the long term. The temptation for any player is to just play the parts of it they want and then walk away which is a real risk when there is nothing to propel them towards the next route. Adding in a Multiple Route Mystery to this structure is one of the most compelling ways of alleviating the problem. Humans are naturally curious and all you need to do is dangle a mystery in front of them to have them following you along. A Multiple Route Mystery takes the breadcrumb approach to keeping the player intrigued and spreads them out evenly across the entire experience to give a constant stream of rewards for progression in order to make for an experience where the clues are merged with the route’s narrative in seamless manner. Of course this does not make the routes themselves inherently better and it needs them to already have a strong story so it can focus on carrying the player from one route to another. It also creates an overarching world and characters who feel as if they are relevant and connected to each other beyond the contents of their respective routes which is important for selling an emotional sense of place. Ayakashibito makes good use of its Multiple Route Mystery by carefully considering the pace at which it delivers its clues. It starts in the common route where the game establishes the questions it want the player to consider over its duration and makes them closely tied to the characters and their individual desires. These characters have an investment in the same mysteries as the player creating another avenue of connection to the conflicts on screen while still having a broader perspective then the characters could ever dream off through the ability to witness multiple versions of events in the different routes. Having this privileged position is also a reward for the player as it makes them feel smart for working out mysteries in a way nobody involved in the game would be able to achieve. Of course the game ensures the player will never get all the information before the time is right so the motivation provided by the mystery never diminishes. Breaking Complexity Down Mysteries are rarely simple affairs and often contain a lot of layers to dig into. This presents a new problem, how do you prevent this complexity from overwhelming the player and disconnecting them from the narrative of the game? For visual novels, the Multiple Route Mystery provides an easy to integrate solution which distributes the load of exposition across the entire experience. Rather than trying to introduce the ideas and clues of the mystery in bulky sections when the story feels it needs to catch up the player, it instead presents them in a gradual and light way where there are never large sections of potential boring information. It can keep the pace of the narrative swift and focused on other elements so there is not the sense that the mystery is the only thing holding the experience together. This perception also works to trick the player into thinking about the mystery in looser terms and in turn being able to tolerate the drip feeding nature of the Multiple Route Mystery as it gives them exactly the amount of information they need and nothing more. Non-Linear Storytelling By far the most interesting feature of Multiple Route Mystery integration is the way it changes the nature of narrative progression. Given the way visual novels like to provide of options for different routes the player can explore, this means there is no way to guarantee the order they are going to experience the elements of the mystery. As such the mystery must make sense in whatever order it is played. There might well be an optimal way to experience it as with Dies irae ~Acta est Fabula~ but even here the game does not actually enforce a play order as it has confidence that the mystery will still make sense no matter what route the player chooses to go down. This non-linear nature acts as a common connection for the various tightly structured routes and allows for the expression of themes in a pervasive but less intrusive manner to a direct storytelling element. Such a fundamental shift in narrative effects how the player perceives the game. They start to view it from a higher perspective since the Multiple Route Mystery demands they see the work as a whole rather than a series of isolated routes and the non-linear sense of progression further reinforces this sentiment which often results in stories favouring intellectual over emotional stimulation. Some visual novels take this aspect to its logical extreme such as with Zero Time Dilemma, where the entire game embraces the non-linear nature of the mystery and its structure shifts backwards and forwards on a time-frame in a way which best suits the story. This approach is rare for a good reason since it could easily cause the player to become confused about what is going on and in many ways loses a lot of what makes the Multiple Route Mystery such a powerful tool. Conclusion Of all the structures a visual novel can employ there are few which have the flexibility, yet demanding so much in return, of the Multiple Route Mystery. If a game is willing to commit to the kinds of narratives which synergise with this structure it can add a continuity through all its routes in order to make each of them feel important. The natural distribution of the mystery throughout the title works as a means of reducing the perceived complexity of narrative elements by breaking them into easy to digest chunks. It also opens the possibility for some non-linear storytelling since it needs its elements to make sense in any order and this can be taken advantage of and helps express themes and ideas. Overall, the Multiple Route Mystery offers a lot to a developer and is something you should consider if your visual novel deals in some kind of greater narrative arc.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Mixing Words And Chess If you want gameplay that mixes the grand feeling of strategy while still maintaining a strong character focus then the SRPG is generally the way to go. Hence why visual novel developers find this style mechanics appealing and select it to form a hybrid with in order to compliment the visual novel's narrative tone. Here the SRPG will be defined as a strategy game using a grid systems where the player and the enemy take turns moving their units such as in Fire Emblem or Disgaea. The stories using SRPGs tend towards two types, a grand strategy tale about big conflicts between factions or one with a larger cast where a lot of them are involved in combat. These share the common trait of being on a scale beyond the normal small groups and personal conflicts and needing something equally big to properly express them. Just copying and pasting basic SRPG mechanics to form a hybrid often leads to repetitive feeling battles and adding in a some unique element is required to make it more distinctive. However, this is something the SRPG can struggle with and is reflected in many hybrids. Let’s checkmate our opponent and explore how SRPGs function in visual novels. Expressing A Strategy Centric Narrative Grand is the stage of a story pitting groups of people against one another, be they between villages, nations or anything in between. As such a visual novel focused around such a topic must have equally grand mechanics in the form of the SRPG. Its function here is to help sell the scale and manoeuvring involved in the conflict without the narrative having to spend valuable space spelling it out in a potentially dry manner. Having the player act out these sequences creates a sense of how the character in command feels when dealing with the complexities of combat and this frees the visual novel from having to express these ups and downs and it gives emphasis to greater story by having it as the secondary focus. There is also an understanding of how important the planning and macro movement which occur outside the SRPG sections is in creating a steady sense of escalation. So when the plan is put into action and the player is pushed into the SRPG, they experience the sense of being the one to put into action the cleaver tricks and tactics the characters have thought up. The Utawarerumono franchise is a good example of how this is put into practice on various scales of conflict. Each game starts with low stakes encounters for the sake of building a bond between the player and those they are commanding. There is understanding in these games that the SRPG must follow the tempo of the VN given the slower ramp up it has to follow or the two would start to clash given vastly different focuses. As the narrative escalates into an increasingly grand scale, so to do the mechanics of the SRPG grow in complexity to create a united sense of the actions of the cast. Even as the scope increases the games never lose sight of the characters who made this journey possible through their duel role as powerful units and the emotional core of the narrative. The two halves of Utawarerumono weave in and out of each other without ever stepping on each other’s toes creating a harmonious experience which the player feels the increased impact from both since they aim for the same ends. Stand In For Large Group Combat Not all visual novels using SRPG mechanics are interesting in grand scale conflicts. There are many aiming for a smaller focus around a large cast on a personal and local level to their lives. Presenting the conflict through the lens of an SRPG allows for a stage on which all the characters can be shown working together to help further the camaraderie found in the narrative. It also gives each a unique flavour through their skills and abilities which showcase the identity the player has come to love. Everything about the SRPG seeks to emphasise the feelings of intimacy formed in the visual novel and make them kinetic in a practical setting. Here the choice of an SRPG over a more traditional strategy game provides both the benefit of scale without zooming so far out as to lose the relationship and bonds visual novels thrive on. Issues With Creating Mechanic Distinctiveness In SRPGs From a mechanical perspective the SRPG is a type of game which has always struggled with diversity. It has a specific set of expected features and there is little room offered for a new game to expand it to leave their mark. Some do try to add their own unique spin on the formula but it is rare for them to have any meaningful impact on the overall experience of play. This is not as important to hybrid visual novels as it is to a pure SRPG since it wants the broad and tactile emotions the SRPG invokes rather than its complexity or difficulty. However, that does not mean it is above suffering from the issues of mechanical repetitiveness and many still try to include something unique to create a more memorable experience. Digimon Survive attempts to do exactly this with its digivolution system. This is where partner digimon have the ability to change into higher and more powerful stages of evolution at the cost of continually draining their SP and after running out they will return to their original state. The idea here is clearly to encourage the player into the shoes of the humans supporting the digimon by giving them access to the same powers as the protagonist characters and make them careful consider when to unleash it to swing the tide of the fight. In practice there seems to have been some fear of actually committing to this interesting idea and the SP cost is rendered irrelevant through high SP totals and easy SP recovery meaning there is never any reason not to go straight to the highest stage of evolution at the start of the battle. This is an extremely common trend among hybrid visual novels with many of them adding theoretically engaging unique mechanics only to not properly utilise them and render the SRPG feeling extremely standard and uninspired. Its status as a secondary element might well be to blame as resources are funnelled into the visual novel portion due to its greater importance which results in these extra elements being starved of what they need to shine. Conclusion When considering the SRPG for a visual novel hybrid there is a great deal it can offer in terms of thematic synergy and pushing an elevated perspective on events. It provides the game with a sense of grandeur through the scale it operates on and allows the player to put themselves in the shoes of the character commanding this battle. Despite this perspective it still has a much more personal angle to the units being controlled than other types of strategy games which gives it a greater compatibility with visual novel narratives. The major downside to using an SRPG is the way it can be difficult for the gameplay to feel unique especially when it is secondary to the visual novel and as such has less development time to get it the mechanics right. Nonetheless, if you are looking for style of secondary gameplay that works with a larger cast or a grander scale then you cannot go wrong with the SRPG.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – SRPG, Adventure, Sci-Fi Play Time – 23 hours Developer - HYDE, Inc. and Witchcraft Steam VNDB Of Harmony, Morality And Wrath As a long standing franchise Digimon is no stranger to having games in all genres imaginable made for it and so the choice of a hybrid visual novel and SRPG should come as no surprise. For Digimon Survive the most important part is clearly the visual novel aspect of the game given the overwhelming amount of time spent on it and the way the game heavily leans into narrative to drive player engagement. Much like the original Digimon series the game follows a band of children who are whisked away to the world where digimon live while on a trip. However, rather than a heartfelt journey with their new digimon friends, the cast of Survive are faced with the reality of digimon as monsters covered with claws and possessing magical powers which can easily kill a human. Their tale is one of clinging on against a world that is out to get them. The SRPG battle systems are how the game choose to emphasise this conflict and their results are mixed to say the least. Does this package come together to create the intense and engaging experience it is clearly aiming for or does it take the concept too far and drive straight into the ditch of unintentional absurdity? Let’s meet our destined partner and find out. Tale of Lost Souls – Narrative and Themes It is easy to forget with all the cute plushes and key chains that digimon are by their nature monsters. Many of them are larger than the children who are often the protagonists of these tales and have claws and fangs which can easily kill a man. The potential danger they pose and human reactions to them have historically been played on from time to time by the franchise such as with Digimon Tamers, but there has been a lack of such self-awareness in recent years. Enter Digimon Survive, as it deliberately steps into this void and frames the world of Digimon as not only a place of adventure but also danger. From Fangmon to Arukenimon, a whole suite of threats are brought out against the cast with each one of them offering a different avenue of challenge. Some engage in trickery and must be outsmarted while others simple aim to overpower through brute strength. Complimenting this is the sense that the world itself does not want the cast there as a mysterious fog slowly spreads and consumes anything in its wake. All this lends Survive a sense of excitement and tension which helps sell the arcs of the characters and provides a feeling of weight to the player’s decisions knowing they may well result in the death of someone they have grown to like. If there is on weakness in Survive’s approach it can be found in their handling of rookie digimon. In order to provide a sense of escalating threat Survive works its way through the evolution stages of digimon and the rookie level they chose to start with was Gotsumon. Unfortunately there is nothing nothing remotely scary about this child-like creature and having the cast screaming at them like they are some sort of big threat comes across as somewhat silly. This hurts the player suspension of disbelief very early on and may result in them losing interest as they cannot give the game the emotional investment it wants. Fortunately it quickly moves on from Gotsumon and onto champion level digimon who better suit the tone which the game is aiming for and prevents this poor choice in digimon from having a lasting impact. Sitting alongside the danger of this new world is the sense of mystery it builds up about the nature of the place the characters are trapped within. This is mostly achieved through taking aspects of our own familiar world and perverting them into a slightly uncomfortable form that stands out against the otherwise green land. The main alternation made here is to place buildings in a state of decay as if they are being reclaimed by the world around them, but still maintaining their core form and identity. In doing so the game raises a lot of questions in the player’s mind about the origins of these familiar structures and why they seem to be related to the cast somehow. By placing this seed in their minds Survive can add a motivation to engage with the narrative mysteries surrounding what the antagonistic digimon want and their connection to all the strange phenomena. Having established a feeling of danger, it is utilised here to give a pressing concern that demands the mystery be solved and a consequence for failure. Adding excitement to even the most minor world building and exposition is the name of the game and this merger of these two elements does wonders to secure player engagement. Throughout the story the player is given choices with three options which adhere to three alignment, Moral, Harmony and Wrathful. Based on which of these alignment you favour over the course of the game it will present you with a unique path which makes up the last quarter of the title. This alteration is quite significant and has a major impact on how events play out, who survives and the type of ending awaiting the heroes. All of this creates a strong sense that the player’s choices matter, but only on the macro level rather than each individual choice. This changes the emphasis to be on how the player behaves overall and avoids the potential of an inconsistent portrayal of the protagonist by encouraging the player to commit to a single alignment for the best results rather the jumping between them depending on their mood. Beyond the three alignment paths there is also a true route which is unlocked on new game plus that wraps up the remaining lose threads and acts as a way to tie the character arcs together to leave the player satisfied. Bonds Beyond Our World – Characters Digimon is a franchise which lives and dies on the strength of its core cast and their digimon companions even more so than other similar titles. This mostly comes down the way it places a key importance on bonds and how they can be formed between people who at first seem like they might never get along. On this front Survive performs admirably and even add its own spice through the use of some character's failure to achieve the desired bonds and the consequences. The main digimon and human pairing reflect each-others weakness and together they grow and form a bond of trust that serves to help them stay alive. Survive mostly avoids being nostalgia bait with the partner digimon being some of the less well known monsters which adds some much need freshness to the characters dynamics. Human relationships share this variety as the group do not always see eye to eye on many issues and resolving these conflict has a high stakes given the dangerous situation they find themselves in. There is a slight subversion to the normal formula between digimon and humans with some characters failing to form bonds with their partners. They take the wrong lessons from what is happening to them and cannot see beyond their monstrous appearances to the delicate person within. As such they suffer the dire consequences of that weakness which shakes the other characters and pushes forward their own arcs in interesting and exciting ways. The plot is by far the greatest enemy of characterisation for Digimon Survive. Having the need for specific events to play out in a certain manner often leads to characters behaving oddly just to make sure the narrative reaches its desired ending. The multiple path structure is responsible for this issue as it needs to make each of them distinct from the others and the game’s favourite way to do this is for a different member of the cast become the focal point for the narrative conflict. So in order to provide a sense of escalation towards a climax the emotions of the focus character are also amplified to keep up with the story. However, this often pushes the character into be caricatures of themselves were much of their depth is lost which is the core of their appeal. It is not an even change with only some of the cast being overemphasised at a time meaning that there are still balanced characters to counteract those who have broken away from their original identities and they prevent this acting out of character from being too overbearing through a contrast of personalities. Forgotten Gameplay – Visuals, Audio and Technical If there is one word which describes the SRPG systems in Digimon Survive it is uninspired. Not for lack of trying, but instead from an unwillingness to commit to its unique ideas and make them a meaningful part of a player’s strategies. The main way it try to differentiate itself other games in the genre is through the inclusion of the digivolving mechanic. At the start of a battle all partner digimon are rookie level but as the game goes on they unlock more powerful stages of evolution from Champion to Mega and they can change into them at any point. The down side to this is that being digivolved causes the digimon to continually lose SP until they run out at which point they return to being a rookie level. SP is the resource also used for skills and the higher the digimon’s evolution, the more SP is consumed per turn. The intention here is clearly that the player should vary the stage of digivolution they use to match the threat and hold the higher stages for key enemies. However, in reality there is never any reason not to just choose the highest stage of evolution the moment the battle starts. This is due to the poor handling of the SP economy where the drain is too small to be meaningful due to the short length of battles and the SP total available increasing with each digimon’s level making the cost so insignificant as to be forgettable. On top of this there are plenty of SP recovery options available to render the cost a mere footnote in the gameplay and remove the only unique element of the game’s systems. Artistic style is a difficult thing to make your own in a pre-established franchise and there is always the temptation to just copy what has come before. You can feel Survive being constrained by the leash of series obligations with its visuals. Nothing here is particularly out there in terms of aesthetics and the digimon themselves are exactly as they have always been in a clear move to be respectful to their history. Instead Survive prides itself on the smaller details of its world and characters. The decay of its human buildings preserves their identity while smothering them in a greenery of this lush world and leaving the impression they are only held together by threads. Each character has a clean and distinctive design making them instantly recognisable and providing a good base model to facilitated their dynamics expression changes and movements. None of these elements immediately pop out to the player but leave a strong sense of quality in the mind and do not bring attention away from the important core narrative. The weakest element is definitely the music due to the rather limited number of tracks when compared to the game’s duration and it can become quite grating to hear the same few over and over again. Each track has a good audio design which sells the emotional state of the cast and the danger they are in, but there just needed to be more of them. Conclusion Having such a diverse franchise history can be as much of a blessing as it is a curse and Digimon Survive perfectly encapsulates this duality. It carves out an identity of its own through its reviving of the monstrous nature of digimon and the mystery and wonder of the world they inhabit. This is reinforced by a core cast of flawed and interesting humans paired with their digimon companions and their clean and expressive character designs. Choice is then given to the player through an alignment system which put them on diverging paths to round out the package. However, it often struggles against the visual limitations of what is expected of a Digimon game and often contorts characters in order to meet the needs of its divergent paths. Add it this the lacking SRPG systems which try and fail to differentiate themselves from their peers and there are moments the game can seem underwhelming. It is only in its totality that it becomes clear as to the entertaining and pulse pounding ride Survive manages to achieve. Verdict – Digimon Survive successfully manages to reinvigorate the sense of danger and mystery in the digital world. Even if the SRPG elements are decidedly under-baked. Pros + Manages to make digimon feel like the monsters they are and sells the danger they pose to the cast. + Divergent paths and choices offer a good incentive for replaying the game. + Crafts an atmosphere of mystery where the nature of the world becomes a driving force for pushing forward. + Digimon and human dynamics are well presented and create interesting conflicts. Cons - Lacking SRPG systems which feel repetitive by the end. - Characters can behave in strange ways because the plot demands it. - The translation has odd quirks which can be distracting.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. The Completionist Drive It is human nature to want to be rewarded for our accomplishments hence why people are so happy to get a bit of paper at the end of a university course. Games love to tap into this emotional response through Achievements and visual novels are no exception. Achievements are generally used as both a system of rewarding the player and a means of encouraging them to engage with the full range of what the game has to offer. This is especially important for visual novels where the space the player has to express themselves is limited so providing an incentive to ensure they get to experience everything helps create a well rounded title. How exactly do visual novels use Achievements to facilitate this aim? Let’s tick off a check list and find out. Sense Of Accomplishment Merely progressing through a game alone may not have the needed sense of forward momentum as we can lose sight of how far we have come which is even more of an issue the longer the game goes on. Hence why many visual novels makes use of chapter or route based Achievements that trigger on certain key milestones. This allows the player to have a proper sense of where they are in the narrative as well as providing a pat on the back for the effort they made to reach this point. In doing so the game creates a positive feedback loop where the player is drip fed these Achievements and feels incentivised to continue rather than losing steam. Using Achievements in this manner is standard practice for video games in general but for visual novels it holds a greater weight than in other mediums. This is due to how extremely structured and inflexible many of them are at their core even with all their branching paths. As such these milestone Achievements act as one of the only means of allowing the player to look back on their journey through the narrative and see the path they took to get there, which is important as a means of forming a strong impression in their memory and leaving the game feeling satisfied. Almost any visual novel could be taken as an example so let’s pick one out of the hat. The Great Ace Attorney is entirely linear in its structure with clearly defined cases which must be completed in succession. The repetition inherent in the investigation and court sections can lead to a sense of going in circles. To counteract this The Great Ace Attorney has Achievements at the end of each case to inform the player that they have progressed in a tangible and easy to comprehend way. The slightly disconnected nature of the Achievements prevents them from drawing too much attention away from the ongoing events being presented which is reinforced by the Achievements brief appearance on screen. They exist here to acknowledge what the player has done in an obvious and nonintrusive way that can be quickly pushed aside but still referenced later on. Encouraging Interaction Not all Achievements are given out in a linear fashion just for progressing through the game, many of them ask the players to perform actions outside of normal play patterns. These can be anything making specific choices to finding hidden secrets by poking the game in ways the player may not have initial thought of. All Achievements of this type are an intentional effort on the part of the developers to direct their audience towards the title in its entirety and try and prevent them from becoming blinkered as they follow the central path. By showcasing the possibilities the game can offer they can encourage players to act beyond what is required of them even when there is no immediate Achievement attached since a precedent has been set for interesting content to be stowed away in these corners. Steins Gate’s phone is an excellent example of this as there are multiple Achievements associated with it as well as it being the primary mechanism for choices. Beyond the immediate utility it provides is also contains small interactions through texts as well as various customisation options. However, these are easy to ignore when the main narrative is so gripping and they could easily be over looked in favour of moving forwards. So the Achievements fill the gap and draw the player’s attention back to the other features of the phone to ensure they will not be missing any of the game’s content. Controlling Expectations Before the player even load up a visual novel for the first time, they are likely to have seen its Achievements even if only in passing since they are often shown on the game’s library page. This leaves an initial impression on the player as to the tone and content of the title. There are three parts which inform the player’s view of Achievements and they are their names, the tasks required to get them and the small pictures associated with them. Together they sell the content of the game in a succinct manner by embodying the themes and atmosphere of the entire experience. Let’s look at VA-11 HALL-A’s Achievements for an example of the effect this can achieve. They present the character focus of the game by having many of their tasks being related to specific characters and the characters featuring prominently on the artwork. The extensive use of humours in Achievement names indicates the tone of the game to the player without a second of playtime. Mentioning elements which are obviously not standard visual novel gameplay helps the player understand what kind of game they are in for. Achievements’ purpose from this angle is to help set the player’s expectations for the contents of the game without them having engaged with it at all. This can work as a means of establishing the genre and narrative density of a visual novel. Take AI: The Somnium Files which has a lot of hidden achievements when the title is first started and since the player can see this they are aware that something is being hidden from them. Through this the player comes to expect a mystery with twists and turns which could have been spoiled by the Achievements. The large number of them suggests a dense game which will demand the player’s time and concentration. Setting these expectations early on makes sure the player can acclimatise to title quickly while helping them understand what the future hold without spelling it out for them explicitly. Conclusion Although the phrase ‘a sense of pride and accomplishment’ has taken on somewhat negative connotations for many people who play games, there is no denying how much power it has over a player when done correctly. Achievements offer a most flexible means of utilising this strength and they can provide the needed motivation for the player to keep progressing through the visual novel. The way each Achievement is put together also has a profound effect on its perception and by extension the game as a whole which can be played with to properly align expectations. On top of these benefits it can shape how someone engages with the game by pointing out what is possible within the systems of the game in order to ensure nothing is missed. Overall it is clear why visual novels make use of both external and internal Achievements and they should definitely be considered when planning your own title.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. The Dark Night Of The Soul Dealing with the parts of human nature we would rather not look at can be difficult to fit into many genres due to audience expectations for heroic tales. As such if a story wants to tackle these subjects it needs to build its entire world and tone around them, thus was born the Dark Fantasy. This genre takes its fantastical elements and uses them to create an oppressive and bleak setting through which its themes will appear as a natural extension. The fantasy elements need not be located in entirely separate worlds to ours and they can merely be a magical layer hidden just out of view, it just need to use these aspects to match its intended tone. Due to the prevalence of the slice of life and romance genres in visual novels, it is not normally a medium associated with these grittier stories, but hidden off to the side are a wealth of interesting Dark Fantasy tales. They make use of them same tools which bring joy to twist in the knife and express the parts of ourselves we do not want to see. Let’s find out exactly how they achieve this feat and the potential pitfalls and benefits of choosing visual novels to tell their stories. On A Razors Edge When it comes to addressing darker themes and ideas, visual novels tend to completely embrace the player in a bleak blanket. However, this can backfire on the game as there is a point at which the scenes become too serious and depart from the mixed nature of our world as they wildly galop off into unintentional parody. Just as no life is all joy so too is it not all suffering and leaning towards either extreme can make the player loose connection with events on screen. Their reaction will be to laugh at how inherently absurd the bleakness is or find its themes to be in poor taste and turn away from the title. Both are undesirable outcomes for visual novels but it is a knifes edge they must walk if they want to have this type of narrative. Many attempt to mitigate this through careful spacing of the most extreme moments so as to not overwhelm anyone in the atmosphere while still maintaining its impact. It also serves the double purpose of creating a thematic line through the entire work to add clarity to the message it is presenting to the player. All The Evils Of The World The emotions and actions which define people are not always positive in nature and it can be difficult for players to overcome their aversion to these negative associations. Visual novels overcome this barrier of Dark Fantasy through their tendency towards an intimate focus on the protagonist and those around them. Rather than being something committed by an unknown distant party it is instead someone who’s reasons and past are known and we share the same path forwards as them. Mixing sympathy with tragedy is key to how darker aspects of a character’s personality can be an avenue through which the player can relate what is happening on screen to their own experiences and consider the way they would act in the character’s place. This introspection is the reason visual novels and Dark Fantasy make such a good pairing when properly executed and gives both the room they need to explore spaces normally avoided by other narratives in the medium. Darker themes have always been the subject of various stories throughout history and they are always troubling topics to deal with. Full Metal Daemon Muramasa takes these topics from a Dark Fantasy angle and asks about their value alongside a series of other darker events. It has its protagonist tread the line between being sympathetic and revolting to create a compelling anti-hero that makes you want to look away but is so fascinating that you cannot. Leveraging this basis it throws him into a morally questionable mire of backstabbing and betrayal to see how he will react and reveal to the player the humanity they may not be willing to accept yet exists inside all of us. Throughout all of this it never loses sight of the fact this is personal story about the emotions we all experience and it prevents the bleak events from overwhelming the core messaging. When All Is Stripped Away Alongside the focus on intimacy as part of a Dark Fantasy visual novel there is a pulling apart of the emotions and motivations of the entire cast in order to examine the base desires and drives of human action. While the game can sometimes present these in a negative light, these motivators are often shown in an even fashion with the characters trying to be true to themselves regardless of if the results are not always positive for them. Yet it does not lose sight of fact that these desires have bad association in the mind of the player and so it creates an extreme set of circumstances as a justification for these heightened emotional reactions in order to prevent the player from losing their connection to the characters. This technique is mostly confined to important dramatic moments since it would make little sense for the characters to be a constant state of emotional distress without tiring themselves out and so it must be used efficiently to ensure the believability of these outbursts is maintained. Take Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly which uses the confines of a mysterious building to apply pressure on its characters through the feeling of being trapped. Their emotional reactions immediately become more understandable since we all have some experience of feeling confined and how it can make you do irrational things. From this basis it forces out the darker thoughts of its characters when they are confronted by events and revelations which push them to their limit. Having all of these changes being related to the protagonist keeps them in the spotlight so the player never loses sight of the greater picture of the narrative as well as providing an avenue for the other characters to express how they feel in a natural manner. Conclusion As a genre Dark Fantasy tends to be overlooked in favour of lighter themes and ideas with a broader appeal, but despite this there are still many titles which showcase why exploring the darker elements of our world has value. With visual novel’s love of keeping an intimate perspective on their characters, it is only natural that a genre so interested in their less savoury aspects would be a perfect fit, since it can juxtapose sympathy with disgust on a personal level. To reinforce this approach there is a careful stripping away of the fronts the characters put up by placing them in extreme situations and showing how they fail to properly deal with them despite their best efforts. The one noticeable downside to Dark Fantasy is the tightrope walk it has to perform in order to not become so serious and depressing that it moves from believable into parody and loses the player as it disconnects completely for reality. When properly utilised Dark Fantasy can bring forward themes and ideas not normally explored and allow the player to experience them in a fleshed out fashion.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre - Romance, Action, Drama Play Time - 100+ hours Developer - Frontwing VNDB Steam The Blind Leading The Blind Reflecting a character’s flaws back onto them through their interactions with the heroines has long been a core of the visual novel narrative design. However, few showcase the power of this approach quite like the Grisaia trilogy which takes it as far as possible beyond a simple route structure to match its changing stakes. It is also an uneven experience and it leans into the more absurd aspects of the world as the series progresses to the point of potentially losing people who loved what the original game was at its core. Still there is a reason these titles would birth the greater Grisaia franchise and something in their ups and downs appeals to the audience. So let’s go undercover and dig up the secrets to Grisaia’s lasting influence. Secrets And School – Narrative and Themes Above all other aspects of Grisaia’s narrative are the characters. Everything is warped around making sure they can appear as much as possible and all be involved in the plot even when it does not directly concern them. This becoming more prominent when the games move to a more linear structure such as with the second game where Yuuji’s backstory is framed through the lens of the girls discovering his discarded biography. Such a contrivance exists to make sure they are up to speed so they can make choices about their futures rather than being forced aside as the trilogy move in a more action orientated direction. Even the first game’s focus on a single character in its routes adheres to this philosophy. Obviously having other characters constantly push themselves into the heroine’s route would be distracting so instead their presence is felt through the advice or clues they provide to Yuuji. These instances offer a pacing element that reminds the player of the existence of the rest of the cast and gives relief from the darker events in order to remind them of the light at the end of the tunnel. Put together these help create a memorable experience reliant of the likeability of its characters to keep its engagement even as a more direct narrative with its own driving forces takes over. Calling the original three Grisaia games a trilogy is a bit misleading as it is quite clear from the shifting structures that it was an expansion brought about by the unexpected popularity of the first game. This transition occurred slowly over the trilogy as it morphs from a route centric story into a linear narrative with a singular villain. As a result the series can feel inconsistent and someone who liked the first game may not like the third or vice versa. The second game is the biggest victim of this change as it contains after stories for all the heroines from the first game while also containing the set up story for the third title. Here the clash between the linear narrative future and multi ending past makes its presence known as the game tries to reconcile the two in preparation for the third game. By far the most glaring example of this is how it merges all the ending into one and tries to imply all of them took place without explaining how this was done and why the previous status quo was restored despite the dramatically different ways those routes ended. It hand waves it all away and hopes you will just accept this change and move on. To its credit the mess of outcomes it pushed together never interacts with the future plot in a way that draws attention to it through a clever focusing on the heroines future with Yuuji rather than their past. Solace In The Arms Of Another – Characters As the stars of the show it would have been easy for the heroines to overwhelm Yuuji and render the protagonist a secondary character in his own story. The solution which the games arrived at is to have each of the heroines reflect an aspect of Yuuji and force him to come to terms with it in inventive ways. For example Sachi acts as a mirror for how his past traps him just as it does her and Michiru explores his duel nature as he is split between two worlds just as she has been for a long time. Through this framing of their actions an equal focus can be spit with Yuuji in order to create a dynamic between them where each explores their identity through the other in an organic manner. In addition, it provides a reason for the player to care about each route as part of a complete whole since it is only by going through each of them that they can gain a proper understanding of the protagonist. With the second game the heroines no longer act as separate reflections but instead join together through the lessons they learned to become a complete and more developed version of Yuuji which he can learn from as he takes the final steps to becoming as free as they are now. It also works as fitting conclusion to the heroines’ arc as they shift from being helped by Yuuji into the role of his saviours and equals. A continuos emphasis on this function for the heroines creates one of the few thematic through lines of the trilogy. If there is one issue with how the characters are executed it is in their tendency to behave out of character or make jumps of logic which seem to only exist to create drama or progress the plot. This is mostly confined to the third game where the outlandish events swing the narrative from one tense situation to an action scene and back again at speed. As such the characters must be adapted to match and, while the game tries its best not to push this too far, it inevitably makes them act oddly to meet the narrative demands. These alternations are brief and the game never dwells on them for long in order to obscure the issue as much as possible and if you are willing to roll with the game’s direction it is easy to overlook. However, given the importance the trilogy has placed on characters as the drivers of the narrative, these inconsistencies stand out more than they would in other visual novels and this harms the feeling of the characters being actual people. Perhaps the most noticeable example of characters behaving oddly is the alternative ending of the third game where Yuuji has to jump through a few logical hoops and behave contrary to his ongoing character arc thus contradicting the entire game beforehand. This is an extreme example but it does showcase how widespread the problem is within the story. Glistening Fruits – Visual, Audio and Technical Taken from an audio and visual angle, the Grisaia trilogy might appear to be nothing special at first glance, a solid example of its genre but nothing more. It is easy to see why with the characters sticking to relatively realistic designs featuring school uniforms and suits, the locations being the standard fair for the genre and the music which occupancies it being nothing the player has not heard before. How Grisaia manages to push beyond this initial impression is through the small details and how it merges these parts into an emotionally resonant whole. The aforementioned uniforms all share the same basic structure but are subtly customised to communicate the personality of the characters and even hint at their hidden problems. This is then utilised through clever placement on screen and a proper understanding of what music to play to hint at what is going on in the characters heads or make a particular event hit hard. In turn this makes the moments of down time as engaging as those of high drama with it being clear that the game always has something going on for you to keep an eye out for. Ultimately this quiet form of presentation is something almost invisible from a glance, but helps maintain the player’s sense of involvement and keeps them playing without them ever really knowing the exact reason they feel this way. From a technical stand point the trilogy remains consistently mediocre throughout with only the expected suite of features, but it is interesting to note the decline in the importance of choices over the three games. The route based approach of the first game placed an importance on having a convincing way to transition into a divergent path, but even here we can see a minimalist ladder structure where the routes are presented sequentially over the course of the common route. Over the following two games almost all choices are stripped away to focus around a linear and controlled narrative so it can lean more into its action aspects. What choices do remain tend to make the characters behave oddly in order to accommodate this sudden alternation to the direction of the narrative and the outcome is somewhat messy. Overall the transition from one style of choices to the other was not handled particular well, but it ends up being such a minor aspect of the game that it is easy to forget them. Conclusion Trilogies which spawn organically from the success of the first title are often a bit messy in execution and Grisaia does not avoid this fate. The shifting from a route based structure to a linear one, the changes to character behaviour and dynamics and de-emphasizing of choices all contribute to this feeling. However, in order to compensate for this unevenness Grisaia focuses in on its characters and the more outlandish or action elements of its first game, combining them into an identity all its own by the third game. Of course this leads to an alienation of players who liked the more down to earth aspects of the original, but this seems to have been a price the series was willing to pay given they doubled down on it in Phantom Trigger. Verdict – Despite their messy and uneven quality, this trilogy invests the player in its characters and pulls them on a wild ride which aims to entertain at every turn. Pros + Character centric narrative which leans into the strengths of their interactions. + Heroines compliment Yuuji and they bring out in each other what makes them tick. + Solid visuals and audio with a few outstanding pieces. Cons - Narrative becomes increasingly absurd as the games go on to the point of being distracting. - Characters will behave oddly in order to make the plot progress. - As a trilogy the games meander around with a lack of focus after the first title.