fos1x Posted September 23, 2023 Posted September 23, 2023 (edited) I never read or write a review before… most review form I consume are YouTube video because I dislike reading pure text (surprise much for a visual novel reader?) So, here is it! a review about a game that I accidentally stumble upon. How did I first encounter this game again? A random Reddit shit post? VNDB homepage random image? or a desperation finding of mystery genre VNs ithat somehow, someway I prefer it over my love for Eroge? But nonetheless, the moment I saw the art, I knew, I will love this game. I’m one of those person who really want to judge a book by their cover, art style is the thing that make or break to me, and the rest is History. State of mind: (I play Return to Shironagasu Island after finish playing Swansong, and write this review about a 2 month after finish the game while playing Steins;gate) - Return Shironagasu Island / シロナガス島への帰還 is an Indie Visual Novel game is made by, script by, drawn by and directing by Onimushi Hyougo so 2 out of 3 about this game is craft by the same person - The game release first on 2018-12-30 JP version and first on 2020-10-31 En Version - It has fulling Voice acting (except for Main lead... again) for JP version and EN with My patch. Because this game is Underrated on Visual Novel scene, I will give my best to review This game on an Underrated Forum ....Up Wake up! If you don’t…. Things will get worse We are running….out of time! This world will be…. So please, wake up! Ikeda! Ikeda SEN! - As you wake up, you realize you are inside an airport and waiting for someone... yes, it's all her fault, what takes her so long? - The transitional Visual novel UI faded away, left you with an empty background cg… wait, what happened? Hold on… is this a point and click adventure game? - Ooh, yes it is… well... not completely, this point and click only available on certain scene, but it has been used as an effective tool to make player immerse into the story, as the characters will give out comments and prompts for your click action, you can basically prioritize your curiosity for the scene by simply clicking, truly a breath of fresh air compare to most traditional Visual Novel, ...at least to all the Visual novel experiences I had. - After a while you finally spot her from afar, seems like she got questioned by an airport staff that they're mistaking her for a lost child… - Gosh, Neneko, she hasn’t changed at all, still with that annoying long hair - So the flustered Neneko spotted me - Ah! Ikeda! - Did you know this kid? - No, I have never seen this person in my life…. - Haha.... Just kidding, Yes I'm her guardian Ikeda Sen, a private detective at New York, want to see my ID? - Hey! Neneko, stop hitting me! - You know, Neneko, you're already a high school kid, also you claim to know 20 different languages, what happen? Cat got your tongue? - I told you before Ikeda I have communication disorder, I can’t just talk direct to stranger! - Soon Ikeda received a phone call from his client miss Higgins, A millionaire friend of her father Invitation letter to a private island - Ikeda an Infamous New York detective find himself on an undercover mission to find the truth on this mystery Island called Shironagasu - Along with his arrogant yet timid sidekick who just flew from Japan and seem like she already on her first assignment. - What mystery lie on this island, what people will they meet, and why there's a seaweed monster onboard? - Hey Neneko I told you to be my house sitter for the time being, this mission can be dangerous you know? - But you told me that your neighborhood is full of weirdos! Just the thought of being surrounded by crazy people give me chills! - There's multiple choice throughout the game, player have to use their brain power and put up actual detective work and use the all clues scatter around game, don't worry, your assistant Neneko will make sure to give you a good scolding if you pick out some obvious stupid option. - There's only ONE way to find the truth behind all, the journey to uncover the mystery behind this island are full of danger and challenge, but don't worry, you have made friend along the way, you must give your trust to them or else you won't make it out alive - This game doesn't need a guide, actually it would ruin the experience, so try your best! - With that, hurry up! What are you waiting for? Find the culprit AMONG US and expose the truth for the world to see, and bring Justice for all the all victims that fells into this island conspiracy. Mild Spoiler Zone! You can still read this without getting fully spoiled, I gave everything without proper context! Spoiler Woah, It's a murder mystery on an isolated island! My favorite sub-genre... EVER! What? Sound familiar? Nah, you're probably imagining stuff! The "SEA-CAT" won't cry this time. - A Mystery thriller action packed visual novel, with an odd and heavy stacked range of characters to add to the dynamic, things will never get dull even for a moment. - And when sh!t hit the fan, you have no time to relax! So stay focus, one wrong choice will be GAME OVER! Make sure you get to use it 6x9 save slots fully! - As you goes deep and deeper, you can slowly see the true intention of this island, there will be many great foes in your way, those lets them cloud your judgment, remember this: Don't overlook the detail, no mater how small. The truth can only found in the detail. So Promise me, we will see this through until the end. QUICK TIME EVENT SO ARE YOU A SLOW READER? TOO BAD, YOU NEED TO RELOAD YOUR SAVE! - I leave out of the non-spoiler review because I don't want to spoil people to the surprise Quick time event, and it's hella FUN even it forces you to become a rap god. Especially the "defuse" scene, this is a rare (I have never seen once!) Visual novel feature that Shironagasu has, it elevates the intensity of the situation 10-fold, I wish we get more of this in thriller visual novel. Point and click Frustration - The point and click isn't perfect, it has pros and cons, the game will skip options that you didn't click, so you might leave stuff out and never read again! - Hyougo-sensei did balance this feature as best as possible, but it still has some jank like, don't know where to click next and the zone to click seem small and insignificant, the best solution would be when at the point and click section are to think like a detective, have patience and not rushing your job. SPOOK - This game is spooky, the jump scare is well-used and well-placed, the spook doesn't stop at just the jump scare - By combining all the tech, Shironagasu Island has it out to be quite a thrilling experience. - Though... I don't see this as the main horror of this game, cause the true horror has yet to be revealed until the end. Pacing, and tone Balance - This game has good pacing balance, never a moment I feel dulls or boring, rated for 11 hours on VNDB more like 15 for me - You could finish the game if you can have 3 sittings, it can easily split up into 3 sections (without spoiler): 1- Intro To Ikeda "reunited" with Neneko 2- Reunion to the END 3- Epilogue - The humors are quite good, Especially the Epilogue, the translation team behind do the right thing and not randomly shoe honing western joke! Despite the translation not too polishing. Music - The soundtracks are amazing for a big title visual novel, let alone an Indie game as Shironagasu. - Complete with around 40-50+ soundtracks with many varieties, from the Soft tone of melancholy piano, ambient heavy soundtrack, horror distorted note block (literally minecraft), Melody guitar transition to horro flick violin, to relaxing Bossa nova, violent Synthesize sequence, Intense drum and horn orchestrate perfectly while packing OP and 2 yes TWO ED and a handful of BGM that crafted and fit perfectly for this game! - WHILE NOT LIMIT TO Angel choir singing, Slow Jazz, and something straight out from UMINEKO, oh yeah... also "country music". - Spanning across multiple Composers: - Akiyama Hirokazu - DOVA-SYNDROME - Komori Taira - MusMus - Senses Circuit - Isoe Toshimichi - Kataoka Shingo With the EXCELLENT Vocal BY Itou Kanako herself! You know.... the person who also sing OP and ED for Steins;gate, Chaoss;head/child, Soukou Akki Muramasa, Saya no Uta, HIGURASHI !!! DID I MENTION THIS GAME IS 5$ USD?!!! HYOGO Also selling the Sound track on steam for 5$... or you can extract the game file. Return to Shironagasu is truly a hidden Gem that worth every of your FIVE American dollar The game hit all my quality check list and will hold dear to me for years to come And good news, there's a Sequel in the making! it's still in development and named Haruka Naru Enkei Sekai Finally I would like to thank everyone that read my "shilling review" And thanks to Onimushi Hyougo to make this amazing game! Also thank to counterstrike that I able to get money on my steam account from the weapon cases because I don't have a freaking online banking account. DID I MENTION THERE'S AN EPILOGUE THAT'S A BEACH EPISODE? Beach "Ebisouge" will be Unlock after you finish the game, it's good relaxing section that give your favorite cast even more indept character devlopment after they leave Shironagasu Island (I never mention who will leave so keep cope and seeth) An Overal a comedic episode that will set you UP and wait for the Sequel to come ...please do not play this chapter in public cause HYOGO will limit test the 15+ rating on steam! Game literally run on potato with the kirikiri engine and hella optimize with non noticeable bug I ran smoothly on my 7th Intel-gen Pentium w/ 4-cores/4T mobile class cpu and 4gb of ram (at the time and god bless I have 8gb now) on Window 10 Character have lips sync.... god dam lips sync on a freaking Indie game, it can't be any better than this The UI and setting ain't Perfect, something like you must quit to title for changing some setting, fullscreen or window mode being confusing at first, will rate UI on 6/10 but still very use-able. You can get the Pc version game from: Steam | Amazon | Melonbooks | Toranoana | Booth | DMM link block my region so Rip bozo Official Game Website Author Xitter: @ONIMUSHI_HYOGO (NSFW twitter btw so no direct link) This game also Available on the Switch, but I heard that it was port to in UNITY VA PATCH At the time of writing, the EN version still doesn't have a voice acting part? Weird? What happen? Turn out you have to have extra licensing for Global release, and I heard from the source himself It will cost him about 3 New car - So..... if it's a Kei car that's 10.000 USD each, that mean 30 grand - If a normal Sedan, lets say a Prius it's a bit less than 30.000 USD each, that mean 90 grand - Even in between, still... that is 60k just for licensing! - I Won't say anything but... I wish him all the best making the sequel. So I made this patch... mainly for myself because I can't stand Visual novel without VA and the licensing rule sound too stupid The patch work backward by granting JP version it EN translation, yes, you must have the JP version (so it kinda legal) You can easily obtain JP version if You're on Steam WITHOUT rebuy the game Just simply go to game setting and redownload the game in JP language Patch Link to VNDB please send bug report to @fos1x at Xitter The current problem for it to not be an EN path is folder structure and various kirikiri engine problem.... and I'm kinda lazy Also thank to Zakamutt for Tech supporting Because I was clueless about patching the game! Edited September 24, 2023 by fos1x typo typo typo Quote
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