Blankspace

BlankSpace was a pretty solid visual novel that took about 3 hours, and I would recommend it on sale. The characters are fun and interesting, visuals/soundtrack pretty good and the puzzles are solid. However the short run time means that a lot of areas weren't explored as much as I would have liked - for example, Beryl is the only character we actually interact with (besides our protagonist Chris), which is fine/understandable but means we don't get to learn much about Chris' ex who is mentioned a few times One negative I would like to mention is this visual novel takes place in a series of escape rooms and the navigation of them - aka pressing arrows to check various areas of the room - is kinda bad/disorienting. This is especially an issue on the last room, which is way bigger than the rest and very confusing to move around properly. The other issue is that there are multiple endings but I don't think you have the option to skip puzzles on second+ playthroughs, which means I probably won't bother trying to get them. I got the true ending on my first playthrough and it does the usual visual novel thing where [spoiler] the ending is quite open ended and doesn't really tell you what happens to the characters afterwards which I will be honest, left me pretty unsatisfied and tempted to leave a negative review[/spoiler] Overall, I think I'd give this a 6 or 7 out of 10

Room-escape type VN with only two characters and low on colour. Should you try escaping it or maybe try playing? You wake up in an unfamiliar room with a stranger, not in a bed, but tied to a pipe in a corner, while the stranger lies comfortably on a sofa. This is the initial set-up of the story presented to the players. Sounds like a typical start of escape games, and for the most part it is, but there is some originality here despite the cliche. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say some decent enough plot twists are waiting ahead, or at least ones I could not predict ahead of time if that could serve as some measure of originality. This VN is relatively short so you should be able to reach one of the endings in a few hours at most. Reaching all seven endings will require much more time if you don't just use the guide that is. Since it is an escape-type game, there is some limited point-and-click interaction with the environment. You'll collect various items, some of which can be combined, and try to figure out how to use them. As typical, in most cases, it should be pretty straightforward how and where to use your finds but some experimentation is required to utilize the less obvious ones. There are also multiple puzzles to solve in each room. Your partner will provide some hints to aid you, but most of the thinking has to be done independently. Fortunately, the difficulty of the tasks is between easy to moderate, so you should not be stuck on any of them for too long. None of the puzzles were too inventive, but I enjoyed most of them. I had much more difficulty reaching some endings. The writing is good but not very detailed, and not very engaging. There is some backstory revealed to the readers, but not in abundance. The main focus is placed on the character interactions and it feels a bit unnatural, but only a bit. I could not connect emotionally with any of the characters, which is a pity, but at least I was not repelled by them. Also, some of the endings felt a bit inconclusive and unsatisfying. I wish some more was shown than what is present. The secret ending revealed more details at least. The art has uneven quality. While the character tachie offer enough detail and pose variety, the environment feels a bit too blocky and sterile. I understand the reasoning behind the backgrounds but it could be done a little more lively. Even with the limited colour more could be done to make them more appealing. Not the best aspect of this title. The music, unlike the art, stands somewhat above the average when compared ot other indie VN games. There is a good variety of tracks so you own't be hearing the same thing over and over. Also, the music fits the events well, emphasizing the story to a degree. There is even a decent song, which is not a commont element of low cost VNs. Still, can't say any of the tracks was particularly memorable or catchy. Just decent enough music. No bugs encountered. Overall, this relatively short escape VN tells a mildly interesting story, backed by somewhat bland art and good but not memorable music. Additionally, it presents players with multiple puzzles and point-and-click sections. For the fans of similar games, it is a worthy indie title to try: 6.3/10

This was phenomenal. A big roller coaster of emotion swept through me as I played this. The puzzles were okay, not too hard but not too easy either. The dialogue was realistic in the sense that it is how I imagine they would act in that situation and with those personalities. I really hope for a continuation of their story.

It was good enough. The puzzles were fun. It's basically the equivalent of reading a short story if you have an afternoon to kill.

cool little game

I had a fun time playing it. It intrigues you and makes you want to get all the endings.

Pretty well written short escape room-esque visual novel. The puzzles never get too tiring or difficult, just hard enough to keep strong engagement with the story. The dialogue never becomes tiring, especially with the copious amounts of witty banter between the two characters. It's worth at least a playthough, although it didn't hook me enough to want to go through all the endings.

I loved this game, in particular the writing was great. The characters were written well, the story was good and emotional, and I really appreciated how the devs treated topics about sex and relationships, they did a great job with that. I also thought the puzzles were fun. Also Chris is one of my favorite game protags to be honest, and maybe slight spoiler? [spoiler]it made me sooooo happy that he's dated men and women before, like, it's kind of rare for us to get that representation, especially with the protagonist![/spoiler]

Most visual novels I've played are just that- novels with some key choices that may or may not have repercussions down the road. There's really only a couple that I've played that have additional puzzle elements, and this game did it extremely well. What's great is once you get the puzzles down, it's really easy to quickly do them again- but the downside is repeating them over and over for achievement hunting purposes gets tedious. I get some of the puzzles are tied to the different endings, but it would be great if there was an option after your first playthrough to skip the puzzles for the sake of the story. But the story is freakin amazing. Just, oh my gosh, an incredible concept. Both characters' personalities were fleshed out well but I feel like the backstory behind Beryl wasn't developed well- but if you consider the plot, that actually makes a bit of sense. The tediousness of the puzzles was my first gripe of two, and my second is that there is no follow up after the game. Now, I could just be uninformed and maybe there's a sequel or DLC in the works, but with my current knowledge, it's like the game ends on a cliffhanger, even in the best endings. I can't elaborate too well without spoiling things, but there's this buildup in the game, especially after critical information comes to light, and nothing follows. With my gripes out of the way, I have nothing but praise. The art was great, I loved the facial expressions of both sprites. The narration and dialogue flowed naturally and was incredible- I especially loved Chris' internal dialogue at certain points. It felt way more natural that how I usually see it done in other visual novels. The relationship progression was great too. The puzzles were a mix of easy and challenging, but none were impossible- anything I looked up hints for I could've figured out eventually if I wasn't impatient at the time. I was confused on some of the items you get in your inventory- some you don't use. Like, ever. It's very misleading the first 2-3 playthroughs and you end up using them on everything, trying to figure out why the heck you have or kept them. That could be the point though? To try and add some unknown elements to make it a tad more challenging? Another thing I was confused on was how some plot points were hinted to, but then were never followed up on. This ties back into my second gripe about there being no follow up. There's this idea that there is more into what's happened/happening, but the game ends and so there's no exploring that slight foreshadowing. Can't tell if I misinterpreted the situation or if I'm overthinking or what. This next point is more a personal one- as someone struggling with a couple mental illnesses, this story touched me personally. I don't want to spoil anything so can't touch on specifics, but I felt seen. Some of the dialogue felt relevant and worth taking stock of. Which- is honestly probably true for everyone regardless, but it's especially prevalent for anyone struggling with that kind of thing. I definitely cried at least once. So. Yeah. There's that. Anyway, overall a great game, worth the price. Loved the puzzles and the story and the characters.

nice