Celestial Return

An absolute gem for CRPG and TTRPG fans! Celestial Return is a phenomenal indie game that successfully captures the gritty vibes of Cyberpunk 2077, the clever dice-management mechanics of Citizen Sleeper, and the deep internal dialogue of Disco Elysium. All of this is wrapped in a gorgeous art style reminiscent of Mike Mignola’s work and paired with an incredible, atmospheric soundtrack. The narrative is incredibly strong, dark, and delightfully weird. The game features mind-bending timelines that merge and intertwine, constantly making you question what is real and what pieces of the puzzle you might have missed. The dialogue options have real weight, and the characters are wonderfully distinct and memorable. Furthermore, the tabletop-inspired dice system is brilliant—the dice actually feel like meaningful resources tied directly to the world, to the point where you can even use them as currency. While it’s true that the game currently has a few release-week bugs (such as minor resolution issues in 4K fullscreen) and the point-and-click navigation could be enhanced by direct character movement, these flaws pale in comparison to what the game achieves. This is a passionate indie project, not a classic literature masterpiece or an $80 AAA game, but for less than €10, the sheer amount of content and immersion you get is insane. If you love visual novels, cyberpunk aesthetics, noir mysteries, and roleplaying a gritty detective in a bleak future, don't let the harsh reviews fool you.

Metaphor Games presenta con Celestial Return una novela gráfica con decisiones que sí importan, siendo el elemento rolero algo a lo que se le da suma importancia, la cual se siente recompensada mientras recorremos esta aventura neo noir, que habla sobre un futuro gris, mientras investigamos un misterioso caso, que nos lleva a pensar sobre nuestro propósito, el valor de la humanidad misma y los límites de nuestra consciencia. A través de personajes bien caracterizados, experimentaremos una trama principal que puede durar entre 4 y 5 horas, pero con un valor rejugable que extiende eso más allá, gracias a la inclusión de diferentes desenlaces para cada misión, incluyendo el final mismo del juego. Un apartado visual bien estilizado y con características muy originales hace que nuestro tiempo viendo fotos inmóviles y cuadros de texto no deje de ser interesante gracias a la variedad y el nivel de detalle que logra la presentación, todo esto acompañado de una banda sonora que logra su cometido de ambientarnos en esta distopía, aunque sin lograr destacar. Mecánicamente el sistema de dados propuesto por Metaphor Games funciona bien, dándonos poder de decisión sobre los sucesos de la historia, y es lo bastante flexible como para que incluso nuestros fracasos en las tiradas de estos, puedan hacer continuar la trama; fallar o ganar un chequeo de dados, forma parte de la misma narrativa, aunque si queremos ganar cada una de las tiradas siempre podemos guardar y cargar el juego a placer. Si estás buscando una novela gráfica para dedicarle horas y horas, si te gusta la ambientación cyberpunk y su apartado detectivesco, y si te interesa indagar en una historia filosófica sobre el existencialismo, entonces Celestial Return te está esperando para que recorras sus caminos, donde cada tirada de dados que hagas, puede ser la última.

Incredible game! The style, the writing are all amazing. While there are a few rough bumps along the road, the patches are coming fast to fix them. For me it feels to weird fiction genre in a game format (The City & The City comes to mind). The world is incredibly interesting and getting to know it through Howard's eyes is a joy. Seriously, with this price the game is more than worth it.

I thought I'd like this game. There's some good stuff in here, but I came away from it feeling a little frustrated and disappointed. Might give it another play later and see if I change my mind.

10/10 This game is a trip. Play it.

I genuinely enjoyed the writing in this game. Unlike some other indie titles, such as Citizen Sleeper, which I enjoyed as well, it didn't feel forced. For me the strongest part of the game was that the character voices felt very natural. Some vignettes, especially the propaganda poster number one, the last pillar, and the conclusion of the Nikki story, felt a little bit awkward. For example, the journalist liked the way the protagonist deals with problems by inviting them to drink at a bar with him. She says, "Most people run from that noise inside." But isn't drinking with your problems at a bar or using substances a form of running from them? I absolutely loved how the game uses different media to create mood. All those short videos, sounds, dolls. Loved it. Thanks a lot for creating this art-house gem! I'm excited to play the game again. Please, keep creating!

I've yet to even finish Book 1 but this game is honestly incredibly beautiful and artistic. It's got this dark and grimy cyberpunk vibe to it with an interesting enough mechanic and a really compelling story to keep you going. It feels a bit like SCP meets cyberpunk2077. The soundtrack is also an incredible plus.