[i]East Tower - Akio (East Tower Series Vol.1) is a romance visual novel with light adventure and mystery elements. This review covers the Akio route and contains only [b]minor spoilers[/b] related to its overall structure and themes.[/i]
[h1]PRESENTATION[/h1]
[h2]Art:[/h2]
[b][u]Sprites[/u][/b]: The character sprites are generally decent, but one thing I couldn’t unsee was how some characters appear to have tiny ears or no ears at all. It’s a small detail, but it occasionally made the artwork look a little odd.
[b][u]CGs[/u][/b]: The CG quality is inconsistent. While some illustrations look great, others have awkward body proportions that distracted me from the scene.
[b][u]Background[/u][/b]: The backgrounds become repetitive, especially during the East Tower stages. Many locations reuse the same architectural assets and green backdrop, making the environments blend together after a while. Although the artwork itself is serviceable, the heavy asset reuse makes exploration feel less visually interesting.
[b][u]Music & Sound Effects[/u][/b]: The background music fits each scene well and never feels out of place. Sound effects are also used appropriately, although there were a few moments where additional ambient or action sound effects could have made scenes feel more immersive.
Voice Acting: One of the game’s strongest presentations is its voice acting. Nearly every major character, sans the MC and a handful of NPCs, is fully voiced, allowing players to sit back and enjoy the story through autoplay.
[h1]WRITING[/h1]
[h2]Romantic Aspect[/h2]
Going into the route, I expected the love interest to be the stereotypical cold, serious tsundere. While he initially comes across that way, the story gradually reveals why he behaves as he does. Once he opens up, he’s surprisingly playful and teasing, making him much more likable than my first impression suggested.
That said, [spoiler]the romance develops far too quickly. The emotional payoff feels rushed, and I never felt the relationship had enough time to naturally grow. Fortunately, the epilogue even acknowledges it, so we have them developing the couple, making their romance feel (a little bit) believable.[/spoiler] Players [spoiler]who pursue the Friend Route (Normal End) [/spoiler]receive a similar opportunity to further develop their bond.
[h2]Main story[/h2]
If you’re looking for a mystery visual novel, this route may disappoint you. Despite the premise, the story leans much more heavily into comedy, adventure, and relationship building than solving a mystery. To the game’s credit, it clearly states that this route serves as an introduction to the world of East Tower, so its focus on establishing the setting is intentional. In that regard, it succeeds. However, I wasn’t a fan of how the story is divided between romance routes as it often feels like the primary differences between routes are the chosen love interest and their perspective on the central conflict. Locking important world-building and story progression behind multiple romance routes made the overall narrative feel fragmented. It felt like the narrative was deliberately avoiding the answers to simply encourage players to continue into later volumes.
[h1]CHARACTERS[/h1]
[h2]Main Character[/h2]
The protagonist, Sakuya (name can be changed) is a tomboy who has a personal reason for her personality, but this route only scratches the surface. Since her backstory isn't fully explored until the next volume, her character arc feels incomplete as a standalone story.
[h2]Love Interest[/h2]
Although he starts off as fairly cliché, the love interest, Akio, becomes more enjoyable once his personality opens up. His romantic moments with Sakuya genuinely swept me up during my first playthrough. Looking back, however, I realized his feelings develop much faster than I would have liked, making the romance feel rushed despite its charming moments.
[h1]GAMEPLAY[/h1]
[b][u]Stage Mechanics[/u][/b]: The stage section has two choices, and choosing the wrong option will result in a game over.
[b][u]Choices[/u][/b]: Generally easy to understand, though selecting the wrong option can still lead to failure during the stage sections.
[b][u]Difficulty[/u][/b]: The game is fairly forgiving overall. Most failures come from incorrect choices, though the game can safely reload to the last stage (meaning, you skip dialogues until you stop at the choice section).
[h1]VERDICT[/h1]
This route succeeds as an introduction to the world of East Tower and delivers solid production values through its voice acting, music, and overall presentation. However, the rushed romance, repetitive environments, fragmented storytelling, and underwhelming payoff prevented me from becoming fully invested in the story.
That said, I can't deny that I genuinely had fun playing this game during my first playthrough. Believe it or not, I actually played the demo version many years ago and was already interested in the premise back then. Although this game is over a decade old, I still found myself wanting to experience the full story when I finally had the time and opportunity.
If I had played this game when it was first released, I probably would have overlooked many of its flaws. However, after revisiting it years later with more experience and a better understanding of the genre, some of its shortcomings became much more noticeable. At the same time, my appreciation for otome games has also grown, especially when it comes to seeing relationships gradually develop between characters.
And despite the flaws I noticed, I still found myself getting swept up in the romantic moments. There is something genuinely charming about Akio and the relationship he builds with the protagonist, even if the pacing is not always perfect.
If you're interested in playing this game, I recommend getting the complete bundle with all volumes so you can experience the full story. This installment works best for players who are willing to commit to the entire saga and uncover the bigger picture across multiple volumes of the game.
[h1]VERDICT: 6/10[/h1]
