GENBA no Kizuna

After completing the game, I had mixed feelings. In some places, it was so boring that I had to skip through the text. Also I enjoyed the idea and atmosphere of Shinrai more overall. However, the mystery in this novel was intriguing and complex. The characters were entertaining, and the ending helped to smooth out any bad impressions. Overall, the game was enjoyable, but I felt a bit disappointed, because I wanted something more like Shinrai.

This is a prequel to Shinrai. While it is perfectly self-contained, I'd still recommend playing that first if you want to appreciate some references. Both games also have similar strengths, so playing one sort of tells you if the other one would also be for you. The story here could be likened to an elaborate CSI episode with dinosaurs. You pretty much jump right into the action. This is quite different from Shinrai, which had more buildup. One might think that would mean less focus on the characters. However, later on, there are segments specifically dedicated to simply learning more about the protagonists. So it's a little more complicated. Ultimately, compared to its predecessor, the cast ends up feeling more fleshed out on average. They better watch out for hungry dinosaurs. The art is great if you like indie vibes. You can feel passion radiating from it. No efforts were spared here. There's an impressive attention to detail, which is crucial in any mystery with visual elements. And you get to see some cool dinosaurs. The mystery is very fair, perhaps too much. Loooots of clues and foreshadowing. Take enough notes and it's possible to figure out the majority of it by the middle of the story. Regardless, there's a lot of creativity on display here. The crime has unique aspects to it that you could only encounter in a setting like this. It would be wrong to say too much here, but it's something that left an impression. Will probably be remembering this one for a very long time, especially whenever I see dinosaurs from now on. Music is pretty great. No generic tracks here. There are some leitmotifs that hit just right. If that all sounds good to you, go play. I for one left satisfied, and certainly can't wait to see what the authors will cook up next. Oh yeah, it also has dinosaurs.

[Note: I was one of the beta-testers for the game. I played it totally blind very shortly before its release, when it was in a near-complete state, so although I played it a little earlier my experience with it was essentially the same as any other player's. I just wanted to mention that in case it influences anyone's approach to this review.] If you're looking for a charming cast of characters, a memorable artstyle, a catchy soundtrack, and a well-written murder mystery with some very nice twists and turns, all in a pretty unique setting, you can't go wrong with this one. For an indie project made essentially by two people, I honestly can't praise it enough. It's clear that a lot of time and love was put into it. I had a blast with this game, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to any murder mystery fans out there.

Had an absolute blast playing this, and I'm super happy the SHINRAI devs are still making games. I think they improved on a lot of the issues with their previous work, while keeping the aspect I loved the most about it—telling an engaging and puzzling whodunnit. No more slow introductions, GENBA throws you into the story much quicker. The pacing of the game felt great to me, so much so that I kept telling myself "one more investigation sequence and then I'll put it down." Sometimes it was pretty hard to pull myself away. For the mystery, I think it's a little easier to solve than SHINRAI. I felt like the howdunnit was pretty easy, but the whodunnit did have me second guessing myself, which was great. Just like with SHINRAI, multiple suspects have plausible ways to commit the crime, so you'll have to pay extra attention to pieces that don't quite fit. One thing that I really loved is investigating the scene through multiple perspectives. Those sections were really fun! That was one of my favorite things about SHINRAI, so I love to see that expanded here. Aside from that, I really love how expressive the character art is and how many poses everyone gets. It really helps bring the cast to life and made me easily attached to them. I enjoyed most of the music, too, there are some really catchy tracks that ended up getting stuck in my head. My negatives are mostly nitpicky stuff: No backlog or auto mode truly pains me. As someone who skips through text pretty quickly, backlog is a must for me, especially in a mystery game where I want to re-review multiple lines further back. Something that ended up being a positive is that the textbox doesn't type all at once, so it did help me not skip so much (although I usually don't like how this slows my reading down). Also, rollback is available, but for me it feels really awkward compared to having a backlog. On the plus side, I believe the devs are working on implementing a hotkey for auto, so that feature should be available further down the line. For a similar complaint, in sections where you're presenting evidence, the question you need to answer doesn't show up anywhere on screen (again, a part where I really could have used a backlog). There is a hint button, but I didn't want to lower my detective rank. Just a little reminder for what question I'm answering would be good. Getting even further into nitpicky territory, I'm not a huge fan of the bright green UI. I do like that it matches the dinosaur theme (which is a great theme), but it took some time for my eyes to adjust to it. I missed the soft purple UI from SHINRAI. In any case, I'm really looking forward to what these devs put out next, and I'm also kind of sad they don't have any other releases I can play. If you haven't played their previous work, you should absolutely check it out. There are nods to it in GENBA, but you can absolutely play these in either order.

Interesting and funny, but kinda vulgar and prolonged detective visual novel. Русская нечитайка: требует неплохого знания английского, желательно прохождение первой части, SHINRAI; Есть 18+ и немного ЛГБТ-тематики, так что я предупредил; за свою цену в РФ регионе дороговата, если не помешаны на жанре, то лучше ждать скидок; Прошёл сюжетку за 10 часов, но вдумчивое прохождение может занять в пару раз дольше. Takes a lot from previous game, SHINRAI, and I'm not sure if it's good or bad thing. Main changes: instead of horny teenagers in horror mystery flick, we have procedural with adult (slightly less horny) detectives solving murder in Jurasic Park-esque location. Investigation is far longer, harder and better detailed due to circumstances and profession of protagonists. Each character got their work to do and their own unique opinions on people and stuff around. If you played and liked SHINRAI, there is no question about buying and finishing GENBA. With changed setting and characters, it's still convoluted detective story with traps and misconceptions here and there, filled with horny jokes, dark themes and sad storied. While it can be standalone title, I recommend to finish first game beforehands anyway. Still, it was painful to see some elements of SHINRAI still present, such as current question not being shown during "present evidence" choice menus or lack of messages log in favor of periodically blocked rollback. It wasn't critical for my experience, but cost me some detective rank (I got C, by the way). I felt being forced into reading at lower speed than my own, to search for details in frequently prolonged testimony lines, mixed with horny jokes, profanity and character's slang. I guess, it's more similar to actual detective work than Ace Attorney or Danganronpa, but still... Overall, I liked mystery aspect and (most) characters of GENBA and liked how epilogue sets up more pieces and info for upcoming SHINRAI sequel. I hope this series will continue soon, with more challenging mysteries and diverse characters along the way.

This is basically a step up from the developer's previous game, SHINRAI, in every way. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far, lots of ace attorney and danganronpa vibes so if you like those this is right up your alley.

[H1]Time for Mesozoic Murder Mayhem![/H1] This isn't an easy review to write, dagnabit. Okay, Genba no Kizuna is a good game. I've had time to think it over, and I still stand proudly on this hill. The polyPoV Investigation idea is great, and our investigators have nicely distinct inner monologues. It never feels like you're doing the same thing just with a palate swap. The art is gorgeous, music superb, the story hits just the right spot between complex enough to make you feel like you've got your money's worth, while contained enough to be easily digestible. This is a recommended review for a reason. Unfortunately, I don't think this game quite measures up to Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair. And hey, that's a high bar. Shinrai, even years later, remains my all time favourite murder mystery visual novel. I'm not sure if that's a personal taste thing, or a result of creative decisions in Genba, but let me outline my thoughts and you can be the final judge of what happened here. They don't take away from the recommendation. This is just trying to get my thoughts in order first and foremost [H3]The Mystery[/H3] 'The murder was too easy' is really subjective, so much so that I always think twice before I say it. Different people approach things in different ways, and I'm a murder mystery junkie - am I just genre savvy, or was it actually too simple? Does the writing work in such a way that a simple mystery can still be enjoyable? We'll get on to point two in a minute, but in terms of the actual quality of the mystery here... I've been pondering my metrics, but ultimately it comes down to attention. If the player is going to naturally seize on the answer if they're just taking in the information put in front of them, even if they don''t know tropes of the genre, the mystery's easy. And doing that allowed me to be sure of the conclusion long before I'd actually finished the investigation, no tropes needed. [spoiler]Shiku just 'happening' to collapse for an unknown reason earlier in the day, and her being established to have that fainting reaction to blood specifically... yeah, that's not a subtle clue. Her having a 'nightmare' and then needing to go verify it's not true only makes it more blatant. That was enough to clue me in to the time of death, rough location of the death, and crucially that the fatal wound wasn't the animatronic. The last one is what really simplifies this mystery. Looking at the body, the neck wound is an obvious alt cause of death. So you're looking for a blade. And oh, look who just happens to have a hair accessory that's a [I]converted combat knife[/I]! Yeah, I'm sorry, there's no way to work that information in subtly, especially when there aren't that many other options for weapons. And it's something that's really hard to suggest anyone else in Raptor Pack Productions just 'happened to have on them' or would reach for in the middle of a fight. Technically the broken glass could've worked, but it's up on the second floor - far away and no luminol reaction that suggests that was the location of death. Either Amber was carrying broken glass around with her on the off chance she'd need to murder someone later, or the murder weapon was the one other sharp object known to be in play. Wielded by the person most likely to have been carrying it.[/spoiler] [H3]The Characters[/H3] This was something that wasn't easy to put into words. The characters didn't seem bad. They got funny lines, they were memorable, no one was one note or a blatant trope. But something about this cast wasn't quite landing for me, and working out what that is has been tough. Even now I don't have a firm answer. But I think I've got enough to speculate with. I think part of my problem might've been going into this comparing it to Shinrai. That games setup makes the cast inherently more relatable - these people aren't strangers to Raiko, they're her peers. Even if she's not particularly close to most of them, there's a connection there - it's easy to sympathise, to want to keep these people safe, to view them as connected to you. What they think, say and what happens to them felt like it mattered. Genba, being more of a police procedural, can't really pull that trick. Keichi doesn't even know the other officers here when he walks in. Raptor Pack Productions are likeable people, but you only know them because you've been called in for this case. There's limited opportunities to make these people particularly deep or fascinating when you're seeing them through the lens of a stranger just trying to do their job. I was hoping that the crime would ultimately be something unrelated to the operations of RPP, that our victim had a separate tie to one of the other characters, and that'd give some ability to flesh them out as a person with a life beyond the Kaseki Residence, but that didn't pan out. In the end, the only suspect who really gets some character focus and a bit of an arc is Ryunosuke. And while it's not baaad.... it didn't hit for me. Most of his deteriorating relationship with the rest of RPP has been happening off screen over the course of filming. Showing us how concerned the rest of the group are for him early on with his first bad episode and needing to get his inhaler... it's a nice scene but it downplays the tension between him and the rest of the team. Semi Optional Content [spoiler]And 'you shouldn't be an idiot and actually listen to your doctor' is just.... it's a message someone needs to hear, but it came off a bit schmultzy for me, sorry.[/spoiler] There also aren't really any complex interpersonal dynamics at play between the four members of the group? They all just like each other. Ryu and T yell at each other, but still care about each other and the team. That's another thing that I was kinda expecting to play into the mystery - do they all truly like each other that much? Are there hidden secrets? Resentment? Grudges? And.... no, none of that stuff. RPP are all open books. [spoiler]The romances also feel like a misfire. Ryu's pursuit of Amber is set up, but 'gets her to wear a fanservicy costume she's not comfortable with for the sake of the movie' is cringy enough that I was more rooting against it. And T/Jura? There was like ONE LINE implying that, from Amber IIRC rather than either of them, and it was a significantly tougher sell. T's protective in general, and I'm pretty sure Jura has a line talking about how he feels like a big brother... IDK, I guess the main thing I liked about RPP and their setup was the idea that these guys were already a family. That's stressed repeatedly. Bringing romance into it felt weird and soured the epilogue for me a little. Maybe I just prefer the sibling bond to the romantic one?[/spoiler] And yeah, I've spent most of this time this time talking about RPP, and not the actual protags. They're... fine? They get a bit more character than RPP thanks to us seeing through their perspective, and they're uniformly likeable. I don't quite think any of them 'hit it out of the park' and become completely amazing leads that you have to rant about to your friends, but it's a decent ensemble. I'd enjoy playing another game through with this lot. If I had to give one overall note though.... I feel this time, the writing goes a lot heavier on the humour? Shinrai absolutely had comedic stuff in it, but Genba hammers that home - Hima and Kikai are highly comedic and Keichi frequently gets in on it too. [spoiler]Runa and Hiro are largely here as a recurring comic relief bit [/spoiler] YMMV on this, most of it landed fine for me, but it's kinda a lot. One Mika was plenty ^^ [H3]Conclusion[/H3] .... I have one of those? Well, err.... I guess 'make your own mind up'? I don't want to come out like I didn't enjoy the game, I did. Just not as much as I did Shinrai. Feel bad for saying that, but hey - don't regret playing Genba, looking forward to whatever this team does next.

TLDR for Prospective Buyers: If you liked the spirit regardless of the tone/setting of Shinrai, you'll like this. If you like dinosaurs or detective/cop shows, you'll like this. If you like settings more like Danganronpa/Ace Attorney, buy Shinrai first. Overall, the story and presentation are pretty dang good, definitely worth the price of admission comparing to the price of your average book. Now for the actual review, I feel like it's important to have expectations set properly. The game/story feels a lot more like a episode of Monk or other crime/cop/detective-adjacent shows more then it does something like your traditional murder visual novel, which is not bad, I have a guilty pleasure for a good episode of Monk, but it's not going to be this action packed visual novel with huge chases or huge twists. I do feel like this has the chance to harm the player's experience if you were to have this expectation, due to no fault of Genba's own as I don't think it advertises itself this way, it's simply something every murder mystery visual novel is going to suffer from due to the popularity of the two beforementioned franchises. I do feel like the game can suffer from the effects of the fact that it's not a sequel, but it's also not necessarily it's own standalone entity either. You can feel those transitional pains come through with certain exposition and dialogue within the game, [spoiler]such as with why are we spending so much time (upwards of an hour) thinking about the personalities and dynamics of these two random children instead of just getting their accounts, getting their one-off jokes moving on with it. Another example for me is just how much the environment and background of the city is getting set up along with the cliffhanger ending with the other loan sharks.[/spoiler] These things aren't poorly written at all, in fact I think it's the opposite, I feel like the interactions were done very well along with the world building, I just feel without the context of Shinrai or anything else it may harm the experience and make it feel more like a TV pilot then a standalone experience, but that's just my view so obviously take it with a massive pile of salt. -- As for the characters, I feel as though they're all well-written and have some sort of depth to them, they all have a motivation established for why they act or commit the actions they do through the story, and I appreciated the epilogues given for all of the detectives that helped establish their backstories more. It helps to get more attached to the characters. I do wish there was more direct interactions with the cast as a whole, due to the way it's formatted with each investigator handling what they need to, the cast can feel disjointed and disconnected at times, most characters typically interact with only 1 or 2 others apart from the lead protagonist and the interviewer. There's also a significant uptick in humor, spread more throughout the entire cast instead of being relegated to two or three characters specifically designed to be a comic relief (hello Mika), which I think helps the humor land more (I feel like the humor was one of the weaker aspects of Shinrai). With this spread though, comes again the feeling of it being more like a pilot to a brand new cop show. [spoiler]Also, the romance did not land for me to be honest. Maybe I just found Ryuunosuke too unlikable or that whole aspect of it a bit weird, Amber doesn't really ever seem to show reciprocation of feelings on that level. As a motive to speed up, it serves it's purpose, but I feel like Raptor Pack Productions as a whole gave off more extremely close and supportive friends vibes then we're gonna all marry each other vibes. I dunno, the whole payoff in a few one-off epilogue lines felt a bit strange pacing wise to me.[/spoiler] Apart from those interactions though, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and dynamics that there were, and the writing was very good, good enough to get attached to them quickly and actually care about what's going on, for the sake of relieving the stress of the suspects and saving the jobs of the protagonists and keeping the city safe. -- Now, as for the mystery itself, the logic and motives are all sound, no huge logic jumps we have to take, which is always appreciated, it's definitely a well written mystery. However, I don't know if it's just me paying more attention or due to the fact the cast of possible suspects is essentially half of Shinrai's, but the mystery/twist felt much more obvious this time around. [spoiler]Within about a hour I could reasonably guess that everyone would've been involved in the murder based on the fact that the evidence connected to each of them in one way or another as well as the fact they're all so close to each other. As for the actual killer, the clear Chekhov's Gun line during one of Hima's segments with picking up the hair clip, it felt like it could've been a show don't tell situation with a clear raptor claw in the character design that could then serve as a "Oh my god, the weapon was silently right in front of us the whole time!" similarly with the blood stains on the kimonos in the first game.[/spoiler] [spoiler]Also with the characters reminding us every couple of lines that Shiku was the most timid and innocent of all of them felt like it was telegraphing a bit too much that she would end up as the tragic killer. Falls into the similar category of just a bit too much exposition given for me, my main takeaway would be a bit more show and a bit less tell.[/spoiler] However, just because it was more obvious does not mean it's any less engaging, and I still found myself interested in the characters and what would happen next leading up to the conclusion. It just loses some points in keeping you on the edge of your seat wondering who the killer among the cast is. -- From a production standpoint, i.e. the art and music, I think it's another swing and a hit. I already really enjoyed the art style of Shinrai, so seeing a more polished and cleaned up version does the story provided justice. I also think the music did a good job at capturing the tone and setting of the game, and while it was calm at times, it matches the overall pace of the game. I especially enjoy the spiritual sequel to my favorite song from Shinrai, Listen to my Logic. Most of the actual gameplay is sound, other then the fact that as other reviews mention, could really benefit from a backlog feature or at the very least the ability to relook at what question is being asked in case you blanked out or had to walk away for a second during evidence presenting. Finally, something that was also present in Shinrai but far more present here, is to tip a hat to the research put into certain topics and aspects of the story, which helps ground the story and avoid gaping holes in the plot. -- I feel like Genba does what it sets out to accomplish, it's a very solid simulated experience of investigating a crime scene and piecing together what happened, without the need of any flashy trials or twists. The characters are well written, on both the suspect and quad-protagonist side, and everyone's personality and motives is well established. Have to give credit where credit is due, it is definitely a unique perspective to tell a story like this, and especially given that the proper research was put into the aspects of the plot, I believe it is worth people's time. Like with Shinrai, you can really tell the care that was put into it. I definitely wouldn't say I was disappointed with Genba, because I feel it was telegraphed well that it's meant to be a different experience, and it was a different experience that was well executed. To finally conclude lol, I look forward to whatever comes next yet again.

A dear friend of mine recommended this game to me some weeks ago, knowing that not only I'm an avid mystery games fan but also a dinosaurs enjoyer. I couldn't believe a game like this could exist, but it does! And as much as I didn't want to let excitement cloud my judgment, completing it I can now assure it's a well-crafted experience! GENBA no Kizuna is an adventure full of passion and effort that's put into every single aspect of it: a compelling detective story supported by very clean and detailed art and spot-on music, as well as a diverse cast of characters and a mystery that I found intriguing but not uselessly difficult to wrap your head around. You can catch the solution mid-way through the game but I found nonetheless satisfying unveiling the last pieces of evidence needed to fully put together what really happened. Plus, the game's not excessively long and I felt that the scene's weren't dragged out more than it was needed (if not for some joke inserts and pun talks, that didn't bother me tho). Gameplay-wise the game's quite enjoyable, and even tho I expected a backlog I found myself satisfied using the rollback feature. Not the same, but it gets the job done. Speaking a bit more about the cast, I found really well represented not only various characters (that span in age but also in behavior) but also their relationships; our protagonist and his team has been also given enough time to grow a bit during their peculiar hours spent into the Mesozoic. [spoiler] I'm especially fond of the way Shinketsu deals with Rei's fears, which I think really made him shine as the good dad he is. On the other hand, I felt the romance bit was a bit too superficial for me to care about. [/spoiler] The narrative handles well the duality between jokes and moments that require a more serious tone; in general, I appreciated the writing: it felt detailed but clean, for example while describing the corpse of the victim. I also have to say that the world the game's takes place in is quite interesting and managed to make me all the more curious about playing Shinrai soon too! [spoiler] Especially with all the connections between characters and the little cameos! [/spoiler] Another good thing that surely doesn't go unnoticed is the research that's put in the game to provide reliable information on various topics, first of all dinosaurs! It felt good and appropriate for a setting that catched my eye and interest immediately! I admit that I thought to myself that I'd do anything to live in a place like the Kaseki Residence... Of course, even if I'm telling you this, if you do not care about dinosaurs it doesn't matter: the game's quite enjoyable nonetheless, the matter's at hand is the murder either way, but you could surely come out of the experience with some more trivia on the topic! Wrapping up this little review: I wholeheartedly recommend you give GENBA no Kizuna's a chance! It is a very pleasant experience that kept me company for a while. Alexis best girl.

GENBA no Kizuna is a prequel to Shinrai. We follow a rookie officer Keiichi and his 3 coworkers as they try to gather evidence and unravel the truth. This game starts off pretty slow but overall I enjoyed it a lot. I loved slowly getting to know what main 4 characters and the suspects were all a group of fun characters to see interact. I may even say they were more enjoyable then the group in Shinrai (although I also like them a lot). Each character had great dynamics with one another, it was nice seeing them all slowly becomes a solid team. The mystery mechanic is pretty much the same as Shinrai. Solving who done it, was neither too hard nor too easy. I liked the alternative POVs with the 4 characters which made the game more engaging (and is hugely why I like all 4 characters a lot as we got to see a lot of their minds.) Anyways I do recommend this game, especially if you loved Shinrai. I sincerely hope we get to see more of the 4 agents as I'll be sad if we don't get to see much of them in the future.