Invisible Apartment Zero

The story and dialogue feel as if they were written by high school teenagers. I suppose if you're looking for a very weak romance short, this might be up your alley. [Updated 5/18/15] Some additional information: * The UI is exactly the same as Invisible Apartment, you can QuickLoad/Save at all non-option sections. * The music fluctuates between mellow beats, scratching, and light rock. At first I thought my headphones were malfunctioning, but it was actually just the soundtrack. * The art style is the same as Invisible Apartment. For some reason, all of the women have arm problems, and cannot resist holding on to their elbows. * The goal of this game is to present a backstory to some of the characters in Invisible Apartment. The author tries to add a romantic element to the story, but the dialogue just feels very immature (even pandering at times).

Invisible Apartment Zero is an interesting peice. As a prequel to the Invisible Apartment game, once again we are in the shoes of Kasey, a young hacker in a light cyberpunk setting, as her hacking leads leads her to find out things some would rather she didn't uncover. Before I say anything else, if you haven't played the original Invisible Apartment, it is on steam, and it is -free-. I would recommend playing that game first, as it establishes the protagonist well and my review is aimed at those who have already played the free chapter. Mechanically, Zero is identical to its free counterpart. The quicksave button won't give you feedback on whether the quicksave worked or not, so, as with the other installment, clicking MENU in order to manually save is your best bet. I also found that sometimes my clicks wouldn't register in the game, though that also happened with the other chapter and it's possible that it's on my end rather than a game issue. I was also a bit frustrated with some of the failure states, as some of the choices, from my experience at least, seemed similar enough that discerning the correct option was less about deduction and more about guess and check. Additionally, your choices might lead you to a few small differences in events, but the major structure of the story won't budge from your input. To me this isn't much of an issue, but I imagine it could be frustrating to some. The soundtrack is solid, mostly ambient tones to fit the game, but I thought they worked well. (As a side note I have no idea where to find the soundtrack on the game's website, and if they have officially posted it somewhere I don't know where that would be.) The artwork is also fitting of the game's tone, and the art style is well represented by the screenshots on the store page. Whether you like the artwork or not is rather subjective so there isn't much to say, other than I appreciated it. Zero is not a long game, as I beat it in about an hour. While I like the character of Kasey and enjoyed the game myself, I don't really see myself picking it up for another playthrough anytime soon. Like I said before, the story won't change much from your choices (as far as I can tell,) so i don't see a ton of value in going back and trying to see what few bits I missed. A six dollar price tag isn't huge by any stretch, but for the length of an hour it might not be what everyone is willing to shell out. I personally thought it was worth the money to see a younger and less confident version of Kasey, but to each their own. tldr: Hesitant Recommendation. If you wanted to know more about Kasey's character and appreciated the (FREE) original game then Zero complements the other chapter well. That said, the different story and slightly longer length are the only real changes to the game from the first installment; so if you took some issues with the scope of choice or other aspects of design in the original, then you'll find them here as well. It was short, but I enjoyed the first game for it's story and protagonist, so it's no real suprise I enjoyed this prequel chapter as well.

It's got a good soundtrack, but the writing/characters left me underwhelmed. If you want a better brief game with a wonderful score, go grab Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos. (Or maybe just its OST, because sadly it will never continue, and that depresses me.)

[h1] Joke time[/h1] To the guy who invented Zero: Thanks for nothing! ⢋⣴⠒⡝⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢋⣥⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣦⣍⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿ ⢾⣿⣀⣿⡘⢿⣿⡿⠋⠄⠻⠛⠛⠛⠻⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣌⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⠄⠄⠈⠙⢿⣦⣉⡁⠄⠄⣴⣶⣿⣿⢷⡶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⡛⠛⠻⠃⠙⢿⣿⣿⣿ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⠉⣀⣀⣴⡟⢩⠁⠩⣝⢂⢨⣿⣿⣿⣿⢟⡛⣳⣶⣤⡘⠿⢋⣡ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⣈⣱⣮⣿⣷⡾⠟⠋ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⠿⠛⠛⣻⣿⠉⠛⠋⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠸⣿ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⢀⡠⠄⢒⣤⣟⠿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣤⣤⣀⣀⣉⣉⣠⣽⣿⣟⠻⣿⣿⡆⢻ ⠄⣀⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⠋⠉⣿⣿⣶⣿⣟⣛⡿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣼⣿⡇⣸ ⣿⠃⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠁⢿ ⡋⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢰⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠋⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠙⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠂⠠ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠙⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢿⣿⡿⠄⢈ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⠛⠛⠿⠿⠿⢿⣿⡿⠟⢋⣴⣿⢿⡋⠄⠄ ⣠⣴⠶⠖⠂⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢀⣠⣴⣾⣿⡿⢫⠞⠄⠄⠄

Invisible Apartment Zero can be completed in 15-20 minutes, and three playthroughs will reveal all the endings. So, be aware of that before spending 6 bucks on it. With that said though, this was a decent development story which gives you a bit of background as to why the events in the series take place. The graphics are decent,story is decent, audio is decent. Honestly, as far as things go, this visual novel is just barely above average. Is it worth your time? If you plan to play the other games in the series....yes. If not, this is an easy one to pass up on. I personally would recommend playing the first game, which is free, and decide based on that whether or not you would like to dive in deeper and give this game a go. Invisible Apartment Zero was not really memorable, but it was okay as far as world development goes. I'd give this a 5.5 out of 10. Just barely above average and something to look at only if you are really interested in the complete series. [code]If you found this review helpful and would be interested in supporting my Curator group, it would be appreciated. Cheers. https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32549618/[/code]

Invisible Apartment Zero est la seconde histoire visuelle à laquelle je m'essaye. Je pensais que ce genre n'était pas trop fait pour moi mais cet univers cyberpunk m'a bien plu. Kacey, la jeune fille que vous incarnez, rêve de fuir son quartier qu'elle déteste avec son ami Joel. Elle passe son temps à hacker les caméras publiques et privées pour voir la vie des autres et elle les envie. Alors qu'elle décide d'arrêter cette activité illégale sur demande de son ami et qu'elle prend une dernière fois le contrôle d'une caméra elle tombe sur des images terrifiantes d'humains conservés dans des capsules. Le lendemain Joel est est mis en quarantaine par le gouvernement car il aurait attrapé un virus. Kacey a-t-elle mis la vie de son ami en danger ? Est-elle en danger elle-même ? Et qui sont ces gens dans les capsules ? http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=441579102 Le scénario était très intéressant et mêlait conspiration, expériences sur les humains, contrôle de la population dans un univers dystopique, seulement voilà, le jeu dure moins de 2h. Pas le temps de trop s'immerger et une fin qui arrive abruptement sans que rien ne soit réglé. Vraiment dommage... Alors oui ce jeu est la préquelle du jeu gratuit "Invisible Apartment" et j'aurai peut-être du commencer par celui-ci du coup, n'empêche que le jeu aurait mérité d'être plus creusé et d'offrir une véritable aventure à part entière. Il y aura parfois des choix à faire, certains auront de lourdes conséquences alors pensez à sauvegarder souvent. Le bouton de sauvegarde rapide n'offre aucun feedback mais ça a marché à chaque fois pour moi. L'ambiance sonore est bonne. Les musiques reflètent bien l'univers et la tension de certains moments. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=441579182 Encore un autre point positif : les dessins sont plutôt bien réalisés et n'adoptent pas le style manga trop souvent utilisé dans ce genre de jeu, ça fait du bien. Avec toutes les qualités dont le jeu disposait au départ je regrette qu'elles aient été sous-exploitées, le jeu aurait pu être excellent s'il n'avait pas été si court et si toutes nos questions ne resteraient pas sans réponses. [quote]Lisez d'autres avis sur ma page de curation : [b][url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/9002662/]Kitsune's Guide[/url][/b][/quote]

My full review can be found here: http://www.the-backlog.net/invisible-apartment-zero-review/ Invisible Apartment Zero is set in a cyberpunk world. You're Kasey, a hacker who wants to get away from where she's living. The game is a fairly short visual novel. Unfortunately, it has a lot of spelling mistakes throughout the ~1 hour it will take to get through it. There are only a few set backgrounds that get reused a lot, and some of these backgrounds make it fairly hard to actually read the text (brighter white backgrounds mixed with the white text, even though there's a dark transparent background for the text). This is one of those cases I wish Steam had a neutral setting, but as it is I'm not recommending this title. It feels too short and there are a lot of spelling issues.

This is an okay visual novel. The story and artstyle are rather unique, wasn't too fond of the music though, and nothing about it was really outstanding to me, it also didn't feel like choices really mattered other than immediately leading to a death end at times, there's no arcs/butterfly effect, just right or wrong (game over) choice basically. Eventhough this isn't really a bad visual novel, for the price it's being sold for, I can't really recommend it.

Outstanding soundtrack! This futuristic looking visual novel deals with the fears and passions of a little girl. In her dreams she has those visions of a threatful future. So she tries to hack into systems to get some more information. I didn't playthrough yet. But what I have seen were nicely drawn visuals and a hooking story.

This is a nice short visual novel with some scifi elements. There are some easter eggs in the dialogues which will be recognized by folks who are into conspiracy theories :) The music goes from nice atmospheric to quite rough & industrial at places. The volume level could be adjusted so that all music matches, but maybe that's just me. I'll need to see how it all ties in with the other parts. The one freebie novel which is also on Steam seems to be happening in some time after the events of this one I believe.