Night Cascades

Short detective visual novel that covers lgbt and religious topics. I wasn't a big fan of the artworks and mini-games but the story itself is alright.

I wouldn't call it groundbreaking, yet [b]I enjoyed my time with this VN.[/b] While the mystery isn't particularly gripping, the characters and their relationship are sufficiently developed and I felt enough investment to keep going without issue. The art definitely elevates this game, there are few CGs but the sprites are really beautiful (even those of the side-characters) and the backgrounds are quite pleasant to look at. All in all, this VN has a vibe that made for a relaxing experience, it works, I'm glad I stumbled upon it in a bundle and [b]would recommend[/b] it to others with [b][u]contained expectations[/u][/b].

Night Cascades – Disappointing yuri detective VN I really wanted to like Night Cascades. I’m a big fan of detective visual novels, so the premise sounded promising. Unfortunately, it fell quite short for me. The art is pretty basic — nothing special even for a VN, though I can forgive that since it’s a low-budget indie title. The soundtrack, however, was outright irritating. I ended up muting the game and playing my own lo-fi music in the background (which actually matched the detective vibe way better) because the original music was that distracting. The story and investigation parts felt very lackluster. The mini-games for finding clues are extremely simple and offer almost no challenge or satisfaction. Compared to Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the clue searching and deduction here are basic and shallow — you barely need to think to figure out what’s going on. The writing has a few decent moments, but the characters often go on long tangents and rants that could easily have been shortened to just a couple of sentences. This made the pacing drag noticeably in several places. At its core, this game is really aimed at people who want an LGBTQ+ yuri story focused on the connection and romance between two lesbian women, with a very light detective backdrop. If that’s exactly what you’re looking for, you might enjoy it. For me, the mystery elements were too weak, the presentation was mediocre, and the overall experience just didn’t click. The game is short (around 3–4 hours), with almost no replay value. If you’re after strong mystery-solving and clever deduction, stick with the Ace Attorney series or other better detective VNs. 3/10

故事一般，流程刚好在我不想玩完之前结束了，黑皮前妻姐好帅！

An enjoyable game, it brings up homosexuality in a deep, yearning way. Plus, I liked how it dove into the struggles of women in the justice system. The art is also gorgeous, one of my favorites in terms of visual novels. These visuals accompanies easy to understand, yet engaging, minigames scattered throughout as well. That said, there are some issues that I find. First, I am not very fond of the "sweet, catholic, white girl" and the "loud and rough, colored girl" trope. Several unnecessary aspects of the story could easily be cut out. For example, (spoilers ahead!) there is a green hypnotic necklace that is described throughout the story. Readers expect to see some sort of reasoning behind what it is or what it's for. However, we don't get that; they bring it up near the end, and then just stop talking about it. Another excellent example of this is the cheating arc. The notion that Jackie "cheated" could've been written out entirely.

没有中文也看不懂 就是疯狂乱点？

Overall, I enjoyed the experience reading through this game, but I think it's important to understand what you're getting into. It is, for all intents and purposes, a kinetic novel. There are technically some choices to make, but they exist to help you understand where some of the evidence is pointing or as a "check-in" to encourage you to make a prediction. To my knowledge, they have no impact on the story. It is also short. I'm a fast reader and (accounting for a 30 min break in the middle) it took me probably 2.5 hours to get through? There are also little bits of gameplay, but it's limited in scope. Clicking around the scenes as Diane felt reminiscent of Ace Attorney, which was nice. The relationship between the main characters was something I liked. The POV switching back and forth really made their dynamic and their [spoiler]feelings towards getting back together after a difficult split[/spoiler] feel compelling, and it was helpful for understanding where each of them was at and how they thought the other was feeling. The representation of being a lesbian in their time felt grounded too, though I would have loved to see more detail in their relationship overall. I do have issues though, which are mostly that it feels a little rushed. I wish there was more time to see their relationship build up, and there are some aspects of the plot that I wish were expanded upon. I would have loved to see Diane's thought process researching the evidence, but I understand that including that would have required a lot more research on the part of the developers and that's not always logistically possible. The [spoiler]green necklace[/spoiler] however feels like a plot thread that was left largely on the cutting room floor. There was some hint at the possibility of a sequel, but with as much attention as is explicitly called to it repeatedly, it feels jarring when the game ends without pursuing it even a little. [b]TL;DR[/b] The game is short and relatively simple (not [i]too[/i] simple), but it keeps things interesting enough to be enjoyable and keep you invested. If you go in understanding that, I think there's a good chance you enjoy it.

I liked this. If there was a back button for when I was too eager at getting to the next dialogue it would be much better. The detective part felt odd in a story where you don't really make any decisions, and I didn't like the minigames. The romance kept me from not recommending this.

This was cute, but the actual game mechanics are very very minimal. Mostly just involves clicking around a scene until you hit the right spot. The story, however, is great, though quite cliche. The two main characters are likeable and have an interesting history together. I enjoyed my time with the game, but there is no replayability and if you are a fast reader like myself, you will be done in under two hours. I recommend it only on sale.

The mystery itself isn't the strongest i've ever read, but i enjoyed the detective gameplay nonetheless. However, the character writing and setting are both stellar enough for me to call this one of my favorite VNs i've read so far this year. Patiently awaiting the sequel that was teased during the ending! My one and only hope is that it'll be longer.