[code]Curator page here-->[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD #218 [/url]<-- [i]New review every week[/i][/code]
[h1]”LONELY NEST IS THE BEST-!!"[/h1]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2939062236
[u]Here's The Thing:[/u]
A lone wolf by choice, you’re “forever alone” Takashi, sure let’s go with that… In short, I play as myself, but enough about me. Another satisfying night of liking cute anime girl profiles before the unthinkable happens! Your girlfriend, the one you didn’t know you had, arrives and tonight’s going to be the night~
[h1][u][+] PROS;[/u][/h1]
[h1]:) MISA-LLANY OF CONFLICTED FEELINGS~[/h1]
If you were none the wiser, you would have mistaken this walking simulator for a Chilla’s Art title, say…[url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/1843090/] The Closing Shift.[/url] What with its innate and eerie Japanese-ness, and the fact it centers around comparable threats and messages! That is until you notice the visual novel (VN) ribbon neatly tied around it, which is how the mostly animated storytelling progresses.
The former materializing during the free-roaming that has you all exposed, and the deranged chases making your fight-or-flight go on the fritz! In true VN fashion, there are multiple obviously bad choices that will cost you premature deaths and yet you can’t help but go down those routes anyway! Almost as if a spirit was suddenly summoned and landed in your body…
The journey will be a short one culminating in 8 endings altogether; of which 2 are secret in nature, 4 will be untimely wrong ends, and eventually 2 canon outcomes depending on your curiosity! However, I found the chemistry or rather lack thereof initially between the two lifelike leads, and not to forget the well-orchestrated plot to be what kept me invested and interacted with my heartstrings despite being static elements~
[h1]:) DEATH MAKES YOU LOOK… ALIVE![/h1]
So, as it turns out, I may be biased towards anything remotely anime in appearance… but I’ll keep it in check! Visually, it sports realistic environments but with flairs of curvaceous anime babes in the mix to truly bring out that feeling of fantasy invading the real world. The in-game universe featured is dark and isolating, which is gotten across in pretty much every chapter! From being birthed into a luring apartment room, to being swallowed by a jungle of empty urbanism, and then plunged head first in a depressing bar joint, dazzling lights aside.
Characteristically of anime, loads of funny boi-oing and other silly sounds punctuate the precious back-and-forths between Takashi and Misa, making up the opening act. But given time, that inconsequential façade gets drowned out. You would think, sound-wise, that it would mirror the lonely vibe Takashi lives and breathes, much like that feeling of plugging in noise-cancelling earphones…
But that isn’t to say there is a constantly punchy or overbearingly loud presence throughout, at least not at first! Instead, that mellow but haunting synth will be reasonably and increasingly replaced by dread-covered tracks that get more cranked up in volume and bpm! Again, that theme of being assaulted by unwanted moods~
[h1]:) TALK ABOUT SOUL MATES?[/h1]
The story is 20% [b]Casper (1985),[/b] and the finding of friends in the unlikeliest of places; 45% [b]Maniac (2012),[/b] what prolonged bouts of self-isolation can do; and 35% [b]Her (2013),[/b]the difficulties of making connection and alternatives sources of it. With these being cited, you can sort of tell the kind of “sad sack” story the dev was going for, and it was like looking at my own reflection.
But it was actually taken a few notches above interesting by the further invoking of paranormal elements that were both entertaining, and really sold it so it’s not just wholly miserable in existence- it’s disturbingly plausible as well! All the while having a likeable everyday joe whose acceptance of loneliness to the brink of cynicism is worrying but empowering~
[h1]:) A LOAN IN. THE. DARK.[/h1]
I liked that it didn’t simply shame or force lonely individuals into coming to the conclusion that being around others is the sole way to happiness and therefore a life worth living. Nor did it preach and shove the way of the hermit as being righteous! We all know that both come with their own perils…
What it resorted to was showing a series of tragic events sort of the “before and after” of what happens to different sects of recluses brought about by various walks of life. Loneliness was a motivator, consequence, and a state of being not easily understood.
The incorporation of ghosts was not random, neither was the decision to have them anchored to loners; serving poignant and uncanny external representations, seeing as both are easily forgotten and/or invisible~
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2939062992
[h1][u][-] CONS;[/u][/h1]
[h1]:( WAS IT ALL IN VN…!?[/h1]
The decision to implement a partial VN look and feel was not made lightly, yet all that I could think about was why didn’t it just go all the way!? For one thing, the most triggering aspect was the “text skip”, which in typical VNs would be what the [i]shift[/i] key was for… Not here though! It’s all manual here which that means you have to repetitive-strain-injury through it tapping on the “E” key because holding it does nothing.
The unusual pacing of the text progression also means that a lot of the time, many text will be accidentally skipped past but you can’t backtrack or rollback right away- y’know as with most VNs! There was a “log” feature introduced in the beginning which was a good sign, but never to be seen again after chapter 1, which was bizarre to say the least. It’s almost as if you were a recently deceased soul wandering about lost and angry at the new world~
[h1]:( AIKA-RAMBA![/h1]
The art style is very much attention-hogging, as I’ve said already, but it’s every bit as disembodied as it is a sole standout… I can still picture vividly how more than 75% of the character models present looked unbelievably dissimilar to each other, even when they supposedly should be one and the same! Sometimes they were cut off at the waist, other times they lose pixels and focus… The scenes that had CG stills also appeared quite spotty with the resolution dipping more than a potato chip!
I’m fairly convinced that at least one of the characters was AI-generated, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that. That said, it did make the other models pale in comparison, quality and design-wise. I also would like to point out the potentially epileptic seizure-inducing flashes that happen when the models transition in poses and expressions; just as dangerous as they were distracting.
Lastly, while it’s true the story was the backbone and meat, the approach wasn’t quite agreeable with me. The content is fine, thought provoking, but the amount of crazy character developments and exposition in the span of just 1 hour; not in the slightest! It went all out in the department of “shocking revelations” that it didn’t manage to drive in the strong statements and awareness-raising points~
[h1]BUGS:[/h1]
x All the fun bugs and mishaps have been reported. Boohoo!
[h1]NITPICKS:[/h1]
~ I get it’s a VN and all, but there should still be settings as it is a Unity game!
~ Should have had free saves! A pain to go through slow text…
[h1]"BUT IT AIN’T FOR EVERYONE; TAK-A-SHI* TON OF SOUL-SEARCHING~"[/h1]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2939064420
[u]Last Words?[/u]
VN walking simulator pair that makes for awfully great company and a pitifully real documentary about solitude. As with all duos, there will be mismatches & bickering; nothing that can’t be resolved~
[h1]7.9 / 10[/h1]
[quote]Shoutout to [code][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116/]Indie Gems,[/url][/code] for GEMME-ing a key! Follow them for more well, y’know~[/quote]
