SYNESTHESIA

dat ending though

This is one of those mystery VNs that stay with you after the ending. If you like VNs like ZE, Ever 17/Remember 11 or Root Double, get this game.

great game on it's own, even in comparison to S;G gripping story and fitting music will give you something to think about even after 100%

TL;DR: 8/10, falls short in some aspects, but the thought that was put into the plot, and the way it was presented was incredible, and for how short it is, i highly recommend it to anyone. its literally another zero escape, puzzles are incredibly short and far between, but i really like the focus on the story. few complaints: AI voice acting just sucks, straight up. not emotion, flat acting. i would have paid more had they gotten actual VAs to voice the lines, but since theres an option to mute voices, i can let this slide. Ziek as a protagonist feels bland, not like self insert type protagonist, but more like, bland except when he isnt. its not the worst protagonist, i'd say he's alright, but could be better if you liked zero escape/steins gate/ root double (havent played it yet, from what i hear it is similar) then this is a short experience worth checking out

Underrated gem with a great story, visuals and philosophical concepts. Overall a great read. Don't miss this one if you like visual novels.

[h1]We would like to thank the developers for providing us with a free copy for reviewing purposes[/h1] [h1]Story[/h1] It is the year 2029, and people in the world have been awakened to new powers that they can control with their minds. The [b]Huntley Scientific Research[/b] Institute has opened up to try and learn about these powers while teaching the students so they can harness their strange abilities. These abilities are called [b]Synesthasia[/b] and each student at this academy has a different ability. You are playing as [b]Ziek[/b], who has a unique ability of [b]Synesthesia[/b], where he can detect significant objects by splashes of color that will only appear in his vision. He just wants to live out a comfortable life with his friends, however, he is soon caught up in something that will change his ideal life at this school. [h1]Pros and Cons[/h1] [b]Pros[/b] [list] [*]An amazing story that will twist your way of thinking [*]Great characters that have different personalities [*]Multiple endings [*]Beautiful art style [/list] [b]Cons[/b] [list] [*]A few plot points were not explored fully [*]Certain characters were not fully explored [*]Speech synthesis AI voice acting [/list] [h1]Story/Characters[/h1] The story for [b]SYNESTHESIA[/b] is something of an oddity, it’s very [b]Steins; Gate[/b], and I loved it. There are times when I felt that the story made sense but also when I was just confused about how to put the pieces together on certain plot points. One character is telling me how this thing worked in the world or with the human brain and it made sense to me but I still had questions following it through my head. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3113605095 I honestly loved this aspect of it and I wanted to experience more of the story, it was very unique in how it presented its theme and the character's abilities as well. The characters are a bit generic at times but they still shined at being well-thought-out characters, and that’s a good thing in my books. My favorite character had to be [b]Jase[/b], he stood out throughout the story and I enjoyed seeing him around throughout the story. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3113605238 The story itself has also this science-like feel sometimes when it talks about certain things, like the threads being a part of the visual novel's world. Thinking about all of this stuff was confusing, yet I knew in a way what the characters were talking about. It also made my brain hurt sometimes but I think that’s what makes it special. Like it told you about all these other threads and how there could be other parallel worlds out there, it all just blends in to make a unique story. There are a multitude of endings for you to get throughout the [b]visual novel[/b] and each has a different outcome. Your choices do matter in the story, so make sure you get the correct choices if you want a certain ending. There are a total of nine endings in the [b]visual novel[/b] and there are three bad endings for you to get, plus three epligioes if you so wish to view those. I liked how the branching paths were done for each of the routes and they all felt unique. There is a lot to this [b]visual novel[/b] that I could explain but it would be a little confusing if I did explain some of the stuff. It does not even spoil the story fully in a way, you just have to read the [b]visual novel[/b] for yourself so you can understand what is going on, also you can even find some keywords to look through, which was a nice touch. Although there are in fact two issues I did have with [b]SYNESTHESIA[/b], and the two issues are in fact, tied together. Certain plot points in the story were not fully explored and two key characters were also not developed fully to make sense of those plot points. The first character I want to talk about is [b]Trace[/b], who hates people who have [b]Synesthesia[/b] abilities and the college they are in. Why does he hate them though and how did he get a bunch of people to agree to his cause, well, the [b]visual novel[/b] never explored that, and because of that it just leaves an empty feeling. There is also another character called [b]Dr. Crane[/b], who comes out of nowhere, works at the college can shut off [b]Synesthesia[/b] abilities, and has certain technology to help aid them. It’s like he just pulls these things out of his pocket and expects me to just roll with it. It’s a little awkward and I just can’t find myself to really make any sense of the character. What are these machines or abilities that can do these sorts of things, well, it’s not fully explained either. I could give [b]Dr. Crane[/b] a small exception to this rule, as I believe the writers were trying to give us this mystery-like feeling for the college and everything we see in it. Also, the fact that he was a surprise help to the group, was kind of interesting in a way. Other than those issues, I did enjoy the story for [b]SYNESTHESIA[/b], I loved the ideas that were presented. [h1]Graphics and Performance[/h1] The art style for [b]SYNESTHESIA[/b] is really beautiful, everything is crafted in vibrant colors and feels very alive. It shows different areas of the city the characters are in and I like how it includes both bright and dark scenes. I tested on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, AMD Ryzen 5 1500X Quad-Core Processor 3.50, and 16 GB of RAM, I experienced no issues. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3114816706 There is one issue I do have is with the voice acting. The [b]visual novel[/b] uses speech synthesis AI, if you turn on the voices, they will sound a little robotic at times and this is because it does use artificial intelligence. I should point out that there were voice actors in the visual novel but they did not do all the lines and thus speech synthesis was used. Take this con as you will, I just did not like how they sounded with the robotic-based stuff. The only character who can’t speak is [b]Ziek[/b] and there is an option to turn the voice acting off. Also, one final note just to be clear, everything else in this [b]visual novel[/b] is, in fact, handmade, so the art, character models, story, etc are human-made, just to make sure for those that are wondering. [h1]Final Verdict[/h1] Overall, I think [b]SYNESTHESIA[/b] is a pretty good visual novel for those who love sci-fi and mysteries. With its multitude of endings of different routes to go along with it, I can safely recommend this to those who love deep stories that make you do a lot of thinking, especially if you love [b]Steins;Gate[/b] and are looking for something very similar to it. [quote]Looking for more reviews like this one? Then follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/5297658/]Life Needs a Little Sin [/url][/quote]

This is my first time playing visual novel. and this is really good. the quality, the music, the pace, the voice actors and the premise. i didn't finish the game yet but i am pretty sure this one is will be a good ride. i love the tension and atmosphere so far. for now is 4.5/5. i will update again later after i finish the game

Synesthesia is like a budget version of The Nonary Games. I don't necessarily say this as a negative, the inspiration seems fairly clear and there's a lot of passion that went into the creation of this game. While the sprites and voice acting are clearly low budget, and the writing is a bit stiff, the overall narrative is interesting and keeps you hooked. I will say that a large chunk of the experience is fluff, there's several scenes that, I presume, are only written to make the characters seem more endearing or fleshed out, but unfortunately those are some of the weaker aspects of the game. When I said the game has an interesting hook, that's despite the writing and less so because of it, and precisely that makes you less engaged in any of the plotlines that aren't directly relating to the main mystery at hand. Naturally, there's a lot of suspension of disbelief necessary to excuse the narrative confinement happening. The game makes little effort to excuse the fact that the majority of the plot just so happens to occur in the exact same city. Overall I enjoyed the experience and there's a lot of handwaving you can do considering the fact that it's an indie production, although the price point of the game is perhaps slightly above what I'd normally recommend, I'd perhaps wait on a sale to pick this up if you have any interest in it at all.

Synesthesia is relatively short (8-16 hours probably), but intense old school hybrid of visual novel and adventure (quest) game. You follow Ziek and his friends, who all have special cognitive powers which allow them to percieve and manage world differently (think of X-men, but less menacing). Their powers allow to catch on sinister and weird emotions of their teachers and reseachers, prompting them to look into their alma mater's activities more thoughtfully. From here few eventful days happen which differ from route to route. Basically, you have three components in this game - first is (pseudo-)science and philosophical ideas combined or made up by author which are crucial to overall story and act as hints for incoming happenings. Second is your not-so-typical "kiddish" story about group of young adults going against older and smarter people and learning hardships of adult life and cost for trying to look into something they shouldn't. And third component is romantic, but not entirely sexual. This part is kinda bare, but you probably don't want to get another h-game when looking for mystery titles, right? I felt like story is even more troperrish than VII Enigma and, therefore, I kinda liked previous work of creator more in question of events happening. However, in all other details this game is far more superior. Now it's truly non-linear (you have few alternative scenes and even two four routes), graphic style is more eastern and clean, OST felt more nice than VII Enigma's and, most importantly, this game kills predecessor with inclusion of small "move between location" or "search for clues" scenes, few puzzles and mini-game. So, you hardly would find something really new for you if you have read at least one or two popular mystery VNs, but you can see one of greatest examples of indiedev made work which could fight on par with some professional big studio titles. Also, there is voice acting, which seems to be crucial for some readers these days. So I could recommend this game for people who seek for some indie wonders after playing Zero Escape or reading Root Double to satisfy emptiness after finishing your favourite series and/or compare modern indie titles to elder big ones.

An absolutely fantastic game. I am awestruck but not just how well written and engaging the story itself was, but also by how much fun I had reading the story. I know a lot of people may not enjoy the abstract and philosophical direction the story goes, however, for me it was an incredibly fun read that made me think and ponder on the abstract ideas presented in the novel. Synesthesia doesn't present its story as if it were a middle schooler pretending that they were going to learn nuclear physics and then using needlessly large grandiose words, but instead properly integrated the ideas from real world sources into the story in a more grounded way that really helped with the overall flow. I also need to mention the beautiful soundtrack that paired well with what was happening, and I especially loved the background animations for specific scenes. My favorite part of the story was how the fourth wall was broken in a way that also intertwined and made sense with the overarching story line and used the side chapters as part of the true ending. There were a few things that did take away from this read for me at first, such as how the character art and sprites did not match what was currently happening, but as this was an indie game and there was likely a limited budget then a minimal amount of sprites makes sense. The characters all look like they were an art mix of Ben Ten and draw your own anime character books, and that is perfectly acceptable as well. The voice acting at times also felt off, for instance sometimes the pacing of how certain lines are said seems too fast or too slow, and the tone used when saying some things also throws me off as not fitting for the situation, but I never listen expecting perfection it is just a little thing that always catches my ear. Overall this is a fantastic visual novel and I highly recommend purchasing Synesthesia and reading through it if you can vibe with abstract and philosophical themes.