SYNESTHESIA

Since this game compares itself to Steins;Gate in its promotional material, players will inevitably judge it by the same high standards. I won’t deny that, as a sci-fi reading experience, it does capture a bit of that “flavor.” The pseudo-scientific theories, the philosophical discussions about dimensions and abilities, and the way these ideas are delivered through the characters’ conversations do have a certain familiar appeal. However, I think the game has several unfortunate shortcomings. First, the art style is simply not very appealing. For a visual novel, the visual presentation matters more than one might expect. An art style can be niche, but it should not look rough or unpolished. [spoiler] Second, the character writing feels somewhat flat. One of the reasons Steins;Gate became such a classic is that it spends a great deal of time developing its characters’ personalities and interactions. Only after the player truly comes to care about them do the later emotional climaxes and twists hit with real impact. That is admittedly not easy to achieve in today’s fast-paced entertainment environment, but by the time I finished this game, what stayed with me was mostly just concepts like “higher dimensions” and “parallel worlds.” What exactly is Ziek’s personality as the protagonist? He does not leave a strong impression the way Rintaro Okabe does. Among the three heroines, Maya is clearly the most important one, yet she barely interacts with the protagonist in the early parts of the game. Then, when she suddenly disappears later on, the protagonist abruptly starts caring about her as if he has lost his mind? The mystery at the heart of the story seems to revolve around lines like “I can’t say,” “I can’t tell you,” and “something huge seems to be about to happen.” But in reality, the stage is limited to a school, a few university students, and a handful of professors researching philosophical questions about the collapse of the world. Because everything becomes so abstract and metaphysical, the story ironically loses much of its suspense and tension. It may also be because the art is so weak, but even the character death scenes had almost no impact. [/spoiler] These are the aspects I found disappointing. That said, the game’s presentation and music are genuinely quite good. Even with the flaws mentioned above, it still reads fairly smoothly as a sci-fi visual novel, and the writing is solid enough to make you want to keep going. It is suitable for a relaxed weekend playthrough. I would still give this game a positive review, because I have to admit that the story becomes quite engaging in the later parts. You can also really feel the care and effort the development team put into it. I look forward to seeing their next work become even better.

Good sci-fi story (I would give it a 7 out of 10, perhaps? route quality among the available options is quite uneven, character treatment is good on some characters and almost none on others, but at least it does not have any pointless filler.) kind of a mix between Virtue's Last Reward and Steins;Gate, so if you are looking to scratch that itch this game could help. You can complete 100% in about 8hs. just three puzzles in the entire game, most of it is just reading. The game uses text-to-speech voice generation for the voices, its good though it can be disabled if you don't want it.

I just finished this, and I'm shocked. :sob:

Only 3 hours in, already in love. EDIT: I just finished the game. Highly recommended.

Preliminary review, for the story i've read so far is good on world and character building, enjoying it having read "The VII Enigma" i know i'm in for an exciting story

Fun characters and a very well executed central plot. The main character Ziek leaves a bit to be desired in terms of personality but the engaging cast more than makes up for this short-coming. Pacing was solid and I appreciated the brevity of storytelling. I recommend this for purchase if you enjoy science adventure inspired games. I look forward to future projects from this creator.