The Cherry Orchard

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: [b]IndieGems[/b] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote] [i]The Cherry Orchard[/i] is a kinetic novel interpretation of the play by Anton Chekhov in four acts. The story is linear without choices, and you act as an audience with no interaction with the characters or the plot. The story takes place in 1904, on the renowned cherry orchard that is the namesake of the play. A Russian landowner returns for preparations of auctioning off her estate in order to pay her debts because she has no concept of money. The play does have some comedic satirical sections, though most of it involves clashes in ideas and the confusion and chaos all of this brings, reflecting the times in Russia, a number of decades after abolishing serfdom. The main story is preserved, with several of the characters and plot sections have been removed. I would say that some of the omissions are going to be quite apparent to those who are familiar with the original play. But for people who are not, the essentials and the themes pulled to the foreground by the play are kept intact. It's a difficult decision to make these kinds of cuts, and I think that overall they did a good job. And its presentation is very unique with its psychedelic artwork and graphical effects. What initially appeared as glitchy artwork actually turned out to be a graphical construct used essentially as a prop in the progression of the story. The use of colors is odd and unique. It makes me wonder about some of the design decisions to apply such a palette to the charcters and the scenery. Some of the visual changes are going to be confusing at first, but will ultimately make sense, somewhat. The different sections at random will switch between the 3D kinetic novel and a standard visual novel in appearance. Some of these transitions are smoother than others. I am guessing that the visual animations would have been too much work to complete the entire story this way. The story lasts a little under an hour, and has been voice-acted in English. I only listened to the English and I would say that it's done quite well. It may not have quite the dramatics of what you would expect from a professional acting troop, and the vocalization in many sections could have been normalized a bit better, but overall, quite good. The music is a bit weaker here, and to be honest, I was not really taken with the music itself. I do think that the music is designed based on the visual appearances and less so on the story and the moods present within. Thus it was rather negligible at times and other times seemed to interfere with the shifting vocal volumes to make it difficult to hear. (English version) [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Linear kinetic novel/visual novel with continuous progression, full vocalization, or options to pause, go back, etc. No player interaction to affect the outcome of the story. [h1]Controls[/h1] You don't need to do anything really, just start it and observe from the perspective of an audience. [h1]Graphics[/h1] Neat visual, shifting between 3D kinetic novel and classic visual novel artwork styles. You can tweak camera angles in different scenes with the arrow keys or your joystick, so just something more to look at. [h1]Music & Sounds[/h1] As above, the voice acting is good; the music is not that great. [h1]Pricing[/h1] Base price of $6.99 for a 1-hour-long story. It's got decent quality. But people will lament its length, and there's pretty much no replay value. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] [i]The Cherry Orchard[/i] is a work of art, an audio/visual interpretation of Anton Chekhov's play rather than a game. In my opinion it is done rather well overall and deserves praise for its unique visuals and brave use of colors. The shortening of the character list and some of the plot left a few holes, but the main story and the spirit of the play were both preserved. It's worth taking a look at, whenever you have the spare hour and when the price seems reasonable. Score: 7/10 [quote]I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.[/quote]

The Cherry Orchard is an hour-long retelling of the classic play in a linear visual novel. It plays like a movie in how the story autoplays, and there are no choices to break up the game. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's sure to be a gem for fans of short stories, visual novels, classic literature, and plays who want to experience a refreshing twist. +Pros+ +The Cherry Orchard is based on a classic play, and while condensed, it still maintains and tells a good story. +Artisically, it reminds me of the RWBY anime's animation style with a cyberpunk twist. It's pretty cool art. +The visual novel is mostly animated, and the art style really shines in that. +Length-wise, it wasn't too long, and it wasn't too short, just right to keep viewers' attention. +It features full voice acting that really brings the story to life. +The story auto-plays, which is convenient for a story with no choices and includes pause, back, forward, and act selection features for convenience. +Achievements are available. =Meh= =There were some parts of the animation that looked like they were glitches, but it's later revealed to be intentional and part of the story. It actually worked out great but was a bit distracting at first. =Personally, I was not too fond of the music, but it wasn't awful. I just chose to mute the music and listened to the voice acting on its own instead. =I liked the art, but I can see how some people wouldn't or would have to adjust to it. It's a bit different and unique, but I became fond of it. =The story plays more like a movie than a game since it auto-played on its own, which is fine and worked well in this case, but if you aren't expecting it to be like a movie, you may be surprised or disappointed by the experience. =Kinetic novels are not everyone's cup of tea, and players should understand that The Cherry Orchard tells a good story but does not offer choices. -Cons- -As someone who has seen and knows of the original play, there were some storyline parts cut out or not as fleshed out as they could have been. However, I understand that condensing any material can be difficult, and the story remains clear. -While most of the story was animated, some parts lacked full animation (it was more like traditional visual novel dialogues where the flat characters talk and the expressions changed). The lack of consistency really stuck out. In summary, The Cherry Orchard is a short, yet great kinetic visual novel that tells a good story and features great voice acting, interesting animations, and fantastical art. It's linear with no choices and plays more like a movie than a game, but it still managed to keep my attention and entertained me for about an hour. I would suggest this to fans of visual novels, the original play, classic literature, relaxing storylines, stylized art, short stories, and especially kinetic novel style games.

To be completely honest, I never thought I would find myself playing this one. It was a great decision and I have no regrets getting this game. Not only were the visuals amazing, but the voice talent involved. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone.

I believe fully in this adaptation, in that it's visually distinct from what Chekhov could have possibly imagined in both choice of media and actual visual presentation, and that it's masterfully woven together to a point where those distinctions don't negatively affect the experience of c o n s u m i n g this story.

Great game with great art direction! Got me goosebumps in some moments. Better than theater!

An absolutely fantastic retelling of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov! The visuals do a great job enhancing the story, and the VO work is top notch. I hadn't personally seen the play before, but this is setting my standard for retellings of the story. The nuance in the actor's lines and and expressions was very well done, and are even more effective on a second playthrough once you've experienced the story the first time.

A really fun little thing to watch. I've never seen a play in this medium before and It was super cool. The vaporwave , synth and update to modern language really helped it too. I think updating old things to fit how people see things now really breeds new life into the artform. Its a play worth the price of admission. Take some time out of your day to enjoy it.

beautiful little visual novel with the best stylized rendering i've ever seen for one, well worth it

I've been following the production of this for quite a while and am really impressed with the outcome. Very nice styling and an impressive acting crew.

I like it!