[i]The Spiritless Shaman[/i] is an adventure, fantasy visual novel (with a bit of bishoujo romance) developed and published by TALESSHOP Co., Ltd. You take on the role of Sihoo, a young man struggling to get an office job. After being turned down during a job interview, Sihoo is walking in the park at night, holding a soda can and feeling frustrated over his lot in life. He throws the soda can, but as luck would have it, the can hits a young woman on her head, causing her to feel dizzy. Frantically, Sihoo hurries over to her, thinking that he might have seriously injured her, but thankfully, she's ok. While the two of them talk afterwards, Sihoo notices strange markings glowing on the woman's left arm. The woman, who later calls herself Ara (although her actual name is Aira), is ecstatic that he can see them, and she explains that she's been searching for someone who can see these markings. She claims to be a magic student from another world, preparing to become a shaman. However, after a mishap, Ara ended up in Sihoo's world, where there are no spirits to help power her magic. Since Sihoo can see her markings, this means that he can assist her in returning to her world. Although Sihoo is clearly skeptical, he agrees to help her. That's the basic story synopsis, so I'll stop here to avoid spoilers. ^^
As for the gameplay, it consists of several choices, and mostly depending on the choices you make, you'll obtain one of three endings: bad, good, or true. There are a few CGs as well as a varied soundtrack and Korean voice acting but only for Ara and [spoiler]Ara's mother[/spoiler]. Also, there are several Steam achievements, and they count towards a user's global total. However, at the time of this review, no Steam trading cards are present.
Now that I've gone over the story and gameplay, I'll move onto my thoughts. Even though I've made it no secret that I'm a fan of visual novels, I admit that this is the first one by TALESSHOP that I had the pleasure to play. After reading the store page description and looking at the screenshots, I was very interested in trying out this story, and the developer was very kind to send over a review key. ^^
First, let's talk about the story. It starts off fairly slowly as Sihoo is going about his day and trying to land a job. During the interview, he explains how he started his studies and such later than the average person because of a freak accident in which a bus crashed into him as he was preparing to take his university exams. Thankfully, he wasn't injured although the accident discouraged him from studying or even trying, for that matter. Anyway, the interview doesn't go well, and then Sihoo ends up meeting Ara. Even though the story starts off a bit slow and perhaps even depressing, I like how it picks up after Sihoo and Ara meet. There are plenty of humorous interactions between them, which I certainly wasn't expecting. Even though they come from different worlds and have contrasting personalities (Sihoo is more of the depressed type, while Ara is the hyperactive type with occasional bouts of shyness), these two make quite the pair. As they work together to get Ara back to her world, they end up becoming closer and [spoiler]Sihoo ends up falling for Ara, despite that they've only known each other for a short time[/spoiler]. There are plenty of emotional moments, too, especially towards the endings for the good and true ones, which had me in tears.
In regards to the gameplay, the choices make sense since they make it pretty obvious which option is better for Sihoo to gain favor with Ara. Choosing most of the best options results in the good ending, while having a bit of a mix results in the true ending. As for the bad ending, this is where I had a bit of trouble. I was unable to obtain the bad ending by playing the game itself, whether it was by starting a new game or loading a save file. However, in the main menu, there's a timeline feature where you can view unlocked chapters and parts. The only way I was able to obtain the bad ending was by going to a particular chapter and part in the timeline and then choosing whatever option I felt like when [spoiler]Sihoo had to decide how to fight the armored fighter[/spoiler]. Even after I was able to obtain the bad ending, when I wanted to view the unlocked bad ending in the timeline, it incorrectly shows the good ending, so the only way to actually view the bad ending is by doing the steps that I previously described. At any rate, though, I was eventually able to obtain all of the Steam achievements, and all the parts (a.k.a. scenes) and CGs unlocked for me as well.
With the writing, it's beautifully narrated. It elicits the reader's emotions in just the right story parts, and the pacing is well done. Also, the English translation is wonderful. As the story is originally in Korean, I was a bit concerned that the English translation would be off. However, it feels very natural, and I only noticed a couple of very minor grammatical errors. If I hadn't been on the lookout for it, I admit that I would have missed them entirely, so I was very impressed. ^^
Regarding the art, it is gorgeous. The sprites are done in an anime style, and the colors feel vibrant and alive. While the backgrounds in Sihoo's world look like photographs, the backgrounds in the fantasy world feel otherworldly. There's a bit of pretty animation when it comes to the magical dust whipping up in the air. With the music, the tracks are lovely to listen to. There's variety to them, and they have the reader feeling emotionally invested in the story, with the tracks being in the right story scenes. Also, the Korean voice acting is wonderful. Ara's voice is very cute and funny (at times), while [spoiler]Ara's mother[/spoiler] has a more mature, scolding one.
Overall, would I recommend [i]The Spiritless Shaman[/i]? If you're a visual novel fan and looking for a short but beautifully narrated story about two people from different worlds who meet and eventually [spoiler]fall in love[/spoiler], then I totally say to give this a try. I'm surprised that this VN has gone under the radar, as I think it deserves way more attention. It has a wonderful, emotional story with lovely art, music, and voice acting. For the asking price, it's worth getting, but you can wait to get it on sale.
Finally, I want to give a major thank you to TALESSHOP Co., Ltd., for the review key, and we really need more Korean visual novels with wonderful English translation on Steam. ^^
마지막으로 리뷰 키를 주신 TALESSHOP Co., Ltd.에 큰 감사를 전하고 싶습니다. Steam에는 멋진 영어 번역이 포함된 한국 비주얼 노벨이 더 많이 필요합니다. ^^
[quote]For more detailed, high quality reviews like this, please follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url], prioritizing heart and soul always. ^^[/quote]
