Another complex visual novel from the Yun Seven who also created BBirthday, full of complicated metaphors, mature content, and psychological storytelling. The visual novels from this developer tend to have a higher production value, there is a lot of content, in addition to various bonus features, including extra chapters, and even some nice effects like color changes for the game. I have to mention that playing both games is relevant, I won't say more than that to avoid spoilers. You could drop several hours into it, so I don't think the price is unfair, I only covered a few main endings so far, there are a couple of primary endings, but technically there is a lot more to explore even on top of that.
Even though the last game was one of the better VN games that I played in terms of narrative depth, in some ways I think this game is even better, mainly because it's much easier to follow the story and its visual presentation. This game does not have the coloring which I thought would be a downside, however, it allowed the developer to be a lot more creative with the presentation and changing perspectives for the art and the panels, whereas in the other game, most of the panels felt like rooms where the character is standing in front of the box, here I got a better sense of individual scenes, ultimately making a better visual experience, even though it lacks coloring, unlike BBirthday.
Once again there is no way I can really cover every part of the narrative, it starts very simple but it's also very deceiving, every major path of the story adds more context to the experience, changing the overall impression of the plot. What initially seems like a simple story about a toxic relationship turns into a narrative spiderweb about mental issues, mysterious diseases, experimenting with mind transfer, and all kinds of weird crap. The game has a lot of adult themes, including somewhat obscured sexual interactions and physical abuse in a relationship. I thought the game did a really good job with the mood swings, having both endearing, disturbing, and melancholic qualities.
Lastly, I have to mention the overall presentation of the game. Whenever I see a slideshow-like format in a visual novel to me that is generally lack of experience, whereas games from Yun Seven always feel flexible with how the art and panels are shown, including various interactive elements with the gameplay. There is also a ton of art in the game in general, it's a lot more simple, but it's effective at conveying the story and its many layers.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
(+) A ton of content, multiple endings, hidden achievements, 3 bonus chapters, and various bonus features, including some color changes.
(+) Very complicated narrative with multiple layers to the experience, constantly adding more depth with each route. I thought the characters were a lot more compelling, and I like the combination of different themes, often feeling endearing, disturbing, and tense.
(+) Even though you went with a black/white style, I would argue that the visual presentation was better than BBirthday, mainly because it allowed you to present the panels from more angles and perspectives, not just characters standing in front of the boxes. A ton of art in the game in general.
(+) I still think you handled the atmosphere in the game very well, maybe with the exception of the bell sound effects, they were a bit too random, distracting me a bit.
[h1] Feedback: [/h1]
- The game does not have the best English, I assume the dev does not speak it well, and to be fair I don't speak it well myself. Spelling errors and strange sentences are relatively normal here.
- The soundtrack in some parts of the game was a bit distracting for me, mainly the bell effects and patterns, I wish it was a bit more smooth because I am doing a lot of reading here. I still like the music, just not those bell placements.
- While I enjoy your complex narrative, sometimes I do feel like you try to cover too many sides of the story, 4 layers to the narrative would be a lot, I feel like your game has like 10 at this point, gets a little too brainy sometimes, hard to understand.
[b] Overall Thoughts: 10/10 [/b]
If I am playing a visual novel I am really looking for just 4 things, I want a narrative that has an interesting progression with some endearing qualities, I want a good visual presentation, I want some depth with the mood changes, and some optional content with branching paths. I could nitpick certain aspects of this game, like I can with any game, but to me it's not about perfection but about the experience and seeing that you put effort into every aspect of the game, even if this genre tends to be overlooked and underappreciated. Ultimately I think this story and the world-building between the 2 games has a ton of depth and many layers to the mood and the narrative, one of the more complex games that I played in terms of spiderweb storytelling, arguably better than BBirthday.
There is not much else I could reasonably ask from a visual novel, aside maybe from fixing some of the English.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
