Pregnancy – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels


The Truth About Children

 
Due to how closely visual novels have historically sat to the world of adult entertainment, they have often been able to touch upon subjects other games or media struggle to address and one of these is pregnancy. Their attitude and use of pregnancy varies wildly from title to title but it remains a powerful narrative element in all situations since bringing another life into the world is action with fate altering consequences. By far the most common presentation of pregnancy is as the natural outcome of a romantic relationship where the characters are depicted happily awaiting their new or recently born child. Then there is comedy which loves to poke at the absurdity of the human condition and there is no better material than people’s reactions to the natural outcome of biology. Since pregnancy is such a life changing event with all kinds of emotional connections it is the perfect breeding ground for drama amongst the cast. Let’s marvel at the wonders of life and discover how it influences the visual novel space.
 

Pregnancy As The Outcome of Romance

 
When many visual novels engage with pregnancy it is often in the context of a romantic relationship and acts as a final confirmation of the longevity of the couple’s bonds. Having a child is a serious commitment to make since it will be many years before they leave home and so it is wordlessly speaks to the intimacy and future nature of this relationship. Presenting the pair as having already had a child does achieve the same effect, but a pregnancy removes the need to have a new character design for the child and allows the player to imagine what they might be like while communicating the same thematic commitment through being a dramatic change to the appearance of the female character. It helps that in many eroge the characters have been engaging in intimate activities beforehand which makes it easier to present these pregnancies as a natural outcome of their actions and thus binding romance and pregnancy together. Take Maji de Watashi ni Koishinasai! series and the character Oshitari Azumi for an example of the positive and romantic presentation of pregnancy. The actual pregnancy is confined to the end of her route, long after the point where she and the protagonist are married, in order to have this be a signifier of their bond without dealing with the realities and inconveniences of the process. Since it is such a brief window there has been a lot of effort put into how it is framed from the gentle illumination and soft colours of the visuals to the light hearted banter and deep trust in each other. This allows it to land with a greater impact and presents a bright future for the pair so the route can ends on a high note even if the player will never get to experience any more of their lives. It does help that the pair were fornicating throughout the sections after the marriage to provide the context for the pregnancy and further push the idea of it as the ultimate conclusion to their relationship. 
Behold the wonders of childbirth

Titles with a deeper exploration of pregnancy are less common but those that do exist tend to place it in the same romantic context. Clannad’s After Story section brings the focus down to a single heroine, Nagisa, and during this time she becomes pregnant. Rather than simply skipping over this part of their lives Clannad engages with the social and biological reality as the pair get ready to become parents for the first time. It is used as an avenue to showcase the strength of their commitment to one another and continues to develop it as they overcome these strange new hurdles. Despite the difficulties of pregnancy it is still shown to be some of the best moments of their lives to help drive home just what a positive thing these events are and how the player should interpret them. While Clannad is not an eroge, the influence of Key’s history with the eroge of their earlier titles is clear from their willingness to present pregnancy, the reason it occurs and its consequences in a frack way that a developer with a more main stream audience may have shied away from.
 

The Comedy Of Our Desires

 
Pregnancy sits in a strange place in the social consciousness, it is a thing to be celebrated since it brings new life into the world yet the process which leads to it is not something people are comfortable talking about. Into this awkwardness strides comedy to inject a much needed dose of humour into the absurdity of this situation. Since many visual novels already deal in this style of comedy it is only natural they would take advantage of this avenue as a means to add variety. One way this can be achieved is by directly pointing to the cause and effect of how pregnancy and engaging in a bit of tongue and cheek education for the player. Futamata Ren’ai does this at the end of Toiro Kirame’s route where she realises she has become pregnant and then the other characters point of that since she and the protagonist have been at it like bunnies, this was the obvious outcome. Before this point the game had not brought up the idea of pregnancy and so this sudden shift highlights it as the expected consequence which people do not openly discuss resulting in a kind of awkward laugh from the player as they realise the mental disconnect they possess between action and outcome. It helps that Futamata already makes a lot of adult jokes and regularly utilises its status as an eroge to touch on such ideas so this discussion about pregnancy does not appear to come from nowhere but is instead a part of its sense of humour. 
Boys and girls this is what happens when you go at it too much

Another way comedy visual novels like to use pregnancy is take it too its logical extreme, if the protagonist gets around then there should be a lot of pregnancies. The Rance series and its titular protagonist do not know how to keep it in their pants so the outcome should be obvious. These games love to play up their promiscuous protagonist at every chance and pregnancies are a great way for them to do so while at the same time point out how absurd their protagonist is and how his actions result in some truly over the top romantic situations. This plays nicely with the over the top story of the Rance titles and their nature as eroge to get a chuckle while continuing to keep both sides of its mechanics and narrative satisfied one joke to the next.
 

Dramatic Pregnancy

 
Given how life changing a pregnancy is for all those involved it naturally lends itself to being a source of drama. In particular the idea of pregnancy as binding two people together regardless of whether they like it or not can be leveraged to drive a wedge into proceedings in a way a player might not be expecting. As such it primarily deals with the discovery of the pregnancy rather than the later stages so it can side step the physiological changes and just use it as a narrative device which does not impede the character’s ability to engage in other plot points. This allows it to be a flexible element which can either be the focus of events or a compliment to a situation with already high stakes without being invasive since it can be framed as the natural escalation of romantic tensions. However, it does need a specific kind of story for it to not feel out of place due to it being so closely tied to intimate relations and as such placing it into a game without even the slightest allusion to it would make this subject especially jarring. Perhaps the most memorable example of a visual novel using this dramatic device is School Days. Before pregnancy is even brought into the conversation this game presents itself as a drama fuelled descent into romantic madness as every character does the stupidest thing possible in every situation. Having such an open season on what is reasonable for a character to do in pursuit of love makes the presence of pregnancy feel like the natural conclusion or extension of these conflicts. Sometimes it a cause to be happy and in others it is cause for murder, School Days gets a surprisingly large amount out of this dramatic moment as a means of pushing the cast over the edge for the most outlandish endings possible. As with many of the previous examples in this article it helps that the characters have been sleeping around so the pregnancy appears natural yet this game takes it further since the sleeping around is a major source of drama and the pregnancy pushes those strained relationships to its breaking point.
Be careful who you sleep with...

Conclusion

 
One of the defining experiences of a human life is to bring another person into the world so it makes for perfect material for visual novels to include in their stories. Romance likes to use it as the ultimate conclusion of a relationship where the commitment of the pair is shown in a physical manner which speaks to the bright future ahead of them. It can also be a source of drama and tension since its life changing nature may not be what all parties want or represents the breaking point of a relationship. Playing off a pregnancy can be a great means to create comedy where the taboo nature of the process leading to pregnancy is juxtaposed against the happy outcome of the union as a means of highlighting the obvious connection between the two. As a narrative tool there are few with the potency of pregnancy and if handled correctly can leave a powerful impact on the player’s impression of your game.
 
 

Roguelike/lite – Uncovering The Hybrid


Repetition Towards Perfection

 
Roguelikes/lites and visual novels have never been styles of game associated with one another for good reasons. Repetition is an extremely problematic element for anything which leans into narrative since it undermines the feeling of progress stories rely on yet it is core to the appeal of a Roguelike. Of course this has not stopped developers from trying and this has led to some interesting results as they attempt to reconcile these two halves. A common narrative device used to try and justify the repetition in the visual novel is the time loop where the player character is trapped in some kind of repeating cycle which they have to extract themselves from. When it comes to integrating these elements into a compete package one method used is to segregate them so they do not impact each other in any negative ways. Another way is to firmly plant the visual novel within the Roguelike mechanics either through narrative events or making whole story a Roguelike. These three aspects are the defining pillars around which this hybrid struggles to construct its identity. Let’s get ready to start all over again and discover what this hybrid has to offer.
 

Groundhog Day 

 
In order to justify why the characters are constantly repeating the same levels and fighting the same enemies many stories present it as them being in a time loop and visual novels are no exception. The reasons for its prevalence in Roguelikes stems from it being a popular trope which is easy to understand while at the same time being open enough to not restrict the kind of settings or characters it can have within it. Utilising a widely known narrative framework frees the visual novel aspects from having to extensively justify the existence of the game’s mechanics since a loop naturally invokes the idea of repetition. It also works to help make the reuse of some story beats or lines of dialogue a means of creating the same emotional experience of the cast being trapped even if many of them might not be aware of their predicament. The loop as a means to further this feeling is used by Gnosia to great effect when combined the physical confinement of the spaceship. Doubling down on the restrictiveness of the setting might seem like a poor choice since it limits the opportunities to add diversity to events, but here it works in Gnosia’s favour as it ties its narrative closer to the design space of its Roguelike mechanics. By removing all distractions the game can focus on selling the life and death tensions its investigation and social deduction elements thrive on and make each new cycle have the same impact throughout its play time. The randomness and unpredictability of a Roguelike is the core element which allows this style of interaction to be possible with its ability to shift the pieces around so they feel new again. 
Oh no! Should have framed some.

Time loops are not limited to strictly sci-fi stories and any genre can comfortably fit within its vague outline. This is one of the reasons it is so prolific as a narrative device within Roguelikes and it has led to a wide pool of titles that might not have otherwise seen the mechanics as compatible with them. One notable example of this is the game Expelled! where its protagonist has become the prime suspect in an attempted murder case and they have to figure out how to avoid getting expelled by any means possible. This school setting and its younger characters opens up a lot of possibilities for interesting situations and more flexible morals given their desperation to avoid an outcome which would ruin their lives. Teenagers tend not to be the most stable people so the web of lies and questionable actions the protagonist weaves over the course of her various loops do not feel out of place given all that is happening to them. Assisting this narrative direction is the Roguelike mechanics and the way they play on the slightly exaggerated nature of the game with their social navigation and evidence manipulation that encourage the player to experiment in what they can do before it blows up in their faces. The aim always returns to uncovering the truth about who is responsible for the attempted murder and curiosity guides the player onwards through the title’s various cycles.
  

Mechanics First

 
In order to not get in the way of the mechanics focused nature of Roguelikes, the incorporation of visual novel elements often results in a kind of segregation where neither side interferes with the other. This is done in an attempt to not comprise of the qualities of both parts of the game by giving them the space they need to exist in their purest form. Such a divide is common in Roguelikes since those who play them tend to value an uninterrupted gameplay experience where story exists in its own dimension. As a result is an immediately recognisable part of the genre such as in Duel Princess which even at a glance quickly conveys its mechanical origin. This deck builder Roguelike tells its narrative beats, often between the various princesses, in between its larger sections of continious gameplay and the two do not have any meaningful impact on each other. Instead they are bound together through their common bright anime styling and emphasis on the princesses and their personalities. Having been disconnected they are free to focus on what each does best with the deck building being given the ability to lean into the castle defence and army management angles for fluid strategies while the visual novel carries the reason and influence of the player’s actions. It is not difficult to see why this division is the main version of this hybrid since it offers the developer a means of shaping the two halves individually to achieve their desired effect. 
The divide between this and the card mechanics could not be larger

If the emphasis is flipped on its head with the visual novel element being the driving force then the issues of this approach become more pronounced as can be seen in Forsaker: Ding Ding & Blade. Here the narrative is front and centre with the Roguelike being the supporting pillar to provide a means for the player to act out certain parts of the story. This imbalance highlights the jarring contrast between the two halves of the game by creating long stretches of visual novel which then suddenly stop to give way to a free-form gameplay experience that is nothing like what the player has been engaging with. It is clear Forsaker wanted to put it story front and centre so this emphasis on narrative was an inevitable outcome within this segregated approach and showcases how delicate a balance is struck in those games who successfully manage it. Should the positions of the two halves be inverted the problem is not resolved and it merely shifts the visual novel elements being the pace breakers to the flow of the gameplay which risks the player being brought out of the experience provided in the Roguelike.
 

A Fine Line

 
Another method for handling this hybrid is to more closely integrate its writing into the flow of the Roguelike in a natural fashion. Creating the space for this approach to work without it breaking the flow of the other mechanics is not easy and for this reason tends to only be used by titles able to commit to necessary reorganisation. If the game can tread this fine line then it gains the ability to more smoothly blend the two halves of itself together and avoid the jarring feels possible in a sharply divided experience. A common manifestation of this can be seen in titles like Umamusume where small vignettes are used to humanise certain markers of mechanical progress. This takes what would otherwise be a cold indication of numbers going up and down and turns it into a moment of growth in a girl’s emergent story and the consequences to the player’s actions. The effectiveness of this approach at creating a bond and telling an unstructured narrative can be see in Umamusume’s popularity and the way it even made its player’s invested in the real horses each girl embodies. Of course there is a major flaw here and that is the way it rubs up against the repetition inherent in a Roguelike. Reading the same thing over and over again can get boring leading to many players simply skipping through the scenes after a few viewings which undermines their emotional impact over the long term. 
The small stories really sell the characters journey

The ultimate end point of this merger between the two halves is a game were the visual novel is the means by which the Roguelike presents its mechanics. This style is extremely rare but one notable example of it is Gnosia and its deduction sections. Here the player has to interrogate the other characters to deduce who is the gnosia while trying to deflect suspicion away from themselves. All of this is presented within the framework of a visual novel presentation and pulls from a large pool of responses to invite the player to comb over every word and the way they were said to try and gleam information. It is the core element around which the tension of these situations is both shown and systematised and since who the gnosia is differs on each run, it keeps the search from clues in the text meaningful over the game’s play time. Being a linear Roguelike with a conclusive narrative ending does help provide a place were the player can stop playing and move on before the repetition starts to undermine the appeal of its psychological thriller.
 

Conclusion

 
Given the often uncomfortable relationship between visual novels and Roguelikes it is surprising just how many attempts there have been to make this hybrid work. To help this along there is an extensive use of the time loop as a narrative device to justify the repeated visual novel sections and why progression is tied to success in the Roguelike. Attempting to blend the two halves together results in a smoother overall experience at the risk of the narrative elements losing their impact over time and becoming an irritation. On the other extreme, segregating them can allow each the space they need to fully express themselves at the cost of having to maintain a delicate balance lest one start overwhelming the other. There is a lot of potential in this hybrid waiting to be tapped into if the conflicts between its elements can be resolved since there is a demand for a strong narrative in Roguelikes as games like Hades have demonstrated.
 
 

Sunrider Legends Tactics Review – From The Solar Sea To The High Seas



Genre – Fantasy, Naval, Strategy    Play Time – 30 hours    Developer – Love In Space    Steam

 

Sailing The Seven Seas

 
Legends Tactics marks the sixth title in the Sunrider IP and the second spin off as it swaps out space for sail. After so many games it is hard for new players to know where to start and, with the first game now showing its age, there was a need to release something to remedy this issue. As such Legends Tactics takes the main series story line and remixes it into a new player friendly form with its own twists on the story to carve out its own identity. The characters are still have familiar personalities but have lived different lives and so differ from their main universe selves in ways which inject new life into them. Artistically it uses Sunrider’s visual language just passed through a fantasy and seafaring filter to tread this line between old and new. In terms of its sailing mechanics they are an iteration of those from Sunrider 4 with momentum traded out for wind direction and this makes for some necessary improvements on that foundation. This attempt to remake the old does run into some problems when it comes to its odd relationship with its new fantasy elements and the lack of new cast members it needed to create its own identity. Are these difficulties enough to take the wind out of the Sunrider’s sails? Let’s assemble a crew of fantasy races and find out.
 

Elves, Orks And The Undead – Narrative and Themes

 
In terms of the plot, it broadly follows the same outline as the first two Sunrider games with some elements brought in from Liberation Day and Captain’s Return to spice things up. For example Cera is a small island in a sea of other small neutral islands rather than a planet in the neutral rim but its destruction by PACT is still the motivating incident for the entire plot. Recontextualising familiar aspects of the original storyline into a new setting forms the bulk of the narrative particularly during the early game. This ensures it can operate as its own stand alone title since it begins the story from its origin and explains all its world’s concepts rather than expecting the player to be familiar with them from prior entries. Those new to Sunrider do not have to play four games worth of content just to be able to have a fun time which is in the best interests of a spin off aiming for a different genre. For those already invested in Sunrider this shaking up of events gives these players a chance to re-experience them from a new perspective and gives the characters a fresh coat of paint to allow them to shine anew. The additions for Liberation Day and Captain’s Return are more subtle than a wholesale retelling and mostly aim to streamline the experience. These are things like Lynn having her own distinct personality rather than starting out as one of many similar prototypes or Crow being tied to one specific area and only being important to Sola or Chigara figuring out she is a sleeper agent. Each one allows Legends Tactics to skip over the elements of the original story it does not want to engage with while still include parts of them which fit within its world. 
Sailing on the high seas changes a man

In terms of the new ideas Legends Tactics brings to the table, they focus on trying to recapture the magic of the early titles and making it feel fresh again. It takes full advantage of its naval setting to dramatically change the way the player engages the context of the battles and the structure of the world. No longer is the world map some vaguely defined planets in a galaxy divided along nebulously lines, one look at the solid continents and islands gives immediate context as to the strategic value of locations. In the old games the player is told Far Port is an important choke point in the war but in Legends Tactics it is obvious from one look at the map why it is even before being told. This adds a lot to the texture and believability of the story since, despite its fantasy leans, much of it operates on the same axis as our own world. Race also plays a role in how the story unfolds with more existing than just the humans of the original with elves, orcs and half-elves holding various levels of political and social power. The arrogance and eternal life of the elves is the pillar around which many characters motives rotate and puts emphasis on the crew of the sunrider being a mix of all races working together as key to their success. Binding all these narrative elements together is a series of large and small choices the player gets to make over the course of the story which feel weighty and offer unique divergences. They put the player in the head-space of Shields as he struggles with these dilemmas. There is a good variety to them with some being big climatic choices where the crew can be consulted for their opinions on what to do next and others being choices made almost unknowingly during gameplay. By showing the player their actions have significance, Legends Tactics gets the them invested in the world and story they are influencing and keeps them hooked to the end.
The Shields family are certainly a bunch of excentrics

For a title which shifts the Sunrider series into a fantasy setting, it seems at odds with some of the fantastical elements of its world. This manifest in the ways it fails to properly engage with certain ideas it introduces and just moves on as if the subject is something they do not want the player to think about. Orcs are presented as the undesirable end for a fallen elf but little of what the player is shown seems to back up this view. The only orc in the story appear perfectly fine with their situation and before the rise of PACT the orcs even had their own kingdom so they clearly were not as monstrous as some characters describe about them. Their appearance is the only aspect of note as they have a pig like face, and while unappealing, it is hardly the horrific spectacle the cast seems to think they are. This leads to a slight feeling of disconnect since it is treated as this terrible punishment for elves to become orcs yet nothing outside of their appearance changes so it is difficult to feel the danger it is meant to pose. In the universe of Legends Tactics there are gods and goddess who have the divine power to reshape the world and yet they are never important or talked about outside of single example. This one character is important to the Sunrider crew but is ultimately minor in the overarching narrative but they provide the only example of divine power and makes the player question why such beings are not more involved in the world or worshipped more directly. No explanation is ever offered to excuse this inconsistency and the game moves on. In reality the existence of gods is simply an excuse to give this one character their powers rather than a considered part of the setting. There are numerous other small niggles like these throughout the game. None are so large as to undermine the overall story but they do show a lack of care and attention.
 

All Around Me Are Familiar Faces – Characters

 
Sunrider’s cast are as strong as ever in Legends Tactics and get the same new coat of paint as the narrative. Everyone gets a few traits to spice up their existing personalities and give them new angles the game can push for dramatic and comic effect. Shields is now a half-elf to push the idea of him as a neutral element who can see beyond the conflict to what the different sides have to offer which helps solidify his role as protagonist. These additions have been carefully considered to both match the character’s existing traits and challenge them in some way such as Sola being an elf allow her to have a resolution about her past and Kryska being a religious zealot rather than an Alliance one leading to friction when those beliefs are shown to be flawed. By reframing the characters they can be properly integrated into this new world without feeling like they are just the old characters cosplaying and provide arcs for them the main line entries could never achieve due to the direction of their narrative. When it comes to the new character added by Legends Tactics, they are few in number and lack impact on events. Each of them are side elements to the main story and never step outside the role of supporting the growth or characterisation of the core cast. This results in the overall cast feeling very familiar, and while the personality additions do spice things up, there is a disappointing feeling of having already seem all the characters have to offer. Leveraging more new characters to give the cast its own distinct sense of identity could have been done without it coming at the expense of the old characters so it is disappointing they did not lean more into their new material.
Character skill points being tied to affection is a nice touch

Trading The Stars For The Ocean – Visual, Audio and Technical

 
Combat is an iteration on the foundation laid in Sunrider 4 with its momentum conserving movement and emphasis on positioning. The vacuum of space is traded out from the direction of the wind carrying the ships in its wake and this change in context has allowed for the idea to be expanded on in interesting ways. Having the wind decide the direction of vessels gives the game the option to change its direction during the mission and allow the player the ability to do the same. This opens a lot of possibilities for outmanoeuvring the enemy while having to constantly keep the wind in mind when making plans for future turns. In order to utilise the winds a ship must have sails and so it follows they should be able to put them away which the game uses to present the player with the choice between faster movement in the wind’s direction or shorter range but in any direction. Maps now have a variety of terrain features from islands to block enemy or allied cannons to shallow water that damages ships passing through it. These make the ability to fold the sails important since a ship cannot simply be left to the mercy of the winds or it will just collide with the terrain and juggling the overall status of the player’s ships is given a greater importance. Legends Tactics is focused on giving the player options and this is continued into the removal of unique character ships, outside of the Sunrider, in favour of allowing the player to capture any ship they fight. As such the title offers the ability to fully customise the weapon and armour load-outs for each vessel for whatever role the player want them to fill. This brings us to the turn based person to person combat that takes place during boardings and at certain points in the story. If it had to described in one word it would be unremarkable, it is a basic round based system with simple attacks, skills and one use items that does exactly what it needs to and nothing more. The problems which were present in Sunrider 4’s ship battles return in Legends Tactics in the form of it running out of new ideas in the late game and resorting to ship spam to try and escalate the difficulty. Just like before this is more frustrating and grindy than an actual challenge and sours what should be a grand finale with a lack of inventiveness to match the game’s engaging naval combat.
Positioning matters more than ever

From a presentational standpoint everything in Legends Tactics is in line with the increasingly high quality of the Sunrider titles just passed it through its own fantasy filter. The shiny gleam of technology is replaced with the wood, stone and magic of this naval world and yet it maintains the same visual styling which made the older games so memorable. Each character’s redesigned appearances preserve their core appeal while making changes to capture how their personalities would influence them in this new setting. Backgrounds sells the locations as entirely novel places for the series with everything from Japanese style wooden homes to grand stone temple built by the elves. Supporting these visuals is a suitable soundtrack and SFX for the setting which leans into the game's physicality and smaller nature as a means of creating the feeling that the impact each action or scene has as greater weight due to this contraction in scale. Overall, this package comes together as one of Legends Tactics stronger elements and works to support the tone and texture the game is aiming for.
 

Conclusion

 
When making a spin off of a series with a strong identity like that of Sunrider, it can be difficult to balance the expectations of old and new players and yet it is this fine line Legends Tactics choose to tread. It remixes the storyline of the Sunrider games into a fantasy setting with a series of exciting changes to prevent it from being too familiar while still making sense without any prior exposure to the original titles. The cast remain their old selves and the change in circumstances allows them to show sides to themselves not possible before. Visuals and audio are similarly reimagined from the old for Legends Tactics as the familiar art-style is put to work for sails and sorcery rather than spaceship. There is an evolution of the gameplay set out in Captain’s Return, the naval based nature of the combat is take full advantage of to introduce new ways to control the movement system and add terrain for the player to consider as they plan their next move. The title is not without its own issues such as its unwillingness to properly engage with its fantasy elements and the combat falling back on ship spam in the late game, but, overall, these do not detract from all that Legends Tactics achieves in its play time.
 
 

Verdict – 

A successful reimagining of the Sunrider series into a grand tale of magic and naval battles which blends the new and familiar into an exciting adventure. Unfortunately it also inherits some of Sunrider's weaker elements such a reliance of ship spam for difficulty and inability to engage with its concepts in a meaningful way.
 
 

Pros - 

 
+ Remixes the storyline of the Sunrider series into a tale of sail and sorcery with a few fun new additions.
  
+ The cast get a new injection of life as they are reimagined in this fantasy setting.
 
+ Improvements to the movement system and the option to more freely customise your ships make for engaging naval battles.
 
+ The presentation maintains the same high and improving standard as the previous titles.
 

Cons -

 
- Not quite comfortable with its fantasy concepts and often leaves them awkwardly unexplored.
 
- Lack of new characters weakens the game’s sense of identity as more than just a rehash of old content.
 
- The problems with Captain’s Return’s late game are also present here with unit spam being a common occurrence.
 
 

Best Visual Novel Releases – September 2025


The chill of autumn has truly begun to set in and now the trees have turned their customary brown it is time to look at the harvest of visual novels from the past month. It has been a good one from lovers of mystery stories with all kinds being released from magical girl to murder to puzzle alongside a suite of other exciting genres and a surprise port of a classic title. Let’s dive in and discover the exciting games on offer.
 

Official Releases

 

Lock and Key: A Magical Girl Mystery

Steam    VNDB    Genre – Yuri/GL, Magical Girl, Mystery

This title is an interesting take on the magic girl genre in a variety of ways from its married couple of magical girls to most of the cast being in their late 20’s. Choices like these create a very different style of magical girl story with people who have more worldly experience than the children/ teens typical of the genre. Yet it is still undeniably a love letter to the genre as it uses the same themes and ideas but places them through the lens of its older cast. The story follows the married pair of Sherri and Kealey Cohen as they are pulled out of retirement after a string of murders demands their skills to help uncover the perpetrator. It will lead them down a winding path through the past and the future where they will have to confront the web of lies surround the case. Not everything is clear cut and it is up to the player to guide the pair towards an ending to their tale. Another strong visual novel from Studio Élan who seem to be on a role when it comes to thoughtful yuri games.
 

Illusion of Itehari

Nintendo Eshop    VNDB    Genre – Otome, Steampunk, Politics   Play Time – 45 hours

Set the floating city of Itehari, this utopia seems to be a picture of paradise for the young noble lady Hinagiku, and yet she still wonders what beyond its boundaries. One day she meet a strange amnesiac man named Yashiro and is dragged into a conflict which unearths secrets about their paradise. There is a strong political thriller angle to Itehari as Hinagiku finds herself having to navigate the structures of power defining her world alongside the people she meets there and it is never certain who is friend or foe. This game has a distinctive visual identity which mixes Japanese styling with its steampunk setting to create an interesting and immediately recognisable landscape. These elements combine to create a memorable ride which fans of otome who are looking for their monthly fix.
 

SHUTEN ORDER

Steam    VNDB    Genre – Murder Mystery, Multiple Gameplay Styles, Supernatural    Play Time – 40 hours

The latest title from the weird mind of Nakazawa Takumi comes off the release of HUNDRED LINE earlier this year and there appears to be no slowing this man’s creativity. What makes SHUTEN ORDER stand out is each section having its own distinct gameplay style associated with it. This ranges from stealth action horror to dating sim with every one of them taking their style to its absurd limits. It is drenched in a constant scene of dark humour as the subjects being tackled are serious in nature, but the entire package is presented through its strong brightly coloured art and larger than life characters who make light of what are some horrible affairs. The absurdity of this nation run by a religious cult never leaves the player’s mind as it slowly dawns on them, through the lies and dark jokes, exactly what is going on in this world and why the cults leader was murdered. Overall another fun and thrilling ride which is worth your time if you are looking for something completely distinct.
 

Blood Lily Ghoststories

Steam    VNDB    Genre – Horror, Mystery, Yuri/GL   Play Time – 3 hours

Now for something much smaller in scale with this light and short yuri horror anthology. Split into four parts each one covering a different character and aspect of the plot as they build towards the truth. Each one does a good job selling the cast and creating tension when new reveals occur while still having their own identity. Its stylistic use of silhouette sprites lends those scenes a detached sense of place to them and helps to underline this as a horror title. The short play time works in its favour since it does not have much substance to its plot so keeping its length down hides its weaker elements and intensifies its stronger moments. For anyone looking for a lighter horror experience, this is perfect for you.
 

ROAD59 A Yakuza’s Last Stand

Steam     VNDB     Genre – Yakuza, Crime, Action

Looking for a crime thriller then perhaps ROAD59 might be up your alley. This drama packed yakuza story set in the bright neon glow of a future Tokyo aims to hit all the right notes of the genre. As the heir to a crime syndicate Sho Himuro’s life was never going to be a simple affair no matter how much he might yearn for normality. He finds himself entangled with the family's future as a conflict breaks out over the mysterious Power of Orochi and a rival gang seeks to overthrow them. Faced with danger on all side, he must set up into a world of betrayal, desire and honour in order to protect those he cares about. A solid sci-fi crime game with just enough unique flare to keep you engaged until its finale.
 

Type Noise: Shonen Shojo

Steam    VNDB    Genre – Puzzle, Mystery, Trapped

Six people awake in Noise Scramble City and into a mental prison of their own making from which they must escape. This place resembles a twisted version of down-town Tokyo and is formed of the true selves each has forgotten. Interpersonal drama from the tension of being trapped without memories forms much of the initial narrative driving force with a smattering of personal revelations adding fuel to the fire. Type Noise makes good use of this tension by playing up the cast’s personalities in a human and fragile way in order to get the player to root for their success in the face of this confusion. Supporting the story are a series of puzzle mechanics which shift as the player engages with new characters and places to match the themes and tone of these elements. At its core is a point and click style of interaction where additional aspects of gameplay, such as a mock fighting game and managing a live stream, are weaved in to spice up the formula. If you are seeking another in the oddly large sub genre of trapped people in extreme situations then Type Noise will meet your needs.
 

Fan Releases

 

Tsui no Sora Original

Download     VNDB    Genre – Denpa, Psychological Thriller, Utsuge    Play Time – 8 hours

Rather than a simple fan translation of the original Tsui No Sora, this is a full on port out of its ageing and difficult to run engine into Ren’py making it more accessible on modern hardware. Despite the change all of the identity of Tsui no Sora is preserved including its low budget presentation and strong writing and offers a new audience the chance to experience this cult hit work. You might be asking why play this version when the shiny new remake is also available? Simply put they are not identical experiences with the remake making important changes and additions which fundamentally distinguish it from the original. All three versions of this story have their own unique selling points and the original is just the first iteration on those ideas. The original is worth playing to see the base from which many of the developer’s titles would string and the imagination it represents.
 
 

A Slow Burn: Openings And Pacing – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels


Beginning On The Right Foot

 
A game’s opening determines much about how a player is going to perceive and engage with its content going forward. Since visual novels are particularly susceptible to this influence, due to their focus on narrative and longer play times, making those first few hours critical to hooking the player in as they know this is what they can expect for the entire duration. As a medium visual novels have developed tools to try and control this perception, such as the common route, but this article will not be looking at them and instead will investigate the way the broader idea of pacing shapes the experience as a whole. Regardless of whether the game begins with dramatic battle or a walk to school, these moments must work to set up the seeds of future beats around which everything will rotate. If the opening is slow in nature then there is a good chance the player might begin to lose interest so it has to be carefully curated to drip feed just enough engagement to prevent that response. The temptation to front load the drama and excitement in a bid to capture the player’s attention without a means of maintaining this style of narrative over the long term risks hurting the their trust in the game. Let’s pace ourselves and see exactly what a good opening has to do.
  

Setting Up For The Long Haul

 
When constructing an opening and its pacing there has to be consideration for how it will relate to future plot events and reveals. It can be easy to fall into the trap on simply establishing characters and setting in their most immediate manifestation, this is still important when it comes to setup, but only doing this fails to set the right expectations for later sections while not giving the player anything to latch onto. Setting up long term plot elements requires the use of narrative breadcrumbs which act as subtle hooks to gain the player interest and gesture towards what might be coming in a vague enough way so as to not give anything away. How these breadcrumbs are distributed decides the pacing of each scene in the opening hours as the intrigue they generate helps even out the story’s momentum in between larger plot beats. The fact they are so subtle in nature works in their favour when placed in a section where they can compliment rather than distract from the main ongoing events. A title capable of establishing this long term promise with the player will be rewarded with a passive ability to hold their attention due to the investment created through these breadcrumbs and the player wanting to see the way all of this plays out. 
What a strange man, I wonder if his backstory will somehow be important

If there is one game which absolutely loves breadcrumbs in its opening then it is Fate Stay Night. Over the course of its first few hours hints are dropped about almost every character such as Sakura’s family situation, Saber and Archer’s motivations and the identity of other masters are all liberally sprinkled wherever there is space. It promises the player a wild ride of character centric drama and conflict as all these elements focus on them rather than being related to the setting. One key feature to note is how the path which the player takes through the common route determines what breadcrumbs they will see. This is important in not overloading them with hints which may not be relevant for anywhere up to twenty to thirty hours later and keeps things focused on the route the player is about to enter. It also allows the opening to feel fresh with each new pass through it since there will be different hints on display to be digested and considered within the context of the knowledge gained from the previous route. Umineko uses its entire first episode as its opening and uses its nature as a mystery title to fully take advantage of the benefits of breadcrumbs. It uses this space to establish the foundation of the ongoing puzzle box around which everything will be based, but it has to balance the feeling of this being solvable and not actually giving way enough to make it possible. Here the breadcrumbs provide the sense of what solutions might exist without presenting anything with substance which could hurt future revelations. They tempt the player into continuing to play for the long term by putting the truth so close the player can almost touch it if only they keep playing.
 

Maintaining Interest

 
If a visual novel opens in a slow burn style then there is a risk the player may lose interest since it appears on the surface as if little is actually happening and there are no stakes. For some games this may be an intentional choice to create a cosy and low stress atmosphere, but for many others it is a major issue they do their best to mitigate. This is often achieved by moving the focus away from the slower pacing and onto the moment to moment events on screen. Having strong characters and selling the build up on their interactions is the most common way to go about implementing this idea. It gives the player something solid to grasp onto in what appears to be a sea of minor events and provides them with a genuine reason to care about what happens to the characters which in turn leads to them sticking around to find out. Much of the content of these interactions is banter or comedic in nature since laughter can be an effective way to humanise someone by showing them to be flawed just like the player. In addition, recurring gags can be used to create a structure of humour and provide its own brand of narrative pacing to compliment the main flow. If there is one game which embodies this approach it is Steins;Gate with its long and slow opening. While a lot of plot build up does happen in the background, its progress has long gaps between jumps and these have to be filled with something so character interactions and scenarios are used to establish the cast. These are important for establishing all the individuals who will later on come to define the conflict and the various timelines. Of course the player is not aware of this significance at the time so instead a focus is placed on create a believable group who gradually come together into the lab members they will come to love. This forms the connective tissue between plot beats and acts as the main reason to progress during those opening hours before the twist. 
Kurisu's lecture is a fun way to introduce her and her future interactions with Okabe

Another way to hold the player interest in a slower paced opening is to plant the seeds of intrigue. Rather than big plot beats these are small events which show a breaking of the facade in small ways from character behaving strangely for a moment to a sudden time skip which goes uncommented on. These clues are all player facing with the characters often ignoring or dismissing them and they are instead designed to get the player thinking about what they mean in order to keep them invested in the narrative. Little Busters uses this approach alongside the previous character centric one to add some variety to its opening. Individually its hints do not appear significant and it is only as they compound that the player sits up and takes notice when the off words of certain characters and Naoe Riki’s abnormal narcolepsy start to ring alarm bells. This works well for the emotion centric narrative Little Busters is trying to tell since big reveal this is all building towards is not all that surprising, but instead gains its potency from what it means to the cast. As such the feelings of intrigue are the important part of this approach since they bring the player into an emotional mindset around which the rest of the game can create an environment for heart-wrenching moments.
 

The Risks Of Front-Loading

 
At first it might seem a good idea to front-load all the drama and action in a visual novel since this is the kind of content which can easily ensnare a player. However, the opening is a type of promise between game and player about the experience the latter is for and if the game cannot maintain this content then it can lead to a feeling of disappoint on the part of the player. Subversion of this expectation is an option here since some titles may want to play around with the idea introduced in the opening in unexpected ways. Yet there are plenty of games which understand the importance of engaging the player immediately so opt for an exciting start before shifting onto what they actually want their narrative to be about. The result is an uneven progression where there is a clear divided between the two parts of the game with little being done to reconcile them leading to it distracting the player. Let’s look at a couple of examples to see the damage this unrepresentative opening can do. Action and tension are the defining element of Senren Banka’s opening hours as the cast deal with the supernatural threat plaguing the village of Hoori. There are multiple instances of life and death combat throughout to really drive home the danger and keep the player on the edge of their seat. However, most of this conflict is suddenly resolved at the halfway mark and the action and tension almost entirely vanish for the narrative. They are replaced by the standard Yuzusoft slice of life and romance heroine routes and these have little in common with the content from just hours before. It is quite clear the intention was always to have a story be about the heroine romances but the developer felt they needed to spice up the usual formula so introduced the supernatural threat to make the game stand out. This betrayal of player expectations almost feels accidental since action is not what the studio is know for and this is just the two parts unintentionally rubbing up against one another in an unflattering way. 
This looks like it belongs in an action centric title not a romance one

From the first scenes of the opening Futamata Ren'ai pushes over the top drama as its core appeal. The two timing and character’s reactions to it supply a steady stream of comedy and they are the pole around which the game can form plot beats and emotional scenes. As such when it stops the moment the player enters a heroine route it is like something major is missing from the substance of the narrative since nothing is added to replace it while the route trundles along seemingly oblivious to the empty feeling in invokes in the player. This loss of the opening promise is a result of the way the two timing has to be resolved before a heroine route in order to make its romance pure and so the primary source of conflict must be removed. Yet nothing replaces it since the title has spent so much time on this one issue it has not had the room to build up another. However, the end result undeniably weakens its consistency and hurts the player’s overall impression of it.
 

Conclusion

 
Shaping the pacing and expression in a visual novel’s opening hours is key to crafting an overall experience which can capture the player’s imagination. It is the place where future plot elements can be teased and set up to allow for the a feeling of excitement in the player about what is to come. As tempting as it is to make the opening dramatic and action packed, it still has to represent the rest of the game since it a promise with the player about what is to come. When opting for a slower paced opening there is a need to maintain the player’s interest through other methods and this often means strong character writing or intrigue to give direction to the downtime. How a developer starts their game is important no matter what type it is or what its narrative aims are and so it is the part of it which needs to be extremely carefully considered in order to get the most out of it.
 
 

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