Service Sims – Uncovering The Hybird
On The House
For
an industry which tends to treat its workers poorly, it is surprising
to find the fantasy of the Service sector tends to towards peaceful
and positive community centric interactions. These Service Simulators
are games focused around a single shop or establishment like a cafe
or bar were the player can interact and serve with customers one on
one. Dialogue forms the foundation of these titles which is where the
visual novel element comes in and it spends a lot of time building up
each character through their many quirks and dreams. The mechanics of
a Service Sim are never particularly complex with them mostly acting
as a test of the player’s memory about a person’s preferences as
they prepare something to meet these tastes. As each game progresses
it reveals the idyllic community centric fantasy it captures, it is a
place were the customers get along with one another, form bonds and
care for everyone on a personal and small scale. Let’s take some
orders and find out how this character centric hybrid uses these
individual parts to achieve its vision.
Chatting To Customers
The
majority of a player’s time with a Service Sim will be spend
talking to the customers about their day or what troubles them. This
is where the visual novel part of the Sim is at its most prominent
and leverages the intimacy of its perspective to sell the idea of a
conversation over the counter. Framing the character sprites as being
behind the player’s work space yet in front of the background puts
a sense of distance between them and the cast without losing the
feeling them being personable. They are still the customer after all
and the protagonist has a job to do of which talking to them is just
one part of it. Yet this distance allows the gradual way the
characters open up have a sense of weight to it since they overcome
the barrier and form a meaningful connection. Serving customers is a
mostly one on one affair at the beginning in order to give the player
a chance to understand the cast as individuals and invest in their
arcs while not being distracted by additional interpersonal
relationships. It helps create the idea of their bond with the
protagonist being something distinct from the other people they know
and allowing the player to be a catalyst for change in their lives.
All of these strengths are held in a delicate balance related to the
total size of the cast. Too large and there is not enough space for them express themselves as anything more than caricatures and if it is too
small then player will get board seeing the same few people over and
over again. What makes this more complicated is that there is no best
size for a Service Sim cast since the length of a title and how much
it wants to leverage community as a core aspect can dramatically
change the number.
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| Only one character will appear on screen for most of the game and this controls player perception |
Perhaps the most well known example of the Service
Sim is VA-11 HALL-A and it has spawned much many games drawing from its
formula. Small and intimate are the immediate feelings the game
tries to invoke through its back alley bar which few people come to in the pressing darkness of this cyberpunk city. For most of the
game the player will only see three to four characters per day so
they get plenty of time for each one to express themselves and build
up the foundations which will lead to their personal conflicts and
growing relationships. The presence of alcohol lends legitimacy to
how lose tongued the cast can be at times with someone who is still a
stranger to them. It also plays of the unique opportunities inherent
to its bar setting and its limited view of the outside world to
create a slight sense of helplessness and claustrophobia later in the
game when events far larger than the cast start moving their lives in
ways they have no control over. The framing of each character inside the UI design is very singular in its focus with the window showing
them being dominated by their sprite and making their large
expressions a constant source of movement and life. Making Jill their
own character rather than a player self insert means it loses a sense
of player agency, but it makes up for by being able to have her
intertwine with the rest of the cast as they invert the original
dynamic to make her the subject of the heart to heart.
Over in
fantasy land we have Tavern Talk which uses its similar drinks
based location for a different effect. It is far lighter in tone and
so leans into its bright setting for an excentric collection of
fantasy races and professions. Handing out quests to the right
customers lends their stories a puzzle like element and encourages
the player to pay attention and get to know everyone which
passes through the Inn’s doors. In contrast to VA-11 HALL-A, Tavern
Talk’s main window being entirely dominated by the tavern bar and
the characters occupying a relatively small part of it with their
seated sprite. By having this smaller presence they come across in a
far more gentle and human manner where they are not trying to
dominate the space with their personality but are instead just people
looking for a drink. Given their inhuman nature this shrinking of
their presence is important to ground their presentation in a feeling of fragility and allows for a more dynamic range of camera
movement to capture their emotions. These choices lend the game a
life and energy through which it can use to embody the smaller nuances of
human interactions.
Work For Idle Hands
Breaking
up the conversation is the other mechanical side of the Service Sim,
the actual service offered by the establishment. The actual content
and systems can vary quite considerably but they all function as a
kind of test at their core. At first to see if the player can
navigate the systems to fulfil the customer’s order then later to
demonstrate they understand each character through making an order
based on a vague outline. This pushes the player to pay attention
when the cast talks and provides a practical advantage to caring
about what they have to say. It also gives the player something to do
and breaks up what could become a repetitive loop of conversations. Due to how game specific these systems can be, it is best to
go through some examples to illustrate the framework which underpins
them.
Hookah Haze has the player preparing the titular hookah by
mixing the flavours to craft the desired vapour. This is a title in
love with hookah in a way far more which is far more important to its identity and see its hookah as more than just a
means to test the player. The game takes them through the entire process
and makes them act it out and imparts the love for hookah shared by
the cast onto the player so they can feel this common connection. For a more mechanical leaning example, High Times
serving of doughnuts has the player attempting to capture emotion
through the toppings and extras covering the ring. It is a means of
engaging and processing the thoughts of the character being served
and aims towards a broad empathy with them using their desire for
doughnuts. There is a deliberate attempt to not make the correct
answer too hard to reach with the aim instead being to utilises its
benefits without breaking up the light and breezy tone underpinning
the rest of the game.
 |
| It is very in love with hookah... |
Since VA-11 HALL-A is one of the founding
pillars of this hybrid it should come as no surprise to find it has
the simplest version of these systems. Mixing drinks from a selection
of synthetic bases is the name of the game and it has none of the
extra layers later games would add to the formula. Instead it is far
more free form in its implementation with it often asking for the
player to figure out drink recipes on their own based off what little
information the customer has provided. It demand the player pay
attention to their customers if they want a chance to succeed and in
so doing lend the visual novel sections a complimentary weight to
their narrative focus. What should be clear from all of these
examples is the way the Service mechanics exist in a position to
reinforce some part of the narrative structure, often the characters,
in a way which best matches the overall package. It provides a
Service centric lens for these games to focus themselves through and
prevent the possibility of them becoming a jumbled mess of overly
long conversations.
Dreams Of Community
So
far the interlocking systems of a Service Sim have only been framed
through their initial use to create individual intimacy with
customers, but another important aspect which subtly builds up in the
background of all this is a sense of community. In order to increase
the variety of social situations the characters can be placed into,
these game naturally start to include multiple customers in the same
scene and have them interact with the protagonist as a middle man
between them. Over time the regulars develop their own social circles
providing the establishment with a growing sense of community as
people coming together through chance encounters form lasting
connections. How much a title wants to lean into this element of its
identity depends on its overall tone and if it wants to lean into the
idea of being ‘cosy’. Choosing to capitalise on this trait means
forsaking some of the friction and negative parts of human
interaction in favour of bring out positive and mutually
affirming emotions. Neither approach is wrong, but it does
fundamentally alter the way in which the Service Sim engages with its
cast.
 |
| The more then merrier |
One game which pushes the its cafe as a centre of community is
Coffee Talk. Everything about the way it presents its characters
makes their connections come across as the main attraction. The cafe
has a row of chairs in front of the player where the customers will
sit and so immediately cementing the idea that there will be multiple
sharing the same space. In addition it allows the closeness or
distance between their seats to communicate their emotional closeness
or distance and they can move around to physically signal this
change. After their initial introduction the characters often spend
more time talking to each other and, coupled with the a more general
de-emphasising of the protagonist, makes them shine through their
colourful and positive interactions. Eventually the cafe becomes a
lively a bustling place where all the chairs are filled and it gives
the place itself an identity as this meeting spot for a new born
community. Another take on this style of Service Sim can be seen in
Kemono Teatime. Here the community comes from the familiarity the
customers demonstrate towards the two girls running the cafe and they
become the beating heart of this web of connections. This is
important for the overarching emotional beats of the game since they
all revolve around this central pair so it cannot afford to send too
much time on interactions between other characters. Shifting the
heart of the community away from the location itself and onto the
girls frames it through the lens of their efforts to welcome and tend
to customers rather than the chance encounters found in other titles.
Intimacy with the two protagonists ends up forming around this
constant exposure to them and shows the impact their bonds have on
the people who walk into the cafe.
Conclusion
The
Service Sim acts as a weird mix of fantasy and reality where a visual
novel narrative meets mechanical simplicity to create a consistently
compelling hybrid. Dialogue forms its backbone as the player
interacts with customers in a personal situation where they can get
to know the cast. Over time this grows into a sense of community when
the characters start interacting with each other and building their
own relationships. This is underpinned by the mechanics of serving
these customers and meeting their demands which rewards the player’s
investment in learning about them through a quantifiable manner. In
choosing to marry the visual novel to a simulation of the Service
industry, the result will always lean somewhat towards the slower
paced and more relaxed end of the experience spectrum given the
limited setting preventing anything grander from taking place.
Tournaments – Genre Deep Dive
Elimination Matches
Competitions
and Tournaments act as a sub-genre for a fairly limited group of
stories with it being inherently part of the sports genre and
particularly popular in all sorts of action shonen titles. It has an
enduring appeal which keeps it popping up time and time again and so
it should come as no surprise to find it in the visual novel space.
One of the biggest advantages it offers is the way it provides a
reason for the larger than life cast to clash with one another and
generate the narrative drama needed to keep the player invested. Due
to the heavily regulated nature of a Tournament, it can have clear
boundaries as well as heroes and villains without needing to bring in
the moral complexity of the real world. The match structure gives a
natural vehicle for pacing across the experience with its moments of
tension and calm conveniently building towards the climax. Let’s
step into the stadium and discover why this sub-genre remains a
staple in fiction.
Battle Of The Egos
The
mixture of smaller rounds between groups or individuals and the
larger scale rising stakes makes the perfect stage for the larger
than life characters found in visual novels to show themselves off. Finding a
place to properly showcase the colourful personalities who drive the
story can be a complex challenge and it is here the standardised
structure of a Tournament helps alleviate this tension by providing a
space where they can be believably forced to interact. This is
especially true for any competition involving combat where the
beliefs of the combatants clash as they exchange blows and their
hearts are put on full display for the player. Since there is no
actual danger to the contestant’s lives, both the victor and loser
gain valuable lessons about themselves so they can continue their
character development as opposed to the finality of conclusion in a
more serious situation where the stakes were higher. The Majikoi
series is defined by its absurd and over the top cast so it can make
use of the Tournament genre to parade them around which it does in
Maji de Watashi ni Koishinasai! S. Here the old members and the new
comers get a chance to demonstrate their identities and motives one
after another in an orderly fashion where they get their undisputed
moment in the sun. Beyond the battles themselves, the cast get a lot
of time to scheme and bounce off one another to sell their
contrasting egos and values. When it comes to character
development none stands out more than Momoyo since
the whole event and the involvement of Tsubame were all done with the
aim of getting her taste defeat and grow as a person. This major push
forwards for a main heroine acts as a capstone to the other smaller
arcs distributed among the rest of the cast over the competition’s
duration. It brings into focus the many entertaining battles which
occurred and how it has brought the cast together as a community.
 |
| Combat forms the backbone of most Tournaments |
When focusing on a Tournament between factions rather than
individuals the scope of the colourful interactions narrows to the
group the player is following. Yumina the Ethereal’s election war
is a prime example of this trend with it being firmly locked onto the
debate club and those they fight and not playing attention to what
other clubs are doing at the same time. In taking this approach the
game achieves several important aims chief among them being to allow
the characters a chance to endear themselves to the player in a
relatively low stakes environment before the big twist of the second
half throws them in the deep end. By having the focus being on how
their personalities clash with the current opponent, the scope of
interactions can be controlled in order to give a better showcase of
their thoughts and the outline of the arcs which will come to define
later on. Another aim which plays into this smaller scale is the way
its conveyor belt of opponents maintains steadily escalating
challenges and tensions for the narrative. When a new antagonist comes
to confront the debate club they are immediately a threat while also
making the competition as a whole easier to keep track of in a way a
Tournament which jumps between contestant could not achieve due its
sprawling nature.
Controlled Environment
Boundaries
and structure are what give the Tournament genre its distinct and
easily recognisable feel. Regardless of how outlandish the nature of
the competition, all of them adhere to the same basic form the player
has experienced or witnessed in their own lives. This ensures the
game will have at least this base level of grounding in reality it
can then springboard off in order to sell their own unique premises.
It is also a fundamentally ‘safe’ environment, in that the rules
generally protect the contestants from harm which makes the stakes
rely more on the emotional weight of the contestants success rather
than on an immediate sense of danger. These combine to create and
easy to understand and focused narrative space where a variety of
character arcs can be neatly lined up alongside the rising tide of
competitive drama. ‘Sports’ style Tournaments are the most common
structure found in this genre, these being individuals or small
groups fighting each other and the winner progresses to the next
stage. This frequency is primarily because they are simple to understand and
generate excitement when compared to the ‘Humanities’ style where the
entrants submit something and then are given a final standing on a
set date rather than having to directly contend with other people.
A
popular example of the Sports type is Aokana - Four Rhythms Across
the Blue and its Flying Circus which even referring to its
contents as athletes. The spectre of this big event cast a shadow
over the story and the lives of the characters even when it is not
actually taking place. Since the baseline expectations for what the
Flying Circus will entail is established early, the title can have
its individual events parsed through this rigid lens
in order to make each heroines engage in the event specific to them while adhering to the same overall outline. By being a ‘Sports’ type, the cast can be conveniently placed opposite other contestants who
can push them to develop or challenge their values without it coming
across as contrived. These opponents are established earlier in the
narrative and their interactions with the main cast are believable
since they are all heading towards the same destination but only one
of them can make it all the way. A desire to win defines much of the
cast with it pushing the ideas of how competition can lead to healthy or unhealthy growth and traits depending on the way a character
chooses handle their feelings.
 |
| Sci-fi Sports are such a strange beast |
‘Humanities’ type competitions are
an even stranger beast since most exist to enhance already established narrative tension. Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki utilises them
multiple times across its story from writing competitions to
popularity polls. Each one is placed in the context of the
protagonist’s relationship with another character and the emotions
surrounding them. It provides a legitimate reason for the cast to
clash while not bringing in any negative associations given such
competitions are more of a chance to show off their skills rather
than undermine each other. The game makes sure to frame it in this
positive light as an opportunity for mutual growth and sorting out
their complicated feelings. Rather than lingering and building up the
drama like in a ‘Sports’ type, this is an affair which creates a
small bit of tension before rapidly disappearing when the story wants
to move on.
Build Up And Cool Down
Perhaps
the single most valuable part of the Tournament structure from a
developer’s view point is the natural peaks and troughs created due
to the round system it employs. When a new round starts the
participants are generally announced meaning the characters get to
know who they are up against and this begins the rising tide of
emotion. The two opposing groups then get more interactions and
emotionally clash over who is going to be the winner. Then the
climatic of the curve comes in the actual match and it outcome before
plummeting back down during the cool down following the victory. Some
form of this cycle appears in almost all titles with a Tournament of any kind unless they are engaging in subversion or only
want it for a short duration. The reason this structural outline is
so important lies in how it offers a quick and impactful skeleton on
which the developers can hang the meat of the narrative without
having to constantly worry about pacing the overall experience.
Obviously they still need to consider it on the smaller scale and
towards the finale where their own unique spin needs to be more
apparent in order for the player to not lose interest due to the
structure's repetitive nature.
Koiken Otome leans heavily into this
structure for large part of its playtime in order to fill the void
created due to a lack of external threats. Instead it puts the
emphasis on the cast’s pursuit of personal improvement and rivalry
with their peers. This lack of danger means the ups and downs of each
round serve as the main pacing mechanism while allowing an extremely
protagonist centric flow of events in order to ensure he gets enough
interactions with the heroines. One trait the game inherits from
others in the genre is the way attending a magic or superpowered
school always leads to some kind of battle Tournament so as to frame
this activity as a legitimate competition rather than training child
soldiers. The lack of danger hold an important position here since if
there was a chance of real harm then it would bring up moral issues
such titles are not equipped to address.
 |
| Every section ends with a master + servant battle |
Not all games using this
structure are so devoid of threats and Fate/EXTRA demonstrates how
the spectre of death can elevate this outline. The holy grail war on
the moon uses the round based style where two masters are put up
against each other and the survivor gets to advance to the next
stage. Having this mixture of large scale competition and single
adversary focus gives the room to create a sense of escalating danger
as the contestant numbers dwindle and allow the player to get to know
each master on a personal level. It also lulls the player into a
false sense they know what is coming only for the game to
increasingly subvert it as the quality of the opponents ramps up.
Since each master is both a danger to the player and someone they
sympathise with, the structure gives an inevitability of each final
battle and helps it hold both the cathartic release from death and a
sadness at the loss of the person they have grown to care about.
Conclusion
When
pitting two people against one another their beliefs and motives can
be more clearly viewed through their actions and it is this which the
Tournaments genre in visual novels capitalises on. It provides a
stage on which the colourful cast can act out their play while
allowing both sides to experience growth and continue their journeys
after the match. The structural outline of a Tournament gives the
story a perfect framework to naturally curate its narrative pacing so
can focus on its own unique twists. Competitions of all kinds offer a
sense of familiarity to what might otherwise be an outlandish setting
and helps being the wild conflicts onto an understandable level for
the player to empathise with. As a sub-genre it combines flexibility
with rigidity to form a diverse space for storytelling so it is no
wonder it is popular with both players and developers.
Schrödinger's Call Review – Is The Line Alive Or Dead?
Genre – Mystery, Drama Play Time – 10 hours Developer – Acrobatic Chirimenjako Steam VNDB
Hotline To The Dead
As
a method of commination, a phone call walks a strange line between
the awkwardness with its audio lacking the important
non-verbal cues of human interactions and the deeply personal
connection of having someone speak directly into your ears. This
unique experience lies at the core of Schrödinger's Call’s
narrative presentation which leans heavily into this space of
intimacy and misunderstanding to craft its dramatic and emotional
highs. The game follows Mary as she works as the last confidant for
recently deceased spirits where she takes their calls and tries to
help them make peace with their lives. All of these people do not entirely remember the trauma which keeps them here so a strong
investigative element runs through the title as the player must
deduce the truth and help Mary solve their cases. Each of the cast
Mary talks to over the phone bring their own quirky personality and
unique animal form to the table in order to make them easy to keep
track of and a joy to talk with. This sense of striking identity
extends to the visuals which use of a predominately black and white
sketched aesthetic backed up by sudden bold use of singular colours
to allow a moment or person to stand out. However, this is a game
plagued with odd game design such as an overuse of repetition and an
abundance of choices which merely loop the player around and waste
their time. Are these development decisions enough to undermine this
deeply personal tale of lies, loss and love? Let’s pick up the
phone and find out.
A Cat In The Box – Narrative And Themes
From
the moment Mary first picks up the phone there is a permanent through
line of personal mysteries about each caller as well as about Mary
herself. Having every person not completely remember their life
creates enough space for speculation about what trauma holds them here
and gives the player something to slowly pick apart over the course
of the game. Each chapter is made up of one main caller which Mary
has to help pass on and a selection of secondary callers who all knew
the main caller in life or they are somehow linked to them. This
interweaving web of relationships helps prevent the calls from
becoming repetitive since the player will be bouncing around between
these vastly different and colourful characters. Putting all the clues about their past together at the finale
of a chapter and freeing them is an incredibly satisfying experience
with a good catharsis and emotional climax to it.
 |
| The game begins and ends with this phone |
Similarly Mary’s
own past is slowly teased over her various encounters with the
callers and provides a nice plot thread to link the entire title. The
picture of Mary becomes more muddy over time as the fault lines in
her personality reveal themselves and overturn any initial
impressions of her character. So when the big reveals do come they
are still shocking but make complete sense when looking back at the
subtle hints left over the entire play time. Once all the callers
have had their turn and the spotlight turns to Mary, the game does
not pulls its punches and crafts a compelling final act where her
suffering get put on full display for the player to engage with first
hand. It is an impactful way to end the game and will sit in the
player’s mind as the credits roll and they put down the phone for
the last time. On a broader point, Schrödinger's Call makes a lot of
narrative use out of its use of the phone as the main means of
communication. There is a great deal of attention played to the
misunderstandings and nuances which occur only over the phone and
even make one of these a core plot line to great dramatic effect. The
phone also serves the role of being a symbol of connection, or the
seeking thereof, and how such relationships can be
fraught with problems and cut off when we least expect it. Yet it is
precisely these connection through the calls Mary makes which
ultimately save not only those callers but also Mary herself when she
comes to understand the value of those bonds. All of this is cleverly
conveyed through the ups and downs of the narrative and its gentle
warmth can be felt when it is most needed.
If
there is one thing Schrödinger's Call seems to have an obsession
with it is repetition. The game constantly repeats itself even when
the events or information it is repeating have only just happened
mere moments ago. By far the biggest offenders are Mary’s write ups
after each call where the player is taken through the call they just
experienced. Nothing in the game is complicated enough to justify
this kind of aggressive hand holding since all of the main points of
a call are highlighted during the call so the player cannot possibly
miss them. It is as if the game does not trust the player’s memory
and its own ability to hold their attention. At least a quarter of
the play time is dedicated to such repetition making it a constant
and invasive force many will find difficult to ignore. Had these
recaps only occurred once every so often then they might have served
a useful purpose to refresh the memory, but instead they are the
largest stain on the overall experience.
 |
| Gasp! Just like the famous thought experiment! |
A separate and less
noticeable problem can be seen in the way the game hand waves away
certain elements which seem like they should be important but end up
slipping to the sides in favour of the emotional finale. The moon
crashing to earth is perhaps the biggest of these and you would think it would be a big and constant presence but instead it has a
surprisingly minor presence and often forgotten. This is to the point
at which the game itself seems confused at times as to whether the
moon falling really happened or not with it bouncing around on its
position on the truth during the ending. Another weirdly discarded
feature pops up when looking at the cat, Hamlet, who acts as Mary’s
companion throughout most of the story. Despite this prominence and
the mystery surrounding him, he is somewhat discarded towards the end
and there is never any real resolution to who or what he is and where
he goes or what his purpose might be. Neither of these concepts matter
much to the emotional weight of the final act so it is understandable
they go pushed aside, but some proper clarification would have been
nice to neatly wrap everything up.
The Animal Kingdom – Characters
Being
glued to the phone naturally leads to a conversation heavy style of
narrative so it is important for the characters to be interesting to
converse with and on this point Schrödinger's Call is impeccable.
Each of the main callers has their own distinct relationship with
Mary and bounce off her in entertaining new ways in order to keep
them feeling fresh. From Lucy, the guilt ridden mother, to Violet,
the gentle and confidant rich girl, they all present themselves
through their memorable mannerisms then, as the player comes to know more
about them, their flaws and imperfections give them a delicate
humanity. Their associated secondary callers have intertwining views and lives despite the fact they never talk to one another
during the game and rely on Mary to be a go between which helps
further push the importance of her centralising role. As they all
slowly remember their shared history, the powerful emotions this
brings out constitute much of the titles ups and downs for them to
push through and this journey is what makes them so memorable. The
chapter structure also ensures they never outstay their welcome with
their resolutions coming at just the right time when they have said
all they need to and the player is ready to move on.
 |
| Choosing to have each caller be a different animal person was a smart choice |
Every caller
somehow has an emotional similarity to Mary and it is by interacting
with them that a more complete picture of how she thinks becomes
clear. This is an excellent method of making every character
important since they each hold a piece of the puzzle about Mary and
her lost memories. It also helps reinforce the idea of Mary as an
empathetic person who is suitable to be the last confidant while
setting this trait up be questioned and its fragility to be brought
to the front. Mary’s broader characterisation is wonderfully put
together from her ability to act as a problem solver for the callers
to her eventual confrontation with her own past. Throughout she
remains a central pillar of the player’s interest and the texture
of her personality is teased out slowly to keep them on the edge of
their seat. Investing emotional in Mary is easy which is extremely
important when the final sections of the game rely so heavily on the
player’s connection with her.
Hold The Phone – Visuals, Audio And Technical
When
loading up the game for the first time its visual language
immediately marks it out from its peers with its use of darker
colours and strong lines. The majority of time black and white will
be presented to the player as they act as the baseline for this space
between life and death. It speaks to the delicate balance maintain
here and Mary’s role in pushing people out of the intermediary
place. This pairing of contrasting lines and white voids makes the flat
and dark colours which each of the callers brings to the table stand
out against Mary’s own bland room. Each lacks the lustre they may have once had
to mirror the poor state the callers find themselves in yet the
colours still hold a weight to them and subtly communicates the
emotions and personality they had in their prime. The soundtrack is
similarly dulled with a heavy use of deep and resounding sounds even
in pieces aiming towards a lighter tone for their associated
character. It does a good job of capturing the mood of each caller to
the point of the player being able to recognise which person is
calling from their track alone. Furthering the auditory identity of
the cast are their series of distorted voice snippets which all carry
the fuzziness of a phone line and their own unique cadences.
These elements combine to create an audio-visual landscape which help
elevate Schrödinger's Call and make it easier to overlook its
issues.
 |
| Clean, informative and filled with personality |
On
the mechanics side of the equation things are a bit more uneven in
terms of quality. Having the player input the phone number of the
person they want to call by rotating the dial gives the phone a
wonderful sense of tactility. It helps centralise the phone as a
device of connection through this physicality with the phone also
needing to be manually picked up to answering incoming calls just to
keep it in the player’s mind. In a similar vein, the notebook has the player flipping between its writing covered pages to find the
clues needed to answer the mysteries and set the caller free. Later
on it becomes an important narrative point when starts to become the
playground for Mary’s increasingly decaying mental state. Despite
the game forcing the player to spend too much time looking due to the
constant recapping of events, it remains an endearing feature due to
its role in the story and Mary’s illustrative drawings.
Unfortunately things get worse when looking at one of the biggest
points of player interaction, choices. The offender here is the way
choices are looking for only one response and looping the player back
around to the start of the text if they choose incorrectly. This is
understandable in the quiz sections where the whole point is for
there to be a right and wrong answer, less so when they are used for
the general conversation choices without any kind of clear correct
option. The second group form the majority of the choices in the game
and so the player regularly finds themselves being looped around
since they have no context to know what the game wants from them with
such a small amount of information. What makes this worse is the way
the choices initially create this idea of non-linearity which
encourages the player to explore the narrative space only for them to
be slapped across the face for attempting to do so.
Conclusion
Finding
connections with others can be a difficult and delicate yet rewarding
endeavour and it is this core message which Schrödinger's Call
wonderfully captures with every call. The mystery of each caller’s
life and regrets makes for a compelling series of interactions which
build towards the greater finale around Mary. Each character has a
vibrant life to them which allows their calls to be constantly
engaging while slow picking away at the tragedy they hold in their
hearts. A strong audio-visual style supports this growing narrative
and uses colour to create contrast and dulled beauty in order to sell
every revelation. The phone and the notebook mechanics add a tactile
feeling to the small space Mary inhabits and lends these solitary
points of connection a weight they would not otherwise possess.
Issues of execution do exist throughout the experience from
repetitive hand holding to vague plot points to frustrating choices,
but none of these are enough to break the brilliant vision of the
work yet they do add some distracting cracks.
Verdict –
Deftly dials up an imaginative story of the fragility and value found in human connections told through the distorted audio of a rotary phone.
Yet it never quite reaches its full potential due to some poor design
decisions related to repetition and time wasting choices.
Pros-
+
Each caller is their own mystery where picking away at their past
slowly unveils the tragedy keeping them from passing on.
+
Makes the most out of the phone with a series of plot twists and
misunderstandings perfect for the nebulous connection it provides.
+
The cast has a good variety to it and they rub up against Mary in
their own unique ways.
+
Mary is an excellent protagonist who starts out as a seemly well
adjusted girl and over the course of the game the player gets to see
her gradual collapse.
+
Well crafted visual and auditory identity weaved in amongst the
tactile mechanics of the phone and notebook.
Cons -
-
Repetition plagues the game with it constantly going over events
which have just happened as if it is afraid the player might miss
something.
-
Frustrating abundance of choices which loop the player around them if
they choose the wrong option and wasting their time.
-
Some plot points end up discarded and unclearly resolved.
Best Visual Novel Releases - July 2026
With
the summer heat being so intense it has caused everything to catch
fire, now is the perfect time to escape to a cool place through the
wonderful world of visual novels. This has been a month filled with
an interesting mix of spicy and sweet otome, puzzling mysteries and
emotional roller-coasters across its many releases. Let’s dive in
and uncover what new titles are worth your time and what you should
be playing.
Official Releases
Be Missed and Remembered: The Letter from Mayoiga
What
should have been a simple holiday visit for Matsuda Naofuyu to his grandparents’ rural home turns into something far more dramatic
when he ignores the villagers' warnings and goes explores the mountain
shrine. There he meets the mysterious Suzu and the strange nature of
this magical place begins to unveil itself as the march of time moves
them forwards. Mixing mystery and drama in with its 1970’s
rural Japan setting makes for a fairly distinctive experience which
envelops the player in its atmosphere. It is also a nice and concise
game that does exactly what it sets out to and wraps itself up
without drawing out the story leading to a well paced escalation. A title for those looking for something short and
sweet in the mystery genre where the mood holds a major part of its appeal.
sins of KALEIDO
Nintendo Eshop VNDB Genre
– Dark Fantasy, Otome Play Time – 40 hours
The
first otome of the month and one leaning heavily into its dark
fantasy setting and unusual selection of suitors in order to put its own spin
on the genre. It follows the story of a young girl who was once the child
of a wealthy family until she lost everything and a group of men who
possess the power of witches within them. Each route is focused around
repairing the damaged hearts of the suitors and saving them from the
darkness which has claimed them. These different interaction reflect
back onto the protagonist’s own journey and do a fantastic job of
showcasing the interweaving growth of both parties in this
relationship. Diving into what makes the suitors tick is almost
treated like a mystery element where the player must peel back the
layers of accumulated pain to discover who they really are and what
drives them. The presence of three endings for each suitors reinforces
the importance of this discovery since it is only through the
player’s persistence that they can reach a happy ending and avoid a
terrible fate. If you are looking for an otome with compelling
characters but sits on the darker side of the genre then sins of
KALEIDO will be a delight for you.
Staffer Retro: A Supernatural Mystery Quest
Mysteries
are this game’s defining element, from everyday deductions to
truths about the nature of the supernatural power underpinning this world, and there is rarely a moments rest from its march towards the
truth. The story revolves around Verita, a young girl buried in a
sudden and considerable amount of debt and who must navigate the
barrage of investigations while somehow getting enough money to
resolve her issues. Choices within the title are heavily informed by
what information the player has managed to deduce so encouraging them
to explore the complex web of truth and lies in order to direct
Verita towards their desired ending. A lot of the mechanics of deduction
focus around documents and match or contradicting their contents and
this gives the experience an almost clerical feel as the player sifts
through the papers. Overall, a well put together mystery clearly
aimed at those want a consistent string of deductions to engage their
minds while the story plays out in front of them.
The Prince of Tennis Sweet School Festival 0-40 and more / Doki Doki Survival eternal passion
School Festival Steam VNDB Doki Doki Survival Steam VNDB Genre
– Otome, Sports, Dating Sim Play Time – 60 hours per game
Komani
has decided to release a pair of otome games from The Prince of
Tennis series on the same day and they are very similar in their
overall content despite having seemly different premises. Sweet
School Festival focuses around the player character wrangling the
tennis club into preparing for the festival while in Survival Eternal
Passion the tennis club get stranded on an island and must survive. Yet these are held up by the same core pillar of romantic interactions
with the suitors through the lens of their identical dating sim mechanics.
Difference do exit between the two title such a Sweet School
Festival’s singular focus on the festival compared with Survival
Eternal Passion’s sillier tone and meandering storylines. Both
offer an experience which is somewhat interchangeable with the other
so someone interested in them should pick one based on which premise
appeals to them, but either way they are in for a
light hearted and romantic time.
Dreamin' Her
Nintendo Eshop VNDB Genre
– Nakige Play Time – 7 hours
After
having been rejected by his childhood friend, Igarashi Aoi begins to
see a strange girl in his dreams who bares a similarity to said
childhood friend and treats him with a kindness he cannot find anywhere else. Soon the line
between this dream and reality begin to blur for him and his life unravels in ways he least expects. The core appeal of Dream’
Her lies in the mental anguish of its protagonist and the way it
plays it for tragic effect in order to push its big emotional
reveals. Due its short length it does not draw out its story with the
focus being on keeping the pace up as this dramatic train hurtles off
its tracks. A concise and well formed Nakige and perfect for those
looking a strong emotional punch to their visual novels.
Fan Translation
DEVILS DEVEL CONCEPT
Patch Download VNDB Genre
– Urban Fantasy, Action Play Time – 65 hours
As
one of Akatsuki WORKS earliest titles, DEVILS DEVEL CONCEPT sits in a
strange place for a modern player since it has much of the
studio’s identity printed all over it, but in an underdeveloped form. This extends to the visuals which lack the
polish which their later works would demonstrate so it is clear from
the moment you start that this something from 2008. It story follows
Shigure Sora and the girls he interacts with as the clash and form
bonds in world distorted by ‘devils’, humans and monsters.
Throughout the game there is an attempt to address the ideas about
how post industrial society has influenced the people within in and
this is an interesting topic for it to consider even if it is handled messily at times. Recommending DEVILS DEVEL CONCEPT is an odd
prospect given its value lies in its status as a curiosity of
the past since few modern visual novels would tackle these topics in
quite the same way.
Backgrounds – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels
The Stage Is Set
If
there is one part of a visual novel which often goes underappreciated
it is the Backgrounds, they end up forgotten despite their constant presence throughout every title in the medium. By their nature they do not want to
draw unnecessary attention to themselves and instead serve to
supplement the character sprites and other art assets. The most
common use of Backgrounds is to provide a sense of location to events
and frame them within a context the player can easily understand
without spending too much time focusing on them. Inherently all
Backgrounds end up as a representation of a place rather than a real location due to the limited number of them the game can use
so they must lean on the idea of reality rather than its actual
complexity. Then there are those which aim to capture an emotional
state through colour, shapes and strange imagery which the textual
content can play off to establish the tone of a scene. Let’s look
past the pretty men and woman and discover the ways in which
Backgrounds have quietly shaped the medium.
On Location
In
many ways the Backgrounds of a visual novel are akin to the stage
upon which the characters perform the story. They act as the
locations each scene takes place and provide a feeling of physicality
to the world the cast inhabits. Allowing the player to imagine the
described movements of the characters within this space encourages
the player to understand the narrative through this broader static
lens and controls their expectations for presentation. Once this
baseline is in place the Backgrounds can leverage their highly
detailed nature for various kinds of camera shots from panning to
close ups in order to add an extra flare to otherwise dry moments and
drawing attention to elements that might have escaped notice. Yet
this beauty must also be able to sink into the edges of perception so
as to not distract from the tension and drama of the narrative taking
place in front of it. A good location based Background treads this
line while it moves in and out of the player’s focus and imbues the
scene with the idea of where it is taking place.
 |
| There is no better way to make your game feel real than to use real photos |
This concept of place can
sometimes be very literal as it is with Root Letter and its use of
real world locations. Each Background is based on a spot in the
Shimane Prefecture and the game leans heavily into the sense of
reality it gives each scene in order to ground the sometimes
outlandish narrative. It also accidentally makes the title come
across as a promotion for the area to encourage tourists due to
how fixated it is on selling each place. The impact and tactile
feeling of these Backgrounds cannot be overstated and much of
the game’s appeal ends up being in this connection to reality and
showcases the way this sense of place can be a powerful tool to
motivate the player. This was so successful for Root Letter that it
received a new version called Last Answer which just replaced the
drawn versions of those places with real photos of them to underscore
the prefecture as the main character.
Most visual novels do not use
real locations as the basis for their Backgrounds and instead opt for
a fiction town, city or world as is the case in fault - milestone
one. The fantasy world in which the story takes place is not even
remotely close to our modern day and the spaces it presents come
entirely from the imagination. By being unbound by the expectations
of reality fault can leverage its Backgrounds as a space for world
building since it must push twice as hard to make the player believe
the locations are real to the cast walking through them. A tavern
must be lively and a palace must be grand in a way which highlights them through how it frames the cast’s interactions with these space and
this creates a dialogue between them where each lends the other an
air of legitimacy. This can never result in the same direct invoking
of emotion and ideas found in real places, but it can express its own
set of principles and flexibility to form a hyperreality where the
locations are bigger and more expressive than any real life
counterpart could ever be.
Abstractions Of Reality
No
matter how realistic or fantastical the Background, it can never be a
true representation of a space due to its 2D nature and the
limitations on what can reasonably be shown throughout the visual
novel. What this means in practice is a game has to choose a small
pool of images to represent an abstraction of the places the cast
will visit and convey the idea of them rather than a fully formed and
interactable location. The most obvious way this impacts the
experience can be seen in how a visual novel moves between these
Backgrounds using transitions rather than showing the movement from
one place to another. While most games uses this approach to some extent or another, visual novels have to utilise it for even the
slightest shift in perspective such a turning around in a room or
even just changing the placement of objects in a room. As such it is
critical that the player be conditioned to expect this abstraction as
soon as possible through regular shifts between Backgrounds while
also serving the double purpose of keeping them visually engaged.
Once established, a visual novel is freed from the expectations of
reality and it can then present these Backgrounds as compression of space
where all the big features of a location are shown on screen in a way
which would seem strange in a more grounded presentation. These can be entire districts, cities or wildernesses condensed down into an
easy to digest yet detailed vision of something the player can
identify and parse while it sits at the edges of their perception.
Fate/Stay Night is a relatively grounded use of these techniques
being set in a modern city and having most locations be those which the
player will be familiar with. As such it has greater freedom with its
compression of reality since it can expect the player to fill in the
gaps and intuit the way locations are connected to one another. The
city streets and school corridors construct a sense of place
compressed down to its essence with all the edges sanded down to keep
the focus squarely on the narrative performed on them. In battles
they have to demonstrate the movement of the combatants through rapid
camera angles and if Shirou is running away then it has to swap
between Backgrounds while not drawing attention to the way the images
do not have reasonable connections between them. This is a tightrope
act held together by the narrative tension and drama of these scenes
pulling the player’s attention away from any incongruity between
the images flashing on screen.
 |
| For all its over the top visuals, Danganronpa's backgrounds are surprisingly easy to parse |
An interesting contrast with this use
of abstraction is the approach taken by the Danganronpa games. Since
the player can walk from place to place the compression of distance
is not an issue for them and instead the Backgrounds are confined
to indoor locations reached through this traversal. Here these places
utilise their hyperreality as a means of framing the items and people
within it so the player’s attention can be drawn to specific spots.
This is especially important for Danganronpa’s investigation
sections which demand key clues be uncovered within these rooms and a
messy or more grounded presentation would make this task frustrating
for the player. By using an abstraction of these locations they can
be carefully curated to ensure the important items are visible while
not compromising on the vision of what these places were meant to be.
In A Mood
So
far the discussion has focused on Backgrounds depicting locations but
there also exists another group which aim to capture emotions and
other non physical representations of the narrative. These often
appear as solid colours or shapes and patterns where the point is
not for the player to understand them directly and instead it appeals
to the instinctual part of their brain. By far the simplest and most
common versions of this Background are the solid black and the solid
white. A mono black invokes a vaguely negative association to back up
the mood of the story or the protagonist’s inner thoughts but it
can also be a sign of the character being unconscious or asleep and
the black is their eyes being shut tight. On the other hand a bright white
can represent a hopeful or peaceful moment and it can serve to
capture the idea of the protagonist as being blinded by a bright
light. Using more complex colours and patterns works to narrow
down the exact mood and emotions it wants to invoke at the cost of it
potentially going over the player’s head if they do not have the
same associations with the imagery being utilised. As such the
majority of titles simply lean into flat colours rather than
complicated shapes in order to not run this risk and it is rare for games
to go beyond this limited space.
 |
| A sky background is so common it has become difficult to tell them apart |
One of the frequently used complex
patterns are the depictions of the sky found throughout the medium.
Rather than being a specific part of the sky which the player is
meant to be closely examining, it is instead a representation of the
POV character’s current mood or a sign the narrative has shifted
into an internal narration. It can also make use of the time of day
to shape the tone it wants to present with a clear blue sky providing
a vastly different feeling to a stormy one or the night sky and
through a careful selection of the time of day a game can gain a
subtle power over how a player perceives any given moment. Since it
is such a common style of Background, a developer can lean into this
standardised visual design language for their scenes and be reliably
able to invoke the same effect repeatedly which makes the sky a
valuable tool for shorthand expression. On the flip side it is
exactly this overuse that players have often mocked for being a
cliché so it, and other similar Backgrounds, needs a deft hand to
avoid drawing this unwanted ire upon them.
Conclusion
A
lot can be achieve with a simple visual novel Background while not
being the primary focus of any scene it is in. They can present a
sense place and identity to the locations where the cast play out
their story and quietly influence how the player see the game’s
setting. Since the Backgrounds can never truly represent a location,
they end up being abstractions of these spaces which the title can use
to highlight key elements or ideas and makes the whole process feel
natural. Beyond those depicting locations exist a group which consist
of colours and shapes with the aim of purely invoking emotion or
capturing a mood in order to enhance an introspective moment. Being
such a flexible toolbox offers a wide range of opportunities for
subtle expression and putting thought into how Backgrounds can be
used in your own visual novels can provide a quiet yet noticeable
impact on them.
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