Archive for January 2023
Best Visual Novel Releases – January 2023
A
new year has begun and in this month of new beginnings we all start
out into an unknown future and visual novels are no different. It
has been a quiet march across the start line for major releases with
this month seeing none of note. However, it is exactly in this down
time where the indie scene and fan translations can come to the front
and make themselves felt. We have engaging Yuri and Otome, a visual
novel and action rpg hybrid and an innovative game presented entirely
through letters. Let’s look at what the first month has brought us.
Official Releases
Miracle Snack Shop -
Fancy
something sweet? Well this visual novel has you covered in both senses
of the word with the strange tale of a Korean snack shop. Rather than
being a pure visual novel this is a hybrid with a management sim
where the day to day running of the snack shop is simulated to immerse
the player in the narrative. It also has a sizeable fantasy element
in the form of a main heroine, Philia Salis, who appears from a
portal and is queen of an icy land, and this should give you an idea
of the overall tone of the game and, while there are a few twists, it
mostly sticks to it throughout the entire play time. It is not
everyday we get an interesting Korean visual novel like this translated into
English and it is a refreshing insight into a culinary
culture different from what is normal for Japanese or English
language releases. If you are looking for something short and a bit
different then Miracle Snack Shop is for you.
A Maiden Astrologer Divines the Future -
Various
kinds of divination are often used as throw away tropes and are
rarely given the spotlight as the central narrative device. A Maiden
Astrologer Divines The Future aims to buck this trend with a
heart-warming Yuri story which makes full use of divination as its
core thematic element. The story follows Mizushiro Isumi as she
divines the future for her clients in a small coffee shop, but strange
things start happening around her and as she starts to investigate
she meets a girl named Maki and her life will soon be reshaped by
their bond. Since this is a short game the emphasis is placed on the
main relationship and its dynamic to hold the entire experience up
and for the most part it succeeds with a pairing which showcase how
to play contrasting personalities off one another. Overall it is an
excellent bite sized and comfortable romance story with a distinctive
spin on the formula.
Hoping This Finds You Well -
Finding
the right words to communicate your feelings is hard and
it is easy to get sidetracked with unimportant details. This is what
Hoping This Finds You Well captures through its choice to present its
narrative as a series of letters written backwards and forwards
between two people. The result is a tale which show both the
intimacy and distance present in a relationship and how people can
talk passed each other even when they mean well. A relationship is an
awkward and messy thing were both participants are never completely
sure what the other is thinking and this is something the game
manages to express with surprising emotion. It is an extremely short
visual novel but has some of the most unique presentation in recent
memory and a concisely told story that does exactly what is sets out
to do.
Tristia: Restore -
Having
a genius protagonist risks alienating the player when the character
achieve their goals with little effort and cheats the narrative out
of the catharsis of overcoming the odds. The answer which Tristia:
Restore reached was to lean into a light hearted tone and play up the
endearing characteristics of its protagonist to make her victories
still hold meaning as you want to see her succeed in her good natured
deeds. Thus in Nanoca Flanca we have a protagonist who makes for a
most entertaining point of view character for this action/visual
novel hybrid game. This is a game that lets you know immediately it
does not want to be taken seriously. From the moment you start the
game the colours and dialogue sell the low stakes and relaxing vibe it proceeds to immerse you into. Something for those who want a
light and simple story with action gameplay to keep them engaged.
Fan Translations
Brothers Conflict: Precious Baby -
Patch Download VNDB Genre
– Otome, Romance Play Time – 60 hours
The
dream of being surrounded by hot guys is very much alive in Brothers
Conflict: Precious Baby and it knows exactly what its Otome loving
audience wants to see. This is a game which is very open with its
romantic fantasy to the point of being slightly absurd and, while it
might turn off some people, those it resonates with will find a
visual novel that knows how to play to the strengths of the genre.
When Asahina Ema’s mother remarries Ema suddenly gains eleven new
brothers and the player gains a wide selection of romance options all
with the spice of forbidden love. Given how spread thin the play time
is between each hero, there is an astonishing level of character
definition achieved for all of them and this goes a long way in
selling them as legitimately compatible with Ema. While this is not a
visual novel for everyone, but it knows its audience and for them
this is a gem worth their time.
Meaningless Choices – An Anatomy of Visual Novels
Empty and Pointless?
The
illusion of choice is one of a video game’s most fragile tools, a
single contradiction or misstep in presentation and the whole thing
shatters and the player feels cheated. As such the idea of a
Meaningless Choice is one which is viewed in a negative light as
something to avoid alongside the idea that all choices must offer
some form of consequence, no matter how minor. Games such a Mass
Effect and output of Telltale embody this fear of making anything the
player does feel as if it does not matter. A Meaningless Choice is
one which does not effect the outcome of the game in any noticeable
fashion outside of a possible change in one or two lines of dialogue after the choice, or could even be the same choice offered
multiple times, and it is the boogeyman of narrative choice focused
games.
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| This is perhaps the most icon Meaningless Choice and for good reason |
When
it comes to visual novels the picture becomes noticeably blurrier, on
the one hand there are those which follow the common wisdom and make
the choices all have meaning, such as increasing the affection value
with a heroine, but on the other are those which use a large amount
of Meaningless Choices in their structure, often mixed in with real
ones. It is this second group which will be the focus of this
analysis and the surprising ways that the unique position of visual
novels allows them to be more flexible with the presentation of
choice.
Engagement For The Player
At
their most basic level all choices serve the purpose of engaging the
player, be it through the consideration of romantic options or life
or death battles. Meaningless Choices also fall under this category,
but due to their inherent low value they act upon the player in their
own distinct manner. Rather than providing any grand spectacle, their
role is to keep the dial of engagement ticking up and prevent the
player from losing interest by showering them with smaller doses of
the highs given by more significant decisions. These small nods to
the player involve them more directly in the narrative and give them
a moment to pause and ponder what has just occurred, which engages them with story
in a more conscious manner while they make their decision. It is easy
for the player to slip into a trance like state and not be properly
looking at what is being presented to them and, given the narrative
heavy nature of visual novels, could lead to a sense of boredom due to
the lack of other gameplay elements to keep their attention. By containing small points of engagement, visual novels can
avoid this pitfall and also create a cohesion throughout the entire
experience, hence the use of Meaningless Choices. Aokana -Four
Rhythms Across the Blue- uses this approach to pad out the space
between its important choices but uses them sparingly enough to make
sure they are still effective and unobtrusive. There is a careful
balance showcased in Aokana between having Meaningless Choices to
increase engagement and just using them to fill space which could
cause the player to become irritated with the constant interruptions, and this is key to their presence in a visual novel being beneficial.
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| Can you determine a Meanless Choice from a real one? |
Choices As Roleplay
By
far the most common use of Meaningless Choices is as a means for the
player to roleplay as the protagonist. This generally
takes the form of deciding their reaction to events which are
obviously of no importance and provide a selection of in character
choices to give the player a little room to co-author the
character. Having a co-authored protagonist is far from unique to
visual novels as many western rpgs use similar techniques for their
player character with perhaps the most iconic of these being Geralt from the
Witcher games. However, it is far more prolific in the medium of
visual novels, pick up any of them and you will likely find each one
has some degree of Roleplay Choices. This prolific presence is no
doubt due to the increased importance choices have in visual novels
as the primary means of interacting with the player, outside of
including some other gameplay style, and
means that visual novels must make the most out of this limited
resource. OELVNs in
particular tend to use Roleplay Choices due to their closer cultural
relationship to western rpgs with games like Sunrider leaning heavily
into this aspect of visual novels to supplement the narrative feel of
their events.
 |
| Sunrider is a game which leans heavily into the Mass Effect school of choice design |
The
advantages of Roleplay choices are twofold, on the one hand it
disguise the fact that these choice have no consequences by
presenting enough personality in the choices that the player cannot
be sure if the choice has any greater meaning, while at the same time still
knowing they are of only minor consequence. A camouflage like this
helps the visual novel maintain a sense that its choices have gravity,
with some having more significance than others, and prevents their
sense of agency from being compromised. On the other hand it allows
the player to form an attachment to protagonist through their role in
shaping the character in their everyday life and as a result
they feeling invested in the outcomes of the narrative when things
get tough. Since visual novels are often focused around a single
point of view character, it is all the more important that the player
feel investment in that character as without them the player may loose
interest the longer the game goes on and Roleplay Choices offer a
clean and easy to implement means of preventing this issue.
Immersion In A Feeling Of Helplessness
Sometimes
the sense of agency provided from choices can be turned on its head,
the player can be stripped of power through Meaningless Choices and be
made to feel the powerlessness of the characters. Most other games
would fear the idea of putting the player in a position of weakness
like this since many lean heavily into a power fantasy and would be
concerned about the player losing interest if this illusion is not
constantly fed. Visual novels by comparison tend towards a variety of
forms of emotional resonance and often choose to have lows to
complement the highs which other games would struggle to implement.
 |
| Atmosphere is what Cartagra values above all else |
Stripping
the player of their primary agency while still offering the pretence
of choice is what Meaningless Choices excel at. They make it clear to
the player how helpless the protagonist is and how
nothing they attempt changes an outcome they never had any control
over. Rather than simply being told this is the case, the player gets
to experience the character's feelings through their own actions in
the face of this unchanging reality. Cartagra: Affliction of the Soul
is a strong example of how effective this technique can be for
creating empathy. While it does have some real choices mixed in, it
uses a heavy amount of Meaningless Choices to communicate to the
player the desperation and powerlessness of its protagonist in the
face of the murders which threaten those he holds dear. It
compliments the overall bleak tone of the game and allows the player
to sink into the atmosphere and character mindsets without the game
having to spell it out from them. Of course this approach is a
balancing act, be too aggressive with the choices and the tone can
become overbearing or silly in the absurdity of the lack of
consequences, but be too light in their use and the player may not
even notice the intended effect at all.
Disguising What Choices Actually Matter
As
alluded to earlier, the function that ties together the use of the
Meaningless Choice is its ability to disguise what choices have
consequences and what is just filler. This not only functions as a
form of engagement by keeping the player on their toes, but more
importantly it also serves to create a more believable experience.
Our lives are not only determined by single large choices but also
the smaller choices of our everyday activities can collectively have
just as much of an impact. As we grow up we learn the intricacies of
these choices to the point at which they almost become second nature
and are only thought about at the back of our minds. It is this lower
level decision making which Meaningless Choices simulates and so the
player inherently ascribes value to them where none exist since it
resembles something they are intimately familiar with. In doing so
Meaningless Choices hide the important choices in a coat of noise
while helping them to appear more natural in an apparent web of
choice and consequence. Most visual novels using Meaningless Choices
utilise this technique in some fashion, even if it is only by
accident, it is a fairly common feature in the Slice of Life genre such in
the Sakura games and My Girlfriend is the President who use it to
create a sense of normality to their worlds.
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| The Sakura games have some of the most vanilla choice design in the medium |
Conclusion
Every
part of a visual novel serves some function even if it was not
intended by the developer, and Meaningless Choices are a strong
example of how careful consideration of every aspect is needed to
avoid any undesired influences on the player. They can form a solid
backbone for the more substantial narrative elements by providing the
space to roleplay and disguise the choices which actually matter
while helping hold the player’s engagement. On the other hand they
can offer a chance to disempower the player through a feeling of
helplessness in the face of what appear to be unavoidable fates.
There is an impressive degree of flexibility to Meaningless Choices and they are
a strong tool in your development toolbox and are more than filler,
just beware of overusing them as the illusion could quickly breakdown.
Top 10 Yuri Visual Novels
There
is something special about the Yuri genre, it captures a feeling of
wistful longing and the power held by our desire for human connection.
Visual Novels are an especially good medium for capturing these
emotions due to their inherent leaning towards more internal focused
narratives through the extensive time we spend in the characters’
heads. This list differs from my Top 10 LGBTQ+ list in that it is
focused around the games which encapsulate the feelings which are the
strength of the Yuri genre. So let us find our destined love and
begin to count down.
Top 10
10. A Kiss for the Petals Series (NSFW) -
VNDB Play
Time – 4 hours each
If
there is one series which has attempted to cash in on Yuri genre to
the largest extent it is A Kiss for the Petals. These
games focus entirely on a different single pairing each game and
follow their journey to becoming a couple. Since they are a mass
produced product there is a predictable formula to how events will
transpire with variations based on the personalities of the lovers.
This does leave the games feeling stale if they are played back to
back and there is no doubt the developer drained all the life they
could out this limited version of the Yuri setup. However, it does
manage to capture the special emotions of the genre with surprising
regularity and it is difficult to pass this off as an accident. Each
story has just enough of this genre understanding that the games
collectively manage to make it onto this list, just make sure to
pick out the pairings you like for the shortest and sweetest
experience possible.
9. Nurse Love Addiction
Of
all the games on the list this is the one which almost did not make
it. It does contain the feelings required for an excellent Yuri tone
and narrative but it sits alongside a darker element that has no
interest in these emotions. While they form a strong whole, this is a
list designed to showcase the best of the genre’s content.
Ultimately, what sealed Nurse Love Addiction’s place was its
impressive ability to cultivate the feelings of longing and internal
focus in different yet believable way for the protagonist’s
relationship with each heroine. Many Yuri visual novels fail to keep
this up consistently and the resulting uneven presentation can make
their protagonists’ come across as existing just as a vessel for
the player and not their own entity. Having a bond to invest in is
key to the genre and Nurse Love Addiction manages to achieve this
will all its couples which is no small feat given the other thematic
plates the story is spinning.
8. Heart of the Woods
Our
first OELVN and one with an interesting twist as one of the heroines
is already dead. Before the romantic element has even begun to take
root there is a wistful and transient feeling established and the
game utilises this as a strong foundation to build the main
relationship. By playing off this sense of tension between desire and
the reality of death, Heart of the Woods can invoke a sense of longing
in the pair as they form their bond. This differs from the usual issues
many other games choose for their heroines such as the standard uncertainties
about if their feelings are social correct or just a passing phase.
In playing off a different angle to its peers Heart of the Woods
captures the same feelings in a fresh and distinctive way and forms
its own identity within the genre.
7. Heaven Will Be Mine
In
my review of Heaven Will Be Mine I did not make
any mention of the Yuri romantic element between the lead characters.
This is because the game takes the same approach and does not draw
attention to their relationship exclusively in this light. Instead it
chooses to merge it into a greater feeling of longing for others and
a place to belong through its uniquely vivid metaphors and emotive
confrontations. It is this way of framing the emotions of Yuri in order to produce a
powerful overall effect which earns Heaven Will Be Mine a place on
this list. While it may not have the purest representation of these
feelings, it certainly has one of the most immediately identifiable
use of them and there are few games that can match the impact it
achieves.
6. The Expression Amrilato
Language
is The Expression Amrilato’s choice of material to sculpt the
emotions of Yuri with its couple. The manner in which it uses a
language barrier to both communicate intimacy and at the same time a
distance that breeds longing is the game’s most impressive feat.
Having the language problem be slowly overcome both by the
protagonist and the player at the same rate, as the game teaches both
the basics of an alien tongue, builds a strong resonance between them
and strengthens the impact of each step in the protagonist’s
romance. Being able to connect the player so directly to the
feelings of the couple is key in most Yuri games, but few are as
successful as The Expression Amrilato with only their core narrative
and gameplay element. The commitment to this single point of
connection between the couple is a testament to how a focused game
can produce stronger feelings of Yuri.
5. Aoishiro
VNDB Play
Time – 35 hours
Shifting
gears completely, the next game on the list to a title creating a
complimenting tension to the romantic kind through life and death
situations. Aoishiro surrounds its Yuri core with a fantasy narrative
containing various mysteries and uncertainties which it uses to put
the player into the right frame of mind to be receptive to each
couple’s feelings. In placing the romantic interests within an
unknown threat the game allows doubt about their intentions to form
in the player's mind and this contrasts nicely with the longing of the
characters for each other despite the dangers. Aoishiro
understands the power of extremes to highlight the emotions and
threats involved in a narrative and how it can bring player and
protagonist together over shared uncertainty and desire. The couples
always remain at the centre of the games narrative space even as
events spiral out of control and their longing is made all the more
memorable because of it.
4. Kindred Spirits On The Roof
Most
Yuri games focus around either one couple or the possible
relationships of one protagonist. This is done to try and keep the
focus on a small cast and prevent the story from becoming bloated and
meandering. Kindred Spirits On The Roof achieves what these games can
only dream of, a cohesive narrative with a large selection of
different couples, each fleshed out and separate from one other. The
secret to its success lies in its episodic style structure with each
romantic pairing having their own section to resolve their issues, and
a protagonist who is a constant over the course of the game to act as
glue for the whole experience. It is amazing how each couple manages
to invoke the same sense of longing and desire which define Yuri
within such diverse relationships while keeping the feelings constantly
fresh for the player. Building bonds and showcasing them in vivid
stories is the reason Kindred Sprits On The Roof makes it so high on
this list.
3. Flowers Quadrilogy -
Mystery
is one of the strongest bedfellows for Yuri, both start unassuming
and build into something greater and both create an investment in
knowing the outcome of a story. The four Flowers games focus their
romantic relationships around different couples each game and have
the overarching secret of the school act as a bridge between them, and
a method of highlighting the emotions present in these bonds. By
mixing the longing of the characters for each other with the longing
to know the truth, the narrative invests the player in both and draws
a line between the exploration of a person’s feelings and the
discovery of the unknown. Linking these two allows Flowers to imply
the ideas of one while talking about the other and provide a rich
written landscape for the player to ponder as they watch the
struggles of the couples.
2. Katahane
VNDB Play
Time – 20 hours
Katahane
is a game of two halves and it in how they interact to form the
longing and loss that define its Yuri. Through the combined knowledge
of these parts the player ends up knowing more about the characters
involved in the romance and this makes them root for the relationship to
be a success in the face of what has happened before. It plays with
the certain past and uncertain future to form a catharsis for its
romantic conclusion and sense of tragedy for what has happened long
ago, and uses them to create longing in the player, placing them in a
similar mindset as the characters. The amazing amount of power this
resonance between player and character earns Katahane a place on this
list and there are few other visual novels that can match the empathy
it manages with its Yuri.
1. Sea Bed -
The
number one spot goes to a visual novel which knows that the best Yuri
is a slow burn which provides space for the player to contemplate on
the longing. Like some of the previous games on this list, Sea Bed
utilises a mystery as a means of narrative progression, but it also
merges this with three separate protagonists each with their own
stake in what is happening as well as their own feelings to sort out.
This is prevented from becoming unmanageable by having
the space the narrative occurs in being small, so protagonists are
regularly present on screen even if they are not the point of view
character at that moment. Everything about Sea Bed circles around a
feeling of intimacy which is at once tense and desirable, it
something the characters long for and are at the same time afraid of it
hurting them. It is a balancing act the protagonists never quite
achieve and this allows them to express their weakness and humanity
within the romantic context to perfectly capture the feelings of Yuri
while having a greater story for the player to engage them.
A Clockwork Ley-Line Trilogy Review – A Mistifying Mystery
Genre - Mystery, Fantasy. Playtime - Roughly 20 Hours Each, 60 In Total Developer - Unison Shift: Blossom Steam VNDB
Three Ley-Lines Shall Reveal The Truth
Creating
a trilogy of games is an ambitious undertaking and one where so many
tiny things can go wrong and ruin the whole package. It needs a glue
to hold it together and keep the player invested in the long term,
sometimes this is a grand adventure or a world ending threat. A
Clockwork Ley-Line chooses an overarching magical mystery to hold its
games together while it focuses on telling episodic stories which
feed into each individual game’s themes. The stakes are decidedly
more personal than many other trilogies, but is this to these games
benefit or does do they collapse under their own weight? Let’s
begin our search for Mists and find out.
 |
| Prepare for a strange ride |
Granting Wishes At A Price – Themes and Narrative
The
structure of these games is their most distinctive feature with a
focus on episodic narratives which each correspond to a route in a
ladder style visual novel. An overarching mystery sit behind these
cogs and makes sure they are not just a series of unconnected
incidents. However, having so many interconnect parts does cause some
unwanted friction between them.
At
its core A Clockwork Ley-Line is a monster of the week narrative.
Each chapter is a different episode in which our heroes must uncover
the identity of whatever Mist (magical artefact) is terrorising the
school and put a stop to it. Of course this is just the basic formula
and the game has a great deal of fun with how it establishes and
resolves the Mists and makes full use of the secondary characters who
get pulled along for the ride. This approach emphasises the character
stories and how they play into the main cast’s arcs by relating
them to their own personal weaknesses or by having them personally
invested in the outcome of an investigation. Cleverly A Clockwork
Ley-Line varies the tone of its episodes throughout the whole
spectrum, some are comic and others are tragic. This ability to
switch suddenly is utilised add a degree of unpredictability to what
the player will experience next and how it will end in order to keep
the formula from becoming stale. If there is one problem with this
episodic approach it is that in the final game where the overarching
narrative takes centre stage, the structure of individual stories can
feel a bit redundant when everything one of them just flows directly
into each other with little to idenify between them.
 |
| Mist incidents are always a fun suprise |
Attached
to each episode (except the last one of a game) in the first two
games is a side route exploring a character in a romantic context.
Together these form the ladder structure of Ley-Line and give it the
much needed space to present the player with more in-depth character
studies. The focus afforded by this structural choice allows these
routes to have the ability to communicate the more mundane aspects of
the world, how it links our characters and in particular how its
effects the protagonist, Koga Michiru. It does help that the romances
are all handled quite well with suitable build ups and believable
bonds between each one and Koga and there is an effort made to make
every heroine of their relationships noticeably different.
On top of this
is the fact each route in the ladder is optional, meaning a player can
skip them if they just want the main plot or pick and choose what
they want to appear. This prevents these routes from killing
the pacing of the central story while providing the player with a
sense of agency over the fate of the cast. There is one glaring flaw in
these routes and it is that some are strangely redundant or come off
as unnatural progressions of the relationships in the attached
episode. The most problematic example of this being a route in the
second game which is invalidated by that game’s ending plot twists
and the route adds nothing of value to any character involved.
However, these routes are the exception rather than the rule and the
overall quality is good and engaging.
 |
| Another day in the life of the Bureau |
There
is a question which hangs over the trilogy and binds it all together.
Who are the Night Class and where did they come from? It is a
suitably weighty one with a lot of parts to the final answer and
revelations are provided to the player at an even pace to keep them
hanging on every scrap of information. The grand reveal and
resolution at the end it both climatic and cathartic with every
narrative tread coming together in a way which reflects back onto the
characters’ journeys to get here. There is one problem and this is
way the mystery is paced across the three games. Very little of
importance to the main plot happens in the first game and what there
is can be found concentrated at the end and the story only feels as
if it gets going in the second game. While there are a lot of
important character moments in the first game, it is difficult to
shake the feeling that it could have been trimmed down and merged
into the second game for a shorter playtime.
Student By Day, Magical Problem Solver By Night – Characters
To
investigate a mystery you need a team and clients with problems to
solve. A Clockwork Ley-Line puts together a strong cast to fill these
roles and relates them to one another through their adversities.
However, these games do not have an entirely even approach to the
presentation of their characters.
 |
| Ushio and Koga are the highlight of these games |
The
central cast of Ley-Line are the members of the Bureau for the
Investigation of Special Affairs which starts out as just Koga,
Kotarou and Ushio and, while it does expand as the games progress,
these three carry the emotional heart and soul of the story.
Their initial relationship is a somewhat rocky one with Koga and
Ushio often rubbing each other the wrong way and Kotarou having to
act as a mediator between them. Seeing them come together as a
skilled team and overcome the Mists they face is one of the
highlights of the trilogy structure of these games. The later
additions to the Bureau all further the group dynamic by forming
connections to the original three and are used to bring out their
flaws and strengths. Chemistry is the greatest asset Ley-Line has and
it makes use of it cleanly with the main cast.
To
have a mystery to investigate there must first be clients and this is
the type of character most Day Students fall into. They are each
introduced in an episode, come into contact with a Mist, have their
problem resolved and then only make minor appearances afterwards.
This is a fairly standard approach for a monster of the week formula and
Ley-Line knows this so it makes sure to spice up these characters
through the bonds they form with the Bureau and how its members
grapple with the consequences of the Mists. Each one of the Day
Students have been created as a pair to the Mist which effects them
and their personalities in some way relate directly to what the
Mist offers, since in universe they are drawn to those who desire their
powers, even if they do not know it. These dynamics act as the main
appeal to each episode and humanise this supernatural conflict which
might otherwise seem distant from reality.
 |
| It is a shame the Night Student never get the time they needed |
It
is when we reach the Night Students where the quality and
consistency of character presentation begins to drop. Despite being the
focus of the overarching narrative thread, they are only really
present in the first game before they fade into the background during
the second game. When they are presented to the player they often
fulfil the same purpose as the Day Students in being clients for the
Bureau. In this role they excel and provide a slightly off-kilter
version due to their inherent supernatural situation which creates
uncertainty about how much of what they say is the truth. This makes them
being dropped like a stone in the second game such a shame as it
would have been interesting to see how this remixing of the
client/Bureau dynamic could have taken further. The choice to reduce
their presence is even stranger when you reach the third game
where all the plot twists about the Night Students are revealed but
they are not there to react to them and feel underdeveloped compared
to the Day Students.
Clockwork Design – Visual, Audio and Technical
When
it comes to the design of these games’ systems and assets there is
a consistency to them that allows the three games to appear as if they
were made at the same time. This philosophy means each game shares
the same overall strengths and weaknesses in these areas and a player
who has an issue with one of the will have an issue with all three
games.
 |
| The Night wonderfully remixes the Day |
Visual
direction is one of Ley-Line’s most striking aspects. These games
have the ability to form a spectacular divide between the magical and
mundane parts of the setting through their use of colour, backgrounds
and even the Mists. The mundane is much as you
would expect from a visual novel of this genre and consists of the
expected symbols of school life those familiar with the medium have
come to expect. It is only when placed against the altered yet
beautiful magical world and items that its role as a mirror becomes
obvious and the contrast becomes clear. The magical world is one of
strong and permeating colours which seep into everything,
transforming what we know into new forms with regular patterns being
prevalent throughout. Each Mist perfectly encapsulates the feelings
embodied by this idea of magic. They are at once majestic and at the
same time acting as agents of chaos who represent the wild and
dangerous side of magic if not properly controlled. Together these
aspects form a duality but not one without subtly and elements of one
visual style can still be seen in the other showing how the two are interlinked.
On
the flip side the music shows the problems with having similar assets
in each game, they become overly familiar and stale. Ley-Line’s
soundtrack remains mostly static over the course of the trilogy with
each game adding one or two new tracks. The quality of this music is
high but a lot of it is standard in composition and in line with
other games in the medium which means it lacks the identity present
in the visuals. That is not to say there are no standout tracks and
those added by the second and third games are some of the best of the
trilogy. However, this leaves the majority of the soundtrack being
forgettable and ultimately the same from game to game creating a
feeling of repetition that damages the overall experience.
 |
| The soundscape is too similar between games |
For
the most part Ley-Line follows the industry standard when it comes to
technical polish and features. We have the normal suite of
unlockables, customisation options and in game interfaces. The only
aspect in which Ley-Line deviates from the norm is in how it treats its
unlockable side stories and their relationship to one another. These
stories are a small collection of what if and after story style
narratives and they are structured in such a way as to form their own
small thematic package distinct from the main game in its complete
focus on the romantic elements of the games. They have a set a pattern
for unlocking but there is enough flexibility to allow the player to
experience them with a degree of freedom and they rely on their consistent
ideas to hold theses stories together.
Verdict –
This three part mystery blends episodic storytelling and a grand
narrative seamlessly into an intriguing visual novel which play to
the strengths of both approaches.
Pros
+
A gripping overarching mystery which cleverly integrates the Mists
and escalates appropriately.
+
Each episodic story offers a bite sized adventure and these are well
blended into each complete visual novel.
+
Well defined central cast who play off each other and endear
themselves to the player.
+
Routes offer an opportunity to explore aspects of the world and
characters which the main narrative would not have time for.
Cons
-
The first game is almost entirely fluff of no consequence to the
overall narrative or character arcs.
-
Night Students feel underdeveloped and this is not helped by them
fading from the spotlight in the second game.
- Some of the routes
feel unnecessary or badly integrated into the narrative.
