Archive for April 2023
Best Visual Novel Releases – April 2023
Spring
has truly made its presence felt this month with all the flowers
coming into bloom at the same time and visual novels are similarly
bristling with colourful new releases. This has been a truly packed
month to the point where it has been hard to pick out only a few titles to
showcase for you, but after much struggle the list bellow was
complied for your viewing pleasure. There has been everything from a
Danganronpa imitation to a post-apocalypse filled with superpowered
people and killer machines to a coffee themed sequel. Let’s dive
into the fields of brilliant visual novel flowers and see what is the
best way spend your time.
Official Releases
Shugaten! -sugarfull tempering-
This
month’s award for comfy moe visual novel goes to Shugaten!
-sugarfull tempering- which secures the place with its
warm and cosy atmosphere with just enough mystery to keep you
engaged. Our amnesiac protagonist finds himself at a patisserie
called Folkroll after the shop’s employees wished for someone to
help them during the night of the fairies and he must use his wealth
of knowledge about baking to aid them. While this mystery forms the
backbone of the hook to keep the player guessing, the game is careful
to never show its hand and instead supplements it with a healthy dose
of moe presented through its heart-warming character stories and its
bright colour palette. There is strong understand in Shugaten about
how to use the elements of slice of life with a delicate hand and
never letting any one part overstay its welcome or potentially bore
the player through familiarity. Definitely a title you should pick up
for your monthly dose of cuteness and easy feelings to relax with.
LACKGIRL I - "Astra inclinant, sed non obligant."
While
this visual novel did technically release at the very end of last
month, it somehow managed to slip through the net but it is still
worth talking about regardless. As the first episode of the Lackgirl
series this is a strong opening act which establishes the world and
powers of this magical boarding school inhabited by the magical girls
who form the backbone of the narrative. The game demonstrates an
understand of how to conduct the build up for a narrative focused around magic
combat and keep the protagonists as the underdogs while still give them
interesting powers that are a joy to see clash against one another.
This game should definitely put this series on your radar if magical
action visual novels are up your alley as it shows all the signs of
being a fun ride as these distinctive girls struggle to overcome
their fates.
Process of Elimination
Nintendo Eshop VNDB Genre
– Murder Mystery, Thriller Play Time – 30 hours
Danganronpa
has been extremely influential within the visual novel space,
spawning many imitations along the way and the latest of these is
Process of Elimination. When fourteen detectives come together to
discover which one of them is the mysterious murderer Yatsuzakikou
who has been terrorising the country they will get far more than they
bargained for. This game is an interesting take on the genre with a
greater leaning into the thriller aspect than its inspiration and
does its best to carve out its own identity with characters who pop
in the way only those from Nippon Ichi are capable of. It mixes in a
good dose of puzzles into each chapter which fit in with the mystery
solving theme and work to sell the group as the ace detectives they
are meant to be. If you have a Danganronpa shaped hole in your life
then you can’t go wrong with this title to scratch that itch.
Kunado Chronicles
Purple
Software games are always on the precipice of greatness and Kunado
Chronicles is the closest they have ever come to realising this
potential. Set in a distant post-apocalypse future where the living
metal monster known as Tekki have driven humanity back to the
medieval times and reduced them to a shadow of their former selves.
Into this world is thrust Shin, a man frozen in time from the distant
past and he is tasked with bringing his ancient knowledge into this
new world so its people might be able to rebuild. This is a tale
interested in what it means to be human in a the face of the spectre
of death and it asks what value the things we hold dear in the modern
world really have when all is stripped away. Now if only these games
would stop be so relentlessly horny all the time maybe the next one
could fulfil the legacy of this visual novel.
Flight Of The Exorcist
Alright,
this is not some big new release but instead my latest visual novel
made for NaNoRenO. Rather than blowing my own horn too much I am
going to recommend you go the game jam page and see for
yourself all of the brilliant small games released there. This year
had an amazing turn out and the result is a variety of genres and
subject matters which you would not be able to find anywhere else.
Each entry brings something unique to the table both in terms of
narrative and in term of their interpretation of what it means to
create a visual novel. My own entry is is a short visual novel about
a crisis of faith in the face of suffering and a world where demons
influence the fate of humanity. The titular exorcist must contend
with a case of demon possession of which she is the primary suspect
and must now confront the monsters of both supernatural
and man-made origin. Can she find the source of the possessions and
will she be able to save her own soul?
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly
Rather
than trying to reinvent the wheel this sequel to the original Coffee
Talk chooses to expand on the already strong foundations of that game
and provide more of the same excellent experience. Back behind the
counter of your coffee shop you will meet faces new and old as they
come and go while expressing their concerns and you lend them a
willing ear. The game spices up the beverage making with new
ingredients adding a wrinkle to an already solid gameplay loop
and this provides a surprising number of new drinks to marvel at. However,
if you did not enjoy the previous title then this one will not do
much to change your mind and assumes a level of investment in its
characters some may not have developed. Hibiscus and Butterfly is
worth your time once you have completed the first game and want more
the same characterful flavour.
Fan Translation
Traumermaid
Patch Download VNDB Genre
– Yandere, Horror Play Time – 3 hours
Traumermaid
is yet another entry in the Yandere genre of horror which has
a strong following and has produced some interesting games. This
title focuses around the standard set up of being reunited with two
childhood friends after returning to your home town and getting involved
in a love triangle. Of course being a Yandere game this love gets
twisted into dangerous forms as their feelings get tinged with
jealously and eventually violence and it here that most of the horror
elements stem from. The spiral into madness and paranoia is palpable
and grips the player’s mind in a way that allows them to get into
the heads of the characters in a cathartic manner. Its short length
also makes it an excellent game to pick up you have been interested
in this genre and want to give it a go.
Enforced Play Order – An Anatomy of Visual Novels
Directions From On High
The
player is a wild and chaotic beast prone to doing what you least
expect and are both the joy and bane of developers. This is
especially true for any game which focuses on narrative as its core
element since there is no guarantee the player will experience the
story in the way the designers intended and even more so if there is any
form of freedom offered. Visual novels fall into this
category and since their narratives form the backbone of the
experience it is vital for many of them to ensure the player never
gets lost or confused as to the intentions of the story or finds a
major plot point before they should. The solution which many visual
novels have developed is the Enforced Play Order. This is a
restricting of what parts of the game the player has access to at one
time and acts to control their progress while ensuring a smoother
transition from one route to another. However, there is no unified
approach to how this Enforced Play Order should be implemented. There
are instead three main ways it implemented, a completely rigid play order,
only having the finale locked and moving in and out of controlling
the player’s progress. It is these which will form the basis of
discussion in this article and will be explored to see the pros and
cons of each method. So let’s follow the path laid out before us
and dive into the Enforced Play Order.
Rigid Play Order
Sometimes
the best approach is to give the player no freedom at all, why risk them
misunderstanding something when you can take them by the hand and
make sure they experience everything correctly? This is the idea at
the core of the Rigid Play Order and it is the realm of the plot
heavy visual novel which would suffer the worse from the possible
confusion of the player. Being rigid does have its advantages and
does not necessarily exclude them from the benefits of the more
flexible approaches.
Controlling
the player’s approach to the game provides the developer with a
rigid framework to shape their visual novel around as they do not
have to account for any discrepancies which might occur due to the
order a player experiences it in. In other words they have control over
the pacing and plot progression in a way which is simple for both
them and the player. Having a tightly paced game makes sure the
player is on the same page as the game and forges a more memorable
journey as the highs and lows are presented to the player in a way
that feels natural. A more free-form visual novel risks becoming more
lumpy with sections of good and bad content showing unevenly
throughout and leaving an inconsistent taste in the player’s mouth.
Rigid Play Order avoids this pitfall through the smooth direction it
can give the player and the way it can ensure that they are given the
best content at the right moment to leave them with an overall
positive impression while communicating its ideas.
 |
| Everything has its place and is shown when needed |
If there is one game
which embodies this approach it is Wonderful Everyday. Each route
exists in a linear order with a distinct segregation to make it clear
when the narrative has moved on and ensures the player knows exacts
the direction to go next. Despite this there is a strong flow
throughout the entire experience as the different character
perspectives on the same events slowly fill out the player’s
understanding in a rewarding way that makes sure they have exact
amount of new information to be engaged while keeping the mystery
thick. This would not be possible without the exacting control
offered by the Rigid Play Order since without this backbone it
would not be possible to know what the player would do first and so be forced to
spread the content thin across the game while not giving the larger
nuggets present in the actual game.
It
might be tempting to paint the entire approach to Rigid Play Order as
one that comes at the cost of player freedom but, while there is some
truth to this idea, many visual novels which follow this method have
a flexibility that becomes available upon repeated playthroughs. Most
games using this technique do so through a series of unlocking routes
and these extend from a common route like most other visual novels.
So once all have been unlocked what remains is a standard free-form
narrative many expect from the medium and this makes the next
playthrough one tailored by the player as they can pick and choose
which parts to replay. This freedom is fine for the Rigid Play Order
since it is mainly interested in ensuring the first experience is as
strong as possible and as these games often rely major plot elements
not being spoiled there is no
reason to constrict the player after the curtain has been pulled
back.
 |
| In choice presentation Hello Lady is the same as many other visual novels |
A showcase of this can be seen with Hello Lady. During the
first time a player traverses the game there is very little choice
given to them as to which heroine they will be picking next with only
the opening two routes providing any freedom of choice. However, the
lead up the each route is presented in the standard manner and the
lock disguised by subtly shifting the player onto one of the
available route rather than the one they had been moving towards by
slowly emphasising the next important heroine to signal to the player
where to go next. What is left over after the player has unlocked
everything is the familiar heroine based structure as the differing
direction cues which helped the player find where to go are merged
into a background noise and what remains does not guide the player
but instead lets them loose. This unfurling approach is common among
Rigid Play Order visual novels as it allows them to still have some
of the replayability present in their more free-form kin.
Finale Only Lock
Not
every game wants to tell a complicated story but many still want to
have the sense of conclusion and cohesion offered by a more rigid
narrative. To answer this need the approach of the Finale Lock was
born. This method gives the player freedom within the main narrative
but prevents them from accessing the final route or section until
all other content has been completed. As such this leans heavily into
the more free-form nature of visual novels.
Placing
characters front and centre is what this approach to Enforced Play
Order thrives on. As the visual novel cannot rely on the order a
player experiences the game outside of the final route, it instead
has to make the thrust of its themes through each routes’ main
heroine and have the final heroine acts as the thread that ties the
emotional core of the game together. This leads to a style of
narrative favouring a resonance with the player over engaging their
minds and by extension is free-form due to not being constrained by a
need to tell a story in a set order as it relys on the
feelings of the player to form its identity. The final route is
provides a means to bring the character beats together into something
more cohesive rather than the soup of emotion it would be otherwise.
Clannad is a good example of this character emphasis and its role
within a final route. For the vast majority of the playtime it gives
the player free rein over its many different parts but once these are
completed the After Story final route is unlocked. This brings
together the emotional heart of Clannad which was spread out over the
game into a place where it can be easily viewed and player can come
to appreciate the journey to this point. It also works to pay off the
feelings built up in each route and gives the player a place to come
to terms with them in a structured manner.
 |
| After Story is the most powerful section in Clannad |
Of
course not every visual novel using this approach is interested in
anything as complicated as emotional resonance, for many it is simply
a means to give a conclusive feeling to the game and reward the
player for getting through the rest of it. They achieve this by
packing the majority of the plot and action into the final route to
create a sense of escalation after the relatively static structure of
the heroine routes. This contrast acts as a type of reward with
everything that came before being a strong form of catharsis and this
works to encourage a tired player to continue to the end. Once a
conclusion is reached to the final route, the release of coming out
of the high of the climax gives it a sense of finality which leaves
the player with a wave of satisfaction. When looking at Date A Live:
Rinne Utopia this approach can be clearly seen. The final route
belongs to the titular Rinne and is a distinctive deviation from the
standard structure present in all the other routes. Coupled with the
general sense that everything is falling apart at the seams and the
route take on a unique identity that immediately grabs the player and
revitalises their interest in the game. It is in many ways the carrot
dangled in front of the player throughout the game given Rinne’s
obvious importance and this adds to the sense of finality present as the
climax of this final route arrives.
 |
| This is not a game aiming for anything complicated |
Mixing Control and Freedom
Of
course between these two extremes are the visual novels who want to
merge control and freedom in order to best fit their narratives. For
these the approach of moving in and out of controlling the player’s
options was formed to suit their needs. To achieve this these games
will open with freedom or control and shift into the opposite one and
back again as the story they are telling demands. What results is an
experience formed around the narrative but it is a delicate balancing
act with many points where the player could lose interest.
This
approach to the Enforced Play Order is a delicate balancing act
between freedom and control and runs the risks of both extremes. If
the game leans too much into control it could lead to the player feeling
restricted, but too much freedom and it could confuse the themes and
ideas it is attempting to show. Just enough of each end of the
spectrum must be shown to the player to achieve the desired effect
before switching to the other end in order to prevent either from
outstaying its welcome. Should the equilibrium be struck then the
visual novel can have the best of both worlds, gaining the clarity of
one and the openness of the other. A good example of this is I/O
which starts out with an extremely rigid series of sections before
opening up for a time and then closing up again for the finale. Having this space in the middle allows the game to provide room for
the player to contemplate the mysteries the previous sections set
up and tackle the part they want more information about. This is
directed by how the rigid sections controlled their presentation of
its mysteries and so even in a free-form space the player still have
a concise direction to follow with their curiosity.
 |
| I/O is an odd one from beginning to end |
Just
like with Rigid Play Order, this mixture of freedom and control is a
matter of emphasis and pacing within the game’s structure.
Switching between such vastly different feeling structures creates a distinctive
divide that highlights each section through the peaks and troughs
provided by changing between them. What results is a mechanism via
which the visual novel can shape how the player views certain parts
with the use of contrast to create a looser form version of what
Rigid Play Order aims to achieve. Perhaps the strongest example of
this can be seen in Virtue's Last Reward which subtly weaves in and
out of a free-form structure as the player makes their choices and
hits locked sections they need to complete another part to access.
These locks funnel the player down set paths but in such a way that
does not immediately feel restrictive and instead fuels the player’s
curiosity as to what is hidden behind them. On top this it ensures the
player can never stumble upon anything important without proper
context which in a narrative focused game like Virtue's Last Reward
is critical for its success.
 |
| Look at all the fun things you can find |
Conclusion
Exercising
control over the player is something which offers visual novels a lot
of options when it comes to tailoring the experience they are presenting. An absolutely rigid approach give the game the means to
pace itself to the player’s benefit for a smoother and even
structure. On the other hand just having a single unlockable final
route provides a sense of closure the game might otherwise lack. If
you mix these two methods together the result is a flexible ebb and
flow to the game but at the risk of gaining the negatives of both.
Overall the Enforced Play Order is an interesting tool in the visual
novel developer’s pocket and offers an opposing design space to the
more kitchen skin approach for a healthier spread of constructions.
It is definitely something to keep in the back of your mind as your
game comes together as even a small amount of it can significantly
change the perception of its narrative.
Yuri VNs – Genre Deep Dive
Forbidden Love?
If
there is one genre which thrives in the visual novel space it is
Yuri. While other mediums and types of games touch on Yuri, there are
none that put their entire focus on it in quite the all consuming way
present in visual novels. Rather than being a sideshow for another
genre to use as romantic fluff, it is front and centre in many of the
best and defining titles you can play. On top of this prominence
there is a distinct difference of approach to the genre taken by
Japanese and Western developers. One presents a romance steeped in
purity and idealism while the other focuses in on the issues of
identity and belonging that effect the characters. These divergent
paths have led to a variety of content and themes not present in many
other spaces. Over the course of this deep dive these elements will
be explored as well as a rich landscape of creators and visions of what Yuri
means. Let’s fall in love with a cute girl and find out what makes
the genre tick.
A Vision of Purity – Japanese Yuri
Pervasive
within Japanese Yuri is the idea of the romance as being akin to
a garden of flowers and the pairing as the most brilliant blooms
among them. The focus on a very specific set of emotions adds some
distinctive flavour to the love story and helps this genre stand out.
However, under the surface there is the same treatment of love as a
form of titillation to sell a product in many games which use Yuri as
a secondary element.
At
its core the link to flowers and purity found in this style of Yuri
stems from an extreme idealisation of the lesbian romance. It is
placed in opposition to a male centric romance story which is by
contrast is a tale of desire and lust with love being the ultimate
driver behind it but obscured by this layer of impurity and dirtiness
associated with men. In contrast the female is seen as the purer sex
and thus it follows that any love between two of them would be
equally pure. Even when lust does enter the conversation it treated
with a sanctity as if it were the precursor to a holy act of union.
Generally this is caked in vaguely Christian iconography and
language, such as the pair attending a Catholic school, to present
the pair’s relationship as an act before some kind of unseen divine
presence which accepts their choice of partner.
 |
| Sono Hanabira's world is one of brilliant colour and dazing purity |
We can see this in the Sono Hanabira series where the complete focus on a
single couple makes it stand out the most. For each game their
pairing is presented with a sort of all consuming sanctity, everything points
to the couple from the supporting cast to the everyday events, even
previous games’ couples act as conduits to insure the new couple
comes together. An entire world orientated towards an outcome is a
pretty convincing argument for its legitimacy. Theirs is a union
painted through bright colours and delicate gazes and there is an
almost otherworldly glow to their encounters to better emphasise the
feelings they are enraptured by and the purity of their intention. Sono
Hanabria is a particularly good example of these traits since it
leans into lust as part of its content and even there the colours
never let up, their acts are done in the light of day and have none
of the messiness of a male orientated union, but it is instead one
where only the cleanest intentions are realised and this is reflected
in their language and generally cleanliness of proceedings. Overall
it is a unique presentation of romance that puts this particular
coupling on an almost unattainable level.
These
distinctive traits do allow for the exploration of some emotions
often forgotten about or sidelined in a more traditional romance
story. The two points it excels at are the capturing of the feeling
of wishful longing and the power our desire for human connection has
over us. Capturing the essence of wishful longing within a romantic
context is something many stories gloss over in favour of the more
dramatic aspects of a relationship, such as the confession, and the
intense focus affords to it in Yuri helps the genre stand out.
Needing to be with someone else for your happiness is a part of love
that effects both participants in often vague ways and the pale
colour and idealises space of Yuri is a perfect place for exploring
this since it can shift its already vague imagery towards this
equally vague subject. In doing so it can present the emotions of its
characters and explore the reasons for their emotional state and the
effects it has on people. By extension the power of the human desire for
connections is expressed through the completion of the longing and
the realisation of the pair’s bond. Similarly to the longing this
is made possible by Yuri’s extreme emphasis on the emotional states
of its characters and makes the strength of their desire for each
other clear and gives a good space for exploring what exactly this
means in practice.
 |
| It is at moments like this writing difference from traditional romance stories become clear |
The Flowers games are an excellent manifestation
of this ability to capture these unique feelings through Yuri. Each
game presents these ideas through a different character lens,
sometimes with a timid protagonist at other times with a sassy lead,
but it keeps the common motifs and presentation of its version of
Yuri to ground each encounter in the same mental space for the player
and helps them experience and explore the same emotions as the
characters. The resulting narrative gives the feelings of longing and
the desire for human connection a means of melding with the colours
and imagery to be expressed in a purer form and mindset than would be
possible anywhere else but in Yuri.
Of
course not everyone sells this vision of purity for the right reasons,
there is no denying that the teasing of Yuri is a strong selling
point for a product and there are many visual novels which lean into
this for all the wrong reasons. These are the type of visual novels
which have Yuri as a flavour to entice in an audience without then
committing to the idea as in practice they pay it off with only vague
insinuations. They also make use of the aesthetic by signalling the
colour and composition associated with Yuri to paint the game in Yuri
to complement the main thrust of the game, but the result often feels
hollow because the juggling act between these elements is difficult
to manage while keep a consistent tone. An example of this attitude to
Yuri can be seen in The Curse of Kudan which uses it as a side
element to drive the emotional core behind its main mystery focus.
What results is a confused experience with the Yuri cues not matching
the serious and darker mystery causing a form of narrative whiplash.
Alongside this is the problem of the romances feeling undercooked and
merely in there to act as bait to keep the player hooked without the
developer considering that will have to pay this off at some point.
This type of treatment for Yuri is strangely common despite its very
mixed results from an overall game standpoint and more often than not
leaves a sour taste in the player’s mouth.
 |
| Mixing Yuri with other elements is a difficult act to get right |
A Vision of Reality – Western Yuri
For
Western Yuri the presentation and priorities are very different than
with Japanese Yuri to the point at which the only commonality at
times is their base subject matter. Rather than pastel idealism there
is instead a sense of the weight to the relationship. It is something
to be treasured but there are many experiences which will be
difficult or strange to those under these emotions. This shift in
approach from their Japanese peers stems from the different origins
of those creating the influential titles and the space around the
topic which has developed.
 |
| The setting plays a large role in how a story is presented |
Even
when the setting is fantastical Western Yuri has its sights firmly
set in the real and grounded experience that reflects the lives of
actual lesbians. These take the issues and frames them individually
within events and characters who bring it into an easy to digest form
that emphasises the emotions involved. Presentation of these themes
is not limited by an established visual language and instead plays
host to many contrasting uses of imagery from other genres with
interesting merges taking place in order to get the desired effect.
As a result there are a lot of different interpretations of the same
ideas that have arisen leading to many new ways of approaching the Yuri
design space as well as a fair amount of cross-pollinating from
popular games. One of the best examples of this culture of design can
be seen in Blackberry Honey. This visual novel, set in mid-19th
century England, takes the issues surrounding lesbians
relationships and puts them into a distinctive historical context
which allows them to standout against a world hostile to their
existence. In assuming the visual identity of the era the game gains
a presentation it can play with to better convey its ideas without
being bound to a set of prescribed iconography. On the other hand
this does mean the game has to work twice as hard to make sure it is
clear in its intent since it has nothing within the player’s
established understanding of the genre to fall back on. It is a
trading of stability for freedom and it is a common choice among many
Western Yuri games.
The
difference in approach originates for the far more indie centric
development of Yuri visual novels due to the way the market has
developed in the West. Rather than being defined by an industry in
need of profit to survive, the Western scene is defined by
individuals or small groups who act within the genre out of a love
for it and as a result the vast majority of the visual novels
produced by them are passion projects that their developers do not
expect to make large (if any) profits from. As you would expect this
leads to a diverse field both in terms of game concepts but also the
people involved due to the low barrier for entry and easy access to
simple but competent engines. Of course such a wide array of releases
leads to an unevenness in terms of quality with many being basic in
nature with a few which stand out for their distinctive originality,
but each one has the same passion and contain the experiences and
thoughts of their developers. NomnomNami is a good example of an
individual within this space. Their projects are small in scale but
tight in focus and have allowed them to develop a visual and
narrative identity of their own that reflects their passion for the
ideas they express. Rather than being made with an eye for sales
their projects are the stories they want to tell and this comes
across in every moment of these games. They also showcase of how
there is a lot of overlap in Western Yuri between the genre and other
LGBTQ+ narratives and spaces. Many of their works often touch on, if
not outright make the focus, other feelings effecting this group and
the commonality between them.
 |
| We all know where this is going... |
All
of this might leave you with the impression that Western Yuri is
absent of the Yuri baiting and the using of Yuri to sell a product.
However, this is obvious not true as it is just as present in the
Western space as it is in its Japanese equivalent. Perhaps the most
well known presence in the market relying on this trait is the Sakura
series which has used Yuri as a selling point for its visual novels
in many instances over the years. In these cases there is no depth to
the Yuri presented and instead it is a means of offering male centric
fan service to appeal to this audience and make their products
desirable. It also feeds into the disposability of their games as
this lack of substance and blatant pandering works for a short
experience designed to be played quickly, forgotten and then the next
title purchased. They in many ways resembles their Japanese
counterparts which is not surprising since their motivations and use
of established ideas as a backbone stems from a similar origin.
Conclusion
Regardless
of which of the two approaches you might follow in your own work or
play, there is no denying the unique power that Yuri has to inspire
the presentation of often unexplored ideas and emotions in relatable
fashions. Be it through the bright colours, pseudo religious
imaginary and idealism of Japanese Yuri or the grounded, alive and
real issue orientated Western Yuri, there is no limit to the sheer
variety of expressive tools on offer for budding developers. Each one
offers some angle on love that a more traditional romance experience
would shy away from but which Yuri makes front and centre for all to
see. The strange mixture of longing, desire, hopes, acceptance and
realisation which make the space such a sight to behold continue to
attract more people into the genre. Perhaps something here tickled
your creative juices and you want to explore this space more and
doing so would definitely be worth your time as the diversity on
display is not something any one article can possibly capture.
Sunrider 4: The Captain’s Return Review – A Glorious Return?
Genre – Sci-fi, Action, Mecha Play Time - 22 hours Developer – Love In Space Steam
Return From Exile
A
fall from grace changes a man and exile from all he has ever known
can break him. Such is the state of Kayto Shields as the curtain
rises on the fourth game in the Sunrider series. This is the tale of
how he pulls himself up from the pit he has fallen into, but this
journey will be far same smooth sailing. Love In Space are back again
with another space adventure through the brilliant Sunrider universe
with a familiar crew, but now on the back foot as both enemies and
former allies see them as a threat. The game also features a complete
rework of the combat systems and leans into creating more realistic
feeling battles with tactical depth. But how does the whole
package fit together and is it the worthy sequel we have waited five
years for? Let’s jump into our ryders and travel to the edges of
the universe and find out.
The War is Over – Narrative and Themes
To
be in exile is to be left behind by the world and on your return you
may find that the world no longer wants you. It is this feeling which
Sunrider 4 focuses its plot and themes around to great effect and
manages to balance the needs of a sequel with its own unique
identity. It builds on Liberation Day in all the right ways, picking
up the plot points left by that game and running with them inside its
own narrative. The choice to put the heroes on the back foot also
factors strongly into the effectiveness of the core events of the
game and they work together to communicate the journey of the crew.
Of course it is not perfect and the game’s relationship with the
additions to Liberation Day is an uncomfortable one at best.
 |
| How far the great have fallen |
A
sequel should build on what came before in its own distinctive manner
and this is no easy task, especially so when that game in the fourth in a series. The way in which Captain’s Return chooses to
tackle this problem is by taking the points which defined the
previous games and asking what they really meant and what people beyond
the crew thought of them. This extends from both the obvious fallout
from the Liberation Day massacre to smaller relationships between the
crew and works to create an overall sense of both progression and
returning to a familiar place. It takes the ending point and runs
with it, drawing many ideas presented in that game to their logical
conclusion within the tone and context of Captain’s Return, be this
reinventing familiar mechas in new forms or haunting the characters
with past traumas. Relying on this pre-existing backbone means the
game does not have to worry about explaining every little detail
again to the player and can focus on the heavy lifting of expanding
the already rich universe in new and exciting ways. These all combine
to make Captain’s Return a benchmark most sequels can only dream of
reaching.
Placing
the crew on the back foot was one of the smartest choices made in
Sunrider 4’s development. This inverts their role from heroic
liberators who could influence the outcome of events into a
broken and hunted group who must desperately gather together their
scattered teammates. Alongside the change in circumstance is a change
in tone, no longer is this the simple happy go lucky space adventure
where the captain will save the day, now he has to face the
consequences of his choices and some of them will haunt him in ways
he least expects. What this results in is a feeling of
oppressiveness that is subtly in the back of every choice the
characters make and gives each scene a type of tension not utilised
before in the series. It also provides a convenient reason why you
have to rebuild your upgrades and resources from the ground up since
nobody trusts you any more. Coupled with the new mecha designs and
even the familiar build up of mechanical power has a new freshness to
it given how much more is at stake this time around and how failure
would mean the ruin of what little they have left. Seeing the
characters overcome these seemingly insurmountable odds is one of the
main appeals of the game and being able to experience this underdog
perspective elevates the already strong space adventure storytelling
of the Sunrider series.
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| Getting the gang back together will be no easy task |
If
there is one flaw in this otherwise excellent narrative it is the
uncomfortable relationship it has with the additions made to
Liberation Day after its release. These changes expanded on some key
points of that game’s plot and by extension the plot of Captain’s
Return. However, the reality is that Captain’s Return picks and
chooses which parts of those modifications it considers cannon and
this leads to many moments where the player will experience a sense
of whiplash as what they have experienced in the previous game is
ignored by the new one. These points vary from minor details from the
side story to major events and set up from the main game’s ending.
It is clear that Love In Space were not entirely happy with the
choices they made in the rushed additions to Liberation Day and
wanted to trim back things that did not fit into their vision for the
future of the Sunrider series. This does not change how this choice
can take the player out of the experience which counter to how much
effort the game put in to making you feel as if you are a part of
this world.
A Captain Is Only As Good As His Crew – Characters
Sunrider’s
cast has always been one its biggest strength and means of getting
the player invested in the plot. Captain’s Return does a good job
of developing the characters and focusing the new additions to
help create a lively universe with people who exist beyond the main
conflict of the series. However, there is a glaring issue staring you
in the face for much of the play time and this is the inconsistent
characterisation of some key characters.
 |
| The crew continue to be the biggest selling point of the series |
Captain’s
Return could have relied on the affection the player base
already has for the cast and cruised through the narrative
without emphasising the characters too much. Instead of resting of
their laurels Love In Space made sure to give every member of the
main cast some sort of arc both big and small. Sola and Kryska being
the crewmates who get by far the most exploration of their
personalities as both are faced with very different events which
shake what they once held as fundamental truths. There is also
notable elements of discord between the crew and Shields who's
actions create a disconnect between them and him in a subtle way
which never oversteps its bounds but instead highlights Shields’
increasing desperation. This compliments the generally darker tone of
the plot by providing a dose of much needed reality to the more
idealistic characters and pushing them to the extremes of their
beliefs. Shields as the protagonist embodies this push into an
examination of the true motives for each person’s actions as he
starts at the edge of what he can mentally take and is then pushed
far passed breaking point. What results is a fascinating presentation
of the kind of mind set that lead him down his path to ruin and
having him face and accept this truth sets his character up to be
ready for the challenges of future games.
Most
of the new characters added by Sunrider 4 serve the purpose of
expanding the world building and help provide a more balanced
perspective of this universe. Previously the player’s view of the
Sunrider universe was limited to the areas directly involved in the
conflict which gave a very narrow perspective. To rectify this issue
Captain’s Return makes all the new characters serve the role of
fleshing out this setting. Since the player is no longer limited to
the area of conflict for the war, the narrative can take them to
places and people who could not have otherwise been interacted with.
Pre’ator Qisah is a good example of this technique as she serves as
the player’s main point of interaction with her culture. She is a
part of a people who live at the edge of Alliance territory and had
their resources bled dry by them, now they are just a backwater
nobody cares about. Despite this the player gets a sense of how proud
this people are through the actions and words of Qisah who fervently
acts on to defend her people with the will of someone that truly
believes in their cause. There are countless examples of this
communication of place through characters and it helps make Captain’s
Return the powerhouse in the series it is.
 |
| Enemies are now allies and allies are now enemies |
Now
we come to the issue with Sunrider 4’s characters and this is the
fact that some have inconsistent characterisation. This is caused by
the constant need to have them perform actions that are either out
of character or seem illogical given the situation so the plot can
move forward in the desired way. In particular this is most obvious
with Claude. Claude is a character that Love In Space are clearly
having a problem deciding what they want to do with her due to her
role as an element who could resolve so many of the universe’s
issues if she decided to act. To try and avoid this they made her a
character who acts on her whims but this then runs into the problem
how to manage this aspect when you need her for an important plot
point. This contradiction between her apparent nature and the demands
of the plot creates a strong sense that the narrative is being made
up as the developers go along and this does harm to the general
immersion of the player. While Claude is by far the most noticeable
example of this problem, there are many smaller instances of other
characters suffering from similar issues.
Space, Mecha and Soul Searching – Visual, Audio and Gameplay
Love
In Space have upped their presentation and gameplay with every new
game and this is especially true for Captain’s Return as the gap
between Sunrider games makes their vast improvement even more
obvious. A distinctive visual and audio identity has always been a
critical part of the Sunrider games and this fourth instalment does
not disappoint. The overhauled gameplay mechanics help inject new
life into a system which had reached its limit. Despite these
positives there are a few areas where the gameplay stumbles and
brings down the experience.
 |
| There are some strong designs on shown through the game |
Sci-fi
has a set of expected design elements when comes to visuals and
audio, especially for a game set in a far future. While these are
adhered to by the Sunrider series, it has always strived to inject
its own flare into proceedings. Perhaps the best demonstration of
this is with the mecha designs. On a base level they adhere to the
expectations of a mecha, they are humanoid and adhere to the
mechanical aesthetic of the setting. However, in practice the strong
use of angles and sharp points gives these machines a strangely
otherworldly quality with them appearing to almost be an exaggeration
of their pilot’s personalities, which is helped by their smart use
of colours to make them stand out from one another. It also goes a
long way to help sell these mechas as part of the greater setting and
when an ancient or special rider appears their designs lean even more
into these design choices. This ensures a consistent presentation
without losing what makes the regular mechas special. The rest of the
visuals and audio follows a similar trend and together allow
Captain’s Return to stand out from among its peers with an identity
that many game can only dream of.
The
change in the foundational gameplay made by Sunrider 4 is exactly what the
series needed. The system which had been in use for the three
previous games was already at its limits and Liberation Day clearly
felt like the end of the complexity the developers could
realistically add to it without the whole thing collapsing. So this
reimagination of the old system was definitely needed and the results
speak for themselves. More free-form movement mechanics are the new
core of the gameplay and involve a conservation of momentum over the
course of several turns. No long is movement a static consideration,
instead the player must think ahead about where they want to end up
and plan for the future accordingly with it becoming increasingly
hard to correct course the faster you go. On the other hand it also
means you do not have to dedicated valuable turns to movement and can
instead focus on attacking the enemy units. What Love In Space has
created here is a uniquely dynamic series of interactions which
demand the player consider an array of important actions each turn
and keeps them constantly engaged.
 |
| If only it the game could maintain the interest captured in the early game |
It
is a shame then that this excellent system somewhat goes to waste due to the the other elements of gameplay, most notably the lack of
mission variety, long enemy turns in the late game and basic AI.
There is some attempt to spice up the mission variety throughout the
game with a few mission types, but they can all be boiled down to two
type, kill all enemies or move to a place. Within these two types
there are some changes made to the standard formula, such as using the
move type missions as a form of puzzle, but they ultimately do not
stray too far form the base formula leaving them to feeling lacking
and repetitive, especially as the game goes on. Compounding this
problem is the long enemy turns which are a feature of the late game
due to the enemy having a lot of units and each one having to perform
their actions as well as move. This causes the pacing of turns to be
reduced to a crawl as you can spend up to two minutes waiting for the
enemy to finish a turn that only took you maybe thirty seconds due to
your lower unit count. As you can imagine this kills the pacing of
battles and makes them feel like a slog. The final nail in the coffin
is that the AI is not even doing anything interesting during their
turn since their patterns are incredibly basic. Broadly speaking they
will do one of two things, move into point blank range to shoot at you
or fire all their missiles at once. This predictability makes them
easy to counter when you realise these are the only tricks in their
book and results in the player repeating the same actions each battle
and by extension causes them to tune out of the actual events of the
battles.
Verdict –
There are few series which continue to impressive so consistently
in each new entry with their narrative, characters and gameplay in
the way the Sunrider series manages to.
Pros
+
A wonderfully crafted space adventure which builds perfectly on the
ending to Liberation Day.
+
The cast of Sunrider has always been its biggest strength and they
are just a likeable and human as before.
+
Putting the heroes on the back foot allows for characters to show
their less desirable aspects and be forced to confront them.
+
Achieve a more lived in feeling universe through a nuanced look at
how the politics and people have shaped the world the player
witnesses.
+
The new gameplay mechanics are a strong basis from which future games
can build.
+
Love In Space continue to up their visual and audio presentation with
each game and Captain’s Return is no exception.
Cons
-
Implementation of the gameplay is weakened by samey missions, long enemy turns and one
note AI.
-
Some character directions stretch believability and seem confused,
particularity related to Claude.
-
Has a very uncomfortable relationship with the additions made to the
original Liberation Day.
