Kunado Chronicles Review – A Beautiful Post-Apocalypse With A Side Of Mechanic Menace

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Genre – Action, Post-Apocalypse, Supernatural Play Time – 35 hours Developer – Purple Software Steam VNDB

Beneath the Sakura

Once the apocalypse is over and all the damage is done will the world be a peaceful place? And what of those who come after, how will they adapt? These are the questions Kunado Chronicles opens with and it uses them as the foundations upon which to build its themes and characters. As with many of Purple Software’s other titles this is a game about the inner struggles of its characters and spends much of its play time focused on them. However, unlike its predecessors it knows how to leverage this emotional power for a greater narrative purpose. The main route knows what it wants to achieve and fixates on a small set of ideas which it lets permeate the entire experience. Can it shake off Purple Software’s bad habits and allow these flickers of brilliance to shine through? Let’s wander into a world reversed and find out.

What Is Old Is New – Narrative And Themes

A world after the storm might be the backbone of the opening, but this is a game which quickly shakes off this starting point and expands in its own unique direction. Through a strong and constant thematic presence, the narrative can worm itself into your head and, alongside the questioning of the modern world it offers through contrast, what is told is a compelling and well directed visual novel. The one exception to this quality is the tonal inconsistencies which litter the entire duration and in particular the pervasive horniness that exists in many scenes.

A world where the idea of a teacher is alien is a strange experience

The biggest strength of Kunado Chronicles’ narrative is its ability to maintain a constant theming throughout its length and changing focal heroine. This provides a concrete identity to the game and makes sure the player know exactly what the game is try to communicate and avoid the potential for confusion. Individual identity and how is plays into a desire to belong and community is the main theme which is applied to most aspects of the story. This manifests in a variety of ways from visuals, in the form of the fox masks the residents wear, to the character arcs of the heroines as they work through their troubles, to the ever present Tekki threat and their lack of individual thought. Its all encompassing nature lends the setting and characters a consistency since the concerns of the narrative appear reflected in the struggles of the people and nemesis they fight against. This is prevented from becoming too contrived by presenting it serenely from the characters own mouths while also allowing a degree of levity in their non-thematic conversations, which this makes them come across of varied and not hyper fixated around a single point. As for the non-human factors, the game ensures they never outstay their welcome and instead mostly exist as abstract ideas for the character to engage with in the context of an ever present threat or a societal issue that needs addressing. Together these parts form a strong whole that richly drip feeds its content in a digestible and thought provoking manner.

Bring up ideas and institutions taken for granted in the modern world and having the protagonist attempt to fit them into the vastly alien culture he finds himself in allows the game to shine a light on their value or lack thereof. Topics discussed among the cast have wide breath such as how to justify marriage in a world where everyone has distanced themselves from one another due to the likelihood of sudden death and how to introduce money to a society without any concept of currency. Both the positives and negatives are talked about and the values of the modern world are never forced on this new humanity with the strength that has allowed them to survive seen as something equally admirable. Each time the characters start to think on these issues the game adds a level of context and understanding that not all problems can be solved in a simple and direct manner which fits alongside the core theming nicely. These debates act as important palette cleansers to break up the superpowered action and moments of dramatic tension by providing a much needed pause for contemplation about what the characters are fighting to create. This works wonders in preventing the narrative from becoming too fantastical and detached from the setting which is its foundation. Obviously these extended talks will not to be everyone’s tastes, especially those who where simply expecting an action game with a focus on emotion over thought, but what they ultimately add to the experience cannot be overstated. Just keep this point in mind when you consider picking this game up.

Opening the game upside down is one way to make a first impression

Knowing when and where to make jokes and insert other non-core elements is something Kunado Chronicles does not understand and this results in an uneven feeling in the moment to moment content. Being excessively horny is the largest example of this issue. Having some horniness is to be expected in an eroge, but this game does not know when to stop and it pervades the entire game, even in otherwise serious moments. We are talking about panty shots in life or death battle and a constant stream of the protagonist’s inner thoughts about the female cast’s bodies, when he really should be focusing on the major character moments taking place. As you might notice the issue here is how poorly the horny elements match up against a narrative that otherwise want you to take it seriously and engage in its thought experiments, which is hard to do if it keeps providing tonally clashing side elements in an almost constant stream. This almost feels like a left over from their earlier more simplistic visual novels where it would have been more in line with the slice of life genre and the developers simply let it slip in since they are so accustomed to writing like this, not realising the effect it has on the player’s experience.

Of Machine and Man – Characters

All these interesting narrative elements would be nothing without a strong cast to hold the player’s attention and Kunado Chronicles delivers on this front with the usual Purple Software style. Distinctive relationship dynamics between the protagonist and the heroines help sell them and, backed up by supporting characters who work to link the elements of world building, they tie together the package to create a bond between the narrative and the player. Not everything is up to this standard of quality as some characters struggle to justify their existence and this can lead to an unnecessary sense of confusion.

This happens a lot

Character bonds are key to making the player care about these individual and cheer for the characters to overcome the trials put before them. Our protagonist, Shin, has a good spread of relationships with the main heroines of the narrative with Yuuri’s serious and no nonsense approach, Haruhime’s gentle camaraderie and Akane and Aoi treating him like a new squeaky toy. Each one brings something different out in Shin reflecting an aspect of the setting they connect to and this is on top of it just being fun to see them interacting with him. This above all else keeps the narrative from becoming a dry series of abstract ideas and debates as the main heroine's bonds inject life into every conversation and their banter or heart-warming emotions bring home the reality of the world they live in. During the main route these relationships are sequentially addressed and given appropriate space to breath while acting to balance the overall pacing of the game through the highs and lows it offers keeping players on their toes. However, when dealing with the side routes for the heroines the quality of these bonds remains but without the focus of the central narrative they tend to meander and repeat the character arc concluded by the main route.

Behind the main cast are the supporting cast who act as the backbone not only for key moments but also for the world building. Characters such as Some fill the gaps provided by the heroines need to focus on the romantic and thematic element required by their role within the narrative and in doing so these background characters take on a whole distinct flavour not available to the main cast. Some, for example, is a tailor in Kanto and she shares Shin’s love for the cute female clothing designs giving them pair a common ground on which to bond. Alongside this Some is pregnant for most of the game and acts as a window into the realities of relationships within the new world and their utilitarian nature. Rather than being told in the abstract, the player is shown over the course of the game what this way of living looks like, why it came into being and how engrained it is in the people of Kanto. Combine these elements and you get a character who is both relatable while acting as a window into the workings of the world and this is the pattern reflected in all the secondary cast to one degree or another. They give much need humanity to Kanto which might have been stripped away from it with its focus on preventing unnecessary relationships with things like the fox masks.

Some is a wonderful contrast to the heroines

Despite how strong the cast is, there are a few characters who stand out as pointless and struggle to justify the space in they take up in the game. One such character is Fuyuhito who is a regular feature of the story since he is one of the Swords, the superpowered warriors who defend Kanto, but he never adds anything to the scenes he is involved in and even when his own conflict does come up it is resolved almost immediately while adding nothing to the narrative. This strange unwillingness to commit to or utilise these characters in any meaningful way makes them feel like black holes of personality and it is difficult to care about given their almost flat nature. This is not a deal breaker for the game but it is distracting when one of these characters is on screen as they stand out against the rest of the well rounded and endearing cast.

Returning To Nature – Visual, Audio And Technical

Presentation is an odd aspect to discuss with Kunado Chronicles since it is once beautiful and incredibly stilted. The visuals and audio invoke a distinctive vision for this new world, but in motion they are almost entirely static and lack the life needed to sell the scenes. This contradiction haunts the game throughout its entire length and harms the impact of important narrative moments.

The Tekki are both antagonist and opposite to the main cast

There is no denying the strong vision Kunado Chronicles has for its aesthetics and audio. Ever inch exudes a traditional Japanese presentation from character clothing to the buildings to the music and each one presents a culture which has returned to its roots out of necessity while still retaining it identity. Yet it not a complete invoking of the past as some elements are subtly off and show Kanto to be the future with items and ideas that would be anachronistic in a past setting but here help sell Kanto as its own beast. Immersing yourself in this unique blend is a joy in of itself and when it is broken up by the mechanical Tekki their power and alien nature is made all the clearer contrasted against the more natural wooden Kanto. It is through this ability to play with the aesthetics to create emotional states in the player and then suddenly swap it out for something entirely different that gives the game its ability hold the player's attention.

The chibi art is incredibly cute

It is a shame then that the brilliant and cohesive presentation is undermined when put into motion during the game. It is almost entirely static with only a few portrait movements, through the transition from one expression to another, and overall comes across as lifeless. This is most noticeable in actions scenes where the game is trying to sell the chaos and violence of battle to create tension, but what is shown to the player is a series of static CGs which can be on screen from minutes at a time just passively staring at the player. As you can imagine the result are some extremely dry sequences and they are perhaps some of the weakest in visual novels given the budget on display in all other aspects. In moments of down time or during discussions this static nature is less of an issue since nothing of visual importance is happening there and it is possible to forget this issue exists.