Archive for November 2023
Best Visual Novel Releases – November 2023
With
winter at our doorstep and the end of the year coming into view, now
is the time many start to wind down and prepare for Christmas. Visual
novels are undergoing a similar quiet spell this month with a
noticeably smaller pool becoming available. However, there have still
been a few gems hidden in the November rain that are more than worth
your time. These include games about theatre, a world where people
come back to life with grave consequences and mechas fighting off an
alien invasion. Short titles are in style this month, perfect for you
to fit into your tight schedules. Let’s dive in a find out what
releases are worth your time this month.
Official Release
Virche Evermore: ErroR:salvation
Nintendo Eshop VNDB Genre
– Sci-fi, Dark Fantasy, Mystery Play Time – 60 hours
In
a small European country, all its inhabitants are doom to die when
they hit their twenty-third year and in order to circumvent this fate
they undergo a process of Memory Download where their memories are
transferred into a new body to avoid hitting that cursed age. This is
an already intriguing setup before the game even introduces our
protagonist Ceres, her apparent bewitchment by death and the man who
swoops in to save her calling himself the sentinel of death. Each
element of Virche Evermore is designed to layer on mystery and it
does an excellent job of getting you hooked on that addictive high so
it can tease the answers out over its play time. The overall setting
is a delicious mixture of dark fantasy, through ideas of curses and
death, and sci-fi, through the cloning and memory transfers, and what
results in a textured sense of place and time for the player to get
immersed in. This might well end up being one of the best Otome’s
of the year and is definitely worth your time even if you are not
normally a fan of the genre.
Hira Hira Hihiru
Here
we have another visual novel dealing with the subject of death, but
this time through the lens of people coming back from the dead.
However, rather than something to be celebrated it is instead a
horrible mess as the revived person has reduced mental functions and
slowly rots away. Set in the Taishou Era, the game uses its historial
setting to focus around the birth of modern medical thought and how
it would grapple with this strange phenomenon. Mixing this flavour
into the narrative helps lend it a distinctive period feel in a way
not often covered in stories since medical practice is not considered
to be the most exciting historial field, but here there is an
understanding of the ideas which would go on to form the
profession we see today.
Uncovering the true nature of these revived individuals provides the
game’s stakes and motives which are echoed in how it touches the
character’s lives in profound ways. For
those seeking something different from their visual novels, this is
very much for you and it leans into its identity in a way many will
enjoy.
The Imperial Capital Burns - Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse
At
this point there is a conclusive sense that Muv-Luv is spinning its
wheels without any purpose in mind for the series. There is no better
sign than when we get a prequel to a prequel. Was this a tale in this
universe that needed to be told, probably not, but here it is anyway
for you to consume. The Imperial Capital Burns, ladies and gentlemen,
yet another Alternative game and as much as it would be easy to
dismiss it entirely, the end result is still a respectable game which
continues to leverage the franchise’s character conflicts and
interesting world to good effect. It follows the early life of
Takamura Yui, a major character from Total Eclipse, and the BETA’s
initial arrival in Japan in order to fill out a blank in the
timeline. Since this was such a turbulent time for those who lived
through it there is a good well of interacts for the game to build
on, helped by the relative inexperience of the main cast. Despite
feeling like it is a series on the decline, there is a good dose of
entertainment to be found here for those already invested in Muv-Luv
and want more of this setting and characters.
Fan Translation
Lupercalia of the Silent Accord
Patch Download VNDB Genre
– Drama, Theatre Play Time – 25 hours
Making
theatre the core idea around which your thematic element and
character arcs rotate is an interesting and often double layered
approach since the blending of fiction and reality plays into both
the narrative and the player’s experience of it. Lupercalia know
how to utilise this to great effect with its student theatre club
cast of friends who find there inner conflicts reflected in the
activity they love. It is also not afraid of tackling darker subjects
such a death and suicide and does so with a deft touch that
integrates these ideas into the routes in a way befitting the
seriousness of their nature. In combination these elements create a
memorable ride through the cast’s emotions and helps build a strong
connection between them and the player as the revelations come thick
and fast. A visual novel to consider if you are looking for something
extremely focused of invoking feelings in the player while using all
the varied tools at its disposal.
Azrael on the Boundary of Life and Death
Patch Download VNDB Genre
– Drama, Horror Play Time – 7 hours
Interesting
and unique visual novels often stem from the amateur and indie scene since
they are not bound by the creative expectations of a pre-existing
audience. Such is the case with Azrael which follows the life of
Rihito Souda as he starts his new job, adjusts to this new
environment and meets the love of his life. Of course something has
to go wrong for him or this would not be much of a story and the
threat takes the form of recurring nightmares which start innocently
enough but soon come to consume his waking hours as well. It leans
into a light horror element in order to sell its more emotive themes
and ideas and blends this in without excluding those who may
not have the stomach for it. Overall this is a short and well
constructed game whose only major flaw is the clear financial
limitations of the title resulting in a mixed visual quality, but it
is still definitely worth your time if you can look beyond this
issue.
Mini Games – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels
Small But Mighty
When
it comes to additional styles of gameplay within visual novels, they
do not need to be as grand or demanding as a JRPG or SRPG component
and the smallest of gameplay cycles can have a far greater effect in
the right situation. Enter the Mini-Game, short and simple mechanical
simulants that aim to prove value in being concise. Including
these lends a form of texture to events and character actions
without committing to a more extensive gameplay suite which might
impact the player’s direct engagement with the narrative. The
manifestations of the mini-game come in several forms from entirely
distinct side activities to representing conflict in a more directly to
creating empathy with the characters. Each one offers a distinct set
of challenges for a visual novel to overcome in order to justify
their inclusion without harming pacing or immersion since by their
nature mini-games are very abstract. Let’s engage in bite
sized gameplay and dive into what mini-games can offer.
Detached Side Activities
By
far the most common way of including mini-games in a visual novel is
to make them detached side activities. This means they are either
exist in a separate space to the narrative, often only accessible
through the extras menu, or they are within the main game as entirely
optional events. Those which exist separately tend to be used by
fandisc style games where the content is likely already a buffet of
often detached narratives designed to offer the player small dishes
of excitement. Mini-games seamlessly slot into this colourful
collection since they provide the same bite sized experiences the
game is based around, but in a slightly different form in order to
keep up the sense of novelty fandiscs rely upon to differentiate
themselves from the original title. Take for example Fate Hollow
Ataraxia and its Illya Castle mini-game. This side content is
sectioned from the main narrative as is much of the unlockable
elements and it contains a distinctive and humourous small story about the
servants fighting against Illya. Its light tone is in line with the
rest of the optional elements and acts as a suitable reward for
engagement as well as embodying the celebration of Fate Stay Night’s
success.
 |
| Umm... I don't think you are allowed cats on the pitch... |
As for the visual
novels which contain mini-games as optional content within their main
narratives, these lean on their mini-games as a type of pacing
mechanism in order to prevent the player from getting bored or
rushing through the story too quickly, but in a way that does not
take away the player’s agency. This means that a player who does
not like the mini-game in question can simply skip over it without it
negatively impacting their experience while still allowing for those
who do resonate with it to control their playtime in the mini-game.
Perhaps the developer who is in love with this type of mini-game the
most is Key with Little Busters and Summer Pockets being excellent
embodiments of this core design idea. These have a baseball and table
tennis mini-game respectively and share the common element of being completely
skippable, but still in-depth enough to hold the attention of the
player in a way that ties into the narrative space. Each time the
mini-game is played these visual novels can provide a release from
the drama and a means of player enforced sidetracking to give
a needed sense of freedom.
Metaphor For Conflict
Another
common reason to include mini-games is to use them as a stand in for
internal or external strife. Sometimes a visual novel might want a
specific moment or repeated action to stick out in the player’s
mind and it does not want to entirely rely on its native narrative
presentation so it instead opts for a mini-game that acts as layer of
metaphor on top. These are often abstractions of the activity being
engaged in and represents the mental space of the characters occupy.
Making these events stand out also gives the player an insight into
how the characters perceive the world which better allows the player to fill their shoes and feel for their journey. In a broader context it
reinforces the tone of the game by presenting it in a more kinetic
fashion than might otherwise be expected from the medium and lending
a texture to the title it would otherwise lack.
 |
| Danganronpa always keeps surprising the player |
Danganronpa has
numerous mini-games throughout its trial sections and these vary from
rhythm games to word puzzles. Each is a stand in for a part of the
deduction process which will lead to the protagonist unmasking the
murderer. By giving the player these direct avenues to the
character’s thoughts the game can ensure a roller-coaster of
emotions as the player is dragged along for the ride through how the
mini-games tie into the escalating narrative stakes of the trials.
Focusing on a single repeated mini-game can lead to a more cohesive
experience as The Murder Of Sonic The Hedgehog exemplifies. Its Sonic
bonus stage style mini-game is brought in as a metaphor for the
protagonist overcoming a metal block and uncovering the truth. This
is slowly escalated over the course of the title until the finale
utilises it in a new and exiting manner. The sense of continuity this
repetition provides cannot be overstated and lends a much needed
texture to the short game which might otherwise lack it due to its
length and subject matter.
In The Character’s Shoes
There
are visual novels where detached and abstract mini-games would ruin their
grounded and intimate nature. For this situation the mini-game can
take on a more direct approach by systematising basic or mundane
actions to give the characters a sense of physically believability.
This can be anything from flicking switches to putting a key into a
lock, things we do everyday and do not think about. What this does is
create a tactile link between the characters on screen and our own
lives in order to play off this bridge so a player might be able to
empathise with them through their shared reality. It is easy to
underestimate just how much these little touches do to liven up the
game in the moment and provide breathing room even if it is in a much
smaller way to the other types of mini-games.
 |
| Just having a few drinks can build a good bond |
The DS era of visual
novels is where this type of mini-game really came into its own due
to the console’s touchscreen allowing for more kinetic
interactions with the game. To see this in action we can look to Last
Window: The Secret of Cape West which often asks the player to engage
in everyday or basic activity mini-games in order to process. These
are cleverly used to put the player into the grounded shoes of our investigator
protagonist through mixing in simple detective work among these
everyday actions to create an understanding of the skills that they
are utilising. The title also knows that overusing these small
moments can lead to a reduction in their effectiveness and so tends
to use them in short burst where they would have the most impact.
Beyond the ability of these mini-games to create a link between
player and game is the way in which they slot nicely alongside other
gameplay styles. VA-11 HALL-A is a good showcase of this quality
since its main bartending loop is accompanied by a few of these
grounded mini-games such a cracking some beers with the boss. Having
these simple diversions has the effect of permeating the character
downtime with a sense of gameplay continuity while not demanding the player
learn another set of complex systems.
Conclusion
No
part of a visual novel is without value and mini-games show us just
how powerful that sentiment can be when used to support greater tonal
and thematic elements. Through being detached from the central game
they can offer a useful and player enforced pacing mechanism or
provide a novelty in order to keep the player engaged. When merged
into the central narrative they allow for the expression of conflict
in a more direct but still abstract manner to help the player feel
what is going on in a kinetic way. They also give the player a way of
experiencing the more banal aspects of the character’s lives and
building a connection to them through how this echoes their own day to
day activities. Of all the styles of secondary gameplay within visual
novels, the mini-game is perhaps the least invasive and easiest to
implement to great effectiveness and it is definitely worth
considering when developing your own titles.
Space Sci-fi – Genre Deep Dive
Breaking Through The Firmament
When
looking up at the stars how can one not be filled with a sense of
wonder? Since humans first stood upright we have told stories about
what lies in the expanse above our heads. In the past this would have
been the realm of gods and mythical creatures, but, now that people
can reach it, the tales have shifted into the subject of
today’s article, space sci-fi. These are narratives focus
around futuristic societies with technology beyond are own who are
capable of travelling easily from their planet to the void beyond. This can
be anywhere from a more ground depiction of having these people only
able to travel into orbit around their own planet to full blown
faster than light travel across the galaxy. For visual novels this is
not a particularly popular setting compared to the likes of the
present day or high fantasy, but what there is has a unique flare to
it that no other medium is quite capable of capturing. It is in
visual novel’s tendency towards intimacy and introspection that we
can find what makes these space sci-fi games such powerful
experiences. Let’s count down to lift off and see how visual novels
have adapted this imaginative space.
Just Above Our Heads
Choosing
to embrace space sci-fi within a setting relatively technologically
similar to our own, but just slightly further along provides some unique
opportunities to engage with our present while still holding onto the
captivating allure of the far future. By having a grounding in concepts
familiar to the player, there is less of a need to constantly explain
ideas than there would be in a setting in the more distant future and
it can avoid a lot of bloat often caused through exposition. On top
of this it can rely on our empathy for the known to build a
connection between player and characters or strengthen the identity
of the game and this is especially true if the story spends some of
its time planetside surrounded by icons and imagery close to the
present day. Visual novel’s intimacy also allows this familiarity
to extend to the cultural conventions inherent in our present world
and use this to compare and contrast with the forms of space travel avavilable for narrative purposes.
 |
| Policenauts is an odd game in so many ways |
Policenauts showcases
this balance through mixing astronauts with police detectives and
taking the crime drama into space. The technology in the game is only
slightly better than our own but it uses it to highlight specific
aspects of human nature and it takes on the duel role of representing
human ambitions as well as their darker aspects that cannot be
shaken off even the face of progress. It also splits its time
between the space and earth sections just as its characters do and
treads that line between them to create a believable setting which
plays up both halves to make the cast face truths about themselves
and reflect these back onto our own world. On the other end of this
side of the space sci-fi we have Soul Link. While this one is
definity closer to the more futuristic type of game, it has a relatively grounded
portrayal of the dangers of space and the
focus is around being trapped on a single spacestation. This visual novel reminds the
player that space is not all fun and games and being inside a
spaceship or station is a form of being trapped since there is no
easy way to get off and if something goes wrong it could spell your
death. Soul Link also uses its terrorists to provide a more direct
source of danger and remind the player of similar groups of people
who exist in the real world in order to make them consider the
motives of the characters involved through their own experiences.
Where No Man Has Gone Before
If the game is already set in space, it might as well go the whole way
and be set in a far future with faster than light spaceship and other
advanced technology. This is the attitude many developers take and
has resulted in this being the most common type of space sci-fi.
There are many good reasons for choosing this approach, chief among
them is how to fulfils the exploration and discovery fantasy born out
of the space race by presenting the player with mysterious and
wondrous new worlds. What a player uncovers does not need to be
exclusively exotic planets for there can be strange cultures or just
humans who are both friends and foes. The beauty of the unknown is
that anything is possible and it also creates much needed tension
within the narrative. Placed alongside a compelling cast of humans
and the not so human and the result is often a roller-coaster ride as
the characters and the player both come to terms with the
emotions and trials this journey to the stars brings. Even the large
amount of exposition this type of space sci-fi often bring is wielded
as another avenue to explore and slowly come to understand what makes
this universe tick.
 |
| A sense of wonder is important for space sci-fi |
For example take ALPHA-NIGHTHAWK which is a
visual novel that fully takes advantage of out
the concepts in space sci-fi to crank things up to the absurd. Here
the player will find strange spaceships, flashy mecha and people with
animal ears or full animal bodies. These choices lead to a world of
surprises to keep the player entertained and it gives the game that
sense of stepping into the unknown. In the Sunrider games we can see
a more standard use of space sci-fi in the form of the starship
captain fantasy. Rather than a simply being wondrous, space for
Sunrider is a land of adventure where the brave step forward to prove
themselves. Hence why these game focus around fighting and exploring
the ruins of a once powerful ancient civilisation. This allows the
games to leverage the space sci-fi tendency towards grand universe
spanning concepts in a more human form as a lot of the mysteries
involve the various people within the setting.
Explore Ourselves In Spaces Unknown
No
matter the nature of space sci-fi visual novels, the spirit of exploring
something unknown is always present within their narratives. This
extends beyond the obvious exploration of the strange endless void of
space and into ideas that examine the inner thoughts and
motivations of its characters. In a place as alien as space what does
it mean to be human? Its isolated nature allows visual novels to do
what they do best and emphasise the connections between people on an
intimate level by using it to create an intensity to the emotions of
its cast as they struggle through the their problems without external
help. There is an interesting design space opened by this interaction
in the form of taking a society or ideal and pushing it to its
extreme to examine what makes it tick as well as its flaws. Hate Plus
shows us what focusing in on this idea can achieve as we get to see
the fall of a vibrate culture in its isolated colony craft. There is
no escape for the characters and they are confronted with the reality
of what is happening which is made all the more personal to the
player through how it effects Mute, their AI companion. Despite being
only a series of text logs, its familiar ideas can be cleanly
examined due to the distance provided by the space sci-fi setting
since it can provide a contained area which is not a direct
reflection of our own world in order to keep as much player bias out
of the consideration as possible.
 |
| Text logs have never been so compelling |
Conclusion
Beyond
our blue sky is an endless black void perfect for all kinds of
imaginative stories and visual novels know just how to take advantage
of this space. It can deal with relatively low sci-fi settings where
technology is only slightly better than our own in order to explore
relevant issues in the modern world or to build an immediate
connection to a place the player is familiar with. The opposite
extreme of a high sci-fi setting and its almost fantastical
spaceships provides a sense of wonder and exploration both of the
universe but also the characters themselves. What visual novels bring
to space sci-fi is their unique intimacy and capability to deal with
complicated issues in a human manner without losing the distance from
the real world provided by the genre. The resulting balance is an
engaging take on one of the most imaginative spaces available for
video games and it still has room to grow while delivering new
masterful titles.
Steins Gate 0 Review – In The Shadow Of A Giant
Genre – Sci-fi, Thriller, Action Play Time – 30 hours Developer – Mages VNDB Steam
A Future That Could Not Be Saved
Struggling
long and hard against fate only to find out you are the person who
killed the one you love is enough to break a man and break Okabe
Rintarou it did. Now he drifts through life in a world he knows is
doomed to a hellish end. However, fate is not done with Okabe as the
ghost of the Kurisu has found him in the form of an AI named Amadeus. Such is the set up for the
game which aims to be a strange mix of sequel and bridging story that
is torn between the tale it wants to tell and the legacy of the
original Steins Gate. Taking the loosely defined dystopian future
Amane Suzuha comes from and making it the focus, gives 0 a more
direct thriller feel when compared to the original and it plays into a
simpler sense of drama and tension. Put this alongside a colourful
new cast and improved visuals and the result must live up to the
original, right? Unfortunately, as we will soon discuss the reality is
far more mixed with the game struggling to even handle its own new
ideas and characters properly. Let’s fight against the conspiracy
and find out what Steins Gate 0 has to offer.
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| Amadeus is an odd creature from a narrative point of view. |
The Worst Timeline – Narrative and Themes
Steins
Gate was a fairly complete experience with a closed ending that left
no room for a direct sequel, try as the anime movie might to change that truth. So 0’s developers had to find another angle of
approach in order to create a game which would not feel unnecessary
in the face of the original. What they decided upon was an
exploration of the poorly defined dystopian future present in the
last part of the original through the experiences of Suzuha. In many
ways this was a stroke of brilliance since it creates a sense of
suspense in the player from the knowledge they have about how doomed
this timeline really is for the characters. On top of this it allows
the narrative to be far more explicit than the original when it comes to its thriller
nature. A world spiralling towards its damnation
has far less a need for subtly and its villains can act more openly
when they feel assured of their victory. This provides a clear
contrast to the original’s much more subdued thriller elements
where the threat was implied and rarely shown in order to keep the
mystery thick. By abandoning this 0 can engage directly with its
subject matter and present a fast paced story with less of the
downtime of the original while still being able to leverage the
existing ideas and themes as a source of nostalgia or subversion. The
overall result is not quite as strong as Steins Gate, but 0 could never
have just copied it and despite this change the game still holds its
own in some elements when compared to that first title.
 |
| And the game will never let you forget that fact. |
Okabe
is at the heart of 0 in a far greater way than the original game and 0 shows an interest in picking apart exactly what makes him who he
is and why people follow him. To do this the game strips everything
from him and pushes him to breaking point. It takes the person he
loves away from him and makes him responsible for her death in order
to wipe away his delusion of being in control. The resulting shell of a man
becomes the game’s focal point and it presents him with a series of
trials which bring up the pain he is attempting to run away from.
Kurisu haunts him in the form of Amadeus and then later Kagari who
force him to examine what he believes in. We are treated to front row
seats of this internal and external drama while events spiral towards
their inevitable destination with no regards to Okabe’s feelings.
Doing this gives the game a sense of purpose and points out to the
player why the empathised with Okabe in Steins Gate and makes them
further invested in seeing his new journey to its conclusion. It is
surprising just how much more Okabe has to his own character
development even after being in his head for the entire of the
original game and this is a testament to how well thought through he is in
both titles.
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| The phone remains an important narrative device within a new context. |
In
the end, despite its best efforts, 0 can never escape the shadow cast
by Steins Gate. Throughout the entire game one question hangs over
it, why does this title exist? The part of the original game it
chooses to expand upon its not all that important in the grand scheme
of the narrative and only has a few scenes focused around it. As such
0 had to work hard to convince the audience that if offered something
necessary to Steins Gate. The game does a good job of setting itself
apart for that first tile through its more overt themes and tone, but
this is not the same as a providing the itself with greater meaning.
This becomes even more of an issue when it introduces new characters
and world elements not mentioned before and it makes no sense for
them to have not been mentioned in the original game such as that
fact Kurisu was working on AI or that she had a rival/friend named
Maho. Together they contribute to a sense of lacking direction where 0
meanders between aspects it thinks were cool about Steins Gate
without any real sense of what most of it is meant to mean.
Conspirators, AI And Old Friends – Characters
0
inherits a majority of its core cast members from the original Steins
Gate and they remain some of the strongest characters around. The
strengths of having Okabe as the protagonist and the way the game
focuses around examining his personality and motivations still shine brightly, but this
passion for the original cast extends to every last returning member.
Each is given something to do and some way to grow over the course of
the game. Suzuha has to deal with Okabe’s unwillingness to
cooperate and the sudden appearance of her future mother, Mayuri has
to deal with Okabe’s current mind set as well as her own future
adopted child and Itaru has to somehow court his future wife or else
Suzuha will never be born. As you can imagine this mixing pot of
motivations and directions leads to the game’s fun moments as well
as its most emotional ones. There is a real sense that the developers
love and care deeply about Steins Gate and wanted to do it justice
through these recurring characters. While Okabe outshines all the
rest, the overall picture painted by this cast is still a colourful
and lively one that is by far the most entertaining element of 0.
 |
| The returning cast are as great as always. |
On
the other hand, the new cast members are a very mixed group. It does
have a few characters like Maho who are well fleshed out and have
justified reasons for being part of the narrative, but the majority
are confusingly implemented or feel like you could justify writing
them out of their own stories. These fall into the two groups, the
Kurisu likes, Amadeus and Kagari, and the villain characters. For the
Kurisu likes it is clear that their initial purpose is to shake
Okabe’s resolve by reminding him of Kurisu and in this purpose they
succeed by drawing out emotions Okabe wants to keep hidden. It is
when they are forced to develop past this starting point that the issues
arise as it becomes very clear the developers did to think beyond
this beginning. The result is a selection of characters who feel
redundant and are often tossed to the side in favour of the original
cast’s struggles. Since 0 is a more direct narrative than Steins
Gate there is a need for equally present villains and 0's attempts are
somewhat lacking. Each is far too obviously evil even before they
unveil their motivations and behave in a way no sane human would in
their position and they become far too obviously fictional
characters. This is far cry from the subtly and humanity of the
antagonists of Steins Gate and this drop in quality becomes
increasingly felt as the game goes along and the conflicts become
more overt. Thankful neither of these two groups manages to outshine
the better cast members, but they are a series of baffling choices
distracting from 0’s strong core.
Striking Visions Of Catastrophe- Visual, Audio and Technical
From
an audio and visual perspective 0 is a noticeable step up in terms of
quality. Gone are many of the stiffer character portraits for the
original and these have been replaced by higher quality and seasonally
appropriate designs. Each one still embodies the core identity of the
character at a glance while giving them a look which makes it clear
that things have changed for them in the time between the original
and 0. The CGs and backgrounds have been given a similar face lift
and the improvements strike you immediately as you start the game
and continue to impress throughout the entire duration. They lean
into the more overt thriller elements of the narrative and deliver
visions of a doomed world perfectly matching the tone of the
narrative. Just like the original the new soundtrack captures this
sense of the magical qualities of time travel and technology
alongside an undertone of danger. However, 0 adds a twist by
inject a good sense of dread into the music leading to some
distinctive tracks completely its own.
 |
| My thoughts exactly. |
On
the technical front 0 is a bit disappointing due its lack of
technical improvements over Steins Gate which leaves it feeling
trapped in the past. Unlike the original there is no need for 0 to
obscure the nature of the game’s structure since everything is more
overt and yet there is still no built-in flowchart. This feature
would have gone a long way in alleviating potential confusion about
where the player stands within the overall game and where they might
want to explore next. While its absence is not enough to ruin the
title, it is confusing that such an obvious inclusion was overlooked
in a series priding itself on time travel. This lack of technical
additions extends to most of the other systems which are mostly the
same as the original Steins Gate that was released six years prior. A
lack of polish in these areas does bring down the overall package and
make for navigation filled with unnecessary road blocks.
Conclusion
Being
a pseudo sequel to one of the most highly regarded visual novels
around is not an easy task and you can regularly feel 0 struggle with
its legacy. Despite these troubles, 0 has enough of its own identity
to stand apart with a more overt focus on the thriller elements of
the narrative and a strong understanding of what made the original
cast so endearing. However, it stumbles when it comes to many of its
own additions such as characters who lack purpose within the
narrative as well as failing to properly account for why these
aspects were not mentioned in the original game. Standing
on its own 0 is an impressive experience that leans well into its
strengths and it is only when the inevitable comparisons to Steins
Gate pop up that it falls somewhat flat.
Verdict –
A fabulous thriller which uses the less explored elements of
Steins Gate to achieve an experience distinct from the original.
However, it can never escape the shadow of that original nor does it
seem to know what to do with many of its new ideas and cast members.
Pros
+
The more direct thriller elements make for a more immediately
engaging experience for the player.
+
Okabe is put through through a series of trails that perfectly
showcase the kind of person he is and why he makes for such an
interesting protagonist.
+
The returning cast are still fun to interact with and steal the show.
+
There has been a clear upgrade to the visual presentation and the new
soundtrack captures the same quality.
Cons
-
Being in the shadow of the original game restricts what this game can
do and you can regularly feel it rubbing up against those limits.
-
The new cast members are a mixed bag with some of them feeling like
filler or plot contrivances and others being so obviously evil that
it makes you wonder why the heroes fall for their lies.
-
Not having a flowchart is a missed opportunity to avoid player
confusion and adds to sense of the stagnant technical state of the
game.
