The Shadows of Pygmalion Review – Puppets On Strings

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Genre - Action, Mystery, Supernatural Play Time - 20 hours Developer - propeller Steam VNDB

In A Not So Normal World

The idea of supernatural battles happening behind the everyday world just out of view is one which has an enduring popularity in the urban fantasy genre. It is this sentiment The Shadows of Pygmalion taps into with its normal school setting giving way to its true supernatural face. The main element which distinguishes this game from others in its genre is the Puppets, beings who have been quietly manipulating the course of history, and how their hidden nature keeps a balance between the normal world and the hidden one as the cast try to track them down. Throughout its opening hours it establishes a series of strong mysteries and a likeable cast carefully crafted to invest the player in the action and put them on the edge of their seats when danger strikes. Everything is geared towards helping the combat and drama standout in a way that expresses the line each character trends between these clashing realities. Things become messier as the game moves into its later half as the big reveals are somewhat weak and the vaguely romantic interactions do not lead to meaning growth in the cast’s bonds. Let’s assemble a doll and find out if this visual novel can stick the landing.

Doll Obsession – Narrative and Themes

Putting the best foot forward early is key for a game’s ability to produce long term engagement and the best way to do so it through a strong opening act. The Shadows of Pygmalion leans heavily into this idea as it keeps up a good pace throughout its beginning. The contrast between the normal world and the supernatural one beneath is quickly established. It does not dwell too long on the standard school life setting the player is familiar with before the big turn point event ups the stakes. Instead the normality is weaved into the escalating drama to act as a break from the action in order to prevent it from becoming overwhelming while also being a form of contrast with violence the cast experiences. The primary antagonist force, the Puppets, are made appropriately threatening from their first appearance due to the destruction they can cause and the way they blend into the normal world, a space the player assumed to be safe. Soon after additional layers of characterisation are added for the Puppets as the ambiguity of their intent and even willingness to participate in the danger they bring are called into question. They are lent a humanity which stands out against their artificial appearance and helps muddy the cast’s emotions by making them question the mysterious origins of the Puppets. All of this is backed up with action and combat scenes that finds a balance between tension and excitement. With swords clashing and magic flying the battles gain a lot from the way each blow is framed within the back and forth flow between combatants where the cast are always on the back foot so their eventually victory seems well earned. Variety is also a major part of the appeal of the action scenes since a lot of effort has been put into making each one distinct from previous ones and making the most out of the limited pool of abilities the cast has with them being forced to use the creatively. In combination these elements craft a story filled with mystery, emotion and battles which do a good job of hooking the player into this world and setting up what they can expect from the rest of the game.

Everything comes back to dolls

When it comes to building on that strong opening, The Shadows of Pygmalion struggles to make the most of the opportunity it has set up. Rather than one large and glaring problem this weakness stems from a series of smaller choices which in their totality undermine the game. First among these are the answers to the various mysteries established throughout the game. These revelations are not bad per se, but rather they are too predictable and safe in terms of their content. Having this repeated pattern undermines the player interest in how the events will play out as they will feel able to easily foresee the outcome of each twist and turn. Compounding this issue is the weaker later sections of the narrative where the game meanders towards its conclusion with a lack of the earlier strong pacing. Once again this is not a deal breaker itself since everything does wrap up in a suitable manner but it lacks the impact needed to truly make those moments stick in the memory and contains a lot of bloat that could have been cut for a more focused experience. Part of this odd pacing stems from the vaguely romantic elements which occupy the later half of the title. They feel strangely vacuous due to the way the game does not seem to want to commit to them in a way that is emotionally meaningful to either party in the relationship. It is almost as if the developers added this element in as a form of yuri baiting to appeal to the audience without any consideration for the actual impact or value this dynamic it could have for the plot and characters. Since it is so empty it is easy to ignore, yet it adds to the already large pile of small issues which bring weaken the player’s enjoyment.

Unfortunate Heroes – Characters

For the cast there is a tight focus on the key characters immediately surrounding Hajiro Mina, our protagonist, and the ways they deal with the duality of their lives. They are introduced on the opposite side of the world to Mina’s everyday life and serve to underline how she has now strayed from that path. Over time it becomes clear that these heroines are not quite as detached from the everyday spaces Mina occupies and they are shown in a more vulnerable state where their humanity can be on full display. This is a line all the main cast members tread where they know the truth about the existence of Puppets and yet have to live among people who do not recognise this truth. Some have taken to this balance better than others and it through their interactions with the more innocent Mina that the game explores what led each of them down this path. Here is where a lot of the drama comes from as the heroines insincerely reveal what drives them while the stakes of the conflict with the Puppets rise and the revelations undermine their place in this world. Putting their interactions front and centre of the narrative helps The Shadows of Pygmalion to ensure the player gets to spend the most time with the characters it needs them to like in order for the later story moments to work properly. Even more than many other visual novels, this is a game incredibly reliant on this liability that the entire experience is twisted around it and so the intense focus it places on them works wonders to enable this method of presentation.

The vaguely romantic moments feel so strange

The secondary characters do not fair quite as well with a mixed bag of presentation and arcs which muddies the water and leaves the greater world feeling flat. Many of the minor cast members exist for a specific plot or narrative purpose and do not demonstrate anything beyond that one purpose. This leads to them appearing somewhat mechanical in nature as if they are props on the stage rather than actual people with their own lives outside of this one moment. It also creates an unflattering contrast with the well rounded main characters who highlight the weak characterisation of these extra cast members. It is difficult to stay invested when the game decides it wants to make one of its weaker characters take the spotlight as the focus on them reveals their shallow nature. Not all secondary characters are like this with a few standout ones that gives some much needed substance to the world. For example Aizawa Makoto has one of the strongest arcs and narrative involvement in the game and her resolution is the high point in the game’s story. This difference in quality from a lot of the other cast members is due to a combination of a closer personal connection to a main character leading to a greater screen presence and showcasing of their personality and a direction to their arc which reflects well into the overall theming of the game. Each of these gives her a flexibility of expression lacking in much of the secondary characters due to their rigid and functional nature and it allows for her humanity to be self-evident without having to be spelt out.

Illuminating Magic – Visuals, Audio and Technical

There is nothing particularly special about any aspect of The Shadows of Pygmalion’s presentation on any front, but it does have a firm grasp on how to use what it does have to get invoke the right emotions. From a visual standpoint it is a slightly different take on the expected anime art style common to most visual novels with all the common trappings of the medium. Its liberal use of cut-ins is where the game can effectually use its visuals to convey its identity. This often manifests as either slow reveals of a scene by cut-ins which showcase parts of the scene to build up the tension and drama of events or rapid cut-ins to sell the motion and violence of an action scene. Through the teasing of visuals the title can make them have more impact than they would otherwise have while helping them leave an impact in the player’s mind. The audio is similarly standard, but does not have anything like the cut-ins to spice it up so it ends up being a forgettable affair. In the moment it does its job of creating the right mood and yet when thinking back on the tracks it is difficult to remember a single on of them with any clarity.

Action scenes have a good impact to them through the use of cut-ins

Conclusion

There is a lot of like in The Shadows of Pygmalion as the game knows its genre well and provides a memorable combination of supernatural action and drama. It opens incredibly strongly with an excellent hook and engaging world hiding mysteries which are just waiting to be uncovered. The main cast reinforce the strengths of this narrative through the way they play into the dual nature of the setting as the character’s grapple with their everyday lives and their battle against the Puppets. From a presentational standpoint the game is nothing special yet makes the most out what it has available. It is only in the second half where the cracks begin to show as the revelations are dry, the romantic elements feel weak and out of place and a lot of its secondary cast appear shallow. Despite this the title is still an enjoyable experience which taps into what makes action visual novels so distinctive.

Verdict –

An urban fantasy action title which leans into the dual nature of its setting to provide strong character moments and flashy drama. Yet it is a flawed package that cannot quite stick the landing.