Sunday, October 11, 2026
Conflict’s Final Form
Human
history has been shaped by war and so there is not a storytelling
medium on the planet which it has not found in and naturally this
includes visual novels. It is a genre of fiction with quite a wide
range of tones and content in a way few others can manage in part due
to the differing reactions and presentations of War within cultures
across the world. The least serious use of War is as a heroic fantasy
were great warriors clash for power and dominance. On the opposite end of the
tonal spectrum are the stories about where war is a destructive force
which leaves suffering and death in its wake and even once it is over
its shadow remains in the lives of those it touched. Related to this
serious tone are titles where the war is not against humans but some
kind of monster which cannot be reasoned with so the focus becomes on
the suffering of a single side in this conflict. Let’s
pick up our banner and find out how each of these depictions of War
change what stories can be told.
A Time Of Heroes
A
common use of the War genre is as a stage for the great deeds of
larger than life heroes. It downplays the damage and death of warfare
in favour of a lighter tone where banter is exchanged and defeated
leaders join the good guys with a smile. The overall moral compass of
such games tends to be on the simpler side with the protagonist and
co. being undeniably right while facing an evil so direct in nature it is
completely in the wrong. Neutral heroes which the protagonist has to
overcome are presented as either being tricked by the evil or doing
their duty to their people. This makes the clash between them and the
side of good being something which can ultimately be ironed out upon
their defeat when faced with the protagonist’s generosity and
uprightness. Another element often found in these titles is the fact
the characters tend to be of the opposite gender to the protagonist
meaning that through the recruitment of former enemies a harem ends up being created. How much each game ends up playing into this
fact varies but it always remains in the background of the narrative
space especially when romance is introduced into the mix. Here War is
treated as a playground for the player’s fantasies and writes them
on the exaggerated scale such conflicts are fought on to provide a
feeling of grandeur.
 |
| It is easy to forget about the average soldier when they are so small |
Koihime Musou has a double layer of fantasy
applied to it for it is based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
and so is also a fictional version of the real conflicts which took
place in China. Naturally everyone who is male in the original story
has been changed into woman leaving the protagonist as the only important man
in the story. Couple this with the game’s heavy emphasis on romancing
these girls and the result is the player being encouraged to interact with
as many of the heroes as possible with there even being a harem
ending should they desire it. In terms of the actual conflict it more
or less plays out like a simpler version of the book it is based on
with the protagonist’s presence being the determining event which
pushes his faction towards victory. This is presented through a
series of simple strategy mechanics where the player must choose
formations and who will fight in order to achieve victory. The heroes
are always front and centre of these battles with the individual
soldiers nothing more than indistinct shapes in their conflict. These
larger than life exaggerations of even their book counterparts
dominate the experience and they will be the part of the game which the player
is going to remember long after it is over.
In many ways Eiyuu *
Senki is a larger scale version of the concept presented in Koihime
Musou. No longer confined to China, but to the whole world, it can
bring in historic figures from all over and turn them into women while
playing up their already distinctive personalities to the logical
extremes. What makes Eiyuu * Senki stand out by comparison to Koihime
Musou is the way it handles evil and the effect having so many heroes
has on their presence in the narrative. The presentation of evil is extremely simple with an absolute antagonist playing
puppet master from the shadows and even using mind control to
manipulate some of the heroes. This makes the overall conflict black
and white and the protagonist’s side in the right for their attempt
to unify the world. It also absolves the heroes they come in conflict
with since they have been lied to so making the War a result of a
misunderstanding rather than malice. Moral complexity never even
appears as a concept in the story and instead it pushes the conquest
into a jolly upbeat ride which is further reinforced through the
bright visuals and soundtrack. When it comes to the sheer number of
heroes in Eiyuu * Senki, the effect is there can only being a small
amount of time to flesh out each one before the next one comes along.
Earlier heroes fair the best since the recur enough to have a
memorable identity but everyone else is more like a plastic action
figure to be collected. It also further pushes the player away from
the concept of any damage which might be done through War since even
the largest personalities are reduced to nothing more than small dots
to be connected. Funnily it means the harem outcome is inevitable
since no single hero gets enough focus so they all end up evenly around the
protagonist.
The Shadow It Casts
In
the real world War is an immensely destructive force which brings
death and ruin in its wake and even after it is over people live in
its shadow. The War genre can lean into this man-made
force to drive their narratives and influence their tone or
messaging. It tends to focus around the human cost of these conflicts
both in terms of the solders who die and the civilians who get caught
in the middle. Having an active conflict leads to an easy and
repeatable source of drama as the War drags the
characters into its different theatres where they must fight the
opposing side. This roller-coaster style of War narrative can end up
assuming elements of the heroic type since there needs to be recurring
characters in order for the player to have something to grab onto and
a recognisable enemy. If the story wants to deal with the damages of
War then being set in its aftermath to better captures the problems
and trauma surrounding the conflict. Here War is not actively present
with no clashing of opposing armies but instead it sits silently in
the memory where it influences people’s actions. There is a general
favouring of letting the player sit in the quiet pain of its cast and
how far into the future the echo of War can travel. Hope can still be
found here, yet it is always a fragile thing in need of protection
and nurturing lest a new conflict swallow it whole.
In many ways the
Utawarerumono games are perfectly suck in the middle between the
damaging effects of War and its heroic fantasy. Being a SRPG hybrid
necessitates a core cast of strong personalities to play as and to be
boss enemies so the story has to bend around this need and the War
becomes defined by these individuals. All the major changes in the
War rest in their hands to be fought over until there is a victor
with the antagonists vanquished. It also helps create a stronger
narrative flow since big events can happen in the conflict and it can
be easily moved into new areas to keep the gameplay fresh. Yet these
titles undeniably have a poor opinion of War with the terrible things
done in its name being bemoaned by the cast at every turn. Greed and
ambition are the things shown to be the culprits of this suffering
and become the defining characteristics of the antagonists. This is
doubly true of the civil war from the Mask games where former
comrades now kill each other and it messy nature of such a conflict is shown where even victory is hollow since it is damage inflicted upon their
own country.
 |
| War always remains long after it is over |
One visual novel which has an interesting take on living
the in aftermath of War is Rose Guns Days with its alternative
history were Japan was divided between America and China. The effects
of the War are apparent throughout the each season as the damage it
caused underpins the motives and actions of the cast to the point of
being inescapable for them. Even when not being talked about its
shadow finds its way into the conversation and it is only towards the
end of the narrative where things beyond it start to come into focus.
While Rose Guns Days has its fair share of action scenes, there is a
greater focus given to witnessing the consequences of the War and the
suffering in a contemplative and emotive fashion. Doing this not only
heightens the contrast with the dramatic moments but it also serves
to smoothly establish the stakes and world building in a manner which
the player can easily parse since the pain it presents is framed from
the personal level of its cast. The messaging which results from this
approach is written clearly for the player to see without it having
to spell it out directly and instead have them witness it first hand.
Against An Unfeeling Foe
Not
all War in fiction need to be fought against a human foe, sometimes a
story calls for the opposition to be a horde of monsters crashing
against civilisation. This removes the moral ambiguity of a real
world conflict by making other party an objective and unthinking evil
which cannot be reasoned with and must be destroyed to survive. As
such the focus of the narrative shift onto the allied side to hold up
the weight of drama, character and plot since a monster cannot offer
much in the way of complexity. Here the effects of War on the
internal structures and people who run them become the stars and the
picture is often a mixed one defined by bickering and backstabbing
even as their troops continue to die. The practical side of military
operations often comes into focus with the life they lead during the
conflict being a major source of drama while providing a grounded
sense of identity through its connections to the way real world armed
forces are organised. Underpinning this is a sense of tragedy at the
losses to the machine of War and the trauma it can inflicts on the
survivors.
 |
| Alternative is not a happy setting |
By far the strongest example of this monster focus can be
found in the Muv-Luv Alternative games featuring their iconic BETA.
The original Alternative is decidedly more militarily focused than
its previous entries with a lot of time give to the internal
conflicts of the setting and the utter devastation of the BETA’s
advance. This is further expanded upon in Total Eclipse and
Schwarzesmarken which lean even more heavily on the personal cost of
the War both in terms of losses and how it twists the morals and
identity of those fighting within it. Each Alternative title takes a
lens to a relatively small cast to best showcase this damage in a way
the player can easily empathise with due to its human scale and it gives a face to the people fighting this War so they are not faceless soldiers but
characters they have come to feel for. Its presentation of War is as
a tragedy inflicted upon these people and mourns their suffering and
loss at every turn.
Conclusion
As
the final form of conflict it should come as no surprise that War has
a complex relationship with fiction in visual novels. It can be a
stage for the heroic deeds of larger than life characters where a
light hearted and upbeat tone results in grand tale of love and
battle. Against unfeeling monsters the dynamic becomes tragic and
focuses on the loss and trauma caused by War. Human conflicts can
also be made to speak of the follies of War and how even after it is
over the people trying to rebuild their lives will always live in its
shadow. Overall War is genre which demands its inclusion be carefully
moulded into the structure and ideas of a game for it to be effective
and fundamentally changes the tone of the entire work.
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