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Sepia Tears (free VN review)

Plk_Lesiak

Entry posted by Plk_Lesiak

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Mystery/romance might not be a rare formula for VNs in general but seems especially popular among Western developers – this probably shouldn't be surprising, as it's very compatible with shorter, linear stories that indie devs usually aim for. Just like One Thousand Lies, which I've reviewed last month, Sepia Tears is a free visual novel available on Steam and mobile devices, which offers a fairly deep, complicated intrigue, relying on its mystery elements to keep the player emotionally and intellectually involved. It's also one of the better known free VNs produced in the West, at least partially thanks to its release date – in early 2013, when it first came out, quality visual novels made outside of Japan were still few and far between, while the official market for localized JP titles was pretty much only starting to develop. The game found its way to a content-starved Western VN community and was pretty highly appreciated. Does it stand the test of time though?

Read the full article at evnchronicles.blogspot.com

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Zakamutt

I think I'd rate it higher (though it's nothing amazing) because I found the SoL funny. It's interesting that you got this far with a review without mentioning the reference based comedy, which there is a fair bit of. I can't really comment on side character dialogue or crypticness because honestly I can barely remember any of sepia tears any more, but I don't remember getting any cryptic feel from side characters lol. The most amusing answer would be that it was just references you didn't get, but idk.

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Plk_Lesiak
1 hour ago, Zakamutt said:

The most amusing answer would be that it was just references you didn't get, but idk.

Possibly, to some extent? I've played it very early in my VN "career", so I could've missed a few things I would understand now (only briefly refreshed it before I've written this review), but there's definitely more than just that. Everything that involved Lilian in later parts of the story was not really about popcultural references, but was simply an absurdly cryptic side story, written so weirdly that I've seen people discussing on the Steam forums what was it all about. The worst part is that it makes you think, at multiple points, that it's something connected to the main mystery and that's why it was written this way, but no, it's a completely separate thing. I was just thinking "people don't talk/act that way" too many times to ignore it.

Edited by Plk_Lesiak
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Guest

Considering the history with this VN, I think I'll add it to the Another 50 list since it helped the VN community back in 2013.

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Plk_Lesiak
16 minutes ago, SeniorBlitz said:

Considering the history with this VN, I think I'll add it to the Another 50 list since it helped the VN community back in 2013.

I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea, many people like it more than I do. :)

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