Pallas_Raven

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. 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. 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. 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. 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.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. 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. 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. 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. 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.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. A Relationship With Many Sides When it comes to relationships most forms of media present monogamous pairings as the normal and rarely explore beyond this line of thinking and when they do the presentation of the opposite extreme is generally negative. Enter the visual novel, here is a space where polyamorous relationships are given an equal examination to their more traditional peers through these games' endings. While they by no means form the majority of romantic interactions in the medium, they do exist in significantly higher numbers than elsewhere and each is presented with the sincerity it deserves. When it comes to how polyamory manifests in narratives there are two groups, those involving exactly three participants and those numbering greater than that baseline. These have differing means by which they come about as well as how they end up defining the people they connect which gives each a unique flavour for the player. Despite the nuance on offer from these endings there are various problems with perception due to people’s ingrained ideas of the value of monogamy and the way more erotic titles also make use of this type of ending for a different effect. Let’s expand our romantic horizons and see how visual novels use polyamorous endings. Three Is The Magic Number When presenting a non-monogamous relationship to the player it is hard to get them to understand it the further away it is from the two person system they are familiar with and as such adding only one additional participant is the most common polyamorous grouping. One of the major advantages of this trio over a greater number is it can be neatly divided into three pairings and play off the established idea of a love triangle as a form of common ground with the player. Like the sides of a triangle a relationship formed of three people has three lines of emotion which the player has to understand, one from each person to the other two. By having neat and easy to follow lines the player can keep track of how the relationships of each part of the trio inform the eventual collective romantic ending. Another trick often employed is to have only two of the three characters on screen at the same time in an imitation of the standard monogamous interaction and only having all three express their feeling together when the game heads towards its ending. This means the player is never overwhelmed by possible clashing or overlapping love from those in this relationship and it helps them understand the factors leading towards their eventual union, only to reveal it a dramatic fashion for the most impact when the time is right. Why Stop At Three? Once the number of people in a polyamorous relationship exceeds three it tends to spike by quite a bit, jumping up to anywhere from five to seven. This spike is due to the benefits of the triangle’s simple relationship dynamics being lost so it becomes more important to commit to the characters individual paths towards the polyamorous ending rather than asking the player to keep track of each possible bond in the romantic lattice. Showing the micro level of each character’s bonds has a similar effect to the focus on a single relationship used by trios by bringing these intricate feeling down to an easy to understand level which can be subtly built up into a larger picture. This foundation is then added to as the game piles on the other participants in the polyamorous relationship and little by little a complete picture of formed as it reaches its climax and reveal with the narrative’s ending. Giving the player the space to breath and get to know each character helps form a detailed idea of what would lead a person to this type of bond while asking the player to consider what that tell them about the nature of relationships in a broader sense. Lamunation! provides a good showcase of how to present a larger number of people in a polyamorous ending. To start with it divides its core game into routes following sets of heroines as they deal with their own issues and lets the player see the close feelings they already have with the rest of the core cast. These segregated routes spend a fair amount of time showing how the characters bounce off each other to make the later shift into all of them being intimate appear organic. These are things like Lamune’s inability to say no to the other girls or the Prateado twins tendency to share everything between each other and they provide the reasons and motives for the eventual polyamorous ending once all other routes have been completed. Nekopara follows a similar approach except rather than routes it splits its catgirls into pairs and gives them individual episodes to shine in. By doing this the episodes can rely on the previously mentioned relatable power of trios to show the dynamics forming around them and bringing in past trios to slowly build up the whole picture of this relationship before organically letting it happen. Problems With Perception And Lust It might be obvious at this point that there is an important drawback to the inclusion of a polyamorous ending and this manifests through their negative connection with lust and the dominance of monogamy. In many ways visual novels do not help themselves when it comes the connection to lust since there are a number of games using polyamorous endings which utilise it as a form of erotic fantasy rather than treating as a potential and interesting manifestation of human relationships. These tend to be titles like Imouto Paradise or Funbag Fantasy which have no interest in being taken seriously on any level and exist purely for eroticism with little concern about how they are perceived beyond their target audience. There is nothing wrong with this per se and the continued popularity of this type of fantasy does show there are many people who willing to accept a simple representation of these ideas. However, it does effect how those from outside the medium see polyamory within visual novels and there is a definite tendency by these people to present games including this type of relationship as horny and of a lesser narrative quality regardless of what the truth actually is for each one. Beyond this issue there is a fear by developers that treating a polyamorous bond with complete seriousness might alienate their predominately monogamous audience, hence why all the titles mentioned in this article present it through some lens of comedy. Treating it as a partial joke allows them to deflect the idea that they are supporting a non-standard relationship and make it more palatable for potential players. Overall these problems do muddy the water when it comes to discussing polyamorous endings and are worth always keeping in mind when you encounter one. Conclusion Addressing polyamory is a delicate balancing act that few are willing to tackle so its presence within visual novels as endings is an interesting convention. While the reality is a mixed bag between sympathetic and emotional presentations and simple titillation, making for a muddied overall coverage of the idea, there are nevertheless more meaningful narratives about it than in most other mediums. If there are three people in the relationship, the visual novel can focus in on each pairing within that trio to make the sides of a triangle and allow for an easy and nuanced understanding on the part of the player. Beyond that number and the title has to fixate on the characters individually in order to give them the time they need to present their growth towards the polyamorous ending. Everything comes together at those endings and leaves the player to consider the value of what they just witnessed. This type of relationship and ending is not suited for most visual novels due to the amount of narrative and emotional set up it requires to be effective, but it is still worth considering if the pieces fall into places for this kind of bond between your characters as you plan your visual novel.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. The Brilliant Days Of Youth? Of all the genres that dominate the visual novel space there are none which can compete with the behemoth of school slice of life. Beyond the many games utilising it as their core narrative element, many others use it as a secondary pillar to ground their more fantastical or emotional genres and give them an easily recognisable touch point with the player. Its presence is so prominent that many not familiar with the medium still associate it with this idea of high school aged protagonists leading their daily lives. There is as much diversity as there is repetition in such an expansive genre to the point it can be both a blessing and curse to be associated with it. Let’s go back to school and uncover the enduring popularity and pitfalls of this defining genre. Transient Freedom And Possibilities In the Japanese visual novel space the period of life spent in school, in particular high school, holds an idealised quality as a time where the possibilities of life are open to you and you are afforded a freedom absent to an adult. Here can be found the brilliant emotions of youth for all to see with things said in fits of love or hate that would be unthinkable in later life, but in this moment they are looked upon as part of growing up. Alongside this is the sense of the realities of the world not having set in and these teenagers dreaming of future possibilities and experiencing an intense love for another person. Obviously none of this truly reflects the messy truth of hormone driven minds or the chaotic and unpleasant mess school life can be for many people. However, it does not have to since as the memories of that time fade we filter out the painful things we want to forget and remember the good times we did have along the way. The idealised vision of those times taps into this reductionist view of school we form in our heads and uses it as common grounding element visual novels can rely on to serve as a foundation of their stories. Sabbat of the Witch plays this idealisation fairly straight and focuses in on clubs, school events and other activities outside of lessons. When the lessons and studying inherent to this genre do come up, they are treated as a comfortable mundanity and a desirable place to return to after the characters have overcome their trials. In many ways school slice of life is treated as something with a calming and healing property for both the characters and the player and as a daily life to aspire towards. On the flip side to this relatively grounded presentation of school is Majikoi which makes school take the form of a place characterised by over the top fights, social hierarchies and larger than life characters. Here school is often interrupted by whatever absurd event the game feels like presenting to the player or when the status quo needs to be shaken up. However, under the surface of the sheer insanity that Majikoi cooks up is much the same foundational ideas of school slice of life. It is presented as the baseline normality for a reason and represents the desirable peace the character can always fall back on filled with their friends and a place where they can be themselves. What links these two games is that their vision of school slice of life is not a reflection of the real and messy place school is in practice, but instead a faded remembrance of a time long passed and they hope the audience feels the same. Flexibility And Inbuilt Drama One of main reasons visual novel developers choose to embrace the school slice of life genre is the way it can accommodate any story they wish to tell while bringing some easy to access drama of its own. This is a genre which does not demand to be the centre of attention and can comfortably assume a supportive role to a main genre in a smooth process without any tonal clashing. What allows this joining to be possible is generally neutral nature of its primary element, school. Love it or hate it, there is no denying the presence of school in the lives of most people and we consider it normal in the same way as getting a job or having a family, parts of our lives which is barely worth batting an eye at. The school slice of life genre takes these inbuilt preconceptions and uses them to merge into the background and remain unquestioned. Of course, when needed it can introduce its own sources of conflict to compliment the main narrative. These include everything from the heightened emotions of the teenage cast to the school administration acting against the actions of the characters. None of these are strong enough to overshadow a more compelling narrative core, but do wonders at filling downtime with something interesting. Overuse And The Plague Of Apathy When discussing the school slice of life genre it is hard to avoid the elephant in the room, its presence in the vast majority of visual novel releases. It has reached the point that having some element of the genre has almost become an expectation and people are surprised when a game does not follow this convention. This has caused a plague of apathy and awkward acceptance among existing players who are not madly in love with this prolific genre. Perhaps more importantly, it makes it difficult to convince a new player to give visual novels a try as they will see it through the preconception that all the medium boils down to is a collection of stories about shouting teenagers and their boring school life. This is a barrier which can be broken down by showing them the many titles and developers who reach beyond the standard trappings of school slice of life with more adult characters such as in Making*Lovers and it focus on older heroines or Steins:Gate’s all consuming tension. However, it does not look like this trend for the overuse of the school slice of genre is going anywhere anytime soon. The romance genre in particular seems set on adhering to having this as a subgenre in order to provide their players with a comfortable and familiar experience that can reliably sell new games. It is rare for a developer to venture outside of this realm and even when they do it is rarely for more than one game. The noticeable exception to comes in the form of otome which has a good mix of other secondary genres, such a the police thriller aspects of Collar X Malice, but still contains a fair number of school slice of life centric narratives. Overall, it would be nice to see a willingness to expand beyond this limiting sphere of storytelling devices. With all that said there is nothing wrong with this genre as is demonstrated by its continued popularity among players. Conclusion School never ends in the world of visual novels as the school slice of life genre continues to dominate and compliment other genres. It invokes a sense of transient reminiscence of a time when we had more freedom and where the world was a beautiful web of possibilities in order to resonate with the player. The way school slice of life can merge into the background of other genres is a testament to its relatively neural nature while still being able to offer some conflicts of its own to supplement the main narrative. However, the overuse genre has created a general plague of apathy towards games using it and makes it difficult to overcome the preconceptions new players have regarding visual novels being all the same. The strength and popularity of the genre is clear to see with every new release that uses it, but it can be a doubled edged sword for the medium as a whole and limits the stories it can tell.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – School Life, Comedy, Romance Play Time – 10-15 per game Developer – Minato Soft VNDB When Only Characters Remain Once a game series has given all the stories it can, what remains to be extracted from it? Perhaps you expand the world by adding a new setting or maybe you introduce an exciting new threat. The answer the Majikoi A games have settled on is to fixate on what the previous titles did best, its larger than life characters. As such each game in the A series is an anthology of after stories and stand alone routes which cover the remaining cast members who had not been given one beforehand. There is no common route or joining material between these sections and it relies wholly on the quality of each element to overcome its lack of cohesion. Despite all the effort that has clearly gone into these games, the question must be asked, is this addition to the series really necessary or is this just the case of a developer trying to wring all the money it can out of its audience? This is a question Majikoi A struggles with across it entire duration and presents to us the value and damage such a continuation can bring. Let’s find some warrior women and discover the answer. Untold Possibilities – Narrative and Themes Unlike the previous games the A series is not interested in having any grand overarching narrative and instead bet on its characters being enough to keep the player invested. This is not to say that there are no narrative threads at all, but instead they are smaller and of a self-contained nature. These sections are a strange mix of stagnation and mixing up the formula in exiting ways seemingly at random. Each of the A games is a mixture of after stories and new routes for cast members who had previously been secondary characters. This provides a good spread of new and established relationships and showcases the different stages of the romantic relationships for the cast in a less direct way due to the almost laissez-faire manner they are dealt with by the game’s segregated structure. Of course having such a loose connective tissue is also a massive drawback since there is no driving force to keep the player going beyond whatever route they choose first and should they be disappointed with that route then the game has no way to keep the player from putting it down. The after stories sit in a strange place in this equation as they are the part of the game the player is most likely to engage with due to their focus on established characters the player already has an investment in and they draw the player away from the new routes. However, this is also the second round of after stories since Majikoi S also had a fair few and you can feel the fatigue in the writing at times where the developers try to not repeat themselves and give each character the send off their deserve. On the flip-side we have the new routes that sit in an odd position since they start mid narrative with no lead up due to the lack of a common route. There is a sense of being suddenly thrown in the deep end which persists for a few scenes as the game scrambles to make it clear what happened before the start of the route. As this occurs for every route it becomes this constant feature and distracts from what are some of the best routes that Majkoi has ever produced. Shining Gems And Questionable Choices – Characters Of the character who get the spotlight, the most memorable and those with the strongest routes are the bushido plan clones, Benkei, Seiso and Yoshitsune. Their potency stems from the fact that of the remaining cast without routes, they are the ones with the best established personal flaws necessary to provide room for growth. Benkei brings elements of Yamato’s personality to the forefront that are otherwise unexplored, Seiso makes full use of her duel nature for all kinds of high jinks and Yoshitsune offers some of the most impactful choices of the A games. They were held back in Majikoi S due to their importance to the central plot, but with that now used up they are free to be their own people and showcase what made them interesting in the first place. It also helps that they are given some of the more diverse narrative beats and structures to complement their respective character arcs as well as the secrets and weaknesses they are hiding. Here in their routes is Majikoi A’s main justification for its existence and why it had to be a series of separate routes as they are stories that need to take place before the finale of Majikoi S where the big reveals about them happen so the rest of the cast is in the dark about them and there can be natural interactions between the two groups. Their nature demands knowledge of the conclusion and being set before it means that they could never escape the fate of being segregated from everything else, so having them with a selection of other self-contained routes was a smart choice to hide this fact and ensure a smooth engagement with the player. It is once we reach the characters who have been given after stories the sense of déjà vu begins to take over and Majikoi has to try its hardest to keep the audience’s attention. This is an inevitable part of those characters as they have already had their arc concluded in previous games leaving little to be explored. As such they retread a lot of ground that has already been presented to the player and focus on the solidification of the romantic relationship into a more concrete form than it was left on. The choices of characters to have after stories does remedy this issue to an extent as they are some of the more distinctive members of the original cast. Seeing Monshiro grow into her new found place with Yamato is easily the most heart warming thing in these games while Tsubame and Margit bringing a much need dose of banter to match up to Yamato. They offer a good spread of personalities and they are spaced out in way where they compliment and contrast with the new routes they are placed alongside to add much need flavour and variety. 2009 Never Ended – Visual, Audio and Technical Majikoi has always had an easily recognisable visual and auditory identity that anyone who has even heard of these games can recognise at a glance. The A games are no exception to this and embraces the player in the same lively atmosphere they have come to expect. Each portrait imbues their respective character with personality that pushes itself into the player’s face and demands to be noticed as they dance around the screen. What new CGs are provided to these games share this same sense of life and over the top energy that helped make the series so popular in the first place. Even the music and sound effects share this powerful forward momentum and injects the player with a sound scape befitting of a series that so often leans into the absurd as part of its comedy lifeblood. Combined these elements have always defined the Majikoi experience and any game in the series would feel lacking without them. Unfortunately a lot of what makes Majikoi A pop out is reused content from the previous games repackaged to serve a continuous identity carried over from those titles. Recycling these elements is by no means a bad thing especially given how strong they are and how much they form what the player expects of these games. It helps save money on these smaller scale entries and allows for them to be produced in a more reasonable time frame and tell stories they would not otherwise be able to. However, the issue with Majikoi A doing this is the fact that its predecessor Majikoi S already heavily relied on reusing assets from the first game making the A games the second time the player has been presented with a lack of innovation in this aspect. This sense of stagnation extends into all the technical aspects of these games as they use an almost unchanged version of systems of the original game. The original Majikoi was released in 2009 and the last A title, A-5, was released in 2016 meaning the series remained technologically stagnant for seven years and you can really feel this as you play through the games. Aspect Ratio is still 4:3 and is naturally set to 800x600 with any attempt to increase it resulting in blurry graphics due to the art being created with that smaller screen size in mind and the disorganised and sprawling menus and UI create an experience that wastes the player’s time. Back in 2009 this was understandable given the state of other the visual novels at the time, but is was certainly far behind the times by 2016. Conclusion Majikoi A is more Majikoi. While this statement might seem obvious it holds a lot of hidden meaning linked to both brilliance and stagnation. These games offer some of the best character writing in the series, bringing to life this colourful world, and at the same time they make questionable choices in what characters they thinks are worthy of attention. The mixture of after stories and new routes has similar ups and downs with the game at once repeating what has come before and creating exciting twists on their narrative formula. It also maintains the visual and auditory identity of the previous games by reusing most of the assets with a sprinkling of its own leading to sense of being stuck in the past. A is very much a game for fans but it is also an intriguing example of the drawbacks and opportunities of continuing a series after it has lived its natural course. Verdict - This is more of what made Majikoi so beloved with its excellent characters and engaging drama, but like anything old it often feels like its repeating itself and stuck in the past. Pros + Route structure has a good amount of variation to it and regularly throws surprises at you. + The Bushido Plan clones and the after story characters maintain the strong standard of Majikoi’s character routes. + Majikoi’s distinctive visual and musical personality is adhered to and the new additions merge well into this lively style. Cons - It is very much more of the same and does little to change in order to bring in new players. - Some choices about who is give a route are questionable and give the feeling of scrapping the bottom of the barrel. - There is no attempt to improve the graphics and resolution issues present since the first game which was released in 2009.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. What Shall I Be Today There is a tendency in visual novels to have some degree of self insert aspect in their protagonists due to the prevalence and intensity of first person narratives. Some of them take this to its natural conclusion by giving the player a means of deciding parts of the character they are going to inhabit and these manifest as customisation options. They range from choosing the protagonist’s gender and pronoun to directly naming them to visual elements such as clothes. Each builds upon the foundational idea that the more control the player has over a character the more they will project onto them and empathise with their plight. While this might bring to mind images of dating sim style games, there are a great variety of visual novels which make use of this technique to achieve a similar but distinct effect, from subversion to secondary character reactions. How and when this customisation is presented also decides a lot about its perception and there are many ways to bring it into the game for differing effects. Let’s load up the character creator and find out how visual novels use it to charm the player. Naming Characters By far the most common form of player customisation is the ability to name the protagonist in some fashion. This could be anything from just their first name all the way up to naming everything about them including what nickname they are called. Regardless of the extent of the name customisation given, the effect is a sense of co-authorship with the game and room to self insert into the protagonist you have helped form. When you name something you impart a bit of yourself into it in the same way a parent does when naming their child and the bond formed is a surprisingly potent one. For visual novels, the developer and the player are the co-authors and parents of the protagonist that the player named and this joint venture places the player in a supportive role cheering on the character. This method is common in otome titles such as Collar X Malice where the developers have a set identity for the protagonist in mind but want the player to understand that without losing the link between player and character. In Collar X Malice’s case the player gets to give the protagonist a first name but the family name is set by the game as Hoshino and in doing so makes it clear to the player what type of control over the character they will have during the game. This manifests as the choices which decided the ultimate fate of the protagonist, but not what type of person they are nor how they react to the consequences of these choices. Providing distinct divides about what the player can expect allows for these games to avoid disappointing the player as well as giving them some agency to help engage them. Choosing Gender And Pronouns Standing equal to naming in terms of character customisation is the ability to choose gender and pronouns, but the effects these two have on the visual novel differ quite a lot. Creating a protagonist who can be any gender or use any pronoun the player desires would be an extremely difficult task for the narratively intense medium, so instead many developers who use this customisation element tend to have their protagonist be silent or say as little as possible. This way the player can fill in the gaps with the identity they have assigned to the character. However, another angle is to have the other characters acknowledge this choice by it bringing up in natural conversation and having it affect the characters' view of the protagonist. For a good example of this we should look to Analogue: A Hate Story which gives the player agency of the protagonist’s gender. This is particularly important given the emphasis on traditional Korea gender roles and so the manifestation of this viewpoint, Mute, treats the protagonist subtly differently depending on their gender. These changes are never heavy handed and generally exist as as slight alterations in her speech patterns or off hand comments that she thinks of as minor but reveal to the player a lot about her world view. Unlike with a name there is no need to constantly remind the player of their choice in a direct manner as in the real world the reactions of people to gender are far less pronounced to the point of only the slightest hints existing about how they see you. Visual Customisation The ability to customise the appearance of characters is most prevalent in hybrid visual novels that have an RPG or dating sim element as their companion. This choice of secondary genre stems from the role-playing aspect already having a presence there and allowing the player freedom when it comes to the visual identity of their characters. There is no stronger element of our appearance than the clothes we wear with their striking colours and as you can imagine this makes them the primary means of visual customisation. The player is often given them as unlockables that lets them treat the characters like they are dress up dolls to express what the player thinks these people should be or what best matches their personalities. Just as child get attached to their favourite toy or action figure, so too does the tool of visual customisation make the player invested in these characters. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side makes use of visual customisation to help the player project onto the blank slate protagonist so they can feel as if they are romancing the heroes by proxy. Being able to pick out the outfit the protagonist will wear gives the player room to conceive of the character as a person they can relate to and who has similar tastes in both clothes and men. Even the slightest touch of empathy can do a lot to bridge the gap between the real and the fictional in a game so centred around it as its key selling point. Conclusion Giving the player control over the characters in any capacity can be a scary thing for a developer as the player could ruin their vision for the characters. However, the advantages of this choice for certain types of games far out way the risk of the player giving the protagonist a stupid name. Through naming a character the player can engage in a co-authorship of them or be able to completely sink into the role of the protagonist which allows the developer to set their expectations as well as create empathy. Should the game also use gender and pronouns as customisation options then the opportunity arises to have the other characters change their reactions based on the player’s choice to make them feel more involved in the narrative. If that is not enough then the developer can give up aspects of the character’s visual identity to provide a compelling source of player investment. Not all visual novels demand customisation and those with extremely defined characters will not want to give up any control of them, but the benefits are worth considering if you are creating a game with a malleable protagonist or cast.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – Urban Fantasy, Suspense, Horror, Action Play Time – 30 hours Developer – Type Moon VNDB Will It Disappear At Dawn? The remake of Tsukihime was once considered a dead project by the fanbase due to how long it took to show any results to the point of being a running joke. Even when it finally did produce something the resulting visual novel only covered the first half of the original with the second half coming later. This release was subtitled A Piece of Blue Glass Moon and is the subject this review. The game covers the Near Side routes, these being Arcueid and Ciel, which focus around the greater world of Tsukihime with its supernatural forces on full display. In the original this was arguably the weaker half of the game given its role to act as set up for the other routes and in particular how much Ciel’s route retreads a lot of Arcueid’s route. Through this remake Type Moon tried to address these shortcomings of the original 2000s title and create a definitive version of their first work with the bells and whistles provided by modern techniques and a vastly bigger budget. Was the wait worth it or does this vampiric tale burn in the light of day? Let’s skulk under moonlight and find out. Once Again Walking With Death – Narrative and Themes As a remake there are certain expectations the game inherits from the original when it comes to content, characters and overall theming. This is a strong and well defined legacy to inherit and there are times when you can feel the game struggle under its weight as it can occasionally give certain moments more emphasis then they deserve. However, overall the title is a broad success in terms of preserving and enhancing the elements which made the Near Side so distinctive, these being a commitment to psychological and vampiric horror, a leaning towards action and world building. For Arcueid’s route this hold especially true since the game copies much of that route verbatim with the only real alterations being made on the moment to moment interactions between characters, otherwise this revision is faithful to a fault. Beyond the adhering to the original there is an understanding of what the new technology can bring to older scene that enhances them in a such a way that you know the original would have done the same if it had the ability to do so. This includes the proper use of movement, lighting and camera angles to sell the emotion the text is trying to invoke in a subtle way so as not be as unnoticeable as it is powerful. The effect these enhancements have in making the remake seem more like you remember the original cannot be overstated and is one of the game’s strongest aspects for returning fans. On the opposite side we have the many changes the remake has made in order to rectify the flaws and limitations of the original work. These includes range from minor things like the reordering of events to make more sense and the expansion of certain character moments to increase their prominence to the wholesale rewriting of Ciel’s route. The original version of Ciel’s route suffered from borrowing too much from Arcueid’s route and a general sense that it had been rushed, so it was a perfect candidate for a reimagining to bring out the potential of Ciel’s character. However, rather than throwing out the entire original route, the broad strokes have been preserved and the new material fitted around them so as to maintain the identity of Ciel’s route and offer a little subversion for returning players. The new additions to the route revolve around exploring Ciel’s past in a more expansive way which was a previously lacking area. It does this through having more character’s related to the Church being present for Ciel and Shiki to interact with and by drawing more parallels between Shiki’s plight and the experiences that have shaped Ciel into the person she is today. These touches do wonders to improve upon Ciel’s characterisation and give the route a much needed identity distinct from Arcueid’s route. The revitalisation of Ciel’s route is by far the game’s greatest success and the main reason to play it if you have already played the original. Power level might seem like an odd thing to bring up as a criticism of a game which has always had its fair share of action, but it is in the inconsistency of that power level where the biggest issue with this remake lies. The problems manifest at two distinct points, fights related to the vampire Vlov and the final battle at the end of Ciel’s route. These conflicts are almost apocalyptic in scale and feel so detached from the rest of the game which deals in relatively down to earth and deadly threats. This is especially strange when considering our protagonist Shiki is presented as fragile and human outside of these battles but inside them he displays an ability to fight and survive damage he never uses outside of these moments. Vlov is the bigger offender since he is in the middle of the narrative meaning that the power level spikes when he appears and afterwards drops like a stone back down to its original levels. This causes a strong sense of whiplash and a feeling that Vlov does not belong with the rest of the game making it obvious he is a new addition. The final fight in Ciel’s route at least attempts to justify why the power level spikes, but its problem is the jump is just so ridiculously large with the strength of the characters involved moving from vaguely realistic to completely over the moon in a short space of time. It seems to be this way so as to have a big finale for the game since it now lacks the second half and must end on some kind of resolution to provide catharsis for the player. Since these two examples constitute a very small amount of the overall play time it would be misleading to say they ruined the game, but the poor way they were handled as part of the whole narrative does leave a sour taste in your mouth as it kicks you out from enjoying what are in isolation very impressive fights. However, they feel like the belong more in Fate Grand Order than they do in Tsukihime. Of Vampires And Mortals – Characters The majority of the remake’s cast is inherited from the original Tsukihime and they are as distinctive here as they have always been. Time has been kind to the main characters, they have remained relatively unmolested by imitators or an obsession with moe and feel as fresh as they did back when the original was released. Having a protagonist like Shiki at the helm helps a lot since his mixture of kindness, violent urges, supernatural powers and physical weakness makes for a soup from which a variety of character arcs are possible and provides things for the heroine’s to bounce off to create engaging dialogue. He is at once likeable and interestingly flawed which makes seeing events through his eyes an entertaining journey and his mortality adds stakes to every confrontation with the world of vampires. The two main heroine’s of the game, Arcueid and Ciel, strike the right balance between being proactive driving forces for the narrative and being vulnerable enough that it is believable for them to need Shiki both emotionally and as backup in battle. Beyond this the rest of the returning cast have mostly background roles in this game but even here they showcase a degree of complexity while hinting at what is yet to come. Together they are as memorable as always and the remake captures why they entranced so many people over the years. As for the new cast members introduced in the remake, those which are directly involved in the plot work to expand the horizons of the narrative and provide a more well rounded character experience. They are mostly related to the Church and thus shine in Ciel’s route, but make enough of an appearance in Arcueid’s route so as to not appear out of nowhere when it is their time on screen. Their existence is an effort to give Ciel and Shiki some characters to interact with who relate to the side of the world Ciel exists on which the original was sorely lacking. For example Noel acts as Ciel’s work partner and is a complete contrast to Ciel’s personality being a strange mix of cowardice and adult, almost predatory, charm. This makes her an excellent character for Shiki to interact with and receive information that Ciel would not be willing to give up and allow Shiki to express feeling through an outlet beyond the main heroines. All the Church related cast broadly act in a similar manner and allow for a richer understanding of the world, past and beliefs of Ciel that were not properly explored before. It is in the new content that they shine their brightest and showcase the wonders well constructed additions can do to breath life into existing stories. A Revitalised Full Moon – Visual, Audio and Technical Visuals and audio were never the strong points of the original Tsukihime so any improvement to them would make the remake stand out against it. However, rather than simply replacing the identity of the original’s visuals and audio, the remake takes them as a basis to improve upon and regularly invokes these elements of the original through subtle nods or complete recreations. Above all else it brings these aspects of Tsukihime in line with the standard of modern Type Moon and makes them more accessible to a modern audience. There is a surprising amount of movement on display as the characters display a dynamic suite of positions and expression for their portaits to sell everything from the power of a blow to their hidden feelings. This move towards the unifying of the game’s style with the rest of the developer’s catalogue does come with an occasional hiccup where certain characters can look very similar to character from other games they have developed. Arcueid and Shiki suffer from this when they drift into looking like Saber and Shiro respectively and this is very distracting when you are trying to be invested in these characters. On the musical front, the majority of the tracks are entirely new since the original only had a handful of songs, but some of that old catalogue is maintained here in the form of remixes and bringing in motifs from them. In combination they make for delightful soundtrack perfect from enrapturing both new and old fans. On a broader technical perspective, the remake makes use of a variety of presentation and accessibility elements to create an experience that is both tense and flows well. The choice of NVL as the game’s formatting style carries over from the original and is as good here at building atmosphere as it was before. There have been a few touches to make the potential walls of text more intelligible through having only the most recent line of text be bright and all the previous ones take on a darker hue to ensure clarity. In line with this move towards lucidity, a flowchart has been included in the game which allows for the player to see their progress, the consequences of their actions and jump to any unlocked scene at will. This lets the player navigate through the game without having to worry about constantly saving at every choice and wondering what action caused what outcome and, with the return of the helpful Teach Me Ciel Sensei, every effort has been made to ensure the player is never lost. Conclusion Tsukihime is certainly a game that needed a remake, but it is also a game with a lot of exceptions and baggage attached to it and for the most part the remake does a good job of capturing the essence of the sections it adapts. It is at once faithful to the original while taking on board new ideas to improve the weaker elements of the base game. In doing so it does run into some issues with how it handles the power level of the game which leads to a feeling of inconsistency at times. The old characters continue to be as charming as ever and the new additions who stand out here share a similar level of quality. There are some new characters that exist as set up for the next game and they feel really out of place here given they have no real role to play in the narrative. From a visual and audio stand point the game is a dramatic improvement over the original and breaths some much needed life into it. Modern conveniences have also been included in the remake with things like a flowchart making for a more streamlined and smooth experience. This is about as good a remake of Tsukihime as could be expected and with the second half coming at some point it will be interesting to see what the complete title will look like. Verdict – A gold standard for visual novel remakes which captures the essence of the original while not being afraid to improve upon its weaknesses, even if it does stumble under the weight of these changes. Pros - + Faithful to the narrative and themes of the original visual novel. + Adds additional content where needed to expand upon the weaker elements of the narrative, in particular with Ciel’s route. + The old cast is as memorable as ever and they are joined by a set of new characters who wonderfully fill holes present in the original game. + Having a modern coat of visual and audio paint does wonders for the effectiveness of the emotional beats. + Modern accessibility features such a flowchart allow for a smoother recovery from any potential bad endings. Cons - - The inconsistent power level of the battles can draw you out the experience and make it difficult to suspend your disbelief. - Not all of the new cast are utilised in this game and many of them exist as set up for the next title. - Having a modern Type Moon art style can sometimes lead to characters looking eerily similar to ones from their other games. - The new content can make the game feel bloated at times.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. What Is In The Box? One of the latest and perhaps most contentious recent development in the sphere of visual novels is the rise of gatcha mechanics as one of the prominent elements in the design space. Leaning heavily into the mobile market, they involve spending currency for acquisition of a selection of random characters and items from a set pool with rarities attached to them. For such a seemingly simple mechanic it warps everything around it to help it function properly and this is doubly true for its inflence on visual novels since they both share a focus on characters. The gacha demand a continual stream of content and a story without an end with a desirable cast and it does not care about the form all of that takes so long as it feeds the player back towards the gatcha. This might sound like a wholly negative influence but it does allow for the flexibility and inventiveness of visual novels to come to the forefront. The success of gacha from a monetary perspective means it is likely here to stay and, while a discussion of the moral and financial impact is beyond the scope of this article, it is something you should hold at the back of your mind because as they say, money speaks. Let’s be mesmerised by the pretty lights and see what gacha brings to the table. The Never Ending Story In order to continue to keep player interested gacha mechanics must have a constant stream of new characters to tempt the player into trying to acquire them. As a character without some sort of complimentary narrative holds little appeal on anything other than an aesthetic level, the demand falls on the visual novel to provide stories for all these new characters. The result is a kind of never ending narrative constructed of smaller sections focused around the current gacha characters before they are put aside for the next batch. This is not to say that there is no overarching story or constant characters, in fact many such games rely on the intrigue of their plots and likeability of the central cast to keep players hooked from one section to another and not just drift away once they have the character they wanted. Instead there is a form of plot stretching that occurs where narrative elements are drawn out for as long as possible and this is often accompanied by the introduction to more villains after the previous lot have been defeated or moving on to a new land in pursuit of some related threat. These choices are a means of reducing the workload, which would be immense undertaking due to the constant need for new ideas, through the use of a manageable framework of concepts established early on and adhered to so there is a clear direction. From looking at Fate Grand Order we can see the method and implementation of these ideas. It broadly has two super-sections in the form of the original story arc and the Lost Belts which each follow their own overarching repeated plot structures and this enables new parts to be produced quickly. Variety is still present within their sub-sections as they are given licence to alter the formula to meet their needs, so they feel familiar but not to the point of openly breaking the believability of events. The problematic impacts of this repetition are easily visible in the original story arc where it is clear the developers had no idea how to properly work around the shortcomings of the gacha's demands and the result is each sub-section’s content being thinly spread out and an uneven character representation. With more experience this would be resolved by the time of the Lost Belts, but even there you can still sometimes feel the stretch this form of narrative design demands. While repeated structures are not unique to gacha style games, they do rely on it in a manner that few other mechanical elements demand. Desirability At The Cost Of Humanity For a player to want to acquire a character from the gacha mechanics they must find them desirable both in terms of aesthetics and, often more importantly, the likeability of their personality. This leads to a unique design problem for visual novels where any character who will be part of the gacha cannot have any of the more meaningful negative aspects of humanity, such as avarice or cowardice, and if they do it is a toned down version which is treated as little more than a cute trait. Couple these issues with the fact that villains can also be part of the gacha and there are few spaces where the other side of human nature can be explored. On the flip-side, having the heroes and villains closer leads to a more even feeling narrative with there being no simple ‘bad guy’ and instead just two sides who want what is best but have different ways to achieve this end. However, even can also be one note and since all these characters lean towards certain traits there is a monotony to their predictable actions and they lack any real sense that they are living people like the player. Flexibility Beyond The Original Scope The ever present demand for more visual novel content to support the gacha mechanics has the interesting side effect of allowing for a variety of tones and subject matters that would seem out of place in a normal visual novel. These generally takes the form of events or side chapters that have only a tangential relationship with the main narrative and include things such a seasonal episodes or stories focused around side characters and world building which would otherwise not be covered. They exist to fill the gaps in between the major content releases and their nature as extras changes the player’s expectations towards them and results in the players accepting them as they are rather than expecting them add to the greater whole. From this freedom is born a flexibility not present in non gacha games to the same extent or with the willingness to step outside the original scope of the game and push the overall narrative into new and exiting places. Perhaps the most interesting example of what can be achieved with this extra content is Arknights. It has the suite of seasonal events that have become standard in the gacha sphere with the usual parade of swimsuits when summer comes around and these basic type of events serve their purpose as pallet cleansers. However, what is more interesting is the way Arknights utilises its events to expand the boarders of its world as it brings in everything from lovecraftian ideas to 20th century space sci-fi elements in order to complement the strong core narrative. It is one of the games most willing to push the envelope on what kind of interesting genres it can bring into itself in order to further the world building and it has made it one its selling points. Without the space and freedom provided by the gacha mechanics' constant demands for content these elements would not have been possible since they rely on the nature of the game’s content delivery schedule to be accepted by players. Limitations Are Where Visual Novels Are Most At Home Many games that use gacha mechanics exist within the mobile phone space and their pairing with visual novels often comes down to a need to account for the lower power of many of these machines. Above all else visual novels are excellent at making a lot out of a little and creating a compelling story from what might seem on the surface seen like a limited tool set. They are also better suited to the pick up and play style of game that is expected in the mobile sphere due to their ability to quickly load, present their narrative and finish just as quickly while also allowing for a longer form where needed. The narrative of many games with gacha mechanics tends towards a node based structure with an equal mix of visual novel and gameplay and they are often disguised as points on a map or some other in universe concept. This presentation helps set up what the player should expect from the length of each section and gives the visual novel element a known limitation to work with to ensure it adheres to the required length. As phones become more powerful there will be a move away from using visual novels as the means to telling a story and onto more traditionally ‘cinematic’ or rpg styles of presentation. The first steps in this process can be seen in games like Genshin Impact which lean heavily into other game styles for their narrative, but even then there are trace elements of the influence of visual novels to be found in the way the hangout events are constructed. Then there is the matter of screen size and how a visual novel can be a clearer method of presentation, with its simpler shapes, lack of unnecessary movement and dialogue focus, than other styles which would lack clarity as they are compressed into a smaller space and are more indistinct as a result. Conclusion Gacha mechanics have had a fascinating influence on the uses and forms of the visual novel. Their demand for a never ending story to feed the new character treadmill causes a strange mixture of short term character focus and repetitive long term narratives that create and distinct contrast with one another. Alongside this is the need for all the gacha characters to be desirable and avoid the darker elements of humanity which has the effect of making the heroes and villains relatable, but also lacking in the flaws we all have, resulting in a somewhat tragic villain leaning method of storytelling. However, the flexibility offered through the demand for content not caring about the nature of this content allows for a wider field of narrative genres to be explored to enrich what is lost through the other limitations. The very choice to use visual novels at all with gacha mechanics is a result of hardware and screen size limitations that make it an excellent fit from the technology. While introducing a gacha into your own game might be too much of a herculean task for most developers, it is nonetheless interesting to see how adaptive and innovative visual novels can be when put under pressure.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. I Laugh, You Laugh, We All Laugh Making people laugh is a particular talent and more than any other it is dramatically effected by the medium it is presented through. Stand up comedy and visual novel humour might share a similar desire to entertain but they could not be further apart in terms of how they reach that goal. The unique set of tools available to visual novels has led to a striking set of games which would not be possible in any other medium. This stems from several factors, from their relative length to the importance of thematic resonance to many visual novels, all working together to tickle the player’s funny bone. For this article the definition of a comedy visual novel will be narrowed down to games which rely on humour as a core pillar of their content and without it they would not be able to support themselves, such with Lamination. This excludes most slice of life visual novels that use humour regularly as a flavour rather than the main dish, but not those like Maji Koi where jokes are a strong enough part of their identity as to feel lacking in the absence of humour. Such an interesting spread should reveal much about the nature of the comedy visual novel, so let’s roll on the ground laughing and see what we can find. Subjectivity Of Humour Everyone has their own tastes and nowhere is this more obvious than with humour since what one person laughs at another might find boring. As such focusing your entire identity around humour runs the risk of alienating potential players when they bounce off your brand of jokes. Of course a developer could simply accept this eventuality and lean into the people it will attract by going all out to please them as Lamination does, but many other comedy visual novel instead opt to lean on other parts of visual novel design to spread their net as wide as possible. These often take the form of a secondary genre to act as a backdrop and spice the jokes up as they can rely on or subvert established ideas to create a variety to their humour without compromising its core brand. Sankaku Ren'ai: Love Triangle Trouble! and Rance represent the two extremes of this philosophy with the first leaning into school slice of life and the other high fantasy. However, despite their differing host genres these games both utilise them to smooth over possible flaws in their respective comedy. For Sankau Ren’ai this involves leaning into the romcom nature of slice of life and cracking it up to match its banter centric humour while also providing a through line of drama for every player to latch onto so they can push past jokes that do not land for them. Similarly, Rance takes its fantasy setting and uses it to give the events of the story meaningful weight even as the game often mocks the inherent absurdity of the genre’s tropes. Since both are done with an unwavering commitment they act as counter balances to allow for a well rounded experience to keep the player interested in the jokes. A strange offshoot of this problem of player retention is the spin-off comedy game which takes an established game series and inserts it into a silly setting. In doing this a developer can guarantee an audience from that previous title rather than risking an unknown new game as the host for their comedy visual novel. Having established interest is not the only benefit since these people will come into this game with a set of expectations meaning this type of visual novel often leans heavily into subvertion as a source of humour. This can be seen in games such as Corpse Party: Sweet Sachiko’s Hysteric Birthday Bash and Idol Magical Girl Chiru Chiru Michiru which take the identity of their IP and put an absurd spin on it to get the player laughing. Whether this be a magical girl version of a fan favourite character or a harmless birthday party in what was previously a death trap riddled school, there is a sense of being in on the joke held between developer and player in which both accept the non cannon nature of the work and agree to have a good time reminiscing about how far the series has come by showcasing its strong characters. The Thematic Resonance Of A Good Joke Laughter is a powerful means of getting a people to bond with characters and consider ideas in a new light. In the playful atmosphere we are taken in and lower our guard in the face of what seem to be harmless fun and it is in this state we become susceptible to engaging on a more instinctual level with what is presented to us. Just as the jester delivers news the king does not want to hear, so too do comedy visual novels utilise the same techniques to put the audience in a trance. Making jokes and laughing alongside our friends and family is a natural part of everyday human interactions and emulating this is what lends comedy much of its strength as a means of creating empathy. Two visual novels which have a large reliance on this aspect are Lamination and Marco & The Galaxy Dragon and these share the common trait of doing so through the absurdity of their events. Lamination takes a relatively grounded setting and has its character do things that seem insane but are delivered in a straight faced way by the cast, so it feels as if this is the most natural outcome in the world and in accepting their silly actions the game snares the player’s heart. The setting of Marco & The Galaxy Dragon is decidedly more overtly not related to our real world and rather than take the banal and ramping it up to insanity, it instead starts at that high point and keeps going up in ways the player is likely not expecting. Through a journey of hilarious surprises, it forges the bonds between the player and its characters and ideas since they are presented as an extension of the comedy. Of course you do not need to be out of the box in order to achieve the same resonance as Starry Flowers demonstrates with the intimate and cute humour that aims to warm your heart and through this make the joke carry emotional weight the game would otherwise lack. Comic Fatigue A joke can only remain funny for so long before it wears out its welcome and becomes tiresome and predictable. This is doubly true when a brand of humour is played out over a long time as there are a limited number of variations that can be formed to keep things fresh and stagnation often follows. Such is the fate every comedy visual novel is trying to avoid and broadly speaking there are two solutions found in these games, keep the length down to not run into this problem in the first place or rely on bringing in a narrative thread and attaching it to the established resonance between player and characters. In a concise structure the humour can focus on hitting as hard as possible at all the times since the player will have completed the game before they can become burned out on it. This is the most common approach to comedy visual novels and can be seen in titles like OshiRabu: Waifus Over Husbandos which embrace their short duration as part of their identity to create satisfying morsels to be enjoyed for their intense flavour then cast aside and forgotten. Having such a direct angle to their humour does intensify the issue of a player bouncing off the experience due to it not matching their tastes but the lower cost of production ensure this does not lose enough revenue to effect the end product. Conclusion When talking about comedy visual novels there is the temptation to dismiss them as simple in nature, just pushing out one joke after another with no sense of greater purpose, but as has been shown this is far from the reality. The risk brought about by the subjectivity of humour makes many such games adopt a secondary genre to act as background to prevent their jokes from becoming too one note. In doing this they can leverage their biggest strength in the form of a thematic resonance with the player through the cathartic and empathetic natures of comedy to sell the characters and ideas present throughout. They also have to consider their length since the longer a brand of humour goes on the more the player will suffer from comic fatigue. Some aim for a short and direct experience while others choose to lean on other narrative elements to prevent the player from losing interest. Overall the comedy visual novel is a strange beast which captures the strengths of the medium and introduces its own unique challenges to form a humorous journey that hits deeply and makes you smile.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre - Horror, Yuri Play Time - 25 hours Developer - Success Steam VNDB Shaped By Inevitable Bonds Being bound by the red string of fate is a common trope in Japanese romance stories and at first glance you might assume that Akai Ito would follow these conventions given its emphasis on yuri. However, nothing could be further from the truth as the game takes this romantic convention and repurposes it to further a disempowerment horror story. Fate takes on a shade of grey with the feeling of love being tinged by the march of supernatural forces who care nothing for this newly formed bond. Akai Ito is very much a visual novel from a bygone era and this makes it a strange oddity in the modern day especially with how few games in the medium get HD remasters. Its strong core identity has only grown in potency as its peers have fallen into obscurity and a lack of the cliches of the current age makes for a novel experience. Even its strange collection of design choices are not enough to sour the overall package. With all that said how well does this mix of yuri and horror stand up against the more varied modern medium? Let’s follow the treads of fate and discover what this relic has to offer. Returning To A Forgotten Home – Narrative and Themes As a narrative core romance and horror make for odd bedfellows and it this exact dissonance Akai Ito uses to great effect. It utilises a supernatural mystery as the binding element between these two halves and puts each to good use as the source of the tense horror of being in the shoes of a weak protagonist and for rich variety of yuri relationships. Sometimes this is pushed too far and stretches the player’s patience with just how powerless the protagonist is even in situations where it does not make narrative sense. Returning to a family home you barely remember is a strange experience with memories slowly coming back as you explore the place where you once spent so much time. Such is the backbone of Akai Ito’s supernatural mystery, a forgotten past in a distant home which many people who would rather the protagonist, Kei, forget for good. No secret can remain hidden for long when curiosity guides the one it concerns and this acts as the diving force for both Kei and the player leading to a feeling of exploration and forward momentum. Each new discovery hints at the next and passes on the sense of intrigue in such a way that the player never feels too sure they know how this is going to end. There is a well divided structure to the distribution of key revelations between the routes so none of them horde all the good twists and they are provided to the heroine with which they have a connection, so they can be delivered believably. What this means in practice is utilising them as a source of conflict against and between Kei and the route heroine creating dynamic situations in which secrets flow out naturally. In doing it this way the supernatural mystery can sit next to the other narrative elements without overwhelming them with major plot points centred around it. Alongside the mystery sits the game’s emphasis on a tense disempowerment brand of horror. Kei is no superpowered fighter nor does she become so over the course of the story. Instead she is a fairly average human in terms of physical capabilities and this makes the threats against her life all the more palpable. The player instinctually know the consequences of any harm that comes her way since they too feel the fragility of human life with each attack being a possible broken limb at best or instant death at worse. Tapping into this primal fear of our own weak bodies and the spectre of death in every possible slip up is the game’s greatest achievement and it injects a visceral sense of tension into the supernatural threat facing Kei. It feels as if even the slightest nudge could cause this story to come to an abrupt and bloody end. The only issue with this approach is that Kei’s weakness can sometimes be pushed too far and she feels like a passenger in her own story with her love interests doing all the heavy lifting to the point of eclipsing the person who is meant to be the main character. While this never makes itself know enough to break the player’s suspense, it can still be distracting to see how little our main character does at times in their own story. Tied Together By Fate – Characters On one side of the character divide with have our protagonist Kei who as mentioned above is a deliberately underpowered character for the threats they are facing, but beyond that they are also immensely relatable. Their vulnerability makes the actions they take to face the threat against their life take on a greater weight and helps sell the human nature of their heroism. Kei is not someone who is helping out of the goodness of her heart and instead she acts to protect and support those she cares about, normally the route heroine. The childish and selfish streak in her does a good job of making feel like she is someone her age, on the cusp of maturity but still with a lot of the emotional baggage of a teenager. For a player point of view character, this mixture of strengths and weakness is perfect for keeping interest constant and having a relatable point of reference among all the supernatural forces since we have all been in that cusp of adulthood during our lives so we too know how confusing it can be. She also works well as a mirror for the heroines since she has the innocence that they do not and is able to see through the masks they wear and show them their true feeling even as they try to reject her. These bonds are reciprocal as Kei learns and matures in a way close to the route’s heroine by taking on a small amount of their traits so she can be more like them. Sitting opposite Kei is the rest of the cast, both heroines and antagonists, as they all share a similar clear focus to their aims even if Kei is not immediately aware of what they are or what they involve. These competing desires lead to them rubbing each other the wrong way and results in interesting, telling and varied interactions that do a lot to further the mysteries at the heart of the game. The conflicts are not limited to fighting against the antagonists and many stem from the heroines’ differing values as they struggle to contain their hostility or unease towards each other, all the while tiptoeing around Kei. Such a wide pool of character relationships helps support the game’s multiple route structure as it can put an emphasis on a certain set of struggles to make them the focus, keep them fresh and encourages a thorough dive into each route to gain a complete picture of these characters. The mystique surrounding the antagonists is maintained by never revealing enough through these interactions to give away what drives them or what they have planned, but still provide enough for the player to form their own theories. As a whole they are an astonishingly well thought through cast that fit their roles and the tone of the game well. Otherworldly Beauty – Visuals, Audio and Technical Presentation is one of the key elements used to sell this HD remaster and, while the original version never released in English, there has been a clear effort to make sure it lives up to these expectations. This new layer of polish breaths life into an early 2000’s title with crisp visuals and increased fidelity which helps enhance the game’s tone by giving it a grounded aesthetic. The charm of this older style of anime character and CG designs is not lost in the transfer into HD and now it stands out even more alongside a field of moe centric visual novels, making it a refreshing blast from the past. However, the visuals have not been stretched to fit into a widescreen resolution and instead light patterned sidebars have been added to fill out what would have been black bars around the image. These are relatively unobtrusive and to be expected since this is a remaster rather than a remake and they never intrude into the experience in the way simple black bars would have. On the audio front the sound effects and music maintain the excellent atmosphere of the original and they are clear to the listener with no distortions. Each track is used to great effect and they all lean into the mystery and romantic tones that define Akai Ito which leads to some impressively emotive moments. Despite the general high quality of Akai Ito, there is one area bringing down the whole experience and this is the uneven nature of the translation and its implementation. The overall quality of the translation is decent, but there are certain places were it stumbles and these happen often enough to be distracting. One of the most noticeable places to observe this is in the menus where some text is translated very literally to the point of requiring you to stop and think about what the button you are hovering over actually means. Within the game itself there will be moments where the phrasing of certain sentences will be unnatural or flow poorly and you’ll wonder if you misread it which brings you out of the events on screen. Then there are the issues with how text is implemented into the game, it is a regular feature for a single section of text to be broken into several textboxes with one ending suddenly and shifting directly into the next in a way that makes it clear that the original text occupied a single textbox. This can lead to the text lacking the impact it might have otherwise had if it was delivered as a single blow rather than being split up. All these points are disappointing given the otherwise high bar of the game’s quality and are worth keeping in mind when considering your purchase. Conclusion On the surface mixing yuri and horror might seem to be a recipe for disaster but Akai Ito showcases a strong case from how taking two disparate genre together can lead to exciting new games. Smoothly blending the suspense of its supernatural mystery with the horror of our own fragile mortal bodies and the enriching and varied nature of love is the main draw of this visual novel. Backing this up is a solid cast of multifaceted heroines and villains alongside a protagonist who displays a strong humanity in her actions. This strength continues in its visual and auditory presentation which has benefited highly from the HD treatment. The only places the game stumbles are in its uneven translation and frustrating lock system, but neither of these do enough to ruin an otherwise well put together title. Verdict – An outstanding disempowerment horror experience that utilises its yuri component with grace and which stands out despite its age and a few questionable design choices. Pros - + A good balance of supernatural mystery and tension keeps the narrative engaging. + The yuri relationships are presented believably and never overshadow the story’s direction. + Clear and crisp HD visuals that retain the charm of their originals. + Plays up the protagonist vulnerability just enough to enable the horror elements. Cons - - Translation can be a bit strange at times and there is a lack of polish when it comes to how it is integrated into the game. - The lock system creates unnecessary confusion and serves only to frustrate the player. - The protagonist can be a bit too passive in the events determining her very survival and often leaves things to her love interest rather than doing it herself.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Shiny New Things Everyone likes to be rewarded for their effort and video games are happy to oblige with a variety of Extra Unlockable Content. These bonuses are often treated as a side show disconnected from the important main sections of the game and relegated to a sub menu where it has little impact on the greater structure. For visual novels this unlockable content has a much more profound effect them due to its more limited design space and options, leading to the choice to include these extras stand out. Both developers and players perceive the game differently depending on how this feature is handled and it achieves everything from holding player interest to encouraging an exploration of the narrative space. Not all the consequences are good and a poorly implemented extra can undermine key tonal and thematic elements. When talking about Unlockable Extra Content this article does not mean the unlockables common to most visual novels, such as a CG or music gallery, but instead to the bonuses that go above a beyond with side stories, concept art or even entire extra games. These stand out the most and draw the attention of the player because of the effort they showcase and as such they influence perception to a greater degree. With all that out of the way, let’s be filled with a sense of achievement and dive into the world of Unlockable Extra Content. Rewarding The Player’s Interest On its most basic level, Unlockable Extra Content provides a key means of rewarding the player in order to keep them invested in the game. Broadly speaking these rewards take two forms, those unlocked over the course of the game and those unlocked after the game’s completion. Incremental bonuses act as a bread crumble trail for the player and cue them into the fact that they are progressing in the right direction. Each individual reward does not even need to be the actual bonuses themselves, but instead the promise of a future unlockable as can be seen in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. In this game the player is given a currency as they play and overcome certain challenges and this currency can be spent to unlock whatever they desire in the extras menu. Here the possibility of what the player could unlock if they continue playing is more powerful than the actual content and serves as an excellent motivation for casuals and completionists alike. Encouraging Exploration Of Narrative Space Incentives can be used in far more specific ways to steer player behaviour and for visual novels this involves getting them to explore the game’s narrative space. Many players will be tempted to stick to the most direct path through the game since they will be invested in the central narrative force and sideline the rest of the content. This is a major issue for visual novels with a more open narrative space or those who want to encourage certain slower pacing as it directs the player into a narrow and hard to control head space. What Unlockable Extra Content does is offer another avenue to try and correct the player impression of the game into the developer’s intended one. Both Fate Hollow Ataraxia and Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk utilise bonus side stories to achieve this effect, but the implementation and exact results could not be more different. For Fate Hollow Ataraxia these side stories present the player with a direct incentive to explore beyond what is required to complete the game as they can only be unlocked through none mandatory content. This steers the player by giving them a concrete signal that what lies beyond the beaten path is intended as part of the core experience and rewards those who are curious about what it has to offer. In contrast Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk uses its side stories as a means to expand the narrative space in a more direct fashion through the very stories themselves which act as a supplement to make the player give greater consideration of events. Their optional nature also means they are not invasive and instead provide a gentle nudge for the player to consider other sides to the story to improve their overall experience. Changing Pace And Context Sometimes we need a break from the core direction of a visual novel, because either it is too emotionally taxing or gives clear stopping points, and unlockable bonus content can be exactly what is needed to keep interest within the context of the game. These often break the tone of the main content completely and many even address the production of the game itself in order to provide as much distance as possible. By showing another angle on the game’s material the player’s interest can be brought back to the main sections once they have finished with the extra content, ensuring a cycle of highs and downtime as new bonuses are unlocked that helps balance out the overall length of the game. However, it can also backfire on the visual novel since if the extra content is too disconnected from the tone and substance of the main content then a player may feel completely brought out of the experience the game was trying to sell and lose any enthusiasm to continue. We can look to Corpse Party: Blood Drive for a template of this approach to bonus content. Its unlockable material runs the whole spectrum from collectable tags to short audio snippets from the voice actors and they work as contrasting points which build a small area separate from the intense horror of the main game. Being so focused around fear makes Blood Drive susceptible to burning people out since there is only so long a person can stand to be held in tension before they long for something else, as such have a side space to unwind does wonders for keeping this pressure from become overbearing. Gamification At The Cost Of Immersion Not all applications of Unlockable Extra Content are beneficial to visual novels and using it inappropriately can risk a damaging gamification of key narrative spaces. Bonuses are inherently external to the core direction of the game since they hang off the side as optional segments and so when they are highlighted they draw attention to work’s nature as a game. This is not an entirely bad feature with many of the above benefits relying on a mild use of this disconnect, but should a visual novel lean on it unnecessarily or in a way that contradicts the intended tone then the consequences can be quite dire. Take for example Fate Stay Night, its has a collection element to its bad endings and getting them all results in a special scene not available through other means. The desire to collect stands in firm opposition to the way the main game depicts the bad endings as undesirable since the outcomes are terrible for characters the player has come to care about. In this confused messaging the tension these endings are meant to provide is lost as the player is pulled in two directions and given how many of them there are it is an ever present reminder that this is a game leading to the possibility of player apathy. Conclusion Visual novels are a sum of their parts in a way other types of games do not have to deal with and this is exemplified by the influence Unlockable Extra Content can has on them. They provide strong incentives to explore the rich narrative space available for the player while rewarding the time the player commits to the game and offering a change of pace so they remain engaged. Of course it is by these same methods a visual novel might be ruined since there can be an unintended gamification of serious and emotional elements which leds to a regular undermining of its tone. However, as a tool for a developer, Unlockable Extra Content is a surprisingly precise instrument that gives them a subtle way to shift the player’s perceptions of the overall experience and as such should definitely be taken into consideration when you are making your own visual novel.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Through The Lies And Deception Of all the genres Mystery is perhaps the one visual novels have the most tools of engage with. The levels of subtly and the precise execution needed to ensure a balance between the known and unknown so that the player is never lost is no easy task and demands a degree of control many games lack. At the same time they have to be able to spin other delicate plates such as character empathy and a natural feeling escalation to make sure none of these can come at the cost of the core mystery. The ability of visual novels to achieve these aims smoothly can be seen in the many types of mystery on offer from murder mystery to death games to supernatural happenings and with new ones popping up every day. So let’s puzzle our way through the villain's web and find out what mystery means for visual novels. Subtly, Setup and Solvable Mysteries The most important parts of any mystery are the clues provided to the player and the game’s ability to convey them. If they are too obvious then the player will figure out what is going on before the big reveal and too subtle then they may miss out on information leading to a feeling that the mystery makes no sense. Fortunately for visual novels, their natural narrative closeness to events opens a space into which clues and hints can be dropped without seeming out of place due to the way they are blended into the words and actions of the characters and world. Not only does this include what is said, but also the way something is framed as there is a lot of control over how something is presented to the player available to visual novels. This setup ultimately results in a more satisfying pay off when the player find out which of their deductions were correct while still being surprised at the twists offered. There are few visual novels with a more complicated central mystery than Virtue’s Last Reward yet it makes the most out of each element to keep the player informed even if they do not know it yet. Its clean integration of cleaver hints into exposition and narrative beats as well as the way it makes full use of its leanings into 3d space to convey the subtle intentions of its cast gives the game a sense effortless intrigue to its mysteries. Intimacy With The Detective A compelling and well structured mystery is nothing if the player does not care for the person investigating it. The detective comes in many forms from a professional to those who are forced into the role by circumstance. They are generally the focal point of all conflict in the narrative and by extension the mysteries. Visual novels tend towards an intimacy centring around characters and in particular the point of view character who in mysteries is often the detective or their assistant. This presence inside their mind and the way it allows us into their lives and struggles in an all consuming manner helps create a parallel between their personal victories and their solving of the mysteries the game’s story rotates around. Through these bonds visual novels can create a cohesive experience and avoid any potential issues were the mysteries seem detached from the detective’s own struggles or the detective being uninteresting and pushed into the background by the mysteries. Despite the fact that both Higurashi and Umineko switch between point of view characters, they know to make sure the player is engaged with the current detective through how much the characters has to lose if they fail and uses paranoia and misdirection to put you into their head space. These game series understand how to use the perspective provided by visual novels to shape a relationship between player and the detective’s plight which they milk for every drop it is worth. In a similar vein, Chaos Child uses the detective perspective to misdirect, narrows their perception of the world to down to a point and makes them clearly unreliable. Yet they are our only window into this mystery so we have hope to piece together the truth by closely examining their behaviour to get a sense of how they think. This subtly moves the player into the detective’s head space and results in a very similar connection and impact to both Higurashi and Umineko, showcasing how wide the means of applying this idea are for visual novels. Open Narrative Exploration From a higher level design perspective the structure of the narrative space offered by visual novels and the player’s means of exploring it contribute a lot to the medium’s compatibility with mystery stories. The routes and winding pathways visual novel are know for are the perfect home to hide mysteries within while still having an exceptional degree of control over when and what is shown. Moreover the way this open structure encourages the player to explore the space around the mystery for clues and move towards an understanding of both the mystery and the greater narrative they are passing through. In doing this visual novels can provide engagement with the player being allowed to proceed in an order decided by them and at the same time subtly controlling their perceptions through the previously mention methods. This leads to the mysteries permeating every level from meta to micro which makes the experience of playing a mystery focused visual novel an captivating affair. We can see this practice even as far back as YU-NO with its free-form common route and various heroine routes all feeding the player’s curiosity as to what is around the next metaphorical corner with the teasing of the possibilities of a different path. Emphasising this idea of structure as part of the mystery has almost become its own subgenre of visual novels which follow in the footsteps of games like YU-NO and maybe more influentially Ever 17 which has resulted in this design opportunity going relatively unexplored outside this niche. Conclusion Few genres require the level of technical and narrative polish to achieve their aims that the mystery genre demands from its developers. The delicate balance present in these games makes them a difficult proposition for many since a single split up with how you frame your clues can have the whole experience coming crashing down. However, it is precisely these restriction which allow visual novels to merge with the genre so well. This manifests in everything from its ability to give the stories a narrative closeness which offers both a chance to blend clues seamlessly into its scenes as well as create a bond with the detective to the more open structure exploration that gives a sense of investment and agency for the player to latch on to. In combination the result is a toolset that has produced some of the greatest mystery titles in any medium and still has space to grow as new avenues of structural expression are developed.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – Supernatural, Action, Mystery Play Time – 9 hours per game Developer – Palette Steam VNDB No Power Without Consequence Everyone wants superpowers and think themselves far more capable of using them than the fictional heroes from comics or movies, but what they rarely consider is that for every hero there must be a monster and this monster will be destructive to their lives in ways they cannot begin to imagine. Such is the backbone of the threat which hang in air for 9 -nine-’s entire duration as while its protagonist Niimi Kakeru gains supernatural powers and loyal friends, he has to contend with an equally powerful murderer who has little interest in playing by the rules and a willingness to kill that continues to surprise Kakeru with each death. This urban fantasy visual novel chooses to present this suspense laden tale through a series of separately released episodes with each one covering a different heroine and forming a complete story. Rather than talking about them individually this review will cover the series in its totality and examine the broad strengths and weakness present in all the episodes while avoiding spoilers wherever possible. There is a fair amount to discuss as 9 -nine- showcases the episodic storytelling well and how a more plot orientated narrative is effected by this design choice. Let’s investigate some murders and find out if this plot hook can support an entire series. Cycles Of Fate – Narrative And Themes When constructing a narrative over the course of a series of episodes it can be difficult to maintain a coherent vision with each release being upwards of half a year apart from one another. This strain works in 9 -nine-’s favour as well as against it and the result is a series characterised by a continual identity painted in contradictory colours. Its compelling mysteries and excellent superpowered fights live alongside a constant tension between the romance and plot elements of each episode. In the first game’s opening hours two big mysteries take centre stage, the origin and nature of the powers the cast now find themselves with and the identity of the murderer who has been going around petrifying their victims. These provide a sense of threat to the character’s safety on an internal and external level making the early sections a series of tense encounters where everyone is potentially out to get the cast. Obviously this is not sustainable over the course of an entire series so the later games smartly shift onto other mysteries of a more immediate and plot centric nature to compliment the shift into open conflict with the antagonists. Moving through these differing styles of narrative gives a good sense of forward momentum to the series as a whole and keeps the threats faced by the cast feeling fresh. This is on top of how the stories distinct to each episode feed into these overarching mysteries in a well thought through manner leads to a positive feedback loop of connected events and character arc playing into one another to form a cohesive series. Despite the occasion hiccup between plots of individual episodes the space provided by the staggered releases has been put to good use to ensure the best possible narrative escalation and mysteries to keep the player guessing even to the end. By far the biggest black mark against the 9 -nine- series is the tension and unevenness existing between the romance and plot elements of each episode. This takes the form of the sudden and jarring shifting between the two parts, one moment you will be having a climatic plot revelation and the next the game will ‘remember’ it has a romance it needs to progress and switch over without any transition creating a sense of whiplash. The issue is mostly concentrated in the latter two episodes where the plot takes centre stage as the stakes are upped, but they still felt the need to include romances for the remaining heroines even when it does little for the narrative. Separately these elements are excellent in their quality, it is only when they rub up against one another that their issues emerge and it becomes clear there are problems with how the game handles them. What was once the palette cleanser now feels hollow and tone deaf to what is going on around the characters as their very lives are on the line. There is a time and a place for everything and this is something these episodes struggle with. Powers Maketh The Man – Characters Gaining supernatural abilities is no walk in the park and changes the person who now plays host to them. The characters reflect their powers often in surprising ways when their multilayered personalities rub against one another as they form a team to take down the killer. A colourful central cast is one of the most memorable elements of 9 -nine- and especially how well they interact with Kakeru in their own easy to identity manner. It is a shame that the villains by comparison are such a mixed bag with many of them being flat and having extremely weak motivations. Team dynamics are key to a visual novel as focused on a small cast as 9 -nine- is and the game’s characters are careful structured in order to take advantage of this expectation. We have the morally upstanding Kujou Miyako, the bantering little sister Niimi Sora, the shy and sweet senpai Kousaka Haruka and the chuunibyou leader of the group Yuuki Noa. Each one bring their own flare to the team to create a melting pot of beliefs and personalities that help to sell the current episode’s heroine as the remaining members support her growth and love. This cycling in and out of the spotlight for each team member gives a chance for them to shine and it means that even when they recede into the background their arcs are still reflected in the way they treat each other. There are also small shifts in the dynamic to fit the themes of individual episodes with each character assuming subtly different roles in a way that helps sell the ideas of the narrative without compromising the integrity of the characters. These smart uses of the main cast gives them a palpable life and provides a sense of belong to this group of misfits as they overcome the trials before them. It is a real shame that the villains the cast fight are such a mixed bag. Rather than matching the charisma and flare of the heroines, they are instead a collection of generically evil people with equally weak motivations. They do most of their actions because just because they are evil and cruel and for little other reason which makes them come across as flat. Early on this is not so much of an issue since the mystery of their identity and motives conceal them which makes them threatening, but in later episodes, when this is no longer the case, they can become quite boring and lack presence. Being generically evil can work if the characters play into in a convincing way and embrace the somewhat hammy nature of this archetype. However, 9 -nine-’s villains do not commit and instead feel undercooked and sloppy implemented. There is one exception to this and that is Ghost. She is the first villain to reveal herself and she commits to the idea of being evil in an almost gleeful way which helps her come across as both threatening and genuine in her actions. Her overall believability is also enhanced by the fact that she is not tied solely into the role of villain and as events swing things around she is adapted to fit them and this makes her a strangely endearing character who can proudly sit alongside the heroines for how good she is as a personality. Artefacts Of Astonishing Beauty – Visual, Audio And Technical From a technical standpoint the best way to describe 9 -nine- is solid but uninspired. Its visuals are what you would expect when you imagine a modern day title in this genre. Backgrounds and character portraits are clean and expressive while CGs come in fun normal and chibi varieties, but there is very little about them that gives them any sense of their own identity. Place them side by side with many other visual novels and you would struggle to tell them apart. In terms of features it has the suite that players have come to expect with quick save and load options as well as control over small elements like what animations play. This mediocrity never draw attention to itself and there are no parts of actively bad quality which allows them to sink from view and not obscure the strong narrative and character beats. The only exception to this is the outstanding soundtrack that is worth listening to even separately to the game. It is a mix of emotive mood music and distinctive battle and scene themes working to tie each story's beat to a tone in an impactful way. It easily stands head and shoulders above the quality of the rest of technical experience. In terms of choices and player agency there is some, but it just a choice about what order to experience the content or choices that exist for thematic or narrative purposes. 9 -nine- likes to express key plot elements through choices and has the player act out this part of the character’s actions to give them a little role playing immersion. The game does not try to hide what it is doing and it is clear very early on that all choices have no consequences so the player does not feel cheated later on. On the other side of this game’s choices are the ones where it opens the game up a little and gives several paths forwards which must all be complete but can be done in any order. These sections of freedom are a good change in pace and provide a direct sense that the narrative is progressing in a solid and comprehensible way. You should understand what to expect from the game and not come in with ideas about being able to decide anything meaningful. Verdict – The new standard for superpowered action episodic visual novels which combines excellent characters and mysteries with a proper sense of escalation. Even if it sometimes has trouble smoothly merging its elements together. Pros + Compelling series of superpowered mysteries that careful shift as the tone of the episodes changes. + Actions scenes blend character motivations with cool powers for a very satisfying experience. + The main team has some excellent group chemistry and their fun interactions are a joy to watch. + Solid presentation and technical polish supported by an excellent soundtrack. Cons - There is a tension between the romantic and plot elements of the narrative and the transition between the two is often not smooth. - The villains are mostly generically evil in presentation and come across as boring and predictable. - The presentation and technical elements do nothing special and you would struggle to tell them apart from any of their peers.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Divergent Paths To The Future For the longest time when you wanted to know how to get to a specific route in a visual novel the only options open to you where trial and error or looking up a walkthrough. However, in more recent years there has been a trend to include built-in flowcharts that fill out as the player progresses through the game. These help the player understand the structure they are working within as well as the consequences of each choice. More importantly it opens up an interesting design space for visual novels to interact with and set up their narratives around to increase the player’s engagement and sell these games as a total experience. It is rare for a game to have such direct avenue to show its internal workings and this offers a unique opportunity to examine how a player reacts to having this knowledge. With all this said, the built-in flowchart’s biggest benefit is also its biggest weakness as all mystery about action and consequence is lost which is a killing blow for any visual novel focused around those things. There is definitely a fine line to be found here so let’s trace the paths of destiny and discover what this design element means for visual novels. The Utility Of The Flowchart By far the most common reason for the inclusion of a built-in flowchart is the developer’s desire to provide a tool of convenience that allows for an easy presentation of the visual novel’s structure. This feature allows the player access to information that would normal be hidden and removes the need to look for external sources of information to help complete the game. These flowcharts often include a function to select and jump to one of the displayed scenes which Yuzusoft games, such as Senren * Banka, have made a core part of their accessibility features. Despite how simple these games are structurally, the ability to jump where the player needs to go frees them from needing to sit through the same common route content that they have already played through, and instead get to the next route without unnecessary delays. For visual novels which aim to keep the player engaged through emotion rather than complicated plots, this removal of downtime is a great benefit as it ensures the player will not lose their bond with the characters that might occur while they skip through material. Standing on the opposite side are the plot heavy game who benefit from the flowchart in the clarity it brings to their intricate plots and the way it gives the player a set of guidelines to follow what is going on. Sorcery Jokers is a good example of how this is implemented as it has two protagonists who act separately from one another and they are often doing things at the same time as each other. It can be difficult to conceptualise how the two protagonists’ stories relate to one another with the constant jumping back and forth between them and this is where the flowchart comes in. Through showing the relationships between events in visual form the game brings an order to the plot which can be easily understood at a glance even as the big twists are revealed. Flowcharts As Narrative And Mechanical Tools While many visual novels simply use built-in flowcharts for utility purposes, their representation of the narrative’s structure offers an intriguing angle through which the player can be addressed and the very structure can be put to use to tell the story. The way that the flowchart often grows as the player explores the game space not only gives them a sense of forward momentum in sync with events and characters, but can also do the opposite and provide a sense of being trapped in a maze and constantly running into dead ends. For the sense of confinement that the flowchart contributes to, there can be no better example than the Zero Escape games. These visual novels all focus around characters being trapped in an unknown place and forced into a game for their lives. Everything in these titles rotates around feelings of isolation and loss of control, this includes the flowchart which invokes these emotions through showcasing the blocked and spider web like paths available while daring you to overcome them. On a similar level of narrative complexity we have 428: Shibuya Scramble, but rather than trying to sell an oppressive feeling the flowchart instead works to give the game a sense of constant progress. In combination with the switching between characters the flowchart facilitates, its stream of newly revealed scenes and how they relate to one another pushes the player forward on a tide of new information that stimulates them at every turn. These two contrasting uses of the narrative incorporation of the flowchart demonstrate the degree of flexibility it has as a means of targeting the player’s perception of events in a meta context. Incompatible With Immersion Despite the many opportunities and benefits that having a built-in flowchart provides the developer, it is not something all visual novels find desirable to include due to its effect on the player’s immersion in the narrative. Between the complicated web like narratives of games like the Zero Escape series and the simple structures of a Yuzusoft game are a set of visual novels focused around telling a story interested in emphasising their plots but only offer a limited axis for player choice. If these games where to include a flowchart they would lose any ability to derive tension from their choices as the player could easily see at a glance their extremely linear and simplistic nature. Since choices are one of the primary methods of engagement for visual novels, this makes the flowchart a poison for this subset of games and has led to their continual absence from many titles despite the increasing adoption in many others. Conclusion Presenting the game’s internal structures to the player has a surprisingly diverse effect on how they perceive it. The built-in flowchart provide a developer with not only a useful utility but also a strong meta narrative element to engage the player. It is a clear method of presenting information and ensures the player knows the actions and consequences available to them while also giving them a means to jump to a desired scene. Within a narrative context it offers a visual means of conveying an emotional tone without any need to specificly spell it out and instead have it seep into player’s mind on a subconscious level. Of course, as with all tools it is not a fit for every game and those which rely on mystery or the concealment of the action and consequence economy would be harmed if they where to include one since it undermines a key strength. So should you include a built-in flowchart in your visual novel? If your game is not aiming for a tone which would be damaged by its presence then it should be a definite consideration. The flowchart is a tool of convenience many players are coming to expect from their visual novels so they do not have to rely on external sources to complete your game.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Obsessive Love The Yandere is perhaps the most iconic ‘Dere’, not just within visual novels but within the more general anime fandom, with their distinctive mix of love and violence, they have found their way into everything from Comedy to Slice of Life. It is the particular combination of Yandere and Horror that is the focus today and the way this niche aspect of visual novels has captured the hearts of many. For what appears to be a simple concept at first sight, there is a surprising amount of variety to the Yandere through how they create fear as well as how they play into the work in its totality. On top of this, the normal side to a Yandere’s personality has a lot a posibilities to it which helps obfuscate the Yandere and suprise the player, but also provide a humanising element to drive home the contradiction in their nature. So let’s lock our crush in the basement and examine this fascinating sub-genre. Defining The Yandere In short, a Yandere is an individual who initially appears to be normal and caring but once the mask drops reveals themselves to be willing to resort to violence, be that against the target of their affection or those around them, in order to right something they perceive as intruding on their idealised vision of a relationship. The mental instability which characterises them when the mask is off is focused around this idea of violence, but this does not always mean it has to be physical in nature and more often than not it is a psychological angle that the Yandere takes to achieve their desires. In turn there is also an elemement of them being true to that desire in a way no other type of character can be. This would almost be an admirable trait if not for the extreme to which they take it. It is these extremes surrounding their romances that separates the Yandere from someone who is merely possessive and manipulative and it is in them where the horror finds its material. Their mask or ‘dere’ side is not a completely fake exterior and instead is a more even version of their true nature crafted to allow them to exist in society. They are a presentation of the way human interactions and hierarchies change a person and how it twists our true selves taken to its logical extreme in pursuit of the one thing that might set them free, the unconditional love of another. Through the combination of these two halves the idea of the Yandere has burned itself into our consciousness and is ripe for exploiting to create a sense of fear. A Matter Of Degrees When it comes to the usage of the Yandere in horror there are broadly two ways of integrate it into the narrative, make it the sole focus or use it to highlight a specific moment. These two offer vastly different executions of the Yandere due to their contrasting uses of space and their differing aims. However, this contrast reveals some interesting aspect of the sub-genre. Forming a game around the concept of Yandere Horror presents some interesting challenges, especially since the focus on a Yandere is often used as the primary selling point of the title and as a result the player already has some idea about what is going to happen. So rather than try to pretend that the Yandere is not going to appear, they instead lean into this inevitability as a source of tension and dread as the player knows that the peaceful life and love presented to them will end soon and this makes them jumpy at even the slightest sign that something is wrong. This technique is exaggerated by the way these games make the real Yandere hard to spot and giving other characters red herring personality traits to throw people off and the player is often led to jump at shadows or misread the situation as they too slowly descend the spiral towards paranoia. Traumermaid provides a good example of how these ideas are implemented in practice. It plays up the cliches of returning to your home town after an absence as well as being reunited with childhood friends to create an almost inviting atmosphere. However, from the very start something is subtly off and the player can feel it but it is difficult to pin down exactly what it is that makes them feel this way. Only as the curtain is pulled back and the illusion of peace shattered does the source of this fear become clear. Assisted by its leanings into the trappings of fairy tales, the encroachment of the Yandere pulls the player deeper into the spiral of disaster. Drawing the entire experience around Yandere Horror is an all consuming task for a game and in turn that is felt by the player. Tension Between Desire, Love and Ownership The aspects of the Yandere which horror utilises all revolve around the ways they reflect back onto us the darker parts of our desire and relationships, the thoughts we never act upon. Ownership is the idea the Yandere taps into the most with them often becoming paranoid that the target of their affection might be stolen away from them. We all want to be the focus of our partner's affection and may even get a little jealous when they turn to talk to others, but, since most people are well balanced enough to realise these feelings are illogical, we do not act on them. However, the fact that those thoughts existed inspires a quiet fear of our own thoughts and what sort of person we would be if we acted upon them and a hope that nobody else would act on similar thoughts against us. By contrast the Yandere does not have that filter or self control and so acts on this part of themselves and as a result are a figure we can empathise with while also fearing since we know what their desire demand and what it means for us. Building a bond between the player and the Yandere before the inevitable decay into madness is key for this element of Yandere Horror to work correctly and The Way We All Go showcases this set up extremely well. It achieves this through mixing in romance to the formula to humanise the Yandere and deal with them within an everyday context to drive home just how similar to the player they really are before they lose control. The banality also acts as a contrast to the extremes of the acts performed later by the Yandere and they stand out all the more, but at the same time these actions calls back to those simpler times to make it clear where the Yandere’s line of logic originated from. Sometimes there is nothing scarer than a person pushed to their limits. What Lurks Behind The Smile People can be scary, they hide their true intentions behind masks to get what they want or lie to play the social game to the point that we can never be truly sure we know even our closest friends. While this line of logic is mostly just nonsense as very few people are actively out to get you, the thoughts which lead to it have a power over our imagination perfect for Yandere Horror. The Yandere is the epitome of this fear with a loving exterior concealing their violent and dark inner thoughts. Playing into this concealment is by far Yandere Horror’s greatest tool as it makes even the simplest actions come across as suspicious to the player in order to build up tension or creates a greater sense of betrayal and being up the creek without a paddle. Tapping into this opportunity requires the game to commit a decent amount of time as YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story does with a large section of its first half being used to presenting a veneer of sanity and normality for both the characters and the setting. A lot of effort is placed into preventing the player from sniffing out what is going to happen and at the same time creating a feeling of unease that the player wants to shake off as their own natural paranoia. The game’s use of fourth wall adds a directness to this switch as the person being addressed by the Yandere’s darker desires is not some in game character but instead the player themselves. This breaking of the fourth wall follows the same escalation as the treat posed by the Yandere and this ensures that it does not come across as silly due to a smother transition into these elements. Conclusion The Yandere is an odd creature, at once loving and faithful yet also violent and possessive, but it is exactly this contradiction that makes it the perfect subject for visual novel horror. This can be the entire focus of the experience or just an aspect to highlight a key moment. Regardless of which is chosen both share the common desire to play up the tension of the Yandere’s reveal and actions around the player character. Much of the fear invoked by the Yandere is born from how their actions are exaggerated version of our own thoughts. They act on the parts of ourselves we would rather deny, our possessiveness, jealousy and fear of the two faced nature of humans. So when the Yandere appears before us it is a mirror onto our own faults and the urge to look away is just as strong as the desire to stare in facination. Yandere Horror is a fascinating sub-genre and spreads well beyond the visual novels covered here and, since it works well as a supplementary element, there is a lot of explore if anything here has tickled your interests.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Verdict – A surprisingly thoughtful game which blends its strong characters and complex themes into a narrative which grips from beginning to end. Pros - + The themes of individuality and community are etched into every part of the game and it makes for an immersive experience. + Utilises it setting to cleverly question the value of the modern world. + Characters are endearing in all the right ways. + Time spent with the supporting cast helps sell the world and its inhabitance. Cons - - Has major tonal issues and struggles to keep a straight face when needed. - This version of the game lack polish and comes across as stilted and off especially during action scenes. - Some characters struggle to justify their existence and merely take up playtime. - Character routes feel vestigial as most important character arc take place in the main narrative.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. The Best Of Both Worlds? When talking about visual novels there is a tendency to present the medium as pure and distinct from all other types of games. Of course the reality is that other games influence visual novels and visual novels influence other games in a cycle of mutual adaptation and growth. The most noticeable manifestation of this union is the hybrid visual novel. This being a visual novel which includes another style of gameplay. While this might seem like a simple definition at first glance it is slippery when examined more closely as it is unclear where it ends and the other gameplay style becomes the dominant aspect. Straddling this line between worlds provides many unusual benefits and showcases the strength of visual novel design, but runs the risks of harming the overall vision of the game through confused presentation and engagement. Let’s seek to bridge the gap and examine what makes hybrid visual novels such an interesting part of the medium. Defining the Hybrid Debate over the point at which a hybrid ceases to be a visual novel and transitions to another genre of game is one few people can agree on. This makes defining what constitutes a hybrid visual novel a difficult task as the only thing most people will agree on is that it is a merger of visual novels and some other gameplay. However, even this is not set in stone as there are those that would argue that the addition of another gameplay style fundamentally changes the game and excludes it from being a visual novel. So rather than providing a rigid definition. the extremes of the design space will be demonstrated by examples in the hope of presenting the idea in practice. If there is one visual novel which exemplifies the hybrid approach best then it is VA-11 HALL-A. This game blends in a strong gameplay element in the cyberpunk bartending where the player must mix drinks to meet the individual needs of each customer. What is important here is that the emphasis is on the visual novel part of the game rather than on the bartending sections. Both work in tandem to sell the experience of the narrative and provide a sense of place the visual novel elements would lack on their own. As a complementary whole the game spends more time in the important visual novel sections and brings in the bartending to break up the scenes, control the pacing or sell the sense of being in the protagonist’s job. On top of this VA-11 HALL-A is informed by visual novel design sensibilities throughout its entirety which manifests in the way it places and uses its assets to present key moments and how the dialogue is utilised. All of the techniques found in VA-11 HALL-A are the hallmarks many hybrid visual novels choose as their basis. Standing on the opposite side of the divide are the many games which include aspects from visual novels but are definitely not hybrids. The one chosen for this example is Persona 5, a JRPG that stands far apart from visual novels. The reason for its inclusion is the presence of textboxes in combination with portraits that are generally associate with visual novels and yet their existence here does not make Persona 5 a hybrid visual novel. While it might be tempting to just point at the large sections of RPG dungeon crawling to prove that the is not a visual novel and call it a day, there is more to it than that simple statement. The way in which Persona 5 presents its narrative is baked in a RPG understanding of story presentation which is visible through the manner it chooses to use its 3D models and how place them within a scene. In this contrast we can see what makes a hybrid visual novel and that is the design behind it and how the creators use the assets to achieve the desired effect. Hence why something like AI: The Somnium Files can be considered a visual novel despite its heavy use of 3D assets and space, as it has a visual novel ideas baked into is very presentational fabric. Informed By Visual Novel Design Being so focused on visual novel design philosophies leads to every part of the game becoming warped to meet these needs and results in a heavily influence on how the secondary gameplay manifests. This often means that the gameplay is something which is dipped in and out of to make a narrative point before returning to the visual novel alongside an ability to present character ideas through subtle cues. Danganronpa’s debate sections showcase this warping well. The main focus of these sections is the deducing sequences and mini games, but they are regularly broken up by visual novel story sections that go on for long stretches of time. This makes it clear which part of the gameplay the important content lies in since everything on consequence happens in them. The deduction and mini games serve to highlight specific thoughts Danganronpa wants the player to remember while at the same time selling the atmosphere of a live or death mystery. In addition, these elements continue the visual novel tendency towards character intimacy found in Danganronpa through a fixation of the actions of individual cast members and their interplay with the story. For hybrids where the other gameplay has a greater presence, the visual novel design makes itself felt through how the two parts interact with one another and flow as a whole. This often results in visual novel elements poking through and directing not only the narrative but the next objective for mission completion. These gameplay ‘missions’ also lean into an emotional resonance to obscure their mechanical nature and brings them into line with the visual novel aspects surrounding them to prevent a clash of identity for occurring. Games from Eushully are some of the most gameplay leaning hybrids that manage to maintain their visual novel core focus and Kamidori Alchemy Meister perfectly encapsulated their design philosophy. This mix of visual novel, shop sim and turn based tactics combat is blended together through their common element, characters. It starts off with the visual novel sections acts as the backbone of the character interacts and shows the player what kind of person they are inside and out. This is then reflected in the shop sim and tactics sections where character abilities take on the characteristics we have come to know them for in a practical setting and helps from an emotional link that informs how missions and narratives play out. Reasons For Creating A Hybrid By far the biggest selling point of choosing to make your visual novel a hybrid is the additional avenue it provides a developer to create a link between the narrative and the player. Through this more immediately visceral extension the player can be made to experience a simulation of the characters actions without losing the internal and complex ideas that are the core of visual novels. In doing this merger the game gains an extra level of robustness since if the player misses a subtle theme or character moment provided by one part then the other offers another chance from them to pick up on it and preventing them from losing interest. We can see a good example of this practice in Eiyuu * Senki. The main thrust of this game is the world conquest and the idea of uniting while overcoming our differences. These two ideas are present in both the visual novel and SRPG sections with each offering a different expression of them. Having the SRPG sections provides the game with an avenue of presentation it would not otherwise have and allows it to express its events through direct involvement in the conquest and by having the people the player recruits have a role in helping their success. Without these additions the narrative would not have the same impact and in through their link to the narrative and the player they can form an emotional resonance not possible if either part was in isolation. Risks Involved In The Hybrid Including another gameplay style invites the risk of it either overwhelming the visual novel element or becoming so detached from it that the two feel as if they exist in separate universes. By inviting this aspect into your visual novel you also saddle yourself with the accompanying genre expectations and the temptation to lean into them often leads to the aforementioned issues since they are not always compatible with visual novels. The Bunny Black games fall into this trap with their dungeon crawling gameplay as it ends up entirety segregated from the main narrative. This is the result of its emphasis on the complex party management and min-maxing which it inherits from its genre influences and how they do not fit alongside the themes and emotions presented by the narrative. It is not initially a major problem with a good balance being struck in the early game, but as the later game brings in more extended and complicated systems and enemies the gap between visual novel sections lengthens to the point that the two come across as unrelated to one another. Conclusion While it might be difficult to pin down exactly what exactly counts as a hybrid visual novel, there is no denying their ability to expand how the medium engages with the player and way the games form their narratives. Possessing a design informed by visual novel sensibilities gives the other gameplay style a unique means of interacting with the player and invoking the right emotional resonance within them. By providing another avenue of expression and an ability to create breaks to make longer visual novel’s more manageable, the secondary gameplay element can merge with the visual novel sections in an organic way and contribute to the game’s overall vision. However, if handled incorrectly the two parts can become detached to each other and create a dissonance that cannot be repaired. Despite this risk, the hybrid approach to visual novels is definitely one your should consider as it offers a distinctive set of tools not otherwise available to the visual novel developer.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – Mystery, Detective, Sci-fi Play Time – 30 hours Developer – Spike Chunsoft Steam One Eye Lost And Another Gained Found wandering in the street with a missing eye and no memories, Date is taken in by a woman calling herself Boss, given a new eye/partner Aibo and takes up the role of detective. Now years later he finds himself investigating the murder of a former friend and uncovering truths which will reshape how he sees himself and those around him. From the developers of the Zero Escape series, AI: The Somnium Files is a radical departure from their previous escape room style narratives and into the genre of murder mystery. Their unique fingerprints are still all over this game but they take new and interesting forms to better compliment the other changes in design. No longer being bound to the rigid escape room structure opens a great many possible spaces to explore for The Somnium Files but also presents many chances to slip up that were not present before. There are few games which bank on their plot and mystery more than The Somnium Files does and this is both a blessing and a curse as it highlights issues with other aspects of presentation and narrative. However, there is little doubt that this visual novel will leave a strong impression on you one way or another and this review will cover the reasons for this distinctive flair. Let’s team up with a sassy AI and solve this mystery. A Dream Towards The Truth – Narrative and Themes If there is one area above all else in which AI: The Somnium Files triumphs it is its plot and the way the entire narrative is shaped around it in a complete and engaging fashion. This is formed from the way it blends its mysteries with its core plot device, the Somnium, and makes the unknowns of each interweave in a way that keeps the player guessing. Alongside it is the use of a limited but effective presence of story branches that help the package feel like it is giving the player room to explore the mystery. However, not everything is up to this level of quality and most of it takes the shape of the game's many tonal issues. At the core of any good detective story is a mystery which the player and the protagonist must solve to overcome the threat against them and bring the killer to justice. The medium that AI: The Somnium Files uses to immerse the player in this fantasy is the titular Somnium, the mental landscapes of the people Date dives into. These worlds are abstract in nature and provide fertile ground on which speculation can form about what the person is hiding and how they fit into the overarching plot. Each Somnium is distinct from one another with some being places the individual has been in the past while others are twisted representations of their current state of mind and these places are bursting with imagination that provide just enough information to engage the player but never enough that they feel satisfied. As such they are a perfect trail of breadcrumbs to lure them into continuing to play both for more knowledge and to see what strange place they will be able to experience next. Outside of the Somnium scenes themselves this plot device is not treated as an element isolated to those few moments, but as a feature which shapes everyone in the story and they grapple with the implications of the technology which makes this miracle possible. There are moments where Date is too eager to use the Somnium to solve his problems rather than deal with them through conventional means even when there will obviously be consequence to doing so. The Somnium occupies this gray space in the mystery and brings out the best and worst in people and acts a thematic bridge between their feelings and the reality of the situation by providing a tempting power which promises to give solutions to issues that seem insurmountable. The single largest problem within the narrative of AI: The Somnium Files is the tonal issues which plague it from beginning to end. This is a game with horrific murders and high stakes that demand a the player take it seriously but it cannot help but constantly put in stupid jokes and banter in moments where the stakes are meant to be high. We are not talking about the occasional bit of humour to prevent the mood from becoming too dark but rather a pervasive inability to maintain a straight face for any extend period of time. Often this manifests silly banter in situations that are otherwise dire or jokes about what a bunch of perverts the man in the story are. Having banter between characters is an important way to build and sell their relationships in a believable way but there is a time and place for it. Where The Somnium Files missteps is having these interactions in otherwise serious moment such as investigating the mind of a person they believe to be a murderer. Rather than being focused on the dangers in front of them and treating each with the severity the game has communicated them as having, they instead joke around and behave in a flippant manner not suitable for how the scene has been built up and as a result kill the tone. This plays into the regular jokes at the expense of the male cast which paints them as a bunch of dumb perverts. Perhaps the most egregious example is the treatment of a band of mercenaries who are introduced as a major threat to the lives of the cast but are defeated because they get distracted by a porn magazine thrown their way. It is not just one of them who falls for this obvious trick, they all do, at once. They all come over and abandon their attempt at murder because of a porn magazine. The issue here is the extreme clash between the seriousness of the plot and the sheer stupidity of so many moments within its narrative. Instead of being funny it is just confusing, does this game want me to take it seriously as people get brutally killed or is this a slapstick comedy where dumb things happen? To Catch A Killer – Characters In order to have a good murder mystery you need a good collection of characters with many among them having possible motives and means for the murder to create a soup of relationships to compel the player to engage with them. AI: The Somnium Files meets this need through a charismatic cast who have larger than life personalities and clashing dreams that are all the better to muddy the waters. Underpinning the narrative is the dynamic between the main duo of Date and Aibo as they banter backwards and forwards in a way that sells the closeness of their bond and their complementary strengths as detectives. Of course the ugly tonal issues rear their head here as well and alongside them are a selection of characters who are overemphasised despite being clearly minor to the overall story. Front and centre of the narrative is the dynamic duo of Date and Aibo, they are rarely separated from one another especially since Aibo takes the form of Date’s eye just to drive home their intertwined lives. Their banter is a gold mine of fun interactions with neither one of them being assigned a set role in their relationship and instead being flexible depending on the needs of the scene. This means that Date can be the straight man in one section and then in the very next one Aibo switches around with Date to be the straight man. Rather than it feeling like they do not have a set personality, the result is a believable friendship where the two can play along with whatever nonsense the other comes up with and know how to have a good time as they are comfortable with each other. Having a relationship like this is an important part of a good detective story since the player will be spending a lot of time in the heads of this pair so making them empathise and feel like they are part of this small group is important for the later trails they will undergo. Without this bond the later revelations in the plot and the pair’s eventual triumph would not have the desired impact. The duo of Date and Aibo easily steal the limelight and serve as excellent point of view characters into this world and the mystery which threatens them. The rest of the cast are in many ways just as charismatic as the main duo but the emphasis is different for them. Rather than being solely people the player is meant to empathise with, they are instead a muddied mire of emotions and concealed intent that paint them simultaneously as innocent and guilty. Their actions leave enough potential for each of them to be the murder that you are encouraged to analyse every word that comes out of the mouth for some clue as to their motive and threat. Despite the possibility of them being a killer they all maintain a strong humanity that makes you want to believe in their innocence and helps ground them so you will never see them in a detached fashion. Iris is one of the strongest examples of this mixture, she is a cheerful internet idol who has boundless curiosity even if it often get her into more trouble than she bargained for and coupled with the loving friendships she has with many of the other cast members and the result is an instantly endearing character. However, throughout the game Iris behaves inconsistently in an almost mentally unstable manner and alongside the undeniable link between her and the murders which begins to form as more information is revealed, the seeds of doubt sprout in your mind no matter how hard you try and deny them. Diving Into The World Of The Mind – Visuals, Audio and Gameplay In terms of presentation the distinctive style of the Zero Escape games is very much alive in AI: The Somnium Files with stylised 3D graphics and a vibrant soundtrack carrying the game to greater heights. The actual Somnium worlds all have a distinct visual identities that are a treat to look at, but when it comes to the gameplay within them they are somewhat of a mixed bag. Utilising 3D space for effect is something that the game knows how to leverage and get the most out of each itch. Despite not existing on the 2D plain used by most visual novels it is still very much informed by visual novel design sensibilities in terms of scene framing, emphasis and composition. The 3D space is used as if it were an extension of the backgrounds and sprites found in other visual novels and it is presented with this in mind to capture both that familiar feeling while adding its own unique spin on these ideas. Each movement is composed in a way that makes it clear that it holds some importance and demands the player’s attention in the way only a visual novel is capable of achieving. Supporting all of this higher level design is a visual and musical identity that blends a familiar world with a futuristic method of investigating. Juxtaposition is AI: The Somnium Files’ favourite technique but it understands that there need to be gaps between its use in order that it never becomes too familiar so the futuristic elements are used sparing to keep the player stimulated and looking forward to more. When it comes to the Somnium the strong identity and narrative technique are maintained with their free-form nature allowing for more experimental and abstract forms of presentation. There are few spaces as memorable as the variety of Somnium the player will witness over the course of the game and each one has a distinct flare resulting in an impressive level of complexity to the feeling of being in one. They all sell their owner’s mental state in a way mere words could never be able to express and this is by far their greatest triumph. It is a shame then that they are such a mixed bag when it comes to the mechanics. Each Somnium has a time limited attached to it and the player is offered choices which deduct time from that pool and they must deduce the correct path through choices before they run out of time. One the surface this might seem perfectly harmless and for much of the early game it is, but once the later game Somnium hit things go down hill as the choices and correct outcomes become increasingly nonsensical with there being no way for the player to determine the correct path from the information they are given. What results is a tedious mire of trial and error which not only bores the player but takes away from the fantasy of being a clever detective figuring out the mystery by making the player feel as if they cannot possibly work out the solution. This weakness is not a deal breaker since no Somnium ever lasts long enough for this to completely shatter the experience but it does sour an otherwise outstanding visual novel. Verdict - A gripping mystery and abstract visual identity define AI: The Somnium Files and come together to make for a truly unforgettable journey. Pros - + An excellent mystery with proper build up and incorporation of the Somnium into its progression. + Memorable characters who you grow attached to and a strong main duo dynamic. + Tightly paced narrative containing very little unnecessary content. + Distinctively designed characters and locations that make the most out the limited space available. Cons - - An extremely inconsistent tone which jumps wildly between life or death seriousness to silly high jinks seemly at random. - Some of the chacters feel out like they should not have assumed a major role but stayed to their background tasks. - The Sommium themselves are a mixed bag with the later ones descending into trial and error nonsense.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Directions From On High The player is a wild and chaotic beast prone to doing what you least expect and are both the joy and bane of developers. This is especially true for any game which focuses on narrative as its core element since there is no guarantee the player will experience the story in the way the designers intended and even more so if there is any form of freedom offered. Visual novels fall into this category and since their narratives form the backbone of the experience it is vital for many of them to ensure the player never gets lost or confused as to the intentions of the story or finds a major plot point before they should. The solution which many visual novels have developed is the Enforced Play Order. This is a restricting of what parts of the game the player has access to at one time and acts to control their progress while ensuring a smoother transition from one route to another. However, there is no unified approach to how this Enforced Play Order should be implemented. There are instead three main ways it implemented, a completely rigid play order, only having the finale locked and moving in and out of controlling the player’s progress. It is these which will form the basis of discussion in this article and will be explored to see the pros and cons of each method. So let’s follow the path laid out before us and dive into the Enforced Play Order. Rigid Play Order Sometimes the best approach is to give the player no freedom at all, why risk them misunderstanding something when you can take them by the hand and make sure they experience everything correctly? This is the idea at the core of the Rigid Play Order and it is the realm of the plot heavy visual novel which would suffer the worse from the possible confusion of the player. Being rigid does have its advantages and does not necessarily exclude them from the benefits of the more flexible approaches. Controlling the player’s approach to the game provides the developer with a rigid framework to shape their visual novel around as they do not have to account for any discrepancies which might occur due to the order a player experiences it in. In other words they have control over the pacing and plot progression in a way which is simple for both them and the player. Having a tightly paced game makes sure the player is on the same page as the game and forges a more memorable journey as the highs and lows are presented to the player in a way that feels natural. A more free-form visual novel risks becoming more lumpy with sections of good and bad content showing unevenly throughout and leaving an inconsistent taste in the player’s mouth. Rigid Play Order avoids this pitfall through the smooth direction it can give the player and the way it can ensure that they are given the best content at the right moment to leave them with an overall positive impression while communicating its ideas. If there is one game which embodies this approach it is Wonderful Everyday. Each route exists in a linear order with a distinct segregation to make it clear when the narrative has moved on and ensures the player knows exacts the direction to go next. Despite this there is a strong flow throughout the entire experience as the different character perspectives on the same events slowly fill out the player’s understanding in a rewarding way that makes sure they have exact amount of new information to be engaged while keeping the mystery thick. This would not be possible without the exacting control offered by the Rigid Play Order since without this backbone it would not be possible to know what the player would do first and so be forced to spread the content thin across the game while not giving the larger nuggets present in the actual game. It might be tempting to paint the entire approach to Rigid Play Order as one that comes at the cost of player freedom but, while there is some truth to this idea, many visual novels which follow this method have a flexibility that becomes available upon repeated playthroughs. Most games using this technique do so through a series of unlocking routes and these extend from a common route like most other visual novels. So once all have been unlocked what remains is a standard free-form narrative many expect from the medium and this makes the next playthrough one tailored by the player as they can pick and choose which parts to replay. This freedom is fine for the Rigid Play Order since it is mainly interested in ensuring the first experience is as strong as possible and as these games often rely major plot elements not being spoiled there is no reason to constrict the player after the curtain has been pulled back. Finale Only Lock Not every game wants to tell a complicated story but many still want to have the sense of conclusion and cohesion offered by a more rigid narrative. To answer this need the approach of the Finale Lock was born. This method gives the player freedom within the main narrative but prevents them from accessing the final route or section until all other content has been completed. As such this leans heavily into the more free-form nature of visual novels. Placing characters front and centre is what this approach to Enforced Play Order thrives on. As the visual novel cannot rely on the order a player experiences the game outside of the final route, it instead has to make the thrust of its themes through each routes’ main heroine and have the final heroine acts as the thread that ties the emotional core of the game together. This leads to a style of narrative favouring a resonance with the player over engaging their minds and by extension is free-form due to not being constrained by a need to tell a story in a set order as it relys on the feelings of the player to form its identity. The final route is provides a means to bring the character beats together into something more cohesive rather than the soup of emotion it would be otherwise. Clannad is a good example of this character emphasis and its role within a final route. For the vast majority of the playtime it gives the player free rein over its many different parts but once these are completed the After Story final route is unlocked. This brings together the emotional heart of Clannad which was spread out over the game into a place where it can be easily viewed and player can come to appreciate the journey to this point. It also works to pay off the feelings built up in each route and gives the player a place to come to terms with them in a structured manner. Of course not every visual novel using this approach is interested in anything as complicated as emotional resonance, for many it is simply a means to give a conclusive feeling to the game and reward the player for getting through the rest of it. They achieve this by packing the majority of the plot and action into the final route to create a sense of escalation after the relatively static structure of the heroine routes. This contrast acts as a type of reward with everything that came before being a strong form of catharsis and this works to encourage a tired player to continue to the end. Once a conclusion is reached to the final route, the release of coming out of the high of the climax gives it a sense of finality which leaves the player with a wave of satisfaction. When looking at Date A Live: Rinne Utopia this approach can be clearly seen. The final route belongs to the titular Rinne and is a distinctive deviation from the standard structure present in all the other routes. Coupled with the general sense that everything is falling apart at the seams and the route take on a unique identity that immediately grabs the player and revitalises their interest in the game. It is in many ways the carrot dangled in front of the player throughout the game given Rinne’s obvious importance and this adds to the sense of finality present as the climax of this final route arrives. Mixing Control and Freedom Of course between these two extremes are the visual novels who want to merge control and freedom in order to best fit their narratives. For these the approach of moving in and out of controlling the player’s options was formed to suit their needs. To achieve this these games will open with freedom or control and shift into the opposite one and back again as the story they are telling demands. What results is an experience formed around the narrative but it is a delicate balancing act with many points where the player could lose interest. This approach to the Enforced Play Order is a delicate balancing act between freedom and control and runs the risks of both extremes. If the game leans too much into control it could lead to the player feeling restricted, but too much freedom and it could confuse the themes and ideas it is attempting to show. Just enough of each end of the spectrum must be shown to the player to achieve the desired effect before switching to the other end in order to prevent either from outstaying its welcome. Should the equilibrium be struck then the visual novel can have the best of both worlds, gaining the clarity of one and the openness of the other. A good example of this is I/O which starts out with an extremely rigid series of sections before opening up for a time and then closing up again for the finale. Having this space in the middle allows the game to provide room for the player to contemplate the mysteries the previous sections set up and tackle the part they want more information about. This is directed by how the rigid sections controlled their presentation of its mysteries and so even in a free-form space the player still have a concise direction to follow with their curiosity. Just like with Rigid Play Order, this mixture of freedom and control is a matter of emphasis and pacing within the game’s structure. Switching between such vastly different feeling structures creates a distinctive divide that highlights each section through the peaks and troughs provided by changing between them. What results is a mechanism via which the visual novel can shape how the player views certain parts with the use of contrast to create a looser form version of what Rigid Play Order aims to achieve. Perhaps the strongest example of this can be seen in Virtue's Last Reward which subtly weaves in and out of a free-form structure as the player makes their choices and hits locked sections they need to complete another part to access. These locks funnel the player down set paths but in such a way that does not immediately feel restrictive and instead fuels the player’s curiosity as to what is hidden behind them. On top this it ensures the player can never stumble upon anything important without proper context which in a narrative focused game like Virtue's Last Reward is critical for its success. Conclusion Exercising control over the player is something which offers visual novels a lot of options when it comes to tailoring the experience they are presenting. An absolutely rigid approach give the game the means to pace itself to the player’s benefit for a smoother and even structure. On the other hand just having a single unlockable final route provides a sense of closure the game might otherwise lack. If you mix these two methods together the result is a flexible ebb and flow to the game but at the risk of gaining the negatives of both. Overall the Enforced Play Order is an interesting tool in the visual novel developer’s pocket and offers an opposing design space to the more kitchen skin approach for a healthier spread of constructions. It is definitely something to keep in the back of your mind as your game comes together as even a small amount of it can significantly change the perception of its narrative.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Forbidden Love? If there is one genre which thrives in the visual novel space it is Yuri. While other mediums and types of games touch on Yuri, there are none that put their entire focus on it in quite the all consuming way present in visual novels. Rather than being a sideshow for another genre to use as romantic fluff, it is front and centre in many of the best and defining titles you can play. On top of this prominence there is a distinct difference of approach to the genre taken by Japanese and Western developers. One presents a romance steeped in purity and idealism while the other focuses in on the issues of identity and belonging that effect the characters. These divergent paths have led to a variety of content and themes not present in many other spaces. Over the course of this deep dive these elements will be explored as well as a rich landscape of creators and visions of what Yuri means. Let’s fall in love with a cute girl and find out what makes the genre tick. Vision of Purity – Japanese Yuri Pervasive within Japanese Yuri is the idea of the romance as being akin to a garden of flowers and the pairing as the most brilliant blooms among them. The focus on a very specific set of emotions adds some distinctive flavour to the love story and helps this genre stand out. However, under the surface there is the same treatment of love as a form of titillation to sell a product in many games which use Yuri as a secondary element. At its core the link to flowers and purity found in this style of Yuri stems from an extreme idealisation of the lesbian romance. It is placed in opposition to a male centric romance story which is by contrast is a tale of desire and lust with love being the ultimate driver behind it but obscured by this layer of impurity and dirtiness associated with men. In contrast the female is seen as the purer sex and thus it follows that any love between two of them would be equally pure. Even when lust does enter the conversation it treated with a sanctity as if it were the precursor to a holy act of union. Generally this is caked in vaguely Christian iconography and language, such as the pair attending a Catholic school, to present the pair’s relationship as an act before some kind of unseen divine presence which accepts their choice of partner. We can see this in the Sono Hanabira series where the complete focus on a single couple makes it stand out the most. For each game their pairing is presented with a sort of all consuming sanctity, everything points to the couple from the supporting cast to the everyday events, even previous games’ couples act as conduits to insure the new couple comes together. An entire world orientated towards an outcome is a pretty convincing argument for its legitimacy. Theirs is a union painted through bright colours and delicate gazes and there is an almost otherworldly glow to their encounters to better emphasise the feelings they are enraptured by and the purity of their intention. Sono Hanabria is a particularly good example of these traits since it leans into lust as part of its content and even there the colours never let up, their acts are done in the light of day and have none of the messiness of a male orientated union, but it is instead one where only the cleanest intentions are realised and this is reflected in their language and generally cleanliness of proceedings. Overall it is a unique presentation of romance that puts this particular coupling on an almost unattainable level. These distinctive traits do allow for the exploration of some emotions often forgotten about or sidelined in a more traditional romance story. The two points it excels at are the capturing of the feeling of wishful longing and the power our desire for human connection has over us. Capturing the essence of wishful longing within a romantic context is something many stories gloss over in favour of the more dramatic aspects of a relationship, such as the confession, and the intense focus affords to it in Yuri helps the genre stand out. Needing to be with someone else for your happiness is a part of love that effects both participants in often vague ways and the pale colour and idealises space of Yuri is a perfect place for exploring this since it can shift its already vague imagery towards this equally vague subject. In doing so it can present the emotions of its characters and explore the reasons for their emotional state and the effects it has on people. By extension the power of the human desire for connections is expressed through the completion of the longing and the realisation of the pair’s bond. Similarly to the longing, this is made possible by Yuri’s extreme emphasis on the emotional states of its characters and makes the strength of their desire for each other clear and gives a good space for exploring what exactly this means in practice. Of course not everyone sells this vision of purity for the right reasons, there is no denying that the teasing of Yuri is a strong selling point for a product and there are many visual novels which lean into this for all the wrong reasons. These are the type of visual novels which have Yuri as a flavour to entice in an audience without then committing to the idea as in practice they pay it off with only vague insinuations. They also make use of the aesthetic by signalling the colour and composition associated with Yuri to paint the game in Yuri to complement the main thrust of the game, but the result often feels hollow because the juggling act between these elements is difficult to manage while keep a consistent tone. An example of this attitude to Yuri can be seen in The Curse of Kudan which uses it as a side element to drive the emotional core behind its main mystery focus. What results is a confused experience with the Yuri cues not matching the serious and darker mystery causing a form of narrative whiplash. Alongside this is the problem of the romances feeling undercooked and merely in there to act as bait to keep the player hooked without the developer considering that will have to pay this off at some point. This type of treatment for Yuri is strangely common despite its very mixed results from an overall game standpoint and more often than not leaves a sour taste in the player’s mouth. A Vision of Reality – Western Yuri For Western Yuri the presentation and priorities are very different than with Japanese Yuri to the point at which the only commonality at times is their base subject matter. Rather than pastel idealism there is instead a sense of the weight to the relationship. It is something to be treasured but there are many experiences which will be difficult or strange to those under these emotions. This shift in approach from their Japanese peers stems from the different origins of those creating the influential titles and the space around the topic which has developed. Even when the setting is fantastical Western Yuri has its sights firmly set in the real and grounded experience that reflects the lives of actual lesbians. These take the issues and frames them individually within events and characters who bring it into an easy to digest form that emphasises the emotions involved. Presentation of these themes is not limited by an established visual language and instead plays host to many contrasting uses of imagery from other genres with interesting merges taking place in order to get the desired effect. As a result there are a lot of different interpretations of the same ideas that have arisen leading to many new ways of approaching the Yuri design space as well as a fair amount of cross-pollinating from popular games. One of the best examples of this culture of design can be seen in Blackberry Honey. This visual novel, set in mid-19th century England, takes the issues surrounding lesbians relationships and puts them into a distinctive historical context which allows them to standout against a world hostile to their existence. In assuming the visual identity of the era the game gains a presentation it can play with to better convey its ideas without being bound to a set of prescribed iconography. On the other hand this does mean the game has to work twice as hard to make sure it is clear in its intent since it has nothing within the player’s established understanding of the genre to fall back on. It is a trading of stability for freedom and it is a common choice among many Western Yuri games. The difference in approach originates for the far more indie centric development of Yuri visual novels due to the way the market has developed in the West. Rather than being defined by an industry in need of profit to survive, the Western scene is defined by individuals or small groups who act within the genre out of a love for it and as a result the vast majority of the visual novels produced by them are passion projects that their developers do not expect to make large (if any) profits from. As you would expect this leads to a diverse field both in terms of game concepts but also the people involved due to the low barrier for entry and easy access to simple but competent engines. Of course such a wide array of releases leads to an unevenness in terms of quality with many being basic in nature with a few which stand out for their distinctive originality, but each one has the same passion and contain the experiences and thoughts of their developers. NomnomNami is a good example of an individual within this space. Their projects are small in scale but tight in focus and have allowed them to develop a visual and narrative identity of their own that reflects their passion for the ideas they express. Rather than being made with an eye for sales their projects are the stories they want to tell and this comes across in every moment of these games. They also showcase of how there is a lot of overlap in Western Yuri between the genre and other LGBTQ+ narratives and spaces. Many of their works often touch on, if not outright make the focus, other feelings effecting this group and the commonality between them. Conclusion Regardless of which of the two approaches you might follow in your own work or play, there is no denying the unique power that Yuri has to inspire the presentation of often unexplored ideas and emotions in relatable fashions. Be it through the bright colours, pseudo religious imaginary and idealism of Japanese Yuri or the grounded, alive and real issue orientated Western Yuri, there is no limit to the sheer variety of expressive tools on offer for budding developers. Each one offers some angle on love that a more traditional romance experience would shy away from but which Yuri makes front and centre for all to see. The strange mixture of longing, desire, hopes, acceptance and realisation which make the space such a sight to behold continue to attract more people into the genre. Perhaps something here tickled your creative juices and you want to explore this space more and doing so would definitely be worth your time as the diversity on display is not something any one article can possibly capture.

Honestly I do not blame you, Liberation Day was a mess in so many ways and definitely left a major scar in the reputation of the series.

This is a condensed version of the full review which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Genre – Sci-fi, Action, Mecha Play Time - 22 hours Developer – Love In Space Steam Return From Exile A fall from grace changes a man and exile from all he has ever known can break him. Such is the state of Kayto Shields as the curtain rises on the fourth game in the Sunrider series. This is the tale of how he pulls himself up from the pit he has fallen into, but this journey will be far same smooth sailing. Love In Space are back again with another space adventure through the brilliant Sunrider universe with a familiar crew, but now on the back foot as both enemies and former allies see them as a threat. The game also features a complete rework of the combat systems and leans into creating more realistic feeling battles with tactical depth. But how does the whole package fit together and is it the worthy sequel we have waited five years for? Let’s jump into our ryders and travel to the edges of the universe and find out. The War is Over – Narrative and Themes To be in exile is to be left behind by the world and on your return you may find that the world no longer wants you. It is this feeling which Sunrider 4 focuses its plot and themes around to great effect and manages to balance the needs of a sequel with its own unique identity. It builds on Liberation Day in all the right ways, picking up the plot points left by that game and running with them inside its own narrative. The choice to put the heroes on the back foot also factors strongly into the effectiveness of the core events of the game and they work together to communicate the journey of the crew. Of course it is not perfect and the game’s relationship with the additions to Liberation Day is an uncomfortable one at best. A sequel should build on what came before in its own distinctive manner and this is no easy task, especially so when that game in the fourth in a series. The way in which Captain’s Return chooses to tackle this problem is by taking the points which defined the previous games and asking what they really meant and what people beyond the crew thought of them. This extends from both the obvious fallout from the Liberation Day massacre to smaller relationships between the crew and works to create an overall sense of both progression and returning to a familiar place. It takes the ending point and runs with it, drawing many ideas presented in that game to their logical conclusion within the tone and context of Captain’s Return, be this reinventing familiar mechas in new forms or haunting the characters with past traumas. Relying on this pre-existing backbone means the game does not have to worry about explaining every little detail again to the player and can focus on the heavy lifting of expanding the already rich universe in new and exciting ways. These all combine to make Captain’s Return a benchmark most sequels can only dream of reaching. If there is one flaw in this otherwise excellent narrative it is the uncomfortable relationship it has with the additions made to Liberation Day after its release. These changes expanded on some key points of that game’s plot and by extension the plot of Captain’s Return. However, the reality is that Captain’s Return picks and chooses which parts of those modifications it considers cannon and this leads to many moments where the player will experience a sense of whiplash as what they have experienced in the previous game is ignored by the new one. These points vary from minor details from the side story to major events and set up from the main game’s ending. It is clear that Love In Space were not entirely happy with the choices they made in the rushed additions to Liberation Day and wanted to trim back things that did not fit into their vision for the future of the Sunrider series. This does not change how this choice can take the player out of the experience which counter to how much effort the game put in to making you feel as if you are a part of this world. A Captain Is Only As Good As His Crew – Characters Sunrider’s cast has always been one its biggest strength and means of getting the player invested in the plot. Captain’s Return does a good job of developing the characters and focusing the new additions to help create a lively universe with people who exist beyond the main conflict of the series. However, there is a glaring issue staring you in the face for much of the play time and this is the inconsistent characterisation of some key characters. Captain’s Return could have relied on the affection the player base already has for the cast and cruised through the narrative without emphasising the characters too much. Instead of resting of their laurels Love In Space made sure to give every member of the main cast some sort of arc both big and small. Sola and Kryska being the crewmates who get by far the most exploration of their personalities as both are faced with very different events which shake what they once held as fundamental truths. There is also notable elements of discord between the crew and Shields who's actions create a disconnect between them and him in a subtle way which never oversteps its bounds but instead highlights Shields’ increasing desperation. This compliments the generally darker tone of the plot by providing a dose of much needed reality to the more idealistic characters and pushing them to the extremes of their beliefs. Shields as the protagonist embodies this push into an examination of the true motives for each person’s actions as he starts at the edge of what he can mentally take and is then pushed far passed breaking point. What results is a fascinating presentation of the kind of mind set that lead him down his path to ruin and having him face and accept this truth sets his character up to be ready for the challenges of future games. Most of the new characters added by Sunrider 4 serve the purpose of expanding the world building and help provide a more balanced perspective of this universe. Previously the player’s view of the Sunrider universe was limited to the areas directly involved in the conflict which gave a very narrow perspective. To rectify this issue Captain’s Return makes all the new characters serve the role of fleshing out this setting. Since the player is no longer limited to the area of conflict for the war, the narrative can take them to places and people who could not have otherwise been interacted with. Pre’ator Qisah is a good example of this technique as she serves as the player’s main point of interaction with her culture. She is a part of a people who live at the edge of Alliance territory and had their resources bled dry by them, now they are just a backwater nobody cares about. Despite this the player gets a sense of how proud this people are through the actions and words of Qisah who fervently acts on to defend her people with the will of someone that truly believes in their cause. There are countless examples of this communication of place through characters and it helps make Captain’s Return the powerhouse in the series it is. Space, Mecha and Soul Searching – Visual, Audio and Gameplay Love In Space have upped their presentation and gameplay with every new game and this is especially true for Captain’s Return as the gap between Sunrider games makes their vast improvement even more obvious. A distinctive visual and audio identity has always been a critical part of the Sunrider games and this fourth instalment does not disappoint. The overhauled gameplay mechanics help inject new life into a system which had reached its limit. Despite these positives there are a few areas where the gameplay stumbles and brings down the experience. Sci-fi has a set of expected design elements when comes to visuals and audio, especially for a game set in a far future. While these are adhered to by the Sunrider series, it has always strived to inject its own flare into proceedings. Perhaps the best demonstration of this is with the mecha designs. On a base level they adhere to the expectations of a mecha, they are humanoid and adhere to the mechanical aesthetic of the setting. However, in practice the strong use of angles and sharp points gives these machines a strangely otherworldly quality with them appearing to almost be an exaggeration of their pilot’s personalities, which is helped by their smart use of colours to make them stand out from one another. It also goes a long way to help sell these mechas as part of the greater setting and when an ancient or special rider appears their designs lean even more into these aestheic choices. This ensures a consistent presentation without losing what makes the regular mechas special. The rest of the visuals and audio follows a similar trend and together allow Captain’s Return to stand out from among its peers with an identity that many game can only dream of. The change in the foundational gameplay made by Sunrider 4 is exactly what the series needed. The system which had been in use for the three previous games was already at its limits and Liberation Day clearly felt like the end of the complexity the developers could realistically add to it without the whole thing collapsing. So this reimagination of the old system was definitely needed and the results speak for themselves. More free-form movement mechanics are the new core of the gameplay and involve a conservation of momentum over the course of several turns. No long is movement a static consideration, instead the player must think ahead about where they want to end up and plan for the future accordingly with it becoming increasingly hard to correct course the faster you go. On the other hand it also means you do not have to dedicated valuable turns to movement and can instead focus on attacking the enemy units. What Love In Space has created here is a uniquely dynamic series of interactions which demand the player consider an array of important actions each turn and keeps them constantly engaged. It is a shame then that this excellent system somewhat goes to waste due to the the other elements of gameplay, most notably the lack of mission variety, long enemy turns in the late game and basic AI. There is some attempt to spice up the mission variety throughout the game with a few mission types, but they can all be boiled down to two type, kill all enemies or move to a place. Within these two types there are some changes made to the standard formula, such as using the move type missions as a form of puzzle, but they ultimately do not stray too far form the base formula leaving them to feeling lacking and repetitive, especially as the game goes on. Compounding this problem is the long enemy turns which are a feature of the late game due to the enemy having a lot of units and each one having to perform their actions as well as move. This causes the pacing of turns to be reduced to a crawl as you can spend up to two minutes waiting for the enemy to finish a turn that only took you maybe thirty seconds due to your lower unit count. As you can imagine this kills the pacing of battles and makes them feel like a slog. The final nail in the coffin is that the AI is not even doing anything interesting during their turn since their patterns are incredibly basic. Broadly speaking they will do one of two things, move into point blank range to shoot at you or fire all their missiles at once. This predictability makes them easy to counter when you realise these are the only tricks in their book and results in the player repeating the same actions each battle and by extension causes them to tune out of the actual events of the battles. Verdict – There are few series which continue to impressive so consistently in each new entry with their narrative, characters and gameplay in the way the Sunrider series manages to. Pros + A wonderfully crafted space adventure which builds perfectly on the ending to Liberation Day. + The cast of Sunrider has always been its biggest strength and they are just a likeable and human as before. + Putting the heroes on the back foot allows for characters to show their less desirable aspects and be forced to confront them. + Achieve a more lived in feeling universe through a nuanced look at how the politics and people have shaped the world the player witnesses. + The new gameplay mechanics are a strong basis from which future games can build. + Love In Space continue to up their visual and audio presentation with each game and Captain’s Return is no exception. Cons - Implementation of the gameplay is weakened by samey missions, long enemy turns and one note AI. - Some character directions stretch believability and seem confused, particularity related to Claude. - Has a very uncomfortable relationship with the additions made to the original Liberation Day.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. Final Destination Controlling how your game ends is crucial to the impression of it the player walks away with. This is an especially pressing issue for games with any kind of choice system which provides the option of alternative endings. If not handled correctly this can cause the narrative to come across as inconclusive and lacking a coherent identity. Something to tie the events of the game together is needed to ensure the player in clear as to the intent of the story. For visual novels this manifests in the True Ending which gives developers an immediately recognisable tool with which to create their branching narrative without having to worry about issues relating to interpretation. This is one of visual novel’s most well known features, outside of perhaps the Bad End, and has shaped how they form their structure and mechanical elements. However, is this a deserved reputation or have people merely become too intrenched in what is familiar to see the clear weaknesses in this method? Let’s meet our inevitable fate and see what the True Ending has to offer. What Is A True Ending? For the sake of this argument the True Ending will be defined as the primary ending to a route shown through the structure of the route itself and through the finality of its presentation. At first this might seem like a fairly simple definition, but it is in its interaction with other ending types and the overall structure of a visual novel that it becomes muddier. The first thing many people do is place in it a contrasting position to the Bad End, but this is more than a bit misleading. It assumes that a True Ending needs to be positive in nature in order to be the opposite force and this is simply not correct for many True Endings. Their ability to be flexible is one their greatest strengths and this includes being bittersweet or tragic in nature. By the same measure they are sometimes confused with Good Endings under the false assumption that the True Ending has to be happy. The only defining element that binds all True Endings together is their role as a conclusion to a route’s narrative. Another confusing interaction is with the True Route which is a technique many visual novels also utilise and can make for a lot of head scatting for an outside observer. Put simply a True Route concludes the game while a True Ending only concludes a route, through a True Ending can conclude the final route of the game but it generally plays second fiddle to the force provided to the narrative by a True Route. Providing Resolution At its core a True Ending is primarily interested in giving closure to a narrative. This is a complicated task as tying all the parts of route into a whole that leaves the player satisfied requires finesse. One of the main ways it has to achieve this aim is through the route’s focus character. Since the whole route revolves around this character the player’s eyes will be on them and they will likely have a great investment in this character’s struggles. As such a True Ending can frame itself through this character by linking its events to the end of their character arc in way that suits the overall themes of the story. This might seem like something an ending of any story should do, but the way it commits to it is different as it has an eye to how this individual route fits into the puzzle of the visual novel’s totality. Commonly this manifests as the ending leaving enough space in the character’s personality for growth in later routes while also not undercutting their resolution in the route itself. A good example of this is how G-senjou no Maou handles its character route endings in relation to the narrative’s progress. Each True Ending is paired up with a Bad End to ensure it has the highest impact through showing the failure of the character arc and how it relates to it success. There is an effort to never make the True Endings too happy in order for the character’s victories to come across as hard won. It also allow for later routes to provide them with a different type of resolution which does not come across as hollow by comparison to the character’s own route. What results is a controlled establishing and fulfillment of character resolution on the character route level and within the context of the complete game. The other important manner in which True Endings present resolution is through the use of the route as a marker within the visual novel’s overall plot. A route can assume a role as within the narrative both in terms of plot development and the message of the game. The True Ending of a route can leverage this through line to highlight itself as tying up this element of the game so it can be clearly burned into the player’s mind. When presenting an aspect of the plot, the True Ending can provide a moment of clarity for the player and tie up that part of the story so it does not have to be constantly reinforced, while also giving the ending a sense of satisfaction. On the other side, we have the message the game is trying to present and how an individual route plays into that idea. A True Ending can piggyback on the part of the message contained it its route by making this its core driving force in contrast to the other endings. It acts as a resolution to this element and this reflects back onto the ending, giving it a sense of closure and connection to the game as a whole. Flexibility With Tone Of all the way to end a route there are none as flexible as the True Ending and this is due to its ability to shift dynamically to fit the needs of both the route and the game overall. As has been alluded to before, one of the most noticeable ways it achieves this is through its ability to set the expectation for the ending in a way that does not demand the ending be neither happy or sad, but simply satisfying. In having this player expectation a developer can use True Ending to present what they want without worrying about disappointing the player and potentially losing their interest in the rest of the game. It also results in a wide variety of different ending constructions even within the same game and helps provide excitement since the player feels as if they cannot entirely predict how things will pan out. Fate Stay Night showcases this design philosophy well with its satisfying but not saccharine endings which play out dramatically differently to one another. The True Endings of Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel could not be more different from each other in terms of vision and outcomes, despite still feeling as if they belong in the same game. This is due to how they take their respective route’s core ideas and drive them in contrasting directions to highlight a different angle on the same message. Without the expectations provided by True Endings, the way they play with events, which do not end entirely happily for those involved, might be viewed as a betrayal of the time the player put into the story. Providing satisfaction is not the only way in which player expectations can be leveraged to the benefit of a True Ending. For internal True Endings, those that do not conclude the game, there is an understanding that they are not entirely final in nature and this can be used to allow for a form of open ending to provide greater route flexility. This gives space for the ending to shape its own identity while not being tied to concluding everything it has covered and avoiding stepping on the toes of what other routes are going to focus on. In Corpse Party: Book of Shadows can be seen a series of good examples of how useful this aspect can be. Book of Shadows is a collection of connected smaller stories which each cover a different element of the story and world, so there is a lot of overlap between them as their respective themes and plots intersect. The True Ending of each story uses the expectations of the player to cleanly conclude their own narratives and still provide the room for the other stories to exist and form a whole puzzle together. Statement of Themes And Ideas The significance a True Ending holds within the structure of the narrative makes it the prefect framing device for a game’s themes and core ideas. As the player is expecting a finality to what is presented to them during a True Ending, they will be paying heightened attention to what is transpiring and be more susceptible to any implications or subtleties the developer wants to send their way. By mixing in themes and ideas from the rest of the game into this conclusive segment, the player will become more aware of how these elements have been present throughout the whole experience and come to understand the point of what the game is saying to them. This has a tendency of manifesting in visual novels with a single high impact True Ending such as Steins Gate which has its entire game structure push the player towards this ending. Its funnelling of the player gives a focus to the True Ending and makes the process of helping them understand the themes easier since all its important ingredients were presented in an obvious line. A True Ending just allows for these pieces to be brought into the light and Steins Gate exploits this opportunity to the full extent of its worth. How a True Ending relates to its fellow endings can be used to create a thematic contrast in order to allow the message of the visual novel to spelt out for the player. This generally involves having the True Ending be connected to choices and outcomes which are fundamentally different from any of the other endings. The result is a section of the game that stands separately from the rest and shines a light onto the problems in the thinking which lead the player to the other endings. WE KNOW THE DEVIL utilises this method especially well by having the other endings focus on a single characters struggles in isolation and having the True Ending showcasing that the solution to their issues can only be found through all the them facing their problems together. This contrasts isolation with unity provides a strong statement about which one the game thinks is the more compassionate and human path. While this is a particularly extreme example it nonetheless showcases how the True Ending can be used as a tool within the framework of other endings. Conclusion There are few features of a visual novel more memorable than its True Ending and this is due to how powerful a technique it is for leaving an impact on the player. Its focus around providing resolution for characters and plot elements gives it a flexility to imbue these parts of the narrative with the impact they deserve without causing issues for any future routes or overarching plot. Not being bound by expectations of tone lets a True Ending be satisfying for the player without needing to compromise itself and be suitable for use in any genre that might need what it offers due to its neutral narrative nature. On top of this, it offers a chance for the developer to make a statement about their vision for the ideas and themes of the game due to the conclusiveness of the True Ending or through its contrast with all the other endings. Through all these unique features the True Ending can offer you a chance to shape your visual novel and leave the player with a powerful memory that will stay with them long after they have closed the game.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. There Is Something Behind You Genres define the games they inhabit and how the game uses its unique features to achieve or subvert the expectations of the audience. This is especially true for horror which aims to invoke feelings in the player that many other genres deliberately steer clear of. As such it is an excellent candidate to begin to observe how visual novels adapt themselves to accommodate and play to the strengths of a specific genre. When a developer sets out to make a horror game they are shaping their game into a framework with the aim of creating fear and dread in the player. This is an extremely narrow set of priorities which often leads to creative use of assets and ideas, but also restricts what a game has access to in terms of standard motifs since it is highly incompatible with other genres. Visual novels are by nature a medium of limited means of expression while still being extremely flexible and has lead them to have an odd relationship with horror. Let’s dive in and find out exactly how the bond between them manifests. Less Is More In Horror And VNs The strongest bond between horror and visual novels is their understanding that less is more when it comes to narrative and presentation. For horror this is about not giving away too much information in order to insure that the source of the fear and dread does not become a known quantity and thus familiar to the player. By contrast visual novels lean into this narrative style more out of necessity due to the limitations of the medium and the need to keep the pace of story up while making the most out of the assets available in creative ways. Regardless of their differing reasons for this choice, it makes for an excellent pairing with horror which is able to cleanly achieve its aims and not put a burden on the resources of the visual novel. Perhaps the most iconic example of this common trait is the original Higurashi. This title had a very limited budget to work with resulting in the creator having to make all the artwork himself and splitting the overall narrative into a series of shorter visual novels. However, these apparent shortcomings were in fact strengths for the horror focus of the game. They prevented the source of the fear from becoming an easily identifiable element through the odd style of the artwork, and limited nature of its implementation does as much for obscuring the truth as the narrative. While other horror visual novels might not practice this technique to the extremes of Higurashi, they nevertheless lean into it for both budgetary and artistic reasons to help form the desired dread in the player. Monster Of The Week When it comes to structural elements, there is one type which both horror and visual novels love for longer form storytelling and this is the episodic format. The most common manifestation of this format for horror visual novels is a monster of the week style where the threats facing the characters changes regularly to keep the player on the edge of their seat. By not sticking to a single monster the game can preserve the overall sense of the unknown since it can discard an individual threat the moment the player no longer feels fear from them. It also allows for the build up of a greater and insidious final antagonist to act as a capstone for the game through an escalation of the dangers facing the characters, thus making the entity responsible for all the previous monsters come across as particularly threatening. The Death Mark games showcase this compatibility through the various ghosts and ghouls the developers based their episodes around and the way in which the visual novel format complements this approach. Each self contained segment has its own mystery and mechanical puzzles to complement the associated monster and provide a pacing tool through which the game uses to control the build up and release of tension. This is important as for a game of Death Mark’s length as it cannot keep a constant tension otherwise it will wear out the player and cause them to want to stop playing the game. So the solution Death Mark hits upon is to simulate the highs and lows of an overall horror experience on a smaller scale to give space to breathe and generate excitement for what is coming next. It is the also a great pacing tool utilised by visual novels in general to make break their longer games into manageable chunks, leading to them slotting nicely alongside horror. Control Over Information One particular sub-genre of horror which does not adhere to the episodic format is Denpa, a genre where controlling the player’s access to information is critical to the effectiveness of its fear. Given the limited means visual novels have of presenting the player with information, they are capable of providing a developer with precise control over what is know, while still offering the option to drop hints and create striking moments. This might be through the use of specific character portrait placement, subtle audio cues or the clever narrative moments. There are a surprising number of avenues to rely ideas down but these have limitation on the amount which can be conveyed at once and this sets the player’s expectations for what they are witnessing. Together these are excellent tools to sow doubt in the player's mind and invoke a paranoid state in them that is the hall mark of Denpa. Soundless - A MODERN SALEM IN REMOTE AREA – is a good example of how compatible Denpa horror and visual novels are at their core. The overall aim of Soundless is to create a sense of claustrophobia and doubt the game can channel into making the player question everything as events decay into a whirlpool of madness. To do this, the game establishes a status quo through a set of symbols and sounds that meet the player’s expectations while subtly cueing them in that something is not right, but never allowing them to put their finger on what it is. Thus when events start to slip into an uncontrolled descent, the player cannot tell if the protagonist is a reliable narrator to events given how off they can be at times, but still having to grapple with them as their only source of information. The restricted space to understand what is happening provided by the limitations of the visual novel medium ensure the player will always be in the palm of the developer’s hand and experience the desired dread. Conclusion Horror, just like humour, varies by person, some find grotesque monsters scary while others find the unknown a source of dread. Regardless of what type of horror experience is desired, visual novels offer a flexible environment to create an emotional roller-coaster for the player. Their compatibility with horror is founded in a fundamental commonality with how the two approach their structure and execution. From an emphasis on a limited means of presenting ideas, to an episodic centric approach to long form stories, to an ability to create gaps into which the player can project their own monsters. Together they can create games and narratives which would not be possible in other mediums due to their more expansive tool sets and differing player expectations. Horror is a genre defined by its ability to make something from very little material and visual novels understand this approach in a way nothing else can hope to match.