it would be better as an anime... the story is fun and i was genuinely into it, but the actual game was not great, visual novels are fun, but there just wasn't much variety with the characters during the scenes with just a small handful of expressions throughout the entire game, not to mention several of the CGs being reused for different scenarios or dialogues with no changes, it obviously reeks of being rushed out to make a quick buck, despite the story being fairly decent, all things considered

You follow a lawyer named Kotone who is bored of her life. Real life is the same day in and day out. Even her favorite escape, an online game where she’s a top level witch, has become dull. Nothing challenges her anymore. But she does wish that Asaph was real so she could explore for herself and break up the monotony. Wish granted! Now she really is Viola the feared dark witch, and it’s her time….to build a harem of cute girls!

Visuals

Sakura MMO is done in vibrant anime style. I really liked how it looked. It’s probably my favorite of the Sakura games I’ve played so far, and it’s the only one where the girls have normal proportions. I also really liked their outfits, particularly Neve’s “peasant” outfit.

I did get the 18+ patch for this one, and it actually worked, so I was treated with some extra special visuals.

Sound Effects + Music

There’s quite a variety of background music in Sakura MMO. The opening track had a very medieval fantasy sound which was cool and definitely suited the game world. Being back in the real world gave more typical VN music, but this also carried back over into the world of Asaph, which didn’t quite fit. But there are some really catchy adventure tracks and a couple more that sound more appropriate to the fantasy setting. The music does change with every location change, so you’re never hearing the same song for too long. The tracks do repeat though, but that’s to be expected.

There’s no voice acting at all. Not even little one liners or sighs. It’s not a deal breaker for me, but I find it does take away from the experience a bit, especially since this is based on a game which presumably has sound effects. And the additional sound effects are extremely limited.

Gameplay + Controls

Sakura MMO is a visual novel with very few choices and no additional gameplay. It’s easy to read and get sucked into. Just press Enter and enjoy! You might want to pay attention to your choices or make multiple saves, since there are three possible endings. As far as I can tell, you don’t need to get 100% of the decisions correct for each love interest. As long as you make their critical choices to take you down one of their routes, you’ll get one of the endings. No bad ends here!

Replayability

Being a visual novel, Sakura MMO is replayable, and you should replay it as it has three different endings. There’s one for each of the girls Viola can date. And all achievements are earned automatically during each route, so it should be easy to get all of them if you’ve romanced all three ladies.

Overall

Sakura MMO has been my favorite of the franchise so far. The story was so much fun, and what’s not to like about becoming an overpowered witch collecting cute girls? It ends in a good place, but there’s obviously more to unravel about Asaph Online.