One thing is sure, the first route of Dies Irae (Kasumi) is very slow and even tiring, only valid for the end of the route. However, the rest is a CHUNNI EXPLOSION that screams Nietzschean philosophies at every turn. Everything in the work revolves around an ABSURD metalanguage about Also Sprach Zarathustra, which I believe is magnificent. And yet Dies Irae in my view is best apprehended on an emotional rather than an intellectual level. Hunting for connections between the book and the game can make you lose the immersion, and at certain moments, the chuunibyou of the work is so explosive and certain resolutions are so forged in how Ren "just doesn't want that result", that this whole Nietzschean theater that screams the values of the book in your face is simply secondary compared to the emotions that the work gives you, without any relation to the book, simply for being what it is. Consuming Dies Irae is attesting, by x + y, Nasu's influence, because honestly, this is almost another Nasu writing, however with much more freedom to explode things on your screen. It's wonderful and I've never seen a universe as rich and ingenious as the Masadaverse since the Nasuverse. Masada deserved more recognition and greater support for his works, very sad that to read his other works, just by fan translation or studying Japanese, which honestly, for this man's work is worth it, but as he uses archaic Japanese it is even more laborious. Masterpiece.

Don't expect a masterpiece of literature and philosophy, at least not in English. Dies Irae is just a fun chuunige with over-the-top action and cool chants. I need to reread it in Japanese one day because the translation couldn't reproduce Masada's prose, which is one of the major strengths of the game. The lines just sound corny in English. That's the case in Japanese too, but the game is written in a way that makes you take it seriously.

It remains engaging overall thanks to the cast of charismatic characters and beautiful drawings of G Yuusuke. Fights were a bit too explanatory but very cool. Loved Shirou and Ellie.

“Come, gather and bear witness to my opera, now in the making. Its script is the height of cliché, I am forced to admit. And yet its actors are of the finest fold; beyond exquisite. Thus, I believe you will find it enthralling.”

This is a line from a pretty late stage of the game, yet it is for understandable reasons being often quoted to express many of the things that make Dies Irae impressive. For one, the prose is absolutely stellar: if the incredible amount of care put into every line from the English localization team mirrored the quality of the original Japanese release, we are in front of a work that transcends the limit of games directed to a young audience and leads into the realm of actual literature. Each character expresses themselves with fitting and recognizable verbal quirks, their voice acting is nothing short of superb, the insight given to their personalities is of the most eloquent and beguiling kind, certainly if one had to read Dies Irae for one purpose it would be for how well narrated are its characters.

As the translation team discussed, what appears to be a regular plot of bad villains (Nazis, moreover) threating the world hides a deeper layer of meaning where are discussed the fundamentals of its own genre, being so subtlety hidden that, even when the dialogues are close to be so metafictional you could hear the fourth wall shattering, the plot still doesn’t cease its adrenaline rush, nor loses focus. When you think you finally reached the climax, the game goes beyond and a new, more impressive climax is just around the corner, you’ll find yourself jaw dropping while reading some of the most superb over-the-top scenes ever conceived. Whenever ‘Ω Ewigkeit’ starts playing, since its first usage as the title menu theme, you can’t help but feel the blood rushing, the thrill, the awe, being swarmed by whatever is bound next to subvert your every expectation.

Dies Irae is a crescendo that can’t, or rather shouldn’t, be halted, ever, not until the reader has enough understanding of its core content to properly decide if it was impressive or tedious, charming and elegant or uselessly over bombastic. It also the hope for many more similar remarkable visual novels to receive a western release so that, even if it has still a niche of fans, many can rejoice for the wonderful possibilities of the medium.