Lilja
I really liked the OST and the ending, and the combat part is pretty entertaining despite feeling flawed and simple. The female characters didn't really sit well with me since it feels like they are just there as some sort of development for the main character. Their personalities were too plain and cliché for my taste.
Also, this is the first visual novel I play where the achievement farming is actually tedious (lol)
Also, this is the first visual novel I play where the achievement farming is actually tedious (lol)
This review contains spoilers
I can see why some people consider this visual novel as a masterpiece, and I kind of agree that it has a really well crafted narrative structure, but I could also see some flaws on it that didn't allow me to fully enjoy it.
First (and the most obvious one I'd say), the immense amount of gruesome nsfw scenes that were threatening to take me out of the story in some of the chapters. Using topics like rape and bullying as character development feels kinda cheap to me.
Second, the philosophical facts. The story acquires a lot of depth due to referencing and entwinning multiple philosophical works which I admire and enjoyed finding out, but at the same time it feels like sometimes there's too much philosophical 'gibberish' that isn't really fully justified by the story, as if the author was sometimes dropping some random facts that are completely unrelated using the story as excuse (it's only my impression only the author knows about its real meaning).
Third, the End Sky II ending and the final dialogue. I truly liked that the full narrative of this visual novel is very open to different interpretations in both structure and philosophical meaning and this ending killed that mysterious vibe for me a bit. In my opinion, it wasn't fully necessary in this case to end up explaining the structure of the chapters and the general picture so much to the reader. I'm more a fan of letting people figure out things by themselves, which the final dialogue tries to do but ends up over-explaining too many things.
Besides these points, I think it can be an enjoyable visual novel for some people and I would agree with who labels it as a classic in its sub-genre (denpa?), but I fail to see how this work is better than some other visual novels I've read before that explore similar subjects. Writing is important when creating visual novels, not only the story structure, and I think this novel focuses too much on the latter and neglects the writing quite a lot.
First (and the most obvious one I'd say), the immense amount of gruesome nsfw scenes that were threatening to take me out of the story in some of the chapters. Using topics like rape and bullying as character development feels kinda cheap to me.
Second, the philosophical facts. The story acquires a lot of depth due to referencing and entwinning multiple philosophical works which I admire and enjoyed finding out, but at the same time it feels like sometimes there's too much philosophical 'gibberish' that isn't really fully justified by the story, as if the author was sometimes dropping some random facts that are completely unrelated using the story as excuse (it's only my impression only the author knows about its real meaning).
Third, the End Sky II ending and the final dialogue. I truly liked that the full narrative of this visual novel is very open to different interpretations in both structure and philosophical meaning and this ending killed that mysterious vibe for me a bit. In my opinion, it wasn't fully necessary in this case to end up explaining the structure of the chapters and the general picture so much to the reader. I'm more a fan of letting people figure out things by themselves, which the final dialogue tries to do but ends up over-explaining too many things.
Besides these points, I think it can be an enjoyable visual novel for some people and I would agree with who labels it as a classic in its sub-genre (denpa?), but I fail to see how this work is better than some other visual novels I've read before that explore similar subjects. Writing is important when creating visual novels, not only the story structure, and I think this novel focuses too much on the latter and neglects the writing quite a lot.
2022
✔️ Played on Steam Deck, it works fine (09/04/2024). 'A' button to advance text and touchscreen for the menu and choices.
The story is pretty original and well written and I really loved the art of the characters' sprites. Pacing is quick but it doesn't neglect to give every single character some deep meaning or significance within the plot.
The story is pretty original and well written and I really loved the art of the characters' sprites. Pacing is quick but it doesn't neglect to give every single character some deep meaning or significance within the plot.
TBD
✔️ Played on Steam Deck, it works fine (08/04/2024). 'A' button to advance text and touchscreen for the menu.
The art is really pretty and clean but the vn feels too short for the deep subjects it tries to talk about.
The art is really pretty and clean but the vn feels too short for the deep subjects it tries to talk about.
This review contains spoilers
✔️ Played on Steam Deck, it works fine (20/03/2024). 'A' button to advance text and touchscreen for all the menu and choices-related stuff.
An exquisitely crafted story with beautiful art and music. I really loved all the tragedy, the love stories and how everything ends up connecting and making sense towards the end. Its main flaw for me would be how dragging and pace-breaking it felt to be reading the same scenes over and over from different points of view.
The characters all felt so unique and well written and I'm not even exaggerating by saying this story has one of the best and most elegant LGBT representations I've seen in a visual novel so far.
An exquisitely crafted story with beautiful art and music. I really loved all the tragedy, the love stories and how everything ends up connecting and making sense towards the end. Its main flaw for me would be how dragging and pace-breaking it felt to be reading the same scenes over and over from different points of view.
The characters all felt so unique and well written and I'm not even exaggerating by saying this story has one of the best and most elegant LGBT representations I've seen in a visual novel so far.
✔️ Played on Steam Deck, it works fine (09/03/2024). 'R2' button to advance text and touchscreen for starting menu.
This is a story with one of the strongest female casts I've read so far. It think it has some pacing issues in the second half and specially in last episode which feels unnecessarily long. Still, it's a great mystery vn with really charismatic characters and a pretty unique format in my opinion.
This is a story with one of the strongest female casts I've read so far. It think it has some pacing issues in the second half and specially in last episode which feels unnecessarily long. Still, it's a great mystery vn with really charismatic characters and a pretty unique format in my opinion.
2019
Although it can become a bit repetitive, it does well the job as historical satire and comedy. The voice acting and the OST were really good and original, love me some Bri'ish accent.
2022
A charming story with adorable character designs and completely unexpected plot twists.
2015
Very charismatic characters in a story that has the right proportion of funny moments and drama.
Don't mind me I'll just be permanently joining Majima's fan club.
Don't mind me I'll just be permanently joining Majima's fan club.
F...
2017
This game gave me an existential crisis.
Truly a storytelling masterpiece. Very engaging plot, weaker pacing on the second route but extremely well compensated by third. An open world with stunning art direction that's the living proof that it's possible to make an actual 'open world' where every single part of the map feels meaningful and worth to be revisited.
The OST will always be one of my favourites.
Truly a storytelling masterpiece. Very engaging plot, weaker pacing on the second route but extremely well compensated by third. An open world with stunning art direction that's the living proof that it's possible to make an actual 'open world' where every single part of the map feels meaningful and worth to be revisited.
The OST will always be one of my favourites.
2023
A 'spot the difference' game taking place in a very unsettling environment. Decent entertainment for the price.
2023
So far this is the game of this genre that better understands the concept of having multiple classes that actually feel different when playing them imo. Also the gear is pretty relevant and not just a bunch of added stats.
Short and fun but not too engaging. Story didn't have me hooked and some of the puzzles were pretty tedious to solve (not hard). It's easy to lose focus and attention in some parts. But it's a first game and I love the concept as I've been a long time fan of The Room series which this game clearly takes inspiration from. Controls sometimes feel a bit clunky (game is a port if I'm not mistaken) and the camera fixed movement sometimes makes it pretty hard to discern important details you need to solve the puzzles and advance.
I'd say you should give it a chance if you like escape room games but don't set your expectations too high.
I'd say you should give it a chance if you like escape room games but don't set your expectations too high.
2023
✔️ Played on Steam Deck, it works fine (15/01/2024).
So far it looks nice, it's entertaining and it has good replayability value. It needs a bit of polishing imo: the characters don't really have much uniqueness to them, most of the time you can play the same build with any of them and it will feel the same. There's also some builds that are clearly out performing the rest ([spoiler] Curse/Time/Justice mainly[spoiler]).
Also, I don't think it's a good idea to use emotes and abbreviated writing in the dialogue as a way of giving characters some sort of personality since not everyone that plays the game is familiar with the expressions/ internet slang and it looks like a pain for later localization/translation while trying to keep the essence of the character's personality.
So far it looks nice, it's entertaining and it has good replayability value. It needs a bit of polishing imo: the characters don't really have much uniqueness to them, most of the time you can play the same build with any of them and it will feel the same. There's also some builds that are clearly out performing the rest ([spoiler] Curse/Time/Justice mainly[spoiler]).
Also, I don't think it's a good idea to use emotes and abbreviated writing in the dialogue as a way of giving characters some sort of personality since not everyone that plays the game is familiar with the expressions/ internet slang and it looks like a pain for later localization/translation while trying to keep the essence of the character's personality.