Detective visual novel about mysteries of rural Russian town in 90-s, anime style.
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I anticipated little more than some laughs out of this, but had a really nice time (and some laughs still). The story twists unpredictably (in my experience) this way and that, and the game as a whole was a near-constant stream of lively (and occasionally slightly repetitive) banter between the characters, keeping the game from dipping into any lulls that bored me.
I enjoyed the setting (the background art is really nice), small town vibes, and the cultural tidbits. I'm not deeply versed in Russian culture, so there might be some more subtle ideas communicated that I was unable to pick up on (such as how respectful the portrayal of a Ukrainian character is).
The game is fully voiced, and the voice acting is great (as a player with minimal Russian language comprehension).
The character art is expressive and dynamic. Some of the more estrogen-affected bodies look somewhat sexualized, but I think one of the main victims of this (Alisa) still shines as a character. There were a couple of moments when I was like, "apparently written by a cis-het man", but nothing too egregious.
Overall, not fantastic, but a fun experience I'm pleased that I didn't skip!
I enjoyed the setting (the background art is really nice), small town vibes, and the cultural tidbits. I'm not deeply versed in Russian culture, so there might be some more subtle ideas communicated that I was unable to pick up on (such as how respectful the portrayal of a Ukrainian character is).
The game is fully voiced, and the voice acting is great (as a player with minimal Russian language comprehension).
The character art is expressive and dynamic. Some of the more estrogen-affected bodies look somewhat sexualized, but I think one of the main victims of this (Alisa) still shines as a character. There were a couple of moments when I was like, "apparently written by a cis-het man", but nothing too egregious.
Overall, not fantastic, but a fun experience I'm pleased that I didn't skip!
I played through 1997 in its entirety in a little over two weeks with my partner, our total play time coming in between 10-15 hours. We came into it expecting something low quality, but hopefully entertaining — I personally thought it would be worth it if it just taught me a few things about 90s Russia. We were both pleasantly surprised with the result.
Parts of it are still very silly. There’s stray punctuation in some text boxes, some typos, [presumably] glitches that do things like prevent a character called Girl from ever having a real name above her dialogue, a glossary that is very tedious to navigate, wonky human anatomy in some CGs, and the characters generally continue shouting at each other even when they’re supposed to be quiet. But the game is much more than its problems, and I ultimately found it to be a positive experience.
Right when you get to the title screen, you can see a cute, unique user interface resembling a much older video game. It’s possible to actually play it as a simple mini-game by pressing the + button, or just use it to navigate through basic main functions. It has a gallery and an achieved endings list (though it does not say how many endings there are), as well as a glossary you can also view while you’re playing the game. You will almost definitely want to view that glossary as you unlock definitions and explanations while playing, but as you gather more words it becomes more of a search to find them in the list. There is no “NEW” indicator; you just have to locate them yourself. At least you learn some cultural context for your trouble!
Starting the main game itself, it’s apparent that the background artist knows what they’re doing. The BGs are very detailed and frequently beautiful. CGs are more hit-or-miss, but it’s cool to see them change with the characters’ actions, and the artist is quite skilled at unsettling imagery as well. The character portraits are also quite nice; characters who are much older than the main trio show that age well.
The voice acting is exclusively in Russian, and in my experience it all worked. While main character Anton didn’t have that much vocal variation, Alisa and Daria’s cadences were especially fun to listen to, and Fedor’s voice was downright sultry. I mean, seductive. I mean—
The characters aren’t all that special, but they serve their purpose in the story well enough. The game could’ve used a more consistent stance on domestic violence perpetrated by a few of those characters, but the usually strong condemnation was satisfying to see. There is also an interesting bit on gender that is brought up in one flashback and then never acknowledged again. The mystery at the story’s heart is very unusual (speaking as someone unfamiliar with much Russian fiction), so it was never too predictable or cliched.
Something cool about that mystery is that you only get the whole picture after following every possible route in your choices. Those choices come down to Trusting or Distrusting each character that asks for it. So, while you’ll get 5 different bad endings doing this, you will learn something important chasing them down instead of only earning a bloody failure CG. It’s also possible to just get a good ending the first time and stop there if you’re satisfied.
Overall, 1997 is an engaging VN with beautiful backgrounds, awkward CGs, decent characters and pleasant full voice acting. At its cheap price point (especially on sale), I would recommend it to anyone else who wants to dive into a relatively short mystery and learn a little more about a very specific time period in Russia.
Parts of it are still very silly. There’s stray punctuation in some text boxes, some typos, [presumably] glitches that do things like prevent a character called Girl from ever having a real name above her dialogue, a glossary that is very tedious to navigate, wonky human anatomy in some CGs, and the characters generally continue shouting at each other even when they’re supposed to be quiet. But the game is much more than its problems, and I ultimately found it to be a positive experience.
Right when you get to the title screen, you can see a cute, unique user interface resembling a much older video game. It’s possible to actually play it as a simple mini-game by pressing the + button, or just use it to navigate through basic main functions. It has a gallery and an achieved endings list (though it does not say how many endings there are), as well as a glossary you can also view while you’re playing the game. You will almost definitely want to view that glossary as you unlock definitions and explanations while playing, but as you gather more words it becomes more of a search to find them in the list. There is no “NEW” indicator; you just have to locate them yourself. At least you learn some cultural context for your trouble!
Starting the main game itself, it’s apparent that the background artist knows what they’re doing. The BGs are very detailed and frequently beautiful. CGs are more hit-or-miss, but it’s cool to see them change with the characters’ actions, and the artist is quite skilled at unsettling imagery as well. The character portraits are also quite nice; characters who are much older than the main trio show that age well.
The voice acting is exclusively in Russian, and in my experience it all worked. While main character Anton didn’t have that much vocal variation, Alisa and Daria’s cadences were especially fun to listen to, and Fedor’s voice was downright sultry. I mean, seductive. I mean—
The characters aren’t all that special, but they serve their purpose in the story well enough. The game could’ve used a more consistent stance on domestic violence perpetrated by a few of those characters, but the usually strong condemnation was satisfying to see. There is also an interesting bit on gender that is brought up in one flashback and then never acknowledged again. The mystery at the story’s heart is very unusual (speaking as someone unfamiliar with much Russian fiction), so it was never too predictable or cliched.
Something cool about that mystery is that you only get the whole picture after following every possible route in your choices. Those choices come down to Trusting or Distrusting each character that asks for it. So, while you’ll get 5 different bad endings doing this, you will learn something important chasing them down instead of only earning a bloody failure CG. It’s also possible to just get a good ending the first time and stop there if you’re satisfied.
Overall, 1997 is an engaging VN with beautiful backgrounds, awkward CGs, decent characters and pleasant full voice acting. At its cheap price point (especially on sale), I would recommend it to anyone else who wants to dive into a relatively short mystery and learn a little more about a very specific time period in Russia.
it is what it is
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