Oh boy, its always a treat making the first and only backloggd review for a game. I guess I should explain a bit first. I don't really play VNs, other than stuff like Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, 999 etc, stuff that's usually considered an adventure game more than a visual novel (although in japan they are all considered adventure games but videogame genre classifications are nothing if not arbitrary bullshit, by and large).

And yet when this game came across my steam discovery list I was intrigued. Taking a glance you'd be forgiven for thinking this game is nothing more than shovelware made by a teenager : it looks incredibly amateurish visually. And yet most reviews were positive, so it can't be as simple as all that. It was only 99 cents so I thought, what the hell Ill give it a go.

Firstly the game seems pretty extensively researched, there is a pretty large glossary to read through if you're confused by certain terms and in all honesty save for the whole "game set in anime japan world written by someone who very much isnt japanese" and certain decisions about character voice, the game is surprisingly well written. Its quite the intriguing sci-fi/occult mystery story.

Now as to whether or not the amateurish artsyle and assets (character portraits are drawn on paper and photographed, sometimes with a whole ass shadow of the phone that took the picture obscuring the damned portrait) are the result of straight up incompetence, a deliberate stylistic choice for effect a la "cruelty squad" or a desire to make people think its a deliberate stylistic choice to mask the creator's own lacking art skills I genuinely cannot tell.

That aside, I suppose I enjoyed this game, save for a rather annoying requirement for the good ending requiring fiddling about with saves, conspiracies and pseudoscience always make for good stories (reminds me a bit of Uchikoshi's style) and the all-girl cast is certainly a change of pace to what Im used to, which thankfully isnt used for cringeworthy, sus attempts at fan service.