So far it's my least favorite science adventure game, the game sacrifices characterization for the grand scale of the plot, characters are static and doesn't really grow that much with the exception of like 4 people and even then it's really minor, there's also a clear lack of backstories to the character and an overly used "tell, don't show" method of storytelling I really disliked, the main plot of the game which is clearing hacking "quests" almost feels like filler that it's baffling they even do it so many times, it really feels like they don't know how to write it into the long stretch of the final arc

I've been following the Science Adventure series (SciADV for short) for the last 4 years now, ever since I checked out the Steins;Gate anime, read some of Chaos;Child, and read the Chaos;Head NoAH spanish translation in full, which made me a diehard fan of the series for a time, and I even helped work on the Committee of Zero Translation and QoL improvement patches for a good while too. That said, while I will still always be grateful to NoAH for putting my own shut-in lifestyle into perspective and helping me get out of that hole I dug myself into, as I've gotten older and graduated college I've come to realize that I've drifted away from this series, and don't like a lot about it in retrospect. I've found the series more often than not is more plot-driven and really chokeholds the potential of its characters to be more compelling due to heavy plot devices and fast pacing in a good amount of entries, with the only real exceptions being Robotics;Notes and Chaos;Child. I've also really grown to not care for the heavy fanservice and objectification of women in the series, there's a lot of misogyny that goes on in the series that feels like it's done for otaku bait, among other fanservice things. For these reasons and a few more, I'm not the biggest fan of SciADV anymore, and I planned to make Anonymous;Code be the final game I check out in the franchise, and I think I might still stick to that. That said...

I have to stay I was pretty impressed with A;C itself. I don't plan to spoil the plot in detail, but I will say some general things. Firstly, I think this game truly is meant for those long-term SciADV fans first and foremost. The game explains enough that newcomers can enjoy and understand a decent bit of the plot, but I think most of the returning SciADV concepts really make a lot more sense and hit much harder in terms of impact if you're already familiar with the series. I'd really recommend most people read Chaos;Head NoAH, Steins;Gate, and Steins;Gate 0 at the minimum before playing this, to get the full impact.

The game is very plot-driven and only really fleshes out its two lead characters, but the main appeal of the game really is the worldbuilding and payoff to long term SciADV plot points and themes in my opinion, and it does a fantastic job of that. So many things I'd theorized and figured out on my own beforehand were finally vindicated after so many years, so that was nice. The very brisk, thriller-esque pacing of the plot was very welcome too, after dumping so many hours of time investment into this series with its earlier entries that are more slow burn plots. I didn't really want another slow burn story with SciADV after this much time investment, and I'm really glad A;C delivered there. I was able to beat the game in 4 days thanks to that.

The OST is also amazing, definitely one of Takeshi Abo's best. Also, after seeing SciADV's horrible decline in quality following Chaos;Child, it's nice to see that Naotaka Hayashi, the original scenario writer for NoAH, S;G, and R;N come back to return the series to form was very nice. Also, thank goodness that they FINALLY got rid of the fanservice crap aspect this series is infamous for. There's next to no fanservice in this game which was super refreshing.

That said, as an Orthodox Christian, this game is pretty blasphemous to my beliefs, but I wasn't too surprised as I said, because a lot of those aspects of the story were already foreshadowed and built up to long in advance in previous games. So I won't hold that against the game itself, even if it's another reason I probably won't revisit this series or read later games.

Overall, the story was good for what it was going for. It's far from perfect, lots of missed opportunities with better character writing and portrayal, some kind of one-dimensional views of religion and other concepts, but I think the game succeeds in what it was trying to be: a full realization of SciADV's overarching themes and sci-fi concepts, and shows them taken to their natural extreme to answer enough of what the narrative's been leading up to all these years. I enjoyed it enough, and I think this is a great place to end my time with Science Adventure.

It's been a fun ride, and may the delusions you wish for come true.

Total playtime: 18 hours.

As much as I don't personally care about scores, for a moment I was stuck on whether or not I would give this game 5 stars, but the longer I sit on it the more I realize I completely adore it

First of all it's worth mentioning just how creative and fun of an experience this is, one of the coolest times I've had with a visual novel. And I think the length is perfect for what it is, even tho some might call it too short

The story itself is what you come to expect from Science Adventure, nothing groundbreaking in that regard, what makes it special is how it goes about being the conclusion to the series' overarching meta themes

I am personally very content with this ending, and what they say about SciAdv as whole, some might dislike it but I think the characters speak for themselves in this regard
And if you look back, you realize that it's not as crazy as it might seem on a first impression, I think that for all that can be criticized about SciAdv, they really pulled off the feeling they've been trying to give from the very start

I don't know how to talk about that feeling in particular without going into spoiler territory, but it's one that I resonate with greatly when it comes to fiction and I simply adore

I would consider SciAdv to be one of my biggest and longest standing interests, and I'm so happy that I can say I adore it until the (narratively speaking) end

For context, the only other Science Adventure VN I've completed is Chaos Child. I've played about 9 hours of Robotic Notes and am familiar with Steins Gate and Chaos Head.

Anonymous Code was overall a fun read with an interesting plot and characters. The pacing is surprisingly pretty fast so it was consistently engaging throughout. The main story beats involve multiple cyberterrorism events which were all intense.

There is a ton of sci-fi terms and themes in the story which reflected the near futuristic setting. It can get crazy at times, but compared to Kotaro Uchikoshi's stuff (999, Virtue's Last Reward, A.I. Somnium, etc...), it feels more convincing and easy to digest here.

From what I noticed, there's some references and cameos from Steins Gate and a minor reference to Robotics Notes. Prior knowledge of those games aren't need to understand Anonymous Code.

I liked the general writing of the game especially when it comes to monologues. Some games like Chaos Child can spend an unnecessarily excessive amount of time discussing one scene. Anonymous Code fortunately avoids this most of the time so that scenes don't really get dragged out.

There are a few relaxed scenes in-between that does provide good moments for a breather. I did wished there were more overall for a better balance.

The game does feel rushed towards the end though which is around the 2/3 mark of the game. The True End itself is surprisingly short and doesn't leave a stronger impact than I'd expected. A bit lacking during these parts, but I still enjoyed them regardless.

The characters, particularly the good guys are likable. The main duo leads are solid and receive a decent amount of character development. However, the same couldn't be said of the supporting side characters. Other than some background reveals, most of them don't reveal much in terms of character development.

The antagonists for the most part, lack any real character development.

The art direction was pretty great. The backgrounds are colorful and the character models are 3D, but made it appeared to look 2D so I found it much more appealing than Robotics Notes' use of the 3D portraits.

The CGs are numerous and great to look. The manga panels that serve as several cutscenes are pretty dynamic, but the obvious change in character design during these moments really take me out at times.

The budget for this game is among the highest I've experienced. The presentation and graphics were great. Dialogue is fully voiced except for monologues.

The story is somewhat linear on a single story path, but there are small branches throughout that lead to Bad Ends. The triggers to avoid these can be pretty difficult to figure out so a guide is really recommended.

The game is on the shorter side of things. There's no in-game timer, but my PS5 says 11 hours. I'd figured it be closer to 15 hours in reality to complete everything.

Overall, a fun read, but feels pretty rushed towards the end and most of the characters sadly don't get enough proper development.

And here we are. It has been a long read to make it to the end of the Sci;Fi Adventure series for me (well mostly, I still plan to play My Darlings Embrace at some point, but the main line ones have all been crushed now).

A series with so many highs, and some very low lows, and it feels fitting that this game kind of encompasses that perfectly. What a wild adventure though, and the highs in this game are just so damn high that I can't help but love it.

This game is insanely paced. When you look at a game like Robotics;Note which is basically all character development until chapter 8 or 9, and then compare it to this, which is so so plot heavy, and story based, and basically starts in chapter 1 and never lets its foot off the gas, it's a pretty giant difference. And in fact that is my biggest complaint about this game. I loved every single character in this game. Pollion and Momo are probably both my second favorite pair of this entire franchise, but GOD I just wish there was a few extra hours of character building in this. My total clocktime for this game was around 15 hours (fast reader) and by far the quickest in the sci;fi adv series for me. Most of these games normally took 25-30 hours for me.

Still though, the actual plot is great, and what this game hints at, and sort of does for the entire universe is nothing short of insane. I know a lot of people had said you're fine to play this without any of the others one, and at a base level, sure? But having played through all of them (but ESPECIALLY Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0) made this so so much more rewarding for me.

This game is meta, it's awesome, I just wish it had a little more room to breathe at times, but it's still an adventure worth taking.

Hack into god!!!

Hmmm... this is tough. I really enjoyed my time with the first 75% of this game. I thought the setting was really interesting, I liked all the characters, I liked the SciAdv tropes it used but I also loved how different it felt compared to other entries. This might honestly be the most unique since Chaos;Head. But... that last 25% is just so rushed. And I felt so little during the true ending, I was so disappointed. And it's annoying because I know there are parts of this game that I'll be thinking about for a long time, but it just doesn't have that big payoff that every other game in the series does for me. It pains me after I was on a 9.5-10 range in my first 15 hours with it, but the last 5 hours bring it down to an
8.5/10

With Anonymous;Code being announced in 2015, rewritten at least six times, delayed even more, and released in 2022, it's honestly impressive that it came out as good as it did.

While I wouldn't say it's in my top three of the series, it was still a fun ride. The two lead characters are fun and the story is overall good, even if it doesn't fully explain some of its concepts and fails to fully realize its potential. A;C doesn't have a lot of the slice of life stuff that made the other entries so memorable, but then again I can also understand why they would cut them thanks to the games core gameplay mechanic.

In Anonymous;Code, both you and the main character Pollon share save slots. Pollon has the ability to "save" and "load" like he's in a video game. He'll make his own saves that you can't delete or save over and you have him reload his saves in order to get past problems. You can also have him reload at certain point to see optional dialogue and scenes.

I can only imagine how much of a nightmare it was to write around this concept. Going through half a dozen rewrites and seven years of development hell started making sense as I interacted with its narrative. This is why I think they've carved out a lot of the typical slice of life stuff and character routes from this game. Having the "Hacking Trigger" system in these moments would have Pollon create too many saves and it would be incredibly hard to keep track of.

While I won't spoil the main story, I will say I think the narrative started to fall apart a bit towards the end, partially because it starts to be crushed by the weight of its own concept. I was always interested exactly what "World Layers" would entail, but I think the overall reveal is a tad disappointing. Another thing I was hoping for was more connections to the rest of the series, but there's really not a lot of that. Due to there not being slice of life moments, a lot of the principal cast feel underdeveloped, which is a shame.

On a final note, the score by Takeshi Abo is fantastic as always. He's easily become one of my favorite game composers and this has some of his best stuff.

Overall a pretty fun time that could've been better, but I also see the trajectory of how it arrived to us. If you're a fan, it's definitely worth looking at especially with some of the stuff it adds to the greater lore of the series.

The first half was amazing, but the rest of the game really went downhill for me.

After 7 years in development and several rewrites, it feels like Shikura Chiyomaru gave up trying to find a use for his original ideas and went with whatever version they had at the time. An interview with him in Famitsu from July 7, 2020, suggests that to be the case. When jokingly asked if the game is ready to release, Shikura Chiyomaru states, "We were busy until the last second, but I think it should be fine. However, I would not say that the game is finished. Instead, we decided to stop here."

The opening chapters kick off confidently, filled to the brim with content. There are comic-style animated scenes, manga-like expositions, tons of CGs, scooter segments and more. The story itself keeps up a good pace, moving from one 'incident' to the next. However, the whole game comes to a halt around Chapter 8 and never truly picks up again. You could argue this is a deliberate narrative choice, but I feel there are so many other things that could have worked better. The storytelling also resorts to conventional text+sprites with rare CGs and animated scenes. The Save-Load gimmick, which was interesting for the first few hours of the gameplay, gets beaten to death. The only impressive moment comes towards the end, when the player is tasked to solve a puzzle. However, forcing the player to use a gimmick that was entirely optional up to that point in the story in order to reach the true ending is a bad design choice with no other way to put it. The second half drags on for too long, but paradoxically, when the credits roll, it feels like you missed half of the game—or better yet—there is a second half somewhere waiting to be found. It is a shame that this is the product we have got. In the same interview, Shikura Chiyomaru notes how they tried to make the game "easy to understand"—especially in relation to in-game terminology—and I am curious if this decision influenced the production of the second half in some way.

Anonymous;Code went through a number of rewrites, and I wonder what other iterations looked like. One can hope there is a world line where Shikura Chiyomaru decided to push through and finish the game. But alas, it seems out of reach.

----------------------------------------

Here is the aforementioned interview:
https://www.famitsu.com/news/202207/07267624.html

Waited 7 years after being announced, and eventually played it the moment it gets released and localised.

I've been following the SciADV series throughout my entirety of High School, starting with Steins;Gate and eventually falling in love with both Chaos;Head & Child -- visual novels that would make me fall into the rabbit hole of the medium. The many theories spiraling around the series were engaging and wanted me to know more, which Anonymous;Code would deliver while being an overarching narrative to the entirety of SciADV.

What's heartbreaking was that I didn't enjoy it as much compared to the prior titles, emotional-wise. There were many instances of moments that had many stakes at hand, but didn't resonate with me due to how the length and pacing of the narrative felt "fast". Another complaint from readers is the short length of A;C compared to the prior which were about 20+ hours -- the longest being Chaos;Child. The pacing was perfect but it felt more as if it didn't know how to approach its overarching narrative while building upon a new story, that being A;C. Despite the theories spiraling around SciADV being resolved and explained in A;C, it's more satisfying compared to how MGS4 would tackle a certain overarching narrative. Regarding the narrative, the characters didn't feel as memorable despite being the main motivation for the narrative to be driven forward -- with our main trio of characters being more memorable and the motivation of the 'antagonist' feeling lackluster.

A bit disappointed that I was not fond of it as much compared to some of my SciADV mutuals, regarding it as superior to Chaos;Child though it's probably because I expected more from this. It doesn't fail to impress since it without a doubt has a high production value with its presentation, animation, transitions from visual novel UI to manga panels (done by the amazing Haruhisa Nakata, who worked on Levius!), Takeshi Abo's score and sound design, and the amazing direction with A;C.

At least this was better than Robotics;Notes DaSH.

I... dunno, man. This game is so balls to the walls all the time that the ending falls lifelessly flat. It also lacks significant character growth, my favorite part of SciAdv as a whole. I still gave it 3 stars, though. The English dub is astounding, the presentation is excellent, and the Save/Load gimmick makes reading through text surprisingly fun.
If anyone is checking this out thinking "Huh, this visual novel looks cool": Please play every other SciAdv game, and then this one. Those games are peak. This one? Not so much. But I think it's a testament to the series as a whole that my least favorite game in the series doesn't go below 3 stars.
Asuma is pretty peak, I won't lie.

How good it is to be back

Anonymous;Code had a troubled development and in the end, although you notice that this harmed the novel in some points, mainly in the development of relationships between the characters, here we have one of the things that this franchise knows how to do best,
its thematic part is very strong and manages to support the rest of the work, making a meta analysis of existentialism and the use of the internet today and how this culture is becoming increasingly homogeneous with life outside the web. Hack Into God.
Looking forward to the next titles in the franchise.

The Science Adventure series has been a favorite of mine for a long time, so this game has been highly anticipated by me for quite a while. I am happy to say that it delivered and it’s up there as one of my favorite entries in the series. It is definitely the most visually impressive and stylistic game in the series, with beautiful nothing character models, lots of flashy scenes, and some awesome comic book sections. There is also a very unique mechanic that you learn about early in the game that really takes advantage of the visual novel medium that couldn’t be replicated by a book or comic.

As a pure VN I can’t get into too much without spoilers, but I can say that the narrative is very interesting, unique, and engaging led by two very strong characters in Pollon and Momo. It bucks the usual trend of the series and has a breakneck pace almost the entire runtime that keeps you wondering about the greater mystery that I won’t dive into. The only downside to this is that the supporting cast, while lovable and interesting, don’t get a lot of time to shine so they don’t quite stack up to the steins, robotics, or chaos;child casts as a whole. Luckily Pollon and Momo are right up there with the best in the series so it balances out.

This was a great narrative that makes me even more interested in where the series goes from here.

Mientras jugaba muchas veces llegue a cuestionarme que puntuación el daría Anonymous;Code... A veces pensaba en darle un 3/5, otras veces a darle un 4/5 y si me conocen saben que soy jodido con las puntuaciones y suelo ser duro y darle un 4/5 a una VN es algo que a no ser que me haya gustado bastante no se lo daría...

Si eres fan del Sci;Adv series ya sabrás todo lo que tuvo que pasar para que saliera al fin Anonymous;Code después de tantos años, pero la espera valió la pena? Juzgar a A;C de igual manera que el resto de VNs del science adventure series sería algo injusto, ya que es una experiencia mucho más corta y es una VN "cinética" (Bueno, sería una falacia decir que es cinética, puesto que el gimmic principal es que el lector interactúe con el mundo de A;C) por lo que eso significa que la historia será mucho más resumida y apresurada y tampoco existen rutas y sabes, esto suele ser uno de los mayores problemas para una obra, su corta duración al no poder contar todo lo que tiene que contar y termina llena de agujeros de guion...

Pero antes que nada de decir si supieron llevar o no bien la historia en una corta duración, dire las cosas que no me gustaron. Siento que muchos fueron engañados con los trailers debido a que una de las maneras las cual se publicitó esta entrega fue con Kurisu y con Cicada y bueno... Te decepcionaras al ver la importancia que tienen ambos personajes en la historia y fue una mierda el clickbait que hicieron con ello... Lo segundo es su traducción y es que da asco viejo... Es leíble pero si sabes un mínimo de japonés te darás cuenta que la mayoría de oraciones no se apegan a lo que dice en japones. Como se demoraron 1 año para sacar una VN que con suerte llega a las 15 horas y sacar una pésima traducción? Mientras que fans como Comite of Zero te hacen un mucho mejor trabajo y gratis y en solo meses? Lo peor es que a alguien le pagaron para que hicieran eso.

Si lo juzgamos como una entrega digna del Sci;Adv series, pero con una duración más resumida creo que hicieron un buen trabajo con su historia y lograr que no se sienta todo tan apresurado y tener un buen final. Supieron saber bien como llevarla y a eso se le suma su excelente apartado sonoro y las viñetas estilo comic que le dieron una personalidad que al menos yo no había visto en este nicho. También hubo participación de otros personajes los cuales obviamente algunos aparecieron más que otros, pero TODOS tuvieron su momento estelar y que los recordaras. El mundo se desarrolla en el 2036 el cual es muchos años más adelante que incluso Robotics;Notes el cual era el más adelantado en la línea de tiempo y ya con R;N opinaba que habían cosas un poco imaginativas, ahora en el 2036 que pienso? Bueh, era lo que se podía esperar y es un mundo demasiado avanzado y a primera vista fantasioso el cual parece una historia cyberpunk, pero si lo analizamos podemos ver que las cosas que se muestran ahí como la inteligencia artificial y demás cosas son creíbles para el mundo real y probablemente estas cosas existan en nuestro mundo para ese año o incluso antes y ahí tengo que felicitar a Chiyomaru y a su equipo, ya que sigue conservando la idea principal del Sci;Adv el cual es que por más fantasioso que parezcan las cosas, son creíbles y se dan una explicación científica que (al menos a mí) me convencieron y que siendo sinceros, una de mis teorías es que la mitad de los personajes ahí son Gigalomanos puesto que encajan con la descripción de lo que es, como uno se vuelve y las habilidades de un gigalomano y no es algo que se deje explicito pero que si lo analizas tendría todo el sentido.

Claro que también sigue manteniendo su característica principal, la cual es introducir leyendas urbanas o conspiraciones de nuestro mundo en su mundo y en este caso fueron muy pocas y algunas solo fueron referenciadas, pero realmente la teoría conspiranoica aquí principal es el vaticano y que ha estado desde tiempos controlando muchas cosas desde las sombras, muchas cosas que no son precisamente buenas si entiendes a lo que me refiero...

Que me pareció Pollon? Creo que es mi protagonista favorito de esta serie y es que tiene arta personalidad y no se parece a ninguno de los que hemos tenido. Supieron crear a Pollon como el héroe que siempre esta dispuesto a ayudar a las personas, pero tampoco es perfecto, vemos como sufre, vemos como fracasa muchas veces a pesar de que lo intenta y aunque no soy fan de los heroes, Pollon se ganó mi respeto porque hizo algo que casi nunca hacen bien otras obreas que es usar el arquetipo del "Heroe" pero mostrando que sigue siendo humano, comete muchos errores y esta bien llorar, pero nunca se rendira y seguirá intentándolo da igual cuantas veces fracase y se que suena como a Okabe y estas en lo correcto ya que incluso en la habilidad e ambos son similares, pero Pollon no es un Okabe 2, es un personaje único y a la altura del resto de MC del Sci;Adv series.

Algo que no mencione en el punto de cosas negativas pero lo hice puesto que se merecía abarcarlo más adelante es el tema de problemas con el guion. No me malinterpretes, me pareció una buena historia a pesar de ser corta, pero hubo cosas que le restaron puntos... Cosas como el uso de Deus Ex y sin entrar en spoilers dire que hay algunos que están justificados por la propia trama, pero otros los cuales no tienen ningún sentido y están al mismo nivel que el loro que salvo que todo se fuera a la mierda en Robotics;Notes... Creando un escenario donde si no fuese por azares del destino no se hubiese podido superar y cada vez que veo eso me parece una manera pobre y barata de ejecución en el guion. Otras cosas nunca se responden como lo son cosas no importantes como el porqué Momo tiene un vestido de gata cuando la vemos por primera vez (al punto que el personaje fue Promocionado con esa ropa antes de su salida), nunca se responde eso y no entiendo cual fue la razón de darle tanta importancia a eso. Por otra parte cosas más importantes como el "Sad morning" el cual es un suceso al mismo nivel que el terremoto de Shibuya que fue para Chaos;Head y Chaos;Child, sucesos que cambiaron el mundo, pero en este caso casi no se explica a pesar de que fue un suceso importante y muchas veces se menciona. Y el más importante que es el cómo Pollon consiguió esa habilidad.

Ya como extra dire que como siempre en esta serie, tendremos referencias a otros personajes de las otras entregas, pero en este caso siento que fueron muy pocas y las esperables y fueron más como un easer egg que algo explicito, pero aun así cuando las leas estoy seguro de que tendrás una sonrisa y dirás "Joder, ese es XXX no?". Aunque las referencias que más se dan son las que tienen que ver con sucesos que importantes que ocurrieron en el pasado que tienen que ver con el presente que se vive en Anonymous;Code. Lo único malo es que... SPOILER... La historia que vivimos con Pollon no tiene ningún efecto en la línea canon del Sci;Adv series, ni siquiera el propio Pollon ni nadie más recuerdan todo lo que lograron...

PD: Esta review la estoy publicando 1 semana después de cuando lo tenía planeado. Ya tenia el borrador escrito en un doc de texto y tengo que aclarar algo y es que en un principio le iba a dar un 4/5 a Anonymous;Code, pero para el yo actual le he bajado a un 3.5/5... Puede que esto cambie y dependiendo de cuanto le ponga a Robotics;Notes cuando escriba su review acá, puede que le suba a A;C a 4/5 debido a que definitivamente A;C me pareció mejor que R;N

Being part of the Science Adventure series (or the Semicolon series, if you prefer), Anonymous;Code is a title that should make fans of visual novels at least a little bit curious. The franchise might not have ever matched again the mainstream appeal of Steins;Gate, which definitely felt like a stroke of luck for the companies behind it, but this latest entry brings a fresh setting, new characters and a lot of novel ideas to the table, while also it’s trying to address some plot points from past entries. I’m only familiar with the plot of Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0, so it’s a bit hard to see how successful that last bit is, but I’ll still try to partially offer my take on it.

The setting of the game is Tokyo of the not-so-distant 2037, with a lot of elements of the present era mixed with hypothetical advances of the technology. AR and VR are commonplace everywhere, cyber crimes seem frequent and machines are more than a simple helping hand in everybody’s daily life. And while technology has certainly been an integral part of Science Adventure, as the name implies, I feel it is the first time you get to explore a futuristic world like this one. Furthermore, as a result of those technological advances, in a similar role to time traveling in Steins;Gate, a core aspect of Anonymous;Code and a big part of its plot is simulation and how people are able to simulate everything to such a degree that they can essentially predict the future.
I don’t really want to go into full details over the plot, but there’s another core theme in the story that I didn’t expect, and comes in contrast to this setting. Stories like this one often delve into actual historical events, conspiracy theories, the occult and (pseudo)science, mixing fiction and reality to create a believable fantastical world. In Anonymous;Code’s case, I felt they actually managed to deliver a very interesting approach to all that, because of precisely that contrast a lot of these otherworldly or anachronistic elements have with the game’s futuristic and technology leaning setting. Suffice it to say, I feel if you’re into that kind of stuff, there’s really no way the game will disappoint you.

Anonymous;Code makes use of an interesting mechanic, taking advantage of the save system in a very meta way and incorporating it to the story. This allows it to explore a lot of the concepts that you usually see in time traveling or parallel dimensions stories with a kind of different approach. That said, despite the novelty of this idea, I felt it’s very underused for the most part. The game is largely linear, and a lot of this “saving and loading” is done automatically. There is player input from time to time, but I don’t really think it’s used in any clever ways, usually you’ll just try to avert a bad ending conclusion.

As for the characters, the protagonists are Pollon Takaoka, a young hacker and a delinquent with a heart of gold, joined by a mysterious girl named Momo Aozaki. Both of them are facing a herculean task though, as the protagonists of Steins;Gate are, if nothing else, immensely popular and have a lot of depth, which, sadly, they fall short of in both aspects. Throughout the game I never felt invested in them and their struggles, and honestly, the best praise I can give them is that they’re not dislikeable, as they seemed very bland to me. I have similar feelings towards most of the supporting cast as well, which while it has a lot of characters with colorful personalities or secrets, the game really does nothing interesting with them, and pretty much all of them end up just serving their part for the plot.

The narrative of the game is certainly something I have very mixed feelings about. Largely, it feels like it has the perfect pacing to keep you engaged, it moves very fast and it’s full of constant plot developments that are both interesting and unexpected. However, this comes at the expense of character development or more slow paced, slice of life moments, as the game feels like it only has a handful of such scenes, but I actually really enjoyed everything that happened until roughly Chapter 8. Unfortunately, the last fourth or so of Anonymous;Code really disappointed me. The climax of the game feels like it jumps the shark in a way that renders most of the characters and plot points up to that moment completely irrelevant. Eventually, you reach a finale that definitely feels rushed, and the true ending doesn't fare any better.

On a similar note, my feelings are very mixed about the art of the game. It adopted models similar to Live 2D, which while they offer smoother reactions or poses, their overall quality is honestly subpar. This varies from character to character, but a lot of them feel like they’re missing facial details or, plainly, just look wrong. I also have similar complaints regarding the background art style, but also the game’s attempt to create comic strip-like visuals, with both of those really just looking a bit underwhelming. Despite being a full price title, the game just looks and feels really cheap, and the visuals are the main offender for me.

Lastly, I think its connection to the rest of the Science Adventure series is worth mentioning. While it’s certainly a title that can be enjoyed on its own, there are a lot of deep connections to concepts and characters from previous titles, which might provide a lot of merit to some. Still, I feel some of those connections, even if they make sense in the game’s world, feel very shoehorned in, and end up feeling as nothing more than cool references. On another note though, Kanako Ito returns once more, offering her talent to the game, because I’m sure I’m not the only fan of hers, and I was really glad to hear her here too.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed Anonymous;Code for the first few hours, and while it’s certainly not a bad visual novel, I feel it ends up being a rather unremarkable one by the end of its 20-hour-long story. The production values leave much to be desired, and the fact that it's fully voiced is perhaps the only positive aspect I can highlight. All this makes it quite difficult to recommend, though I’m sure some people will definitely find more value in a game like this, as it certainly explores very interesting ideas and themes.

It’s time to face a harsh reality: Steins;Gate was a miraculous fluke. In the space of a single game, Chiyomaru and friends (henceforth, Chiyomaru) elevated what was not yet even a series of games from B-movie schlock to a critical and commercial darling that, nearly 15 years later, still tops “best of” charts across several media. That’s not to discredit Chaos;Head, which obviously laid its foundation, but is indeed much more than a misstep toward something greater. B-movie schlock though it may be, as one of many successors to the much-acclaimed Infinity series – which even in the west could never be avoided in discussion amongst visual novel fans – it is schlock at its absolute finest. Pulpy, gory, disturbing, downright ridiculous, it was a barrage of pure entertainment from start to finish. Besides that, though, it also felt REAL. The protagonist was an underachieving nerd who spent his life watching anime and getting into Internet fights on 2channel (AKA literally me), and he used contemporary technology in ways that the audience would likely relate to. His “friend” at school, contrary to the idiot best friend trope of many romance visual novels, was a player, a normie. The action took place not in some unnamed suburb, but in the grungy side streets of Shibuya, accentuating the horror by grounding the game in a very tangible time and place. The pseudoscience and conspiracy backdrop were both just believable enough to immerse oneself in, to walk away from the game and imagine it happening to us. This is what most importantly colored the early Science Adventure games: relatability. It’s what the team took and ran with going in to Steins;Gate, giving us that lovable cast, that particular time and place, and that constant sense of looming trepidation along with a story that was more measured, intimate, and consistent. Unfortunately, it’s the ABSENCE of this relatability that has colored most of the series since, and Anonymous;Code doesn’t appear to be breaking the trend.

That isn’t to say that this is Anonymous;Code’s only or even main issue. The Science Adventure games are all astoundingly plotted out conceptually: they tend to nail the world, the character profiles, the musical theme, and the initial tone. Chiyomaru’s biggest weakness seen time and again is a failure to stick the landing, as the back half of most of the games either start meandering, failing to follow through on threads introduced in the first half, misappropriating tone or gravity, or relying on what is essentially deus ex machina. It’s often the case – and even Steins;Gate had this problem – that the narrative will culminate in a world-ending, emotional climax only to be resolved at the last minute by a character limply pressing the “Enter” key on his computer (or something equally uncompelling), with the game ending at least half an hour before you thought it would. Anonymous;Code turns this pacing problem up to 11. I understand the balancing act in creating a good visual novel between slice-of-life bits and the narrative proper: a lot of games rely on the former to a frustrating degree to either pad out the runtime or to relentlessly bash the player’s face into the cute girl characters’ quirks so he can be sad when one of them dies. Problem is, Anonymous;Code has ZERO scenes that do not explicitly advance the plot. My initial appreciation for the game skipping most of the “boring stuff” gradually turned to dread as I realized I was halfway through and knew next to nothing about its characters, who by all accounts are fun and interesting archetypes. Main character Poron, his partner-in-crime Cross, and his fat hanger-on Wind play off each other extremely well, their early-game conversations being both funny and endearing. Unfortunately, we get to examine precious little of what animates Poron, and even less about the other two; the game is so obsessed with its own plot that they might as well have disappeared once the stakes have been raised, except for the fact that they serve as part of the body count of cooperators that goes toward explaining how Poron accomplishes the incredible feats he does. As part of a series, you can tell a game isn’t doing so hot on the character front when you start to wonder what the guys from previous entries are up to in the middle of playing it. This became a serious problem for me once the “world-ending climax” part of the game hit, which was so undeservedly overwrought and melodramatic that I ended up putting the game aside for an entire year after getting through it. Anonymous;Code takes for granted that the player cares about its characters without giving any reason to, and without knowing what drives them their motivations and biases start to come off as stupid and frustrating.

While Anonymous;Code is the first “non-sequel” Science Adventure game since Robotics;Notes (are we really counting Occultic;Nine?), it is thematically and spiritually a sequel and companion piece to Steins;Gate, expounding on many of its concepts, but in the context of a very different world. Once again we are dealing with world lines, time travel, the concept of the “observer,” and saving the girl to save the world. In contrast to Steins;Gate, however, which was set in Akihabara amongst anachronistic tech and niche Internet culture, Anonymous;Code imagines a future of 2037 where all technology is mainstream and all culture homogenized. While the characters of S;G traded obscure imageboard memes and found themselves submerged in conspiracy by virtue of the particularly enthusiast nature of 2channel users, A;C shows us a world where 4chan has gobbled up the formerly-Balkanized Internet to reach even Japan, and where the middle-aged woman walking past our protagonist on the sidewalk could easily be a 4chan user. It’s an amusingly depressing reminder of the state of culture today, though one could hardly fault the game for that as it’s only following the conceit laid out by its predecessors in reflecting reality. Problematically though, and as any observant player would immediately realize, we do not live in the year 2037. Even if we take as a given that Robotics;Notes didn’t make a similar (but far less drastic) mistake in its own setting, we also do not live in the year 2029. It only takes reading an interview or two to see that Chiyomaru understood that the hyper-contemporary settings of the initial Science Adventure games were integral to their reception, so I’m left wondering why the team thought it a good idea to subject us to an entry that completely disregards this in favor of pure science fiction. Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate were unique insofar as they needed to put in very little work to make the player suspend disbelief in the setting; this was already baked in by their very nature. Anonymous;Code may as well be set on Mars: hoverbikes, Google VR embedded in everyone’s brains, wanton remote hacking, automated convenience stores. The world itself is as foreign as any horror that might befall it. Everyone’s Google Glasses get hacked; I have no frame of reference for this. It’s all so distant, so evidently fictional, lacking the sort of visceral terror that came with the torture of watching C;H’s snuff film of children begging for their lives, or uncovering S;G’s jellyman experiments. Part of the blame does lie in the fact that we’re dealing with a CERO C game here, but even Steins;Gate managed to navigate past this restriction and, despite being filled with fantastical, futuristic science, managed to keep itself firmly planted in our world. Perhaps the one piece of A;C’s worldbuilding that evokes that nostalgic sense of unease (besides maybe one other which steps into spoiler territory) is its so-called “Sad Morning” of 2036, the accidental leveling of several major world cities by a satellite defense system, largely owing to its believability and the creepy dissonance between its benign name and the event itself.

I also have to take umbrage with Anonymous;Code’s use of the occult, or rather the lack thereof. This game’s antagonistic organization, falling as usual under the illuminati umbrella, is the Catholic Church, which is a great idea! Zealots are scary, and the horrors they can commit with Science Adventure’s pseudo-scientific technology are plentiful. Unfortunately, it feels like the Church exists simply to fill the “bad guy” hole in this game, as it takes advantage of very few conspiracies specific to the real-life organization. The game’s plot is kickstarted by the Three Secrets of Fatima, but it and the precious few other Church-related conspiracies aren’t really taken anywhere interesting. In fact, a lot of A;C feels like a dumping ground for the metaphysical curiosities that Chiyomaru just happened to remember learning about in high school, as if Neil DeGrasse Tyson is whispering moistly into my ear for the entire story. Pop science is the fuel that powers Science Adventure, but all of the theories presented feel particularly atomized here, only relating to the plot as a matter of convenience. A;C also commits the sin of showing the bad guys’ faces too early and too often. The allure of conspiracy is in imagining the enemy, knowing that he wields power, but being unsure of how far his reach extends. Steins;Gate’s CERN was presented perfectly: we become acquainted with their shady experiments via classified documents, are left to mull over how sinister they could possibly be, and are gradually introduced to the cruelty they can enact on our protagonist. Here, however, we have far too many tangible, mustache-twirling antagonists who also receive bafflingly little development or exploration.

I’m afraid Anonymous;Code’s gameplay gimmick is also rather lacking in function. I loved the idea: Poron has the ability to save and load the world like a video game. He shares the save/load screen with the player who, as A;C is a piece of metafiction, is also a real presence in the game. This relationship between Poron and the player is used to very cool effect at the end, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the concept land correctly as I was absolutely not expecting it to. As a gameplay feature, however, it basically amounts to giving the player a binary choice of dying or not dying. At pivotal points the player is meant to guide Poron to open the Load screen in order to avoid death and rethink his strategy. Several scenes in the game will see the player mashing the shit out of the R2 button to get him to finally open it, as he will rebuke the player unless this action is performed within a very specific, sometimes very short window for which no clues are given besides Poron being ambiguously in danger. Due to the lack of slice-of-life segments, there are few moments where Poron’s ability can be used to humorous or self-serving effect, which is an obvious missed opportunity. The player is not given more than one critical point in each chapter to “choose” (loosely used) to load Poron’s save, and so gets no branching paths to experiment with. Effectively, this means the game has no choices. There are no routes, no means of pursuing girls other than the main heroine. The only creative input the player gets is in finding the True Ending, a process I liked but can see being so obtuse as to frustrate most players who don’t accidentally end up there. That the many gaps in the narrative (again, because of no slice-of-life) and the pathetically few endings combine to create a conspicuous lack of content has become a consistent source of criticism among fans, and I can’t help but agree even as a player who typically enjoys linear experiences.

As metafiction, Anonymous;Code necessarily differs in scope from its Science Adventure counterparts, and the consequences of the twist that offers the explanation for this will likely echo across any future installments. Without getting into spoiler territory, I was rather impressed by how mutedly and maturely the game deals with this shift once shit hits the fan. In part, I do suspect it does so because it’s a twist easily predicted by simply watching the game’s trailer (so in other words, there’s no sense in overselling it), but the new paradigm it creates for the series at least offers up something of substance to chew on afterward. I do worry that this game’s raison d'etre was to answer a question that needed no explanation, that Chiyomaru is taking the easy way out, or that the rest of the series is going to devolve into metafictional slop, but I’ll reserve my judgment for now.

One aspect of the game I was actually impressed by was its presentation. Both it and Steins;Gate Elite are iterations on Chiyomaru’s attempt to make a fully-animated game, and I must say I much prefer this more traditional approach. The warping of the characters’ portraits can look silly on occasion, but the animation feels at home with the loose art style that recalls the abstractness of Steins;Gate. Occasionally the visuals are portrayed in animated comic form, which look incredible and make me wish it were practical to make an entire game in that fashion. The color palette is filled with a lot of bright whites and blues, evoking the feeling of a sleek Apple interface and perfectly selling the near-future setting. Music is on par: nothing mind-blowing but appropriately catchy and used to good effect. I’m sure I’ll have it stuck in my head for a few months.

Between Chiyomaru and myself, I’m not sure who lost the plot with this series. I’m not the obsessive Science Adventure fan I was in the years following Steins;Gate’s explosion of apocryphal media, dutifully connecting the timeline and dimension dots. I’ve played the games, sure, but it’s been fifteen years of them, and I’ll be damned if I remember anything but the most important plot points in each. Maybe Anonymous;Code does appeal to those who have kept up better than I have. I’m sure I’ve expressed some opinion here that betrays my ignorance about the series in one way or another. However, I can’t help but feel that Chiyomaru’s output has only gotten worse, which is a shame. If this series is no longer “for me,” as a fan who has been here since 2008, who is it for? Rather than keep pace with its audience, it feels as though each game is targeting a new audience of teenagers, never aspiring to do anything daring or deeper than trodding through an increasingly diluted series of plot twists that annoy more often than they surprise. As the longest running, meaningfully interconnected series of visual novels out there, I’d like to think the Science Adventure games have a duty to do something more. I’m sure I’ll still be here to play Steins;Whatever in five years, still chasing that feeling from years ago that made me look over my shoulder every time Takumi did in his little cargo crate. I just hope at some point it’ll be worth it.

The fact this game not only lived up to, but surpassed over 7 years of expectations is mind-boggling in itself, but the even bigger mindfuck is how well this game pays off material that was set up well over a decade ago in past entries, many of which fans didn't even notice until now.

It's not perfect, the cast isn't as good as past entries (although they're still pretty fantastic), the presentation can be somewhat inconsistent, and some plot decisions will be pretty divisive, but if you ask me, this is an insanely impressive Sci-Fi story that wouldn't be possible in any other medium and series. I'm so jealous of everyone that will get to experience it for the first time in English at 2023.