many people's baby's first blvn, which was my case too. i know this one is controversial specially for those who experienced tumblr's obsession with this one, but reading it for the first time back in 2020 (with 2020 eye, too) made me truly appreciate this story.
i think dramatical murder is a super fun vn, everything is extremely delightful. the music, background art and even character design is extremely remarkable. the music very prominently features chiptune elements, which was was popular back in the day but doesn't make it sound dated at all. it's very 2012, but in a good way. the art too - pastel colors, specially the millennium pink along with the light blue, are definitely the main colors you'll see throught the game, through the beautifully created background art and even the character designs - all characters have remarkable silhouettes, which can be hard to execute!
one thing that this vn might lack a little is in the story. which, i know, is the main point of a visual novel, but hear me out! i think the story is good enough. god, i wish - i truly wish this game had a more expansive lore. the setting is so intriguing and captivating, but unfortunately it definitely lacks exploration.
when it comes to character writing, i think aoba is a great and well written protagonist, and all other characters are very captivating, but... i wish mink was written better! i feel like he deserved better. his character is so interesting, but unfortunately his character development is stunted by racist native american tropes...
overall, i think dramatical murder is pretty great for what it is. it's iconic, charming, and captivating.

I actually ended up liking this game more than I anticipated. I'd been kind of interested in it for a while, reading about it online and watching bits and pieces of walkthroughs. I ended up finally acting on my curiosity and getting it as a joke.

The issues I'd heard about were there. The game has a tendency to use SA for shock value in places where it isn't necessary. Despite the flaws, though, I actually ended up enjoying myself while playing. The character writing is quite good. I particularly like Noiz and Clear.

So far, I've played and gotten the good endings for Clear, Koujaku, and Noiz's routes in that order. I don't really want to look at the bad endings, as I've heard they're incredibly brutal and, even though I know I can probably handle seeing them, I just don't feel up for it at the moment. I'm currently debating as to whether I'm going to play Mink's route or not. I know that I have to do all four of the main routes in order to unlock the secret route, but from what I've heard about Mink, I feel like playing his route is going to end up quashing any positive feelings I've developed toward the game.

"Everyone believes in you, and you don't even believe in yourself. Isn't that kind of sad?"

Aoba's vibrant cyberpunk world is one of contrasts: high-tech virtual reality battles versus street gang turf wars, ultra-exclusive luxury resorts and tiny junk shops. The choices you make will shape the path of Aoba's journey into the dark secrets lurking beneath the glossy sheen of the city.

DRAMAtical Murder paints a vivid picture of a world where the boundaries between the virtual and the real are breaking down. The game's bubbly and colorful artstyle can fool you well, it contains sexual violence, gore and a lot more underneath it's lovely exterior, so if you are not fine with these themes, this game isn't for you.

The steam version that you see here is quite heavily censored, but that is, rather easily, rectified by a 18+ patch provided by the Publisher on their own website. Why it was not put on steam as a DLC, we might never know, but even though it is from a separate website, it can be easily downloaded and installed. I followed this guide on how to make the patch work and you can also find the patch link there: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1481080/discussions/0/3104644789964407842/

Now, play the game as god intended, and release the dong! I mean...ahem. With that out of the way, when jumping into the game, you are introduced to the love interests; Koujaku, Noiz, Mink and Clear. There is also an extra character that becomes romancable after you've found the good endings for each of the previous. I absolutely fell in love with all of the love interests and how their personalities were beautiful and different. My favorite was probably Noiz or Clear, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of them.

Even the other NPCs in the game were beautifully constructed to fit the setting and also bring forward feels and good times! The Story of this game is also very good! There is a lot of twists and turns that you aren't ready for and they make the game all the sweeter. There was also a lot of feels and crying during me playing this, as I am baby and I cry easily when virtual characters have feels.

The game is absolutely worth the price of it (plus the 18+ DLC Patch price) and I wholeheartedly recommend this to my fellow yaoi enthusiasts. Please don't play this game if you aren't over 18. Even the censored version here on steam is spicy and has a lot of content that just isn't for you.

Alright, now go forth and spread the wings of yaoi supremacy!

i used to be a big fan of this when i was a teenager, even though i had never actually played the game until i became 19. i really like the character designs in this (even though mink's design and entire character is...questionable, to say the least), the music is great and the story is not bad although the true route is a bit weird. but oh boy
are the bad endings visceral... i'm glad i didn't play this as a 13 year old because it's so gorey and rapey. this game is not bad but it could have been a lot better. noiz best guy!!

An interesting game that was part of an incredible phenomenon in 2013 thanks to Tumblr. It even got enough of my attention to attempt to try its anime despite barely having started in the medium or being remotely interested in BL (I never completed it anyways) - that is how strong its strengths are, of which those are the character design, color palette, overall presentation of a dystopian world, user interface both in anime and ingame, a fluffy animal.

Saying anything else would only be ramblings, so I'll go straight to the point: if this game had longer playtime and different storyline for each character route it would have been a heavy VN contender. But it doesn't, and because of that, you experience the same things in all 5 routes. Yeah, more plot points get revealed, the characters themselves are dynamic so it's never completely the same... but knowing that it progresses and climaxes in the exact same way every time feels bad.

Apparently the fandisc fixes these pacing issues. I don't know if I should read it.