Haven't played the original but this was very enjoyable. Definitely the best presentation in any visual novel I've seen, with solid characters and a very engaging story beneath it. A lot of it does feel like setup for what's to come in the second part, with characters being introduced and shown off but not really having any part to play just yet.
Unfortunately even without having experienced the original sometimes it's very clear what's added on for a more interesting climax or setup reasons, and at its worst the story shifts its focus from one plot to another instead of being a cohesive whole. Or in one case drags out a lot.
I still don't know if i'll go back to read the original but this definitely made me interested in far side, as there's so many more things to discover and I already considerably like the characters that will be the focus there. I'm also sure that I'll end up seeing some events here in a different light once I have the full scope, so looking forward to it.

fear not there aren't any spoilers here !

tsukihime remake is a weird visual novel. on one hand, it's a partial remake of a beloved and massively influential 2000's eroge but on the other, it's an opportunity and milestone for type moon to show how far they've gone since then. it's been almost 21 years since the original release and times have changed, the vn market isn't as strong as it once was and type moon has grown from the small doujin soft it once was to one of the most recognizable names in the visual novel scene. the two at the front of it all have changed quite considerably since then as well, reflected in takeuchi's different art style and a more experienced nasu at the helm of delivering a new experience for both longtime tsuki fans and newcomers, and the result of these efforts? tsukihime ~a piece of blue glass moon~ is a pretty solid rendition of the first two routes of the visual novel that while reminiscent of the original's impact ultimately suffers from being a partial release.

that's not to say the detriments of a partial release outweigh the benefits, however. nasu's writing here does a great job at replicating the prose of the original which while clumsy at times made sure to land its more emotional character moments when it needed to. writing for the most part here is a joy to read with some genuinely beautifully written passages supplemented by the great production value of the vn as a whole. the only real gripes i have here with the story are that while i think the moments where it's 1:1 are pretty good but when it's not... it's a mixed bag. unfortunately, i went into this expecting a large majority of the new content to be the meat of the experience when after finishing, i'd probably say it's the weaker part . the remake is contentious in that some story changes rub me the wrong way and some of them are just for lack of a better word, kinda lame! the vn really suffers from trying to do more stuff with arc and especially ciel in trying to make the original experiences longer and packed with more interesting things but it feels like it's trying hard to do crazy stuff like the far side routes but they feel lame in comparison because of how much they have to hold back in order to save it for those routes. overall, arc's route is still pretty fun save for some story gripes and ciel's route while being a lot of new stuff i appreciate given how similar her route was in the original to arc's also has the new stuff syndrome in which it feels fanfic tier at its worst. also, the new cast for the most part are pretty good and fun characters but i won't spoil why they are good... just trust me!

the music is also a mixed bag because the reimagining of some of the tracks are really good (yes, that iconic tsuki track is really good) and then there's just some tracks that are like " this will be tsukihime remake in 2021 " tier youtube EPIC instrumental remake style treatment which is kind of a shame since the original is really minimalistic at time to strengthen the effect of it and here it's a little jarring because of it not really representative of the energy of the scene that's playing.

at the end of the day, tsukihime remake is sort of a mixed bag but not something i'd dare call unenjoyable. at it's core it's tsukihime with all its imperfections reinterpreted through a more experienced lens. it's an enjoyable experience albeit a flawed one as well. overall, i think it's a pretty good experience regardless of some of my complaints because ultimately i didn't really run into anything that made me upset or even slightly annoyed. i'm greatly looking forward to the second part to come out since the new sacchin route sounds hype and far side is really where it's at for me personally! also this game ran really well on my switch unlike emiya cooking (formally known as "the tsukihime remake killer") so that's pretty awesome. anyways, all in all, i give this a "noel is literally me"/10!