A few months ago, I joined a book club for visual novels. As a new fan of the medium through titles like Fata Morgana, Higurashi, and Umineko, I was incredibly excited for what was to come. Our first journey through the medium had me revisiting The House in Fata Morgana, which used to occupy my top 10. I still adore the game, but some of the elements that enchanted me on my first play-through of it were less magical on my second play-through, having read through masterpieces like Higurashi and Umineko. After that experience, I was more than ready to explore new Visual Novels, and the second title we played, Wonderful Everyday, did not disappoint at all.
If you were to ask me a few months ago what my top three favorite games were, I would have quickly stated that these included Umineko When They Cry as my most favorite, followed by Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy VII. If you know how I feel about these games, you already know how difficult it would have been for any game to unseat any of these titles from their rankings. Wonderful Everyday managed to do the impossible however, with it currently sitting as one of my most favorite games of all time, which is something I do not say lightly.
Wonderful Everyday is a complicated experience to properly describe. It’s made me feel deeply uncomfortable and disturbed, while at the same time in awe of how genuine and beautiful the game can be. It’s hilarious and somber, beautiful and grotesque, sensible and absurd, all at the same time.
It's also a game that I think I needed to play through at this specific point of my life.
Depression and self-hatred have been consistent sources of various struggles for me for years, almost culminating at two separate points where I had attempted to end my own life. Learning to love and live with myself is a goal I’ve still yet to properly achieve.
Ever since I was 15, I’ve struggled to answer why I even bother to wake up each morning. Despite my efforts, it’s been difficult to truly justify living each day. That’s not something that goes away easy obviously, but my time with Wonderful Everyday has caused me to take a few steps back and reflect. Maybe one doesn’t need any specific ‘reason’ to keep going. Maybe it’s enough to just be able to laugh with friends occasionally. Maybe happiness can still be found even in the most hopeless of situations. Maybe simply ‘living happily’ is enough.
I think about Wonderful Everyday’s central message often. That idea of choosing to ‘live happily’, in spite of one’s own circumstances, has never felt more relevant to me than they have in the past few years. It’s certainly not an easy goal to accomplish, but it’s art like Wonderful Everyday that helps remind me that the pursuit is worth it no matter how far I’m away from it.
Wonderful Everyday is an experience like no other. Nothing has made me cry, laugh, and cringe like this game has. Even a month after finishing it, I can’t stop thinking about how this game has made me feel.
That being said, Wonderful Everyday is a really hard game to recommend, especially to those who are newcomers to the visual novel genre. I won’t go too deeply into spoiler territory here, but not only is it an experience that is viscerally uncomfortable and graphic at times, it’s a work that can tend to be intentionally cryptic at points. I don’t really believe that it’s something that a person who had never played through any visual novels before can properly appreciate. In one sense, it’s almost like throwing an infant into the deep end of a swimming pool. Even for myself, as someone who had a bit of experience with certain visual novels going in, Wonderful Everyday could be an incredibly uncomfortable experience at times.
I’d still say the experience was worth it and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I would write some contrived bullshit about how good art should “disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed” but I think at this point you get the idea. Even with how wildly unnerving the experience could be at times, Wonderful Everyday is still one of the best games I’ve had the pleasure of playing through.
Live happily.
If you were to ask me a few months ago what my top three favorite games were, I would have quickly stated that these included Umineko When They Cry as my most favorite, followed by Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy VII. If you know how I feel about these games, you already know how difficult it would have been for any game to unseat any of these titles from their rankings. Wonderful Everyday managed to do the impossible however, with it currently sitting as one of my most favorite games of all time, which is something I do not say lightly.
Wonderful Everyday is a complicated experience to properly describe. It’s made me feel deeply uncomfortable and disturbed, while at the same time in awe of how genuine and beautiful the game can be. It’s hilarious and somber, beautiful and grotesque, sensible and absurd, all at the same time.
It's also a game that I think I needed to play through at this specific point of my life.
Depression and self-hatred have been consistent sources of various struggles for me for years, almost culminating at two separate points where I had attempted to end my own life. Learning to love and live with myself is a goal I’ve still yet to properly achieve.
Ever since I was 15, I’ve struggled to answer why I even bother to wake up each morning. Despite my efforts, it’s been difficult to truly justify living each day. That’s not something that goes away easy obviously, but my time with Wonderful Everyday has caused me to take a few steps back and reflect. Maybe one doesn’t need any specific ‘reason’ to keep going. Maybe it’s enough to just be able to laugh with friends occasionally. Maybe happiness can still be found even in the most hopeless of situations. Maybe simply ‘living happily’ is enough.
I think about Wonderful Everyday’s central message often. That idea of choosing to ‘live happily’, in spite of one’s own circumstances, has never felt more relevant to me than they have in the past few years. It’s certainly not an easy goal to accomplish, but it’s art like Wonderful Everyday that helps remind me that the pursuit is worth it no matter how far I’m away from it.
Wonderful Everyday is an experience like no other. Nothing has made me cry, laugh, and cringe like this game has. Even a month after finishing it, I can’t stop thinking about how this game has made me feel.
That being said, Wonderful Everyday is a really hard game to recommend, especially to those who are newcomers to the visual novel genre. I won’t go too deeply into spoiler territory here, but not only is it an experience that is viscerally uncomfortable and graphic at times, it’s a work that can tend to be intentionally cryptic at points. I don’t really believe that it’s something that a person who had never played through any visual novels before can properly appreciate. In one sense, it’s almost like throwing an infant into the deep end of a swimming pool. Even for myself, as someone who had a bit of experience with certain visual novels going in, Wonderful Everyday could be an incredibly uncomfortable experience at times.
I’d still say the experience was worth it and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I would write some contrived bullshit about how good art should “disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed” but I think at this point you get the idea. Even with how wildly unnerving the experience could be at times, Wonderful Everyday is still one of the best games I’ve had the pleasure of playing through.
Live happily.
tokumei
4 months ago