RankNegativeOne
This review contains spoilers
I didn't like it as much as the previous game. While it leans harder into the nonlinear narrative aspect of the other games in the series, the fragments system makes all events feel pointless until very late in the game, as you can't tell where, when, why, or if certain events take place. While it's not the worst way the series could end, I had a weird moment a few weeks back where I was SURE there was a fourth game coming, because there's no way THAT could be the note they end it all on (it is though).
2020
2019
2020
A lot of the investigation segments have you stumbling through areas looking less for evidence and more for how to trigger the next flag to make an NPC arbitrarily decide you can ask them something else; often it's not even a relevant trigger, it's exhausting all other possible options rather than finding something specific you're looking for. Courtroom phases in this game feel especially punishing, as in mistakes take out more of your meter than they did in the previous game, and in some instance result in an instant loss, which just drives home how pointless a loss state is in a VN like this.
(played on 3DS collection)
(played on 3DS collection)
2017
2016
2001
2019
2016
I don't hate this game, but it actively hates me.
Edit: 2.5 years later, hindsight has been very kind to this game. I'm bumping up the rating several stars because it was funny, even if the joke feels like it's at the player's expense. Arguably, that makes it way funnier, and I want more people to play it.
Edit: 2.5 years later, hindsight has been very kind to this game. I'm bumping up the rating several stars because it was funny, even if the joke feels like it's at the player's expense. Arguably, that makes it way funnier, and I want more people to play it.
I really thought I would like what this game was going for, but when the jank extends from the aesthetics and into the controls and level design, it becomes a problem. The excessive particles on-screen in response to every enemy or obstacle destroyed cause the game to heavily stutter and regularly drop inputs at critical moments; the stuttering is funny when it's happening during a cutscene, but incredibly annoying when it gets you killed for the fifteenth time. There's also an incredibly aggravating glitch in the fifth level (the one with the bike), where during an autoscrolling segment you'll bounce off an invisible wall or something over a pit. This happened to me repeatedly and consistently until it didn't; I have no idea what was different about the one time I made it through. The levels don't feel like they were designed around the moveset or speed of the character, but feel instead like they were only slightly edited so as to just barely allow you through with that character.
Still, I do like the aesthetics and general attitude and idea of the game, there are just many glaring issues in the actual excecution. I hope the developer improves on the ideas here in the sequel; they have shown to be receptive to feedback in the past.
Still, I do like the aesthetics and general attitude and idea of the game, there are just many glaring issues in the actual excecution. I hope the developer improves on the ideas here in the sequel; they have shown to be receptive to feedback in the past.