Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project
TL;DR: narcissu’s a compilation of a few tearjerking stories grounded/based in reality, in a minimalistic visual novel style, of people awaiting their death. There’s a free version for the first 2 games. 1st game’s story happens after 2nd, but they can be played in any order. 2nd is better, tho. This anthology (paid) version contains the first 2 games plus the epilogue and a short story (1980). The anthology dlcs has 3 other stories. Of them, Zero is the better one, as it’s related to the first 2 games. The last two stories, not so much. Little Iris is skippable… BUT it contains the followup to the previous short story (1993), which is amazing. Sumire is not as bad as Little Iris… but has fantasy elements, which it’s bad for the series.
– Real player with 231.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Indie Story Rich Games.
That took quite long to read all of the Narcissu anniversary novels. :D
So Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project contains 5 visual novels (each novel is like DLC, not too pricy).
These are very sad stories about hospital patients who are waiting for their death. Novels show what are their thoughts, their wishes and so on. Except “Little Iris” That’s an entirely different story, and honestly, I enjoyed it the most.
About story lane.
Each novel has One story about One person. It started with Himeko story about the Hospital’s 7th floor how she met a mysterious girl Setsumi. In the next novel, the story explains who is Setsumi and how she gets to the 7th floor. It’s like story steps back every time showing how these characters are connected. (Except for Little Iris which is an entirely different story.) Sumire story started weird, like fantasy type of novel. But then it connected pretty well with other Narcissu novels. (TBH I didn’t understand what happened with Sumire at the end. Did she cleared all of her’s debts and chosed “world of closed” eyes?)
– Real player with 47.0 hrs in game
Fluffy Store
Review with accompanying screenshots and videos at Sinical Network
https://www.sinicalanimenetwork.com/post/2019/08/15/fluffy-store-review
I recently received a beta key of this game for free from MyLifeForAiur as a beta-tester and proofreader for this game. AsicxArt and SakuraGame has released another title with not one, not two, but three cute furry heroines this time in Fluffy Store. This kinetic visual novel is a comedy drama with fantasy and fan service. The game features a male protagonist Lin Yang who recently graduated from college, and decided to return to his grandfather’s shophouse to open a convenience store. While sifting through his grandfather’s personal items, a magical artifact made a fox girl Cherry, a bunny girl Purin, and a bear girl Puff appear before him. Charmed by their cute and harmless nature, Lin Yang decides to employ them as his store assistants, and also tries to find a way to free them from the artifact.
– Real player with 38.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Indie Adventure Games.
[OK]
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Steam Achievement
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Cute all of their Voices
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Cute Characters with furry ears
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Short VN Story is my favorite VN
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Nice Animation
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Nice UI
[NOT OK]
- for Cherry, I suggest make her more assertive
[REASON OF RECOMMEND]
I’m not wtire so long during the game is Absolutely perfect so I give you the Recommend.
[ADDITIONAL NOTE]
@Visual:
Short kinetic VN as a dramedy with fantasy and fanservice featuring a store owner with three cute furry girls. It has great artwork, animation, BGM, VA and improved English
– Real player with 15.4 hrs in game
Aviary Attorney
OBJECTION!
Well, you don’t actually say anything nearly as dramatic as an Ace Attorney game, but this game by Sketchy Logic is quite a fun adventure. Drawing inspiration from French history and Ace Attorney, Aviary Attorney combines the two by adding its own twist: it’s a visual novel/investigation game about birds. More specifically, about animals who happen to have the body of humans. Yes, it does look quite wacky, and no, nobody really brings up the strangeness in the situation.
– Real player with 12.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Indie Adventure Games.
Aviary Attorney did what very few visual novels have ever done for me; it caught my eye. But more importantly than that, Aviary Attorney had me enjoying nearly every moment and yearning for more the second it was over. It is for those reasons that I can highly recommend Aviary Attorney, but only with the caveat of a reduced price tag ($10usd maximum, $5usd ideally).
It’s no secret to people that know me or read my reviews that I don’t really touch visual novels. Actually, this may be the first visual novel which I’ve reviewed here on Steam. The truth is, they just hardly ever grab my attention and so I never really give them much of a chance. Yet something about that J.J. Grandville artwork, and that Camille Saint-Saëns composition really enticed me to give it a shot. And they absolutely did not disappoint. Coupled with a lot of fun dialogue, I had a great time.
– Real player with 11.6 hrs in game
Cardinal Cross
Well, the game is done good enough: various backgrounds, wide range of sprites, a lot of CG, adjustable text size, and I hadn’t any technical issues while playing. However that’s … all.
Music is nice, but not catching, sometimes CGs feel like depicting some other characters rather than sprites, and the writing is plain.
And, for me, text and plot is the reason game is boring. It consists of just dialogs that are mainly factual and serve only to drive the plot. So that results in, first, quite schematical characters to whom I didn’t manage to get any attached, second, lack of depth in relations between characters. And romance options, in their turn, give out the impression that they are put into just because of “it has to be in such game, so we added it”.
– Real player with 77.6 hrs in game
I’ve loved Impqueen/Rinmaru since I first played Ascension several years ago. I was eagerly awaiting the release of her next game, whatever it might be, and she definitely didn’t let me down.
Now, if you were expecting something exactly like Ascension, that’s not what this is. For one thing, the overall technical quality has gone up, the graphics, user interface, and overall way the game runs has improved by leaps and bounds. For another, while Ascension was a fantasy story with a heavy romantic component while Cardinal Cross is a sci-fi thriller with a lighter romantic component.
– Real player with 35.6 hrs in game
We Know the Devil
I Got To Know the Devil and You Should Too
We Know the Devil is one of the most personally important games I’ve played in a very long time. The game centers around three kids during their stay at a Christian camp for supposedly bad kids and their encounter with “the Devil”*. Throughout the game you play as Venus, Jupiter, and Neptune, and learn about them and their repression of LGBT baggage. The main mechanic of the game is that you choose a pair from the three characters every hour of the game, and whoever you exclude the most is the character who gets their ending. I won’t divulge too much about the story, but Aevee’s writing is genuinely some of the best I’ve had the pleasure to read through and immerse myself in in a long while.
– Real player with 8.6 hrs in game
I will start by saying I absolutely, completely, with all of my heart recommend that you buy this game. Second, I’m gonna say that it has a few flaws in the game function itself. I’ll start with the positives.
We Know the Devil is a game about LGBT kids, made by LGBT creators. This makes a big difference in how the game comes across, and it’s a good one. As an LGBT person myself, this game was relatable to me on a level I can’t explain. If you want to remember how it feels to be young and unsure of yourself and afraid and learning and different in the world, this is the game for you, and I mean that even for people outside of the LGBT spectrum. Make sure you play all the endings, though–you need the full story in order to understand what’s going on. The characters and storyline are masterfully written, and I’ll recommend this game over and OVER and over.
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
Hustle Cat
If you’re not already convinced by the fact that the playable character works in a Cat Cafe, I don’t know what will convince you.
Regardless, Hustle Cat has very quickly reached the top of my favourite Visual Novels list, and for good reason. The strongest point of this game is it’s quirky cast. Avery themselves alone is an enjoyable character to watch fumble around. The various love interests will surprise you, and unlike most VNs, I don’t think I actually found that I disliked a single route. I had favourites, naturally, but no route I disliked.
– Real player with 26.4 hrs in game
…that time I told a cat not to get fresh…
This visual novel, with its adorable cats and the 8 different endings, kept me busy for about 13 hours.
I really liked the art (the characters were very expressive).
As for the technical aspects…
You can play as either male, female or nonbinary. There are six love interest: 4 guys and 2 girls.
The first problem I found in this game was that I couldn’t take screenshots of it :(
The second was that it crashed two times while I played (so save often!).
– Real player with 15.1 hrs in game
WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.02
World End Economica 2. Even though my recommendation wasn’t exactly glowing for the previous one, I would definitely recommend this one if you made it through the first. In my honest opinion, it was definitely better than the first.
The story this time around is four years on from the end of WEE episode 1 and is still economics based but the plots shift a bit. He is no longer making money for the sake of some ludicrous dream. In fact, he is no longer making much money at all. He and some Swiss (?) noble attempt to fight the corrupt giants of the financial world and a romantic sub-plot creeps in. He is stuck in a love polygon between several girls (yes this is a visual novel) but, this being WEE you do not get a choice in the matter. Fighting for justice is not simple and Haru (this translation team changed his name from Hal) must learn this while walking the razor’s edge and not lose sight of what really matters.
– Real player with 21.9 hrs in game
Took five hours to burn through the entire thing in one shot.
If your think 13 bucks is worth five hours of reading, then buy this. ‘Cause it’s amazing. The game is full of references to the first game though, so if you haven’t played or read that, you’re probably going to be pretty lost for the first hour or so, upon which the information is reiterated so many times that you can probably piece together even if you didn’t know that yes, there was a WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.1 even though this is episode.2. Really, if you’ve played one, then you might find the constant reminders irritating. I sure did after, what, the twentieth time?
– Real player with 13.1 hrs in game
Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star
Holiday Star is the not-quite-a-sequel, not-quite-a-prequel to Hatoful Boyfriend, the infamous “pigeon dating simulator” that turned out to be so much more than just a lulz-y joke. It takes place in an alternate timeline from the previous game (ignoring the events of what Hatoful players call “the BBL route”), and assumes that the player already has some basic familiarity with the characters.
Most notably from a gameplay perspective, Holiday Star abandons the dating-sim structure of Hatoful Boyfriend in favor of a straightforward visual-novel approach. The player is given a few choices to make over the course of the game, but most of these either advance the plot or result in insta-death, rendering the choices essentially false. In other words, it’s basically what fans of the genre call a “kinetic” (i.e. choice-less) story. This is a game for people who love the characters of Hatoful Boyfriend and just want to tag along with them on some silly holiday-themed adventures, rather than control the story from the driver’s seat.
– Real player with 14.0 hrs in game
Unlike the first Hatoful Boyfriend release, which is an otome game, this is more of a Visual Novel style, and much shorter than the first title as well. A bit more linear than the first, but still a great game overall. I’ll try to review this without spoiling anything.
Pros:
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Your favourite pigeons (And Hiyoko) return with more vibrant personalities than before! Especially the good doctor… Ho ho ho.
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The dialogue is just as great as the first title! Still witty and charming!
– Real player with 9.1 hrs in game
Heaven Will Be Mine
This game is hands down the best game to come out this year.
i am a big fan of Worst Girl Games’ previous release, “We Know the Devil”, a visual novel which Heaven Will Be Mine is the spiritual sequel to, and found it hard to believe that even this game could live up to the powerful writing and atmosphere of its predecessor.
And indeed, when i completed the first route i chose, (LT/CM), i didn’t find the game lives up to WKTD. It was a much more subdued game, in many ways, and much more drawn out, with a heavier, more explicit focus on ideology and worldbuilding. Even when i finished the second route i chose (S/MF), though i thoroughly enjoyed it, i found it hard to put the game on the same level as its predecessor. i did remember, however, that as much as i adore We Know the Devil, it took completing all four routes in the game for me to realise what a truly special thing Aevee Bee, Mia Schwartz and Alec Lambert had created. So, i stuck with it.
– Real player with 40.9 hrs in game
Oh man. I really feel like I’m not smart enough to write about this game. That’s a really cool feeling.
I didn’t particularly fuck with the first VN from this dev/artist duo, We Know the Devil, which turned out to be a detached prequel to this game. I was a little hesitant going in, but I’ve heard incredible things and a friend of mine in particular loved it (I bought it for them and they said it changed their life) so I figured, what the hey, it’s fighting robots in space, let’s try again.
Heaven Will Be Mine follows three girls in the last days of a pointless war fought in space, far separate (in more ways than one) from humanity. You play as one girl per playthrough as she confronts the other two through mission sorties—each girl is in a different faction, each faction has a different idea about what the future of the pilots and support staff in space should be. The real looming threat isn’t the Existential Threat they were sent up to face—it’s Earth.
– Real player with 33.6 hrs in game
Who Is Mike - A Visual Novel
### A short, but chilling visual novel.
I saw this game while flipping through the visual novel tag and was intrigued by the idea of how a clone situation would be handled so I decided to give it a try.
I am quite grateful that I did.
Story Length
The game is short, and can probably get all the content of it out in about a few hours, however shortness in this case I would not describe so much as fault, but that it’s length makes it shine in efficiency in that in an event that transpires within probably an hour of one night in the game, the author manages to flesh out some believable characters in a short span of time.
– Real player with 2.4 hrs in game
A very compelling who-done-it with a supernatural twist. When it comes to visual novels, the dialog between characters can make or break the game. If the dialog is too forced or cheesy it’ll completely break the immersion, however, ‘who is mike’ strikes the right cadence between lightheartedness and dead seriousness all the time without breaking that very important immersion.
The subject is relate-able and a bit creepy to me because on a personal level I’ve had a family member taken away by mental illness, it’s scary, they end up a shell of themselves that you don’t know anymore but ‘who is mike’ is a bit different. You gain consciousness only to find yourself standing face to face with you. Both of you insist to be the real thing but one is pretending, and for sinister reasons. Great original story.
– Real player with 2.2 hrs in game