GINKA is the latest visual novel from Frontwing (best known for the Grisaia series) and the team behind ATRI -My Dear Moments-. I’m a sucker for stories of love braving the tides of time and destiny, and those are exactly the vibes GINKA gave me. It’s a type of story that takes patience and tact […]
A spiral is one of the simplest repeating patterns, emanating outward from a central point. Or perhaps everything converges into that central point. It all depends on your perspective. Viewed from the outside, a spiral is in constant motion, yet ultimately nothing changes. This is the central image of SYNESTHESIA, a character-driven sci-fi mystery visual […]
The Science Adventure series is visual novel royalty, spawning highly regarded entries like Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child, as well as the phenomenon that is Steins;Gate. With several years since the last mainline series release (even longer since the last one available in English), Science Adventure fans, myself included, have been eagerly awaiting ANONYMOUS;CODE. There’s plenty to […]
Nostalgia games are a cottage industry now, and it’s both amazing and terrifying to watch them strip mine my childhood to fill the catalogs of Steam and itch.io. Some of it is cheap shlock hoping to make a quick buck. A lot of it is a bit too nostalgic for my taste–games that feel like […]
Both Disney and Don Bluth were staples of my childhood, so when I heard about Curse of the Sea Rats, a “ratroidvania” game in the style of these classic animated films, I couldn’t help but be intrigued. Curse of the Sea Rats certainly looks the part and talks the talk, but how does it play? […]
The English release of Laplacian’s The Future Radio and the Artificial Pigeons was one of my highly anticipated visual novels of 2023. Future Radio promises science fiction that radically reshapes society and a mystery with a solid hook, which were enough to get me on board. Silent Planet The Future Radio and the Artificial Pigeons has […]
Chaos;Child has been available in English for a while now but was recently re-released on Switch as part of a double pack with its predecessor Chaos;Head NOAH. After making my way through Chaos;Head and finding a lot to like, I was curious how the follow-up would compare. Echoes of Madness Chaos;Child is a thematic sequel to Chaos;Head. It’s […]
Like many kids, I entertained fantasies of becoming a marine biologist when I grew up. That may not have happened, but I still find the ocean fascinating. How cool would it be to tour marine biomes in the cockpit of a submersible? It’s something I sadly doubt I’ll ever have the chance to do, so […]
While it was Steins;Gate that popularized the Science Adventure series with Western audiences, the series began with Chaos;Head. Chaos;Head is less widely read. It’s story is perhaps not as immediately accessible as those of the other Science Adventure games. More significantly, there was no official English version, that is until the recent localization of Chaos;Head […]
They say there’s no stronger bond than that between parent and child. So when that bond is severed, how far would you go to restore it? No Place for Bravery from Glitch Factory and Ysbyrd Games weaves the tale of a wisened old warrior named Thorn as he looks within to find his answer. Technical […]