22.8 hours played
Written 8 days ago
This VN feels a bit like a specific RPG; namely Trails from Zero/Azure. It’s how it’s so focused around the city while also having a fairly developed world outside the city even if it’s never seen. The city itself reminds me of Cross bell, which was itself inspired by Hong Kong. Both are a trading hub city state which results in a lot of economic activity. While peaceful and prosperous on the surface, not far beneath, it’s a very corrupt place, being controlled and fought over by major foreign powers and extreme nationalists with the ineffectual and also corrupt police caught in between. There’s also a dash of Roaring 20s New York with all the gangsters and gun warfare.
There’s choices galore here. Very few VNs I can think of with more and it results in a nice sense of discovery. The first few are to decide the route and then there’s a few multi stage choices or delayed effect choices but most of the subsequent ones are “and then Krosa chose wrong and promptly died” style choices (seriously considering how often you’re faced with a lethal choice you might believe it’s a Nasuverse game) though at least you unlock a sidestory from most of them. It results in a pretty complex flowchart of scenarios, with an actual in-game flowchart to help keep track though unfortunately you can’t use it to go directly to a node. On that note, it’s nice to see a route based game that isn’t romantic for once. Each route generally focuses on Krosa, her new profession and her relationship with a specific person but it’s all platonic.
If I had to describe it succinctly , I’d say it’s width over depth in the good and bad ways. The many routes and choices really gives a sense of freedom but a single route generally only lasted a few hours which didn’t really give much time for a complex plot or character development and it can feel like Krosa spends most of any given route being ping ponged between events rather than doing anything of her own initiative with her only coming into her own at the end.
There are a lot of characters; at least the most important one, the protagonist Krosa is a joy to follow. She’s a headstrong and charmingly exuberant tomboy, always a newcomer but nevertheless get some cool moments. The other main characters might have a hidden depth or two though they aren’t that deeply examined. Nevertheless, the number of them makes the world feel lived in, especially in how they can pop up in different routes with different contexts. Despite the overall thrust of the story being a few sentences long, there’s a complexity in how every character is reacting to events, even if they aren’t part of the current route. Honestly I tend to prefer depth but I can’t deny that this had its charm.
There’s a few hints of more to the story but they ultimately don’t come to fruition. Well there’s the after story which has a tantalising vision and the world is certainly fleshed out enough for a sequel. Wonder if we’ll ever see that.
There’s a certain level of embellishment to the whole production I liked; a world glossary, character profiles, some UI flourishes are little things but they really enhance the experience. I liked the CGs; thick lines made it feel a bit like a comic book to me and they all have a dynamic look. OST is fine but unremarkable which is a letdown after Noctuary had one of my favourite soundtracks. At least the translation this time manages to not be cringingly bad; it’s still pretty stiff but not distractingly so.
Overall it’s a solid story and I got the same sort of feeling after finishing as if I’d finished a solid Shounen manga. Sure it’s a fairly simplistic story and not necessarily one that’ll stick with me but it’s a very fun and well executed one and that’s enough to have a great time.
