Sympathy Kiss is an otome visual novel about office drama and romance. I get that office romances are often frowned upon, but let’s be real: they happen, and they can lead to successful long-term relationships. That’s not to say that a successful career isn’t important, though, and Sympathy Kiss wants players to have it all. Today, Idea Factory International released…
Described as a mottled burlesque fantasy, One Night: Burlesque is a detective/crime story in a unique noir setting. The visual novel has players delving into the heart of a tarry noir tale, where the fluff of peacock features and sequins darken under the influence of crime lurking in the shadows.…
Reality is increasingly uncertain, and this is fascinating. Anonymous;Code, the latest in…
Thank the maker for Aksys. The publisher of the most niche of…
Digimon Survive was a bit of a surprise as it wasn’t quite the “tactics RPG” that we were told we would be getting. Instead, this game leans very heavily into visual novel territory, and for some reason this has put people right off it. (Check out our review here) But,…
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Admittedly I wasn’t following Digimon Survive too closely in the leadup to release, however, I did know it was going to be a tactics JRPG featuring collectible monsters. That in itself was exciting given that I have fond memories of Pokémon Conquest back on the DS. What I was not…
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It’s been almost 30 years since the founding of Nexton, the Japanese software publisher from Osaka, and as a celebration, the company has called upon novamicus (one of its subsidiaries) to develop and produce ONE. It’s set to launch in 2023 in Japan, with no mentions of a western release…
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Formerly set to release on August 25, Idea Factory’s Jyuzaengi: Engetsu Sangokuden 1 & 2 for the Switch has instead been pushed back to a new release date of September 22, with a somewhat vague “various circumstances” being the explanation. The history of Jyuzaengi has its roots enveloped in the…
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Australians should make more visual novels. I don’t just say that because I make them and need to kick myself into actually finalising my latest one (it’s getting there, day by day!). It’s just that whenever an Australian produces a VN, it’s typically gold. Max’s Big Bust is a hilarious…
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Perfect Gold: The Alchemy Of Happiness highlights just how mundane love and romance can be. I don’t mean that in a negative sense, though. Far too often in the arts romance, as a subject, either deviates toward smutty eroticism or overly sentimental tear-jerking. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either of…
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There was a time when video games were primitive enough that a book could be a more vivid gameplay experience. For example, the original Wizardry came out in 1980, and though it’s rightfully remembered as a classic, it’s also not much more than the seemingly endless sequences of corridors and…
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We get a lot of games, films, books, and other such media that take place during the Sengoku era. Samurai Warriors and Nioh, for example. There are endless films that depict various battles from the era. Netflix even produced a documentary, which was terrible, but highlights that the Sengoku era…
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Uchikoshi Kotaro has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the thinky game artists going around. The Zero Escape series established that reputation, while the original AI: The Somnium Files reinforced it. The sequel, nirvanA Initiative (‘A’ and ‘I’ capitalised, geddit?) doesn’t break new ground, but then again it also…
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Piofiore: Fated Memories is one of the most powerful, provocative, and interesting visual novels that you will ever play. It tells a story of a woman and three rival mafia factions, and it goes places. Now, thanks to Aksys, we have a release date for the sequel, Piofiore: Episodio 1926.…
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