Diving Back Into The Game Backlog
I’ll be going through my backlog in alphabetical order for now, so some titles may be more recent than others. These first few games for sure are. There are a few VNs up ahead that I may skip for now, especially for the sake of reading order in series (looking at you, SciADV), but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Anywho, here’s the short lot I played as a series opener:
The Archipelago — A cute and short indie game, that very much reminds me of Coffee Talk. But with tea and a fractured world. And much like Coffee Talk, you play the role of a passive observer, occasionally engaging with guests, but mostly keeping to yourself and brewing tea. I don’t mind cozy games or the trend VA-11 Hall-A spawned, but I can’t say this one left a lasting impression on me.
Atlas Ablaze — I actually got this one at a steep discount before it went free. And wow did I question that purchase when I actually tried playing it! The story itself was interesting, but the design was…I couldn’t get into it for many reasons. Everything was kinda blurry, the text was not easy to read (poor choice of font). The dev has been working on addressing these issues, but for now it’s…virtually unplayable for me. Might revisit in the future if these issues get fixed.
ARISEN - Chronicles of Var'Nagal — Oof. This one had a ton of potential, but it seems the devs might not be able to finish it? Not too uncommon with many early access games, but damn it! It had such good art, an intriguing storyline, and a tarot card system! What a shame…I can’t recommend it in good faith at all, knowing it might never get complete. I got it on sale for half off early last year, so I didn’t get the worse of it. It’s a real catch 22, cause they need money and fan support to finish the rest of the game, but most people aren’t too thrilled to buy a incomplete game.
I also had a few gripes about the interface and a lack of manual saves and auto and skip functions. Beautiful game, but a major drag, especially if you wanna do multiple playthroughs. On the other hand, the game lets you be gay. I mostly got it for the sapphic appeal.
Bonus~
I started this last game back in September, and finished in 14 hours. Almost wrote a separate post for it, but eh. I'll likely return to posting once a month after this, or if I clear several games in a week.
This game. Where do I even start?! I've heard it compared to DDLC (a crime tbh; this came first and is better executed), so I kinda went in expecting a psychological horror. What I got was a rather sweet and sincere VN, with the goofy side character with a heart of gold, a more levelheaded but just as kind protagonist, and two very different love interests: the popular girl and the game obsessed weirdo.
I'm gonna say off top that Aoi was my favorite character! Very autistic coded and adorable. Miyuki was alright for the most part, but got pushy at times. And…
This is a good time to remind y'all that there's gonna be a ton of spoilers!
Anyway, Miyuki went from being smart and thoughtful to being a scary yandere. Doesn't help that she was also an actor. But that twist was what really shocked me in the latter half of the game. By then I knew there was some metal stuff going on, but didn't expect it to go beyond that! I was already gobsmacked at Aoi cheating with Yuutaro’s brother.
Miyuki smacking us around with her bat had me frozen in horror, unable to comprehend that this same girl had just murdered a cat and was coming for Shinichi’s nuts! I'm not kidding about that last part. She basked those bad boys in after breaking his arms and legs.
Again. This game really surprised me. In a good way. It got me invested in the characters, then took one away and made me really work for it. Had to bust out the calculator and search through the game files! Wouldn’t do it again, but the experience was definitely worth it.