Solstice

Please forgive me, if I got the concept of this type of game wrong (it is also the first visual novel I ever played), but I was under the impression, that I am supposed to "immerse" myself = pretend to be/become that person I am making the choices for (at least for the first playthrough). But if this is the case, this game is pointing its finger at me while laughing hysterically. What I mean: Galen and Yani are complete strangers to one another. I get that. They can't know anything about the other one. But this doesn't change the fact, that Galen and Yani know everything about themselves and therefore I should know. But throughout the game I kept stumbling across information about "myself". I'm not talking about (random non-game-related example) "I drink tea with my mother every sunday", I'm talking about things which shape who you are as a person. I actually felt bad about some previous choices after learning this "new thing" about myself, because the only way I would have made those choices would have been if I were playing a liar, hypocrit, manipulationist or an outright *insert your favorite insult here*. Which would have been fine if it had been my active choice instead of an "I didn't now any better at this point of/in the game" situation. I may not have minded if it had been just once, twice max. But this "read this "new" information about yourself you didn't know before" just kept happening until I reached a point where I had to force myself to finish the game at least once. I walked away from the game feeling angry. The bad kind = gameplay. (My good kind of angry = I am just bad at it.) Why still 4 stars? It is a good game if you know about just beeing an observer. It would have been 5 stars for me if I had known not to "invest myself". Beautiful art, music I didn't mind listening to for up to 5 hours straight (of about maybe 8 or 9 hours total). Atmospheric I would call it. Intersting story, believeable characters. My eyes were glued to the text.

I bought Solstice mainly on the basis of its artwork. It seemed likely something that saw such amount of effort put into the gorgeous background scenes (though the characters aren't too shabby, either) would see similar treatment in other areas. I was not disappointed. Despite the rather short gameplay, this was a rewarding experience. The dialogues (and the game is really based on reading - in between taking a moment to appreciate all the details of the graphical presentation) do excellent job of characterization and presentation of potential motives without feeling artificial. The story itself, aside from one personal complaint, unfolds rather flawlessly and in a believable way. I do with the experience was longer, and more detailed, because all the characters are interesting. On the other hand, minimalistic storytelling has its place, and it's certainly used to a great success in Solstice. You will want to replay the game several times, as the choice points, infrequent as they may be, still lock you out of some information and possibilities. The story of Solstice is sufficiently detailed and elaborate to give you an incentive to experience it all. The only reason I'm not five-starring Solstice is the previously-mentioned dislike for a "gotcha!" plot point directed at the player. Unfortunately, not something I can go into detail on without major spoilers, but do consider this to be a personal peeve (though a rather major one, considering how strong the story-telling is everywhere else). Definitely recommended for anybody not discouraged by reading and in search of a good and engaging story to pass a lazy evening (or three) on.

You play as two characters, a male and female, but mostly the male doctor who come to check out a Northern city that is having some issues with it's protective magic, and go through all sorts of intrigue and many, many conversations. The artwork stands out for its lushness, while the music complements the atmosphere of the game well, lending a dramatic quality. The game has some moments of humor, mostly due to the doctor joking around with the odd cast of characters, and there is a chance for romance. Some of the choices you make have obvious significance, while with others it's not so clear what the consequences would be, and there are so many threads between the characters that it would be hard to keep track of all the connections anyway. Personally, I found the game to be intriguing, but a bit too wordy. Less said could have been more in this case. However, for my first visual novel, I was overall impressed with the quality and enjoyed the story.

It's only my second visual novel, after Cinders from the same developer, so I might not be the most reliable reviewer. I have a strong preference for story-heavy, narration driven games and revere all storytelling media, but was always prejudiced against this genre for some reason. I find it difficult to assess it, having no benchmark or expectations to compare it against; it's hard for me to even decide if it is better or worse than Cinders. It is certainly more mature, tackling themes of power abuse, corruption and difficult moral choices. Cinders was essentially a fairy tale for younger audience and sometimes too literal in conveying its message; I was happy to see that Solstice is better in following the 'show, don't tell' principle. Its ambition is however somewhat thwarted by the problem shared with its predecessor: with a play time of about 4.5h, it is much too short to really explore its themes. The world is built around a soft magic system, and, like Harry Potter novels, doesn't provide clues as to what is possible and what not, hurting the mystery aspect central to the story. The 'who' and 'why' are just about clear enough, but the 'how' has a bit of a 'deus ex machina' feeling to it. Similarly to Cinders (and the vast majority of games), the story is quite linear and, while there are very many possible end state combinations, the choices don't really affect the events that much. This seems to me like a failure to properly capitalize on the advantage of this medium over a graphic novel: you can choose the toppings, but ultimately you will always receive a pizza. The ideas are compelling, but left me wanting more and feeling as if I witnessed an abridged adaptation of the real story. I will still give it high marks, as if it were a point-and-click adventure, it would easily become a 5/5 with its story and I feel it's improper to criticise any work for the basic characteristics of the genre it belongs to.