Story is a well written romance with interesting dialog/scenes/situations to unlock through interaction between characters. These two have lots of personality (especially Yu). Exploration with anti-grav boots is lots of fun. Combats are not that hard most of the time, the game is not very difficult either. It's a chill out experience, that looks good, plays good and feels good. The sci-fi world and other planets (sometimes mentioned in the story) are not that original from what we guess with the dialog of protagonists, but that's a small concern, they play little role in the story. The planet where this couple went castaway has lots of great sights and gives enough exploration opportunities to keep the player engaged. I'm playing this game solo. I don't have my Yu to play with me, I guess it could be a great couple experience as well. But as it is, as I already said: I love it.
Very interesting interactive story with lots of atmosphere. At first, it comes as bits of urban legends about an aquarium with lots of strong and vivid imagery that let my imagination running. The atmosphere ranges from worrying to gore,to grotesque, to eerie to uncanny... At first, the story is a bit confusing when you read it for the first time, it comes with bits of urban legends & stories told by protagonists and bits of strange experiences as they reach the mysterious aquarium. But the aura of mystery is enough to keep you going, and at some points, pieces of the puzzle start to come together and by the time you reach your first "good ending" (probably 3 or 4 hours into the game), you'll have figured out most of the story, that is rather interesting, and made of fascinating bits of urban legends. One of the best VN I've read, for atmosphere characters and story.
It's the best metroidvania ever, in my opinion. There is a lot of exploration to do, the world is colorful and beautiful, powers are interesting and are always a pleasure to obtain and to use. These powers let you find new areas from the area already explored (typical metroidvania structure). The factor "just a little more time" is very strong here (I usually plan to save at the next "save crystal" and I find myself still playing an hour after that...) I played the first version a few years ago, when it was downloadable for free, but I didn't manage to complete it (the last few bosses are hard), so I had to buy it -the full new version- and to play it all again, and to beat the last boss, eventually. So, let's break this into categories : Story: Good Graphics: Good, colorful, varied. The seas are bright and sunny most of the time, sometimes some underwater caves get dark and gloomy and that participate very well in the atmosphere. Opponents: Good, lots of different monsters with different behavior patterns and different sort of attacks. This is not just mindless dodging and fighting, you've got to figure out a few things if you're to make progress and beat bosses. Main character: Great, well characterized female character, non-sexualized, interesting, well voiced. Voice acting: Good. Atmosphere: Great Exploration: Great. Like taking a dive in a lush ocean and the pressure in your bottle never drops so you can always stay a bit more ;3 Bosses: Great (sometimes epic) Character powers: Interesting Crafting Potions and Recipes : an interesting system where you learn how to mix and brew ingredients to give you a few additional buffs or boosts (and so you can heal yourself). This system is not mandatory but can help a bit at times (especially during the long hard fights). Music : I love it, sustains the atmosphere very well. Learning curve: smooth Length: About 15-18 hours. It feels a bit on the short side as it is so good, but the last couple of bosses are hard, like very hard, so they can keep you busy a bit of time.
