Review by Matt S. Yu-No: A Girl With A Very Long And Silly Subtitle is much better experience than its nonsense name. This is seminal visual novel that went a long way to establish the genre as we know it today, and inspire so many of the other big names…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. As far as coding is concerned, visual novels are the easiest things to make. This is particularly true if you’re making ones that either don’t include gameplay elements, or only throw the occasional choice and branching path at the player. I should know; even I’ve been…
Read MoreInterview by Matt S. Japan’s Ainu people have become one of the most diminished native peoples in the world. They’re native to northern Japan, predominantly Hokkaido, and if you weren’t aware of that, don’t worry, you’re by no means alone. Many, many people in the west don’t even realise there…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Given that AI: The Somnium Files comes from the same mind that brought us the Zero Escape series (Uchikoshi Kotaro), you should go in expecting two things: firstly, an incredible narrative. Secondly, a laboured effort at throwing “gameplay” into the storytelling. Uchikoshi has never appeared to…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Visual novels that are deeply rooted in some kind of bittersweet nostalgia are dime a dozen. Japanese culture itself is a deeply nostalgic one (to this day the country struggles to resolve its respect for tradition with its love of progress), and there’s an abiding fixation…
Read MoreVisual novel by Matt S. Hello everyone! So, development of My Time With Dee Dee, Volume #1 continues on strongly, and we’re still on track to deliver it over the next month or so. As promised, it’s a much larger project, in terms of everything – with four endings and…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Root Letter: Last Answer leaves me in a very difficult position. On the one hand, and purely on a sentimental level, Root Letter is my favourite visual novel. I’d argue that there are smarter and deeper VNs out there – Steins;Gate, for example, and there are…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Pantsu Hunter wants you to believe that it’s offering a nostalgic trip back to your youth. As its very description reads: “Share a heart-to-heart talk, watch a movie together, take a bath, remove a computer virus, help a girl in a tough spot and – if…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. I’m going to be a little indulgent here, and use this here website platform that we’ve got to promote a game that we’ve released. That’s right, DDNet is now a game developer and publisher, and our first game is out there in the wild. My Time…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. With Saya no Uta – The Song of Saya in English – now available over Steam, I’ve got an excuse to review what is quite an old game. And write about it. There’s so much I can write about. In terms of narrative technique, the way…
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