52 Games Challenge 2023!!!

[dhaabi]

22 - Ragnarock (PC 2021) - ENDLESS

When I read your thoughts, I wasn't envisioning a "note highway" style rhythm game. I wonder how Ragnarock compares to other drum-based rhythm games like Taiko Drum Master or even something like Rock Band.

I know you've already played through Metal: Hellsinger, so another you may enjoy is BPM: Bullets per Minute, although it's not a VR game either.

[kamikazekeeg]

22 - Ragnarock (PC 2021) - ENDLESS

When I read your thoughts, I wasn't envisioning a "note highway" style rhythm game. I wonder how Ragnarock compares to other drum-based rhythm games like Taiko Drum Master or even something like Rock Band.

I know you've already played through Metal: Hellsinger, so another you may enjoy is BPM: Bullets per Minute, although it's not a VR game either.

I never played Taiko Drum Master, but I would say it's not far off from Guitar Hero/Rock Band in feeling with that note highway aspect.  You don't need to be exact with your hits either, but hitting the symbols centered on the drums is what gives the power-up.  I'm not a "drummer" either, though I think I have decent rhythm and I was doing stuff pretty alright for songs around the middle'ish difficulty.  Drum positioning is super important ingame because I would sometimes get double hits for not lifting the hammers high enough after hits.

I have heard of BPM, but haven't checked it out yet, I wasn't really a fan of its visual style, which is like really aggressively over-saturated and kinda blown out from the video I watched, but it's on the wishlist to maybe grab down the road.  That actually reminds me that I need to pick up the DLC for Hellsinger sometime lol

[tripredacus]

26. Citizens of Earth

JRPG style but with a politician and weird monsters and aliens. Some party members locked behind minigames which I don't like but they were not required for beating the game. You can rename all party members which is great. All of the items (like armor/weapons) are character specific and almost all of them have negative aspects that make you not want to use them. I wonder if there is some hidden strat to make them viable with specific party combinations.

I had read that the game was prone to crashing but I did not encounter any... well the game fails to send a proper exit code when it closes so Windows always thinks that it crashes. I did have a couple of situations where the game would freeze after cutscenes. This was not as bad as it seemed because there was an auto-save that can be used instead of just your manual saves. Bad news is you can only load a save when you launch the game. If you want to load a save during the game, you'd have to quit and then open it again to load the save. Also map doesn't work when riding the sea monster.

Audio has a few issues. Overall the main issue is that the sound is too loud to start and the in-game volume options do not seem to effect the loading screen. The game runs with 2.1 audio and instead of running in stereo (or 2.1) on a 5.1, it pushes the front sounds to rear speakers. The other issue with audio is from the game's design, where the main character talks constantly during battles, which tends to slow things down. Also it gets tedious since he only says like 3 different things.

I did get stuck a few times and finding out what to do was not easy. First of all, this is probably the first game on Steam I have played that didn't have a walkthrough written for it. The map screen has different icons showing where you need to go to do quests, but some of it loops around weird or leads to screens where the quest icon will say to go back to a previous screen. So then off to Google you do, but finding anything that way was nearly impossible due to search poisoning. Since this game was one of those that people were able to use on 3DS to root the system, those results were aggregated to bejesus and back making it impossible to find anything about the PC version that wasn't on the Steam forums. I ended up finding an LP of it to figure out the one thing I had left to do.

I beat the main boss and got the credits but the game actually continues on from there. I do not think it is a new game+ rather it just has a soft ending. You can then go about and finish any quests you didn't get to do before.

[dhaabi]

24. 7 Days to End with You || Nintendo Switch || 07.17.23



Last week, two friends of mine each recommended for me to take advantage of the Japanese Nintendo Switch Online promotion by playing 7 Days to End with You (7 Days). I had never heard of the game before but trusted their judgment that it's worth playing.

Controlling an amnesiac player-character, the game begins as you wake up to discover their loss of memory and that they've been taken care of by an unknown woman. For the purpose of this review, I will acknowledge the player-character as Boyle and woman as Theo. Unfortunately for Boyle, it seems as if he not only has lost his memory but is also unable to understand Theo's language. Over the course of seven days, Theo acts as your host and caretaker while also explaining what items are in her language. Other casual conversation happens throughout the day naturally as well, but none of it makes any immediate sense. In addition to Theo's explanations, players can also study Theo's emotions and reactions to certain items, which will certainly also help convey meaning. Before controlling Boyle, in-game text appears explaining that "the story will be completed according to [our] interference and interpretation. Every story [we] feel, every story [we] interpret, is correct."

With such an interesting premise set, gameplay operates as a puzzle-adventure, with the player's goal being to decipher Theo's words to understand what has happened to Boyle. Unlike a formal language, the language in 7 Days is simple and only utilizes keywords: only nouns, verbs, and adjectives. As you explore indoors, you'll regularly notice repeating words mentioned to describe similar items. By using deduction, this is how the language slowly starts to become understood. While the entire house is able to be explored at any time, players will discover that some items have much simpler keywords attached to them. Interpreting the meaning of these items first should be the player's first immediate goal, as they assist in understand more complicated ideas. So, for a set of three jars of varying sizes, their keywords may be small/medium/large, color name, container. But again, it is up to the player in how words are interpreted, and any sort of meaning can be attributed to them at any time in the menu prompt. I did not realize this feature until my second playthrough, but every instance that a word is used by Theo can be re-visited in-menu, which is incredibly helpful instead of inspecting one item at a time in separate rooms.

As mentioned above, language is limited to keywords only. So, Theo may say something that the player interprets as plants, life, give, with the ultimate meaning being something like Do you want to tend to the plants? Even after attributing a meaning to a word, players can update it freely from the menu. Several times while playing, I thought I understood a word's meaning, but it really meant something else. From the game's opening moments, the game clearly conveys that this is a game about interpretation and that the game's narrative can be understood in any number of ways. For a long time, I thought that a word translated to kitchen, but its meaning is actually home. Some narrative sequences still make sense with slightly off interpretations, so how player interpretation is utilized is executed so well in what I find to be a fascinating way. In addition to simply attributing meaning to a word, the menu also allows for colors to be associated to them which appear underneath each word in dialogue boxes. Truthfully, I did not realize this was a feature until a subsequent playthrough and ultimate chose not to utilize it. However, I've read online that, while the game prompts you to associate color with the emotion a word conveys, there were some players who instead used certain colors for specific parts of speech.

After seven days pass, the narrative ends. The game can be incredibly short of only about five minutes, but most initial playthroughs will be 2-3 hours in length. After my first playthrough, I did attempt the game again blindly to see what new aspects I could discover or words I could define, but I did not have much success in advancing substantially. However, I was pleased that word interpretations carry over from one playthrough to the next. With all that mentioned, 7 Days does offer multiple endings—I believe five or six—but only three are significantly different. Truthfully, I could only reach one ending on my own. Even after finding a guide to correctly translate all words, I still had trouble in figuring out what to do in order to unlock a different path. Unfortunately, there is almost no information about 7 Days on English-speaking sites, so I used a Japanese guide for ending purposes. That said, there are still some aspects of the game which no guide covers, and it seems that no player publicly knows what some items are used for, such as a bedroom notebook that allows players to input text.

Aside from gameplay, there is little else needed mentioning. Despite there being one music track for most gameplay sequences, I surprisingly didn't grow tired of it. The art doesn't stand out in any interesting way, but it does do a successful job in depicting what items are to help players attach meaning to them.

In the end, I found 7 Days to End with You to be such a unique project. I know no other game that explores the circumstances of a person finding themselves in a situation where they can't understand others' language, even though it is not that uncommon of an event. While the focus is on player interpretation, words do ultimately have meaning, although it is still interesting to experience a narrative understood in this way, as there are so many possibilities as to how the narrative conveys to players. I'm certainly glad it was recommended. Also, something I'll briefly note is that the game is much darker in theme than it appears.

[kashell]

43. Mercenaries Saga: Will of the White Lions


I played through this on the side while playing a bunch of other things. This really surprised me. The game doesn't do much to reinvent the wheel, and I'm quite pleased with that. It's a standard, somewhat challenging, by the books strategy RPG with some impressive dialogue, a likable a cast, and neat setting. I'm glad I took a chance on it (and the other two games in the collection).

[undertakerprime]

42. Eschatos (PS4, on Easy)

OK, let me tell you a story about my history with scrolling shmups (might have told it here before, but whatever).

I was never really into shmups growing up. The only one I really liked was Axelay on SNES. Didn’t like Stinger (NES) all that much, Gradius on Game Boy was OK, Gradius Interstellar Assault (GB) was actually really good, Gradius III (SNES) was alright, Super R-Type (SNES) was far too hard to be any fun, Twin Cobra (NES) wasn’t bad. Overall I had very little interest in the genre for decades. Eventually I just ignored them when I saw them on store shelves. I did rent Einhander on PS1 once and was unimpressed.

Then I got my Coregrafx Mini two Christmases ago and that all changed. Lords of Thunder, Soldier Blade, Blazing Lazers, and Spriggan showed me what a shmup COULD be…crazy screen-filling power-ups, fast action, cool pixel art…it awakened a passion I didn’t know I had. Since then I’ve been educating myself on all the shmups I never paid attention to and I’ve learned a lot.

So a few weeks ago I saw a video by Shmup Junkie where he basically drools all over this game called Eschatos. Never heard of it before, but seemed neat and was highly recommended by a number of YouTubers. Saw it was $10 off on PSN so I took a chance on it. DAMN, this game is fun. It might be the most “fair” shmup I’ve ever played; 99% of the time, when I die I know for sure it was my own lack of skill at fault (rather than feeling like the game put me in an overwhelming unwinnable situation). The game gives you everything you need right off the bat (straight shot, spread shot, rechargeable shield) and there are no power-ups to lose whenever you die, eliminating the frustration of having to power back up after every death. Simple but ingenious design, especially the shield which is a GODSEND for an amateur like me. I beat it on Easy, currently still trying on Normal. Did it overtake Lords of Thunder as my favorite shmup ever? No, but it’s right up there.

Currently educating myself on the NeoGeo shmups available on PSN, many of which look really good (Prehistoric Isle 2, Blazing Star, etc). Tried buying Ghost Pilots, but that game turned out to be the opposite of Eschatos: your plane is too slow and weak (speed CANNOT be increased by any means), power-ups are too hard to obtain and don’t help much even when you get them, enemies outmaneuver you at every point…VERY frustrating. NOT a good shmup.

[kamikazekeeg]

23 - Pseudoregalia (PC 2023) - BEAT - On the hunt for more low poly throwback games, this time with a great Metroidvania styled 3D platformer, built very much around some fantastic mobility features.  By the time you end the game, you can long jump, slam the ground to jump higher, kick jump off walls to bounce upward, attack enemies and certain objects in the air to bounce off of, and wall run.  The low poly visuals are great with optional old school fuzzyiness and framerate, which you can turn off in the options for a cleaner look and smoother framerate, which is what I used.  It does have combat, but combat is such a small part of the game, which is sort of a negative as you have very decent gameplay built around combat too, but there's so few bosses and so few enemy types, you'll spend most of the game not doing any real combat.

The only issues I had, was that there is no map, so you will spend a bunch of time running through areas, figuring out what abilities you might need to progress through an area, go and search somewhere else to hopefully get that ability, and then spend a bunch of time trying to find your way back to that initial area.  It's not a super long game, I beat it in about 5 hours, but it gets a little tedious when you can't remember how to get back somewhere.  The other issue was that some areas of the platforming feel so challenging, that I couldn't tell if I was sequence breaking a spot by getting lucky with the abilities I had, or if I was supposed to actually do it that way.  Some spots can be a real challenge.

That said, it's cheap, I got a few hours of overall good gameplay out of it, the game plays great, and it's a real solid time.

[dhaabi]

25. Omno || PlayStation 4 || 07.23.23



Looking to play another short game, Omno seemed to fit the requirement. Other than its brief play time, I didn't know anything the game and was initially attracted to its art style.

Upon starting, players are given no context early on as to who the player-character is, where they are, or what their goal is. So, as a 3D puzzle-platformer, Omno begins with players navigating their surroundings while interacting with the environment. While doing so, players will inevitably encounter glyphs which can be read that help establish the narrative and context of the game's events. As more and more glyphs are found, players eventually piece together that they are reading the notes of a past pilgrim of sorts left behind as they embark on a pilgrimage in a pursuit of knowledge and another world. Now, it us following the same route as we pursue our own.

As for who players control on this pilgrimage, we learn that the pilgrims are known as staffbearers, a sort of seer with knowledge of a light energy source and the power it grants, while being a guide to others. Throughout our journey, we learn that the light itself acts as a guide for us, as well. From plants and animals to even unassuming rocks, light lives on in everything. As more and more light is collected, players will unlock additional platforming abilities such as dash and a surf-like action. With collecting light being our immediate goal, players are able to traverse from one locale to another, crossing entire regions to reach entirely different biomes. Upon finding a needed light source, some may simply be gathered without issue, but may require solving an environmental puzzle of some kind. While there are times when light is easy to find, landscapes quickly become far-reaching and expansive as new areas are reached, so discovering everything is not always a simple task. That said, there are more items to find that work toward fully completing an area, but only three light sources of usually four or five are needed to progress the narrative.

While in a specific area, there are environmental design choices that some may say create a vast emptiness, as light is found at specific map locations with nothing really between the two. And, at no time during Omno is combat present or even danger to avoid, which was refreshing as few games of of these types can be characterized as such. Despite being in a mostly empty landscape, players will naturally discover wildlife. While they are not crucial in a gameplay sense (aside from one), their existence helps establish world-building which is elevated by field notes. I found their inclusion to be a welcome addition. As previously mentioned, light is contained in all things, so interacting with wildlife yields this resource each by a unique means. For much of the wildlife, the move about freely and act out in certain ways, so stopping for a short moment to study how they serve their purpose in the ecosystem was always something I chose to do.

Concerning gameplay elements, platforming is far from perfect. At times, I found it difficult to climb certain ledges, as it is often to jump to not get a grip on the platform you're trying to reach, which results in falling. Additionally, I noticed that many platforms are small. This gave the impression of precision-focused platforming similar to other platformers which are difficult just for the sake of being so, but it is really just an example of poor design in Omno's case. There were several instances while playing that I thought an environmental item was a platform when it actually wasn't, such as with treetops. On that note, Omno would benefit from illustrating more clearly what is and isn't a platform. During my playthrough, I encountered one clipping glitch which I became stuck and unable to break free. The result was a never-ending animation loop, requiring me to re-load. All of these aspects worked negatively toward the game's presentation and sense of play, as Omno sets out to provide an exciting but still relaxed sense of adventure. During some quick information-gathering shortly before organizing my thoughts, I learned that Omno is a one-person developed project as a the developer's first ever game. With that in mind, a lot of gameplay aspects I can be somewhat less critical of, because developing a game on one's own is an impressive feat.

On the topic of Omno's art design, it is heavily inspired by works of thatgamecompany. Featuring an array of environments and biomes, the pilgrimage takes players across a forgotten wilderness with human claim nowhere in sight. There were times when I found visual design to be lacking in originality, but many instances of lighting were executed nicely to create an appealing sense of depth to illustrate just how expansive areas may be. Similar to art, the game's soundtrack is also comparable to games I'm reminded of. Truthfully, nothing stood out as particularly exemplary, but the music certainly is complementary.

Ultimately, Omno is one of those one-person indie games that's notable in execution that successfully engages players. It is not groundbreaking in any sense, but it still offers an enjoyable experience that can be fully completed in a handful of hours.

[kamikazekeeg]

24 - Maneater (PC 2020) - BEAT - This is actually my second run through the game, I beat it back when it first came out and then I've been waiting to catch the Truth Quest DLC on a sale, which I just did, but the cloud didn't save my info for this apparently, so I had to start from the beginning of the game.  Which is totally fine as it's not a very long game at all, like 10 hours generally for a full run.  I think this game is just fun, kinda that picture perfect mid-tier game where it isn't doing anything crazy deep or wildly innovative, it's built around the sole gimmick of an ever mutating shark that eats people and other aquatic critters, and it does it well.  My only real negative on the game is that there isn't a lot of mission variety, it's kinda JUST enough, but I felt they could've tried to have a few more mission types to try and mix things up more.  They did add time trials in the the DLC at least.

I do recommend the game though, it's a silly idea, I love the narration throughout which does a lot to keep you invested, going from a sorta Deadliest Catch type reality show, into the conspiracy laden podcast in the DLC, all told by Chris Parnell who just does quality work.

[kashell]

44. Legaia 2: Duel Saga

This was either my third time through. This is one of my top five games of all time. I remember feeling very skeptical about it years ago when it was first released because I felt burned by the first game (I did manage to finish the first one eventually - after another replay of Legaia 2!) It ended up being one of those games I couldn't put down and that trend carried into this replay. It's just a wonderful adventure; a reminder of why I like RPGs so much. And the thing is, I still have yet to do everything that the game offers. I finished the game around 35 hours but with all of the remaining recipes, mini-games, bonus battles, and character titles it's tempting to keep going. The game lacks any New Game Plus, which is very unfortunate. A part of me wants to go back and do it all, but the purpose of this playthrough was to cleanse the palette for the platinum run in FFXVI. Which, by the way, has a lot of parallels with this game. Heroes blessed by fire. A world slowly dying by creeping darkness. Markings that cause the general population to turn their weapons towards them. The list goes on. This was also the first time I had the official strategy guide from Prima by my side. Surprisingly, the guide did a good job of keeping track of side missions (there's A TON) and providing strategies for bosses. It had some errors, of course. The most egregious were missing Arts. But, it was still nice to have it along for the ride. Next time I play, I'm going to use Kazan and Maya. It'll be tough because Sharon is so good but I want to do something to keep each replay fresh.

[dhaabi]

26. Astro Bot Rescue Mission || PlayStation 4 || 07.27.23



Being someone who's owned PlayStation VR since 2017 but has played very little of it, I've been wanting to change that in recent months. I finally set up PSVR, so I wanted to start with perhaps the best example of a game that utilizes the hardware capabilities to the fullest. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone familiar with the accessory that I'm referring to Astro Bot Rescue Mission.

As a third-person 3D platformer, Astro Bot Rescue Mission may be a game some would find it odd to be designed with VR in mind. However, the gameplay mechanics function extremely well. To briefly describe the simple narrative, we are an astro bot (whom I'll dub Astro), and our fellow astro bots have been scattered about all throughout different regions and even worlds across space. So, it is up to Astro to save his comrades.

Like other 3D platformers, a large focus is to collect items. Controlling Astro, players will be able to run, jump, and hover throughout stages while avoiding environmental and enemy obstacles. While gamelay mostly revolves around controlling Astro traditionally with analog stick use, there are some moments which require player head movement to evade enemy attacks or to even headbutt certain objects. Generally, I found platforming to be quite forgiving and easy to control. I don't think there was ever a single instance that I missed a platform or failed an action due to to the game but only as a result of my own input. Checkpoints appear regularly as the player progresses through a stage alongside speedy recovery load times, so player death is not a major issue.

So, while I mentioned Astro Bot Rescue Mission is a third-person experience, that is not entirely accurate. In fact, it is difficult to say whom the player controls. There is actually a second floating robot following Astro at all times, which is the perspective players view from a first-person perspective. While analog sticks and face buttons control Astro, the touch pad allows for the second robot to be controlled some. Throughout most stages, the player is awarded one of several gadgets to bypass stage hazards or to defeat enemies, which are all controlled by the second robot, technically. For all of these gadgets, successful use is dependent on gyroscopic controls which adds another layer of depth to play. Regarding perspective, the simple explanation is that the player controls two robots meaning that this is both a first- and third-person game, or perhaps the second robot is actually controlling Astro.

While playing, the game greatly requires players to freely move about in-person as in-game camera angles change. Bots needing rescue or even platforms to advance to are regularly just out-of-view or slightly behind the player where the player wouldn't ordinarily be facing. Despite these details, the game doesn't warrant a required standing position, as almost all of my time playing was while seated. At times, I would realize some side paths were missed and would want to backtrack, but once the player advances to a certain segment, it's difficult to do because the camera won't follow. So, at a certain point, Astro just isn't visible from the now fixed camera view. This certainly isn't a fault of level design but one that I feel successfully encourages replayability. However, there were times when simply maintaining sight of Astro was a challenge. When moving Astro out of sight often further back toward the stage start, it was common to lose track of their position even when following movement with the headset. This wasn't a major issue, though, and was exclusive to when I was simply exploring my immediate surroundings without stage hazards.

With the game's structure being separate stages within separate worlds, each major section of the game ends with a boss encounter. To reach these encounters, the player must meet a minimum rescued astro bot requirement, so the game does encourage exploration as many bots are not in obvious spots along the path. Audio feedback is provided when near a bot which is certainly helpful. That said, there are plenty of optional hidden paths to uncover where many bots are in hiding. Returning back to bosses, each of their battle designs are unique and memorable. Toward the end, boss difficulty felt noticeably higher, so overcoming them was always rewarding. Another aspect I'll briefly mention are challenge stages which are unlocked which vary in design from time trials, high score requirements, and perfect run boss encounters. The "challenge" term is definitely applicable for most, so achieving all 26 stages was another rewarding experience.

Regarding music, it is often fun and upbeat while certainly always being complementary to the stage design. At times, tracks are reused across stages, but they will usually have different mixes. I'll also comment on visuals and VR comfortability. For the former, Astro Bot Rescue Mission often appeared exceptional, as colors are vibrant in addition to there being a lot of environmental movement always in view while allowed each area to feel alive. For the latter, I can also report it to be successful. I've played through other brief VR experiences which were not all welcoming to play due to motion sickness, but that was not ever once an issue with this game.

Overall, Astro Bot Rescue Mission was one of those 3D platforming experiences that I wish I could experience again for the first time. I have very few if any minor nitpicks, but I find its execution and presentation to be near-perfect.

[realpoketendonl]

• Pokémon Violet [Switch]
• Unlock the King [Switch eShop]
• Sonic Frontiers [Switch]
• Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon [Switch]
• Bayonetta 3 [Switch] {Second time}
• Murder by Numbers [Switch eShop]
• Metroid Prime Remastered [Switch]
• The Wonderful One: After School Hero [Switch eShop]

Finally I can add a Metroid Prime game to my list of beaten titles. I must've tried to play one of those like 3 or 4 times but I'd always get stuck early on and then lose interest. A shame because I've loved all the 2D titles I've beaten. But I finally decided to dive into Metroid Prime Remastered and I'm glad I did. I completely see why this game gets the love it does. It's absolutely fantastic. It's atmospheric as all hell, and the worlds are a joy to explore. This game seriously got my blood pumping more than once too. It knows both how to make you feel powerful as hell and how to back you completely into a corner. I don't know what got me stuck the previous times but this time I got through with patience, using the hint system and only very occasionally asking the internet for help. The remaster is absolutely gorgeous too. Definitely recommend it highly. Now to see whether I'll immediately dedicate myself to Prime 2 and 3 (doubt it)

And immediately beat another one: The Wonderful One: After School Hero. If you haven't heard of it: this is a run 'n gun platformer that serves as a side game to The Wonderful 101: Remastered. It seemed fun enough, and I had heard it was only a few hours long (I ended up beating it in a little over two hours). And yeah, it is fun enough! I enjoyed it. It's a bit "blindly shoot at whatever is in sight" rather than strategically and skillfully play around it (at least my first playthrough here was), but that's fine. Especially considering it's free DLC for The Wonderful 101: Remastered anyway (though it's available on its own as well). If you have The Wonderful 101: Remastered, download this DLC and give it a go! It's pretty fun.

Also yes, 8 games thus far isn't a ton, but I've been noticing that my interests are spreading: I've also read 16 books this year thus far (and that's excluding manga, graphic novels and art books). So I like to think I'm doing well

[tripredacus]

27. Mass Effect 2

Committed the sin of playing this game first and not the actual first game. But it gives me the chance to replay it again later after playing the first game just to see what was changed. I really don't have much to say about the game. The game world is interesting but I didn't get that into it. It doesn't make me want to go read the books or anything.

[telekill]

Dropped Jurassic World: Evolution 2 (PS5). Fun for about an hour and then it plummets. Lost all interest.

27. Mass Effect 2

Committed the sin of playing this game first and not the actual first game.

That's not a sin. It's actually how I had my introduction into the series as the first wasn't on PS3 until well after the third had released. I do recommend playing the third next and then go back to the first.

I had no idea what Mass Effect was beyond that it was a popular 360 game with Star Trek like attributes. The third had just released and was getting a bunch of praise so I decided to go with the cheaper introduction with the second game on PS3 which was only $20. I loved it so much that I bought the third before I even beat the second so I could continue the story. The series as a whole sits proudly in second place for my favorite series. Of course, that means it got the shadowbox treatment. You can see it in my gallery pics.

[moonlightvalkyrie]

8. Bad End Theater - Steam- This is a short and sweet visual novel game with a puzzle element. It was also pretty short compared to other visual novels I have completed. This took me about 3 hours. I really liked going through the different options and finding all the endings.