The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?
As someone that has been gaming for decades, I have some memories of the first time I’ve played a game of a specific genre. That lazy afternoon during a sleepover at my cousin’s, where I discovered his SNES and a copy of “Final Fantasy 3”, better known as FF6 today. Booting up Wolfenstein 3D on PC and thinking how cool it was the character portrait changed based on the amount of damage I’ve taken. And of course, playing Tsukihime with the fan translation patch despite it clearly not being age appropriate for me and being utterly gripped from beginning to end.
At the time, I had no idea that I was being exposed to what would become some of the legendary classics of the genre. So, when it was announced that my very first Visual Novel and one of my favorites of all time was getting a full on remake, I was equal parts excited and nervous. Excited to revisit the cast of characters I adore and re-explore a world that captivated me all those years ago and nervous because it has been decades since I’ve experienced the story and I honestly could not say how well it could have aged.
Lucky for me, I had nothing to worry about as a great story is truly timeless.
Boy meets girl.
MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: Switch, PS
Voice Over: JPN Only
Length: 60~ hours
As the eldest son of the prestigious Tohno family, Shiki is exiled from his home following a terrible accident which cursed him with the terrifying power of being able to see the lines of death. After a fateful meeting with a strange but wise red-haired woman, he is given a pair of glasses that prevents from having to see the lines and looks forward to a normal life. However, everything is turned upside down when he encounters a striking beauty with blonde hair and red eyes, where he is forced to confront not only the bizarre existences of mythical beings but his own dark past, mired in death and mystery.
As visual novels live and die by their stories, I won’t delve any further into the specifics and simply say that this is hands down one of my favorite stories in all of gaming, elevated by a cast of charming characters that never failed to keep me invested in every little scene. Arcueid, one of the two main heroines of the story was and is still one of my favorite characters. Her boundless curiosity, carefree attitude and strength of determination immediately drew me to her and I was along for the ride without hesitation. The same goes for the other heroine, Ciel as I was drawn to her kindness and unbending will. When the credits rolled, I felt an overwhelming sense of bitter sweetness, knowing that I had experienced a story that I will never forget.
I won’t go out of my way to compare the remake to the original since I don’t think most people have played it but I will say that all the elements that were added to this release felt meaningful and improved an already great story to be even better. From brand new characters, changes to existing ones and much, much more- having finished all the routes, I got the impression that this is exactly how it should always have been.
Having said that, it bears mentioning that not all the character routes from the original are present in the remake but I feel this works more in its favor than its detriment and as those remaining routes will be getting a separate remake of their own, they will hopefully get the same level of care and come out better than ever.
She can be infuriating to deal with but I wouldn’t have her be any other way.
As a visual novel, this is purely a reading experience with some choices thrown in that will branch out the story or lead to dead ends. The JPN VO is tremendous in bringing the characters to life with their distinct personalities but I couldn’t help but feel that it was a missed opportunity to not have a English VO option which would’ve cut down on the pure reading experience and made it more palatable for those that did not want to simply read for 60~ hours. Even I, as someone that has played dozens of VNs to completion felt myself getting a bit restless during some of the quieter moments which is honestly entirely on me but I have gotten used to games like AI:Somnium files, Zero Escape and Daganronpa which all feature fantastic English VO.
Having said that, there is a very real possibility that even such an option was available, I might choose to go with the JPN VO based on the quality of the English VO but it would most certainly be a welcome option to those not too familiar with Visual Novels as a genre.
The event and characters illustrations are all gorgeously drawn.
The way that I played the game was to adjust the auto-dialogue option to a level I was comfortable reading and setting the controller down until I was prompted to make a choice. The game features an intuitive flow chart that allowed me to see the branching paths made by my decisions and it was a simple thing to go back to a particular moment in time to choose a different option.
Also, despite being a visual novel, with the way the action scenes are presented using dynamic illustrations and a haunting soundtrack, I found myself at the edge of my seat in many moments throughout the story. As someone that has never been particularly fond of things like motion comics, it speaks highly of the presentation on offer here that I was able to be fully immersed in thrilling scenes despite the modest limitations of the genre.
The soundtrack had a way of drawing me in, fitting each and every moment perfectly.
Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- is a remake handled with expert care and fully realized without losing any elements that makes the original a legendary classic of the genre. It stands as one of the pinnacles of the genre and makes me feel truly fortunate that the original to this wonderful remake is the title that kicked off a love affair with visual novels that endures to this date.
Fun Tidbit: With how thoroughly impressed I was with this remake, I would really love to see a full Fate remake in the same vein. Come on Type-Moon, use that FGO money!
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
