As I mentioned in the Home page, I tend to write them in either Vietnamese or English (or sometimes both), depending on my mood at the moment of writing.

This is the navigation page for all my thoughts and impressions of various VN I have read. They can all be accessed here. Compared to my essays, they will be more casual and laidback. Lengths are varied: Some can be only 5 sentences long while others can take up your entire night.

I no longer make reviews like this anymore, life made me a busybody :( You can see more of my brief impressions on VNDB, where I commented on each finished playthrough. (27/03/2024)

[#01 Hoshizora no Memoria] is the first story-rich VN I have played, and also by far one of the best in my recent memory. So I'm sorry if I made too many references and comparisons with the game in my other reviews. Once again, those are all my own subjective opinions so please take it with a grain of salt.

The full list of my reviews:

This is where I list the VNs that are currently in my backlog - games that are yet to be played, and some that I've already finished but too lazy to write a full-length review.

Finished

• Steins;Gate (9/10). Another game with great true route but held back by its mediocre side routes. You know why I said "another"? Because I had that very same experience with Chaos;Head NoAH. Yeah, I can guess the pattern here.

• Kinkoi: Golden Loveriche (8.5/10) (missed a few CGs here and there and I don't even bother to track them down)

• Subarashii Hibi - Wonderful Everyday Down the Rabbit-Hole (9.5/10)
  As much as I love this game, I don't think I'm gonna write a full-length review of this VN since:
  (1) Many other intellectuals that read this before me have analyzed it to the core of the earth, so spare me.
  (2) I didn't invest too much into the references and philosophical/logical aspect. This is more or less my brief impression upon finishing the game.
  And (3) I want to keep spoilers to the bare minimum too. Why, do you ask? It’s because it’s the experience of the whole game that makes it worthwhile.
  Took me 2 months to finish the VN, because Subarashiki Hibi is really hard to digest. For the first half of the game that is, almost like the denpa was getting to you. As the game progresses later on, the tempo gets more rapidly with more clarity, hence the reading is much more enjoyable at a faster pace (Particularly, Chapter V - Jabberwocky I - the turning point of the entire story). A relative of mine dropped this game quite early on and I can perfectly understand that.
  To sum it up: The philosophy part, just take it as a side dish. Yes, understanding those can heighten your experience even furthermore, but by no mean it's necessary to enjoy the game as normal. The lore alone is on a whole different league of its own. While the disturbing contents are varied in intensity, they are not all that bad however, aside from that one CG from a really short scene. So yeah, if you are dropping this game because of its extremities then you are missing out some great actual story hidden beneath them.

• Itoridori no Sekai (8.3/10) First part of the trilogy. Shinku is undoubtedly the main focus of the game, and I can't help but wonder how could Favorite expand her wonderful character in the next two installments.

• ROBOTICS;NOTES ELITE(8/10) This may not be the Steins;Gate sequel people want, but the Mobile Suit Gundam visual novel I need.

• Steins;Gate 0 (8/10) Disappointing villains. Otherwise, the novel is a good read. The drastic change in Okabe's character is by far the most interesting, I would contemplate killing myself if my waifu died too.

• ATRI -My Dear Moments- (8/10) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

• Saya no Uta (8/10) Really good for a quick read. Only until now had I found out how much I love graphic horror like this - not too gory or snuff-y - but just the right amount to fuel my imagination. Lovecraft cosmic horror, they said.

• ANONYMOUS;CODE (7/10)
  Features some of the best technical representations I've seen thus far in a visual novel. But I'm here to talk about the story, and it's somewhat disappointing. Everything you've read, you've known about this series so far, all the way from the debut title Chaos;Head 15 years ago until now, is turned upside down and thrown out of the window entirely, all in a really bad manner. The character development for Pollon is rather undercooked. Whilst Okabe or Takumi had to fall in some kinds of utmost despair to regain their determination, those moments in Pollon's arc are few and far between, with almost little to nothing to further back them up. It's just time leaps all again, isn't it? Chiyo spent 7 years for this half-baked game, and while it has some rather impressive innovations, it is not without flaws. I can't help but feel worried about what the future of this franchise holds.

• Senren * Banka (7.5/10) The horny does not outweigh the underwhelming story in this particular Yuzusoft entry. Well, with the only exception of Murasame - her route was the best in pretty much everything even though there are some plot conveniences here and there.

• Kin'iro Loveriche -Golden Time- (9/10) Cinema so absolute it can make a grown man sobs his eyes out (me)

• Tsui no Stella (8/10) A mix of few games that I have played before (ATRI, eden*,... ), along with Key's very original elements. Still, a great short read nonetheless, not the most unique but the game managed to hook me all the way.

• PARQUET (7.5/10) Better than what people made it out to be. Being an all ages title means you can focus on aspects other than romance. In Parquet's case, it's friendship and family bond. Pretty damn alright for an experimental project.

• TroubleDays (6/10) Your typical instant-noodle nukige, with a little bit of moege element. At least the artstyle is great.

• Marco to Ginga Ryuu (8.8/10) Fastest short read of my entire life. Because this game is euphoric as hell to read, like actual drug to my eyes and ears. Of course, the plot is a little bit of the weaker side, but pretty much every remaining aspect of the game has done more than made up for that weakness. To me, this game stands side-by-side with Anonymous;Code as one of those novels with the best visual representation out there.

• LOOPERS (7/10) This game is below-average, which betrayed my expectation from this super-duper collaboration between Key and Ryuukishi07. Maybe because of its length that made almost everything so seemingly undercooked, with the romance suffered the most. Even while there are lots of hints and forebodings, the tragedy was too weak when it finally arrived, making the miracle no less cheap and boring. This could have been a second Kin'iro for me, I genuinely felt like it. So how, how could they mess up this bad?

• Aquarium. (6/10) Lost a bet with my friend so I was forced to play this. And damn this game is bad. Yeah this game was made to be shoved down the throat of Aquasimps, and purely for that reason only.

• Adabana Itan (9/10) Great food for thought VN. Multiple small folktales with slight hints of a bigger, more tragic overarching story on top - and meta-narrative elements too. One hell of a unique experience.

• ROBOTICS;NOTES DaSH (6/10) Goddamn Robotics;Notes Love Chu Chu in my mainline SciAdv series. Utterly disappointing compared to R;N Elite. Even under the shadow of Steins;Gate with Daru as the main returning character (along with other off-screen LabMems), Chiyomaru still managed to fumble hard with this game. I don't criticize much about the other routes before the true ending because they are generally made with afterthought and mostly quite bad according to most SciAdv titles with the exception of Chaos;Child. But still, even the true ending in this game is hilariously underwhelming, betrays all the hype built around it.

Wishlist Catalogue

• Maitetsu (will ask someone for the FAKKU 18+ patch) I managed to get one, but it still stuck in wishlist hell lol. 

• CLANNAD HD Edition (probably the best game for value since it's very long - roughly 80 hours of playtime - for its price during sale, and i think we all know how great this game is)

• If My Heart Had Wings (heard of Moenovel's crappy translation and the community made a restoration patch somewhere in the subreddit of the game)