So yeah. Uhh have you ever heard of the name Makoto Shinkai? If you consider yourself as a weeb and don’t even know who that is then you might as well be living under a rock the whole time. He is the director behind some well-known modern anime with his most acclaimed work being Your Name (君のなわ). 

But before all that glory, there’s this: He was also behind the art direction of some minori’s earlier titles, including eden*.

I also recommend you to watch Suzume, his most recent work. It might not be his greatest creation (Your Name was much of a splash back then) but still very well above the bar. And your ears will be in for a treat, too.

As the stars aligned, I purchased the game for 94.000 VND, 50% of the original price on Steam.

The first thing you encounter when booting up the game is obviously - the artstyle. And I have to tell you, the art direction is nothing short but phenomenal. Breathtaking. Any positive adjectives you can find out there to describe the visual feast of this game. Every CG corresponds to a particular plot point, not just mere hovering character sprites on a typical background like most other VN. This game goes for both quantity and quality. For a 2009 game, the technical and visual aspect of the game alone blew me away right at my playthrough's first hour.

The only thing that actually aged in this game is the lack of full-size backlog (not the Key signature big-eye artstyle), which is not really worth mentioning. Sorry, maybe I was nitpicking a little bit.

The OSTs are no less amazing. They varied in many different ways, even the same track has multiple different variations, for many different scenarios. The characters are fully voiced, including the protagonist. And this is a Kinetic Novel. This is the closest to an anime experience I could have, and a really good one at that.

Another minori’s title which also has the same attributes as the above is ef - a fairy tale of the two, which I would definitely check out in the near future.

And to the story. I haven’t played PLUS+MOSAIC, so I can’t really make a full conclusion on the game yet. But by far, the story is an emotional rollercoaster. The world-building is interesting enough as you can see in the title.

My general impression on the story:

An ominous red star appeared on the firmament 99 years ago, announcing the annihilation of the Earth in 100 years. Scientists developed and created felixes, a type of artificial genetic modified "human"(but not exactly human), with prolonged lifespan, and superhuman intelligence. They will be the mind behind the development of the Earth Evacuation Project, spaceships that carry humanities, along with their aspiration and dreams, into space, in hope of finding a new beginning.

I will stop there. That's just merely a very brief summary of the setting, but you should get it.

Apocalyptic world is one of my favorite tropes. Contrast between sadness, sorrow and hope, optimism in the said twisted world highlights humanness, and in this story - love. One of the best non-high-school-setting romance stories I have ever read.

I hate to say this, but I was a little disappointed at the ending of the game. Sure, it’s an open ending, which remind me a lot of Planetarian, but the plot device - the ominous red star that exists over the span of 100 years ever since the beginning of the game - what the hell does that thing do? Its purpose in this story has been made clear, but after that one final heart-wrenching moment and the sudden closure of the game, I couldn’t help but feel dissatisfied with that. 

White-haired “loli” heroine is a major plus for me, so I gave this a 9/10.