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Genre: Casual Adventure Visual Novel
Developer: Navel
Publisher: YumeHaven
Release Date: Nov 22, 2016
It is those little surprises with a visual novel that can turn something as simple as “boy tries to live a normal life when suddenly x event happens” into something great, this being the case for Shuffle!. Shuffle! is a visual novel with a casual flare to it, developed by Navel back in 2004 and recently re-released in English by YumeHaven. This casual, but lengthy, visual novel has one of the more heartwarming stories, giving it a certain charm to readers as you go through the many routes the novel encompasses.
Walking softly down a line of sweet memories, Shuffle! starts us out like most visual novels but it is the plot twist that keep you guessing and making the ultimate choice of which route you want to take the hardest one of them all. We, the reader, take our role as Rin, currently a student at a school to which many a race call home, Verbana Academy. Rin lives in a world where in the past, two ancient doorways were opened, allowing access to the world of demons and the world of the gods, now allowing for a peaceful existence between the three. Just trying to live an ordinary life, Rin sees that frail illusion shatter as one day, two new girls join his class, being escorted by their fathers. It is here both Rin, and us as the reader, are told that Rin is to be the next king of the gods or of the demons as he has been chosen due to events in the past as the one they want their daughters to wed. This stirs up many a person, and sets us down our path of who we choose for Rin to be with. Which girl will you go with, though, is up to you, as the novel presents several routes for you to partake in, two of which were added just for this version of the novel, and with so many routes, you are bound to get your money’s worth.
The story may have a good twist, but it does not save itself from flaws in that regard. My only complaint I have from reading this novel is the actual twist itself. Each character is well developed and fully voiced, something I appreciated, but because of the twist itself, I felt like the only ‘true’ routes were Sia’s and Rina’s. There are 5 other routes, each with its own branching paths and setups, but they put so much emphasis on these two characters in the story, it chokes many of the choices you would think about doing.
Shuffle!’s art direction is definitely one of that of the early 2000’s, but one that works rather well, as the art style is a good throwback to older anime, added to by the jazzy and pop soundtrack. Artstyle-wise, Shuffle! does herald back to a time when anime games, novels specifically, were simple, but still allowed for detail to shine through. The backgrounds, while not unique, are well designed, and took into effect what a home or classroom might actually appear like in a real life setting. The character’s art is more of a fifty-fifty however. On the one side, I appreciate the throwback to a more simple style of design, as it allows for much more facial animation to show, but it also leaves the characters very stiff looking, a issue many games and novels of this time seem to have.
Bobbing your head along to the soundtrack of Shuffle! is not uncommon, as the overall track listing is very catchy. The overall soundtrack has a good mix of tunes in it, something I enjoyed as it never gets boring to just let the soundtrack run in the background while working. Utilizing a fair bit of synthesised music with some jazzy tones, and a few classical undertones, it tries it best to stay vibrant, which can work against it as well as I found some moments the music was too happy. The sound effects are what really shine though, many are classics or similar from other games or genres of gaming, and it really shows as they place these in places where they are the most effective.
Overall, Shuffle! was a enjoyable novel, giving the player many branching options to pick from, while still presenting a story that is as enjoyable now as it was back in 2004. A well done story with a good plot twist, several playable routes, over 20 hrs of playtime, a nice throwback visually, characters animate well, and a good mix in soundtrack and sound effects being on point make for a great reading experience.
Pros:
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Story is well crafted with a good plot twist
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Seven routes to explore
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Over 20 hrs of read time overall
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A nice visual throwback to the early 2000’s
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The characters animate well facially
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A good mix of music types in the soundtrack
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On point and well used sound effects
Cons:
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Plot twist can kill some routes with choices in game
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Art style makes characters look stiff visually most of the time
DarkLunarDude gives Shuffle! A Drastik Measure 8.4 out of 10.0 (84).
For the price of $19.99 on Steam, I can recommend Shuffle! to those looking for a good throwback novel, and those looking for a novel with some replayability as the multiple routes and long play time made the novel more memorable.
