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Genre: Action, Indie
Developer: Fancy Fish Games
Publisher: Fancy Fish Games
Release Date: Apr 19, 2017
Edited by KnightAvenger
What is reality? Is it the physical presence we have in this world? Is it something more matrix-like with our physical presence being a very advanced simulation? Or is it a more mindful and neural, but not physical, presence? “What is reality” is the question ＜/reality> asks but never manages to find an absolute answer.
The first protagonist is Lilya, a complete shut-in with almost no real life, who opts to spend most of her time in her room, in virtual reality, playing Realms as a kick-ass lightning mage with her guild. Enrolled in a community college, she’d rather stay at home and skip her exams, using technicalities as an excuse. Her sister and father are more like neighbors living in other rooms rather than family. One day, she gets a chance to beta test the new virtual reality technology called Penta, located directly at the headquarters of InterMense, the company creating the new tech. It is there we meet the second protagonist, Jacob.
At first, Jacob seems like a multi-millionaire genius programmer, having developed Penta almost single-handedly in the span of about two years. However, it turns out that he is also very detached from reality, not having any human friends and only spending time with the AI creatures inside Vitalia, which is the only environment for the Penta developed so far and which also looks and feels as real as reality itself. Aside from Jacob, we also meet the other beta testers, including Ben and Max, both of whom have an importance to the story in some way.
The choices and their consequences are extremely satisfying. There are two types of choices presented: ones that don’t affect much more than just dialogue as well as what the reader and the characters might find out and then the bigger, more important choices affecting the story in some more-or-less meaningful ways. At the end of every chapter is a list of all the important choices and the decisions made for them as well as the percentage of other players that picked that option out of the total a la Telltale style. All of those choices can give you one of many different endings. The whole story was written by a single writer, and, thus, the writing style is consistent for all the choices and characters. The writing is incredible! It pulls off the relatable shut-in character of Lilya very nicely and the dialogue between the characters is very well done and never cringe-worthy. Even the few small puzzles thrown into the game in the second half are also well written (if a bit disappointing) due to not adapting to the player’s choice but, instead, having the actual “correct answer” set in stone.
The art style of the game is pretty and has a colorful non-anime look, at least when it comes to the regular scenes, scenes in Vitalia and the character designs. The scenes set in Realms have a different art style that looks more like a gritty and realistic MMORPG but in first person. Aside from that, there is a rather clever addition to the dialogue, which is a chatting system that sometimes appears in the upper left corner. That way, the characters can communicate just like in a chat room, all with broken grammar and abbreviations and everything. It is used extensively in the Realms scenes but also outside of it, when the plot demands it. It is quite fun and a unique system for a visual novel with the writing being on par excellence when it comes to the chat room! The music is well made, and every song fits its situation more-or-less perfectly. It is a cool soundtrack which can be listened to even when not playing the game but may sometimes also be a bit distracting from the game itself due to it being so very great.
For all the talk of good writing and dialogues, there is a slight problem I had with the story, and that is the slow build up. The game starts off very mundane and slow, albeit full of regular everyday events happening. Even the starting bit at InterMense seems too slow. Luckily, it’s not too big of an issue since the game does pick up rather quickly at one specific moment during the beta testing of Penta, so it doesn’t hurt the overall experience too much. Still, it would have been better not to have been bored for the first hour or so, if at all possible.
＜/reality＞ is an intriguing and well made visual novel that explores the question of reality through a story about virtual reality being at least as real as reality itself, if not even more real. All of that is complemented by a nice atmosphere created through a pretty cartoonish, colorful and unique art style and fitting music.
Pros:
- Great and relatable writing
- Amazing choices and consequences
- Cool and unique look
- Fitting and well made music
Cons:
- Starts a bit slow
Faris gives </reality> a Drastik Measure 9.3 out of 10 (93)
</reality> is available on Steam for $11.99 (USD).
