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Slow Damage

スロウ・ダメージ

Title
スロウ・ダメージ
Slow Damage
Aliasesスロダメ, Surodame
Play timeVery long (52h55m from 57 votes)
DeveloperNITRO CHiRAL
PublishersNITRO CHiRAL
JAST Blue
Otome Dream
Hora & Neidhardt
Taikutsu Translations
Relations
Side story

Slow Damage: Clean Dishes

LinksVNStat
Shopssponsored links» US$ 35.99 @ J-List
» US$ 22.49 @ JAST USA

Description

The year is 20XX, and the declining nation of Japan has built the ultimate casino resort: Shinkoumi. This "special administrative region," once known as Tokyo Waterfront City, is functionally its own separate country under the complete control of a private managing organization known as the Takasatogumi.

With the economy in turmoil, the masses flock to Shinkoumi with the hope of getting rich quick, or at the very least, venting the stress of their overworked, underpaid lives. With no restriction on who can enter, crime has flourished, and entire districts have decayed.

Our protagonist, Towa, lives a life of indolence on the third floor of a small neighborhood clinic. For you see, he has a hobby: painting human desire. Specifically, the moment before those suppressed urges break free from their constraints. And to do so, naturally, he must experience it himself firsthand.

In the art world, he is known as "euphoria".

It can be dangerous to grant people's darkest desires – sometimes, even deadly. But in the spirit of avant-garde, Towa is willing to die for his art...

[From the digital manual included with r59230]

Anal Sex 3.0 Side Portraits 3.0 Boy x Boy Romance Only 2.8 Protagonist with Voice Acting 2.8 Male Protagonist 2.8 Uke Protagonist 2.8 High Amount of Special Effects 2.7 Psychological TraumaS 2.7 Bloody Scenes 2.6 Painter Protagonist 2.6 Protagonist with a Face 2.6 Protagonist with Psychological ProblemsS 2.6 Violence 2.6 Adult Protagonist 2.5 BloodplayS 2.5 Lawyer Hero 2.5 Lip Sync 2.5 Lots of Character Sprites 2.5 Male on Male Sex Only 2.5 Promiscuous Protagonist 2.5 Suicidal ProtagonistS 2.5 Unlockable Gallery 2.5 Unlockable Routes 2.5 Protagonist with Eyepatch 2.4 Yakuza 2.4 ADV 2.3 Bad Ending(s) 2.3 Hero with Glasses 2.3 May-December Romance 2.3 Multiple Route Mystery 2.3 Only Adult Heroes 2.3 Ponytail Hero 2.3 Medical Doctor Hero 2.2 Smoker Protagonist 2.2 2020s 2.0 Alcoholism 2.0 Amnesiac ProtagonistS 2.0 Antihero Protagonist 2.0 Bad Endings with Story 2.0 Bar 2.0 Bartender Hero 2.0 Body Horror 2.0 Bonus Side Stories 2.0 Branching Plot 2.0 Date Display 2.0 Fictional Futuristic Japanese Town 2.0 Game Over 2.0 Hero with Psychological Problems 2.0 Hero with Tattoo 2.0 In-Game Tutorial 2.0 Insert Songs 2.0 KidnappingS 2.0 Map Movement 2.0 Multiple Endings 2.0 Multiple Opening Movies 2.0 Music Recollection 2.0 One True EndS 2.0 Pre-rendered 3D Backgrounds 2.0 RapeS 2.0 Read Text Marking 2.0 Restart from Chapter Index 2.0 Sex Involving DrugsS 2.0 Short Sexual Scenes 2.0 Third-person Narrative 2.0 Unarmed Combat 2.0 Psychological Problems 1.8 Cross-dressingS 1.5 Guro 1.5 Joke EndingsS 1.5 Text-only Sexual ContentS 1.3 Masochist Protagonist 1.2 Sexual Content 1.0 Bisexual Hero 1.0 Casino 1.0 Co-worker Hero 1.0 Depression 1.0 Design Story 1.0 Hero with Sexual Experience 1.0 Homosexual Hero 1.0 Homosexual Male Protagonist 1.0 Mystery 1.0 The Holiday Season 1.0 Winter 1.0 Artist Protagonist 0.8 Grotesque Body ModificationS 0.7 Sexual Child AbuseS 0.7 Skull-fuckingS 0.7

Mini reviews

By annamaria123 on 2021-04-28Vote: 10
<report>I'm just crying)) the game is gorgeous .. I finish playing the last root and without spoilers I can say that it's just a bomb. Of course, I agree with the comment above that well, the rest of the lines are not completely disclosed (and probably only Taku came to me, and that would not be so straightforward). I advise you to go through all the lines and reach the true ending because it is she who reveals the full story. I am especially glad that they showed that all the lines are connected. And all the minor characters are also connected with the main plot, which is very cool. And also a huge plus for the fact that nitro did the right thing by putting the plot in the foreground, very cool) 10 scratches out of 10.
0 comments 4 points
By rashi1996 on 2021-03-18r45130Vote: 9
<report>i really love this game.

only negativ criticism i can give is, that compared to the "true route" the others do seem a bit to casual and not near as deep or as dark as the main route.

ah and also the missing voice over with the exploring part ... it kind of felt a bit weird when suddenly the voices where gone. INABA I NEED YOUR VOICE ! xD

but I really enjoyed the atmosphere und all in all i really loved playing this game.
sadly i finished it by now T-T
0 comments 2 points
By txicdog on 2022-11-19r59230Vote: 10
<report>A truly incredible game that made me cry (Especially Fujieda's good end!) I love all of the Ro's in their own special way and none of them felt rushed or incomplete (Although I did skip the majority of Madarame's route as it made me incredibly uncomfortable.)
0 comments 0 points
By dontforgetme on 2024-02-10Vote: 8
<report>Gay edgelord kino. Only real complaints I have is that Taku's route is less interesting than the common one and the first half of Madarame's is dogshit. Psychotic characters are frequently mis-written in a lot of media so having a whole cast of them being taken seriously by the author made for an entertaining and interesting read. The drama and thriller stuff is fantastic as well.

Also the ending osts are ridiculously good. Even if you dont read this shit look them up because they got some crazy bands off the street for this one.
0 comments 0 points
By 198800 on 2022-11-20r75483Vote: 8
<report>All Nitro+chiral games are great, but this one, well, most of the time it makes me feel really uncomfortable and I thought Sweet Pool was weird, but this one hits differently, quite hard to handle. Not for everybody.
0 comments 0 points

Full reviews

By miraclesmay on 2022-12-23r59230Vote: 8
<report>Slow Damage highlights how much Fuchii Kabura has grown as a writer since the first visual novel she wrote a scenario for, Togainu no Chi. It’s a fantastic game about memory, trauma, the parts of ourselves we try to hide, and, well, scars, both physical and emotional. Towa is an enthralling protagonist, easily the most interesting one a N+C game has given us. A sadistic and calculating painter who longs to capture his subjects' most disturbing thoughts is certainly something new compared to other N+C protagonists, who are typically either upbeat or demure. On top of this, Slow Damage feels like it pays homage to its predecessors in many ways, the most literal being that songs from the prior... Read more »
0 comments 10 points
By henrietta on 2023-03-17r59230Vote: 6
<report>firstly, check out narutochats & carito728's reviews! carito hit the nail on the head & worded it very well & i also wanted to build off what narutochats said in their review. I feel a little silly taking this so seriously like an eng. class but it's all in fun

ok now onto my review (mostly ramblings):
It's been over a month since I finished Slow Damage, and I have a lot of feelings and choice words regarding my experience with it.
I had a generally bad time with Slow Damage, while reading it, I was bed-bound a majority of the time & seriously had nothing better to do, I got so bored sometimes I would black out while reading. This happened over 5 times. Regardless... (and maybe to it's... Read more »
6 comments 5 points
By whodunit3050 on 2021-08-17r75483Vote: 9
<report>(I wrote this with a translator so it must be full of errors, but I wanted to share my impressions about this game)

*There will be spoilers*
________________________________________________________________________________________



Well...... after 4 or 5 months of playing, I finally completed Slow Damage a few days ago, and what can I say?

After all Nitro+CHiRAL dark games are the best! and SD has already become one of my favorites, it already has a special place in my heart, I am thankful that I have been able to live to play this wonderful game.

When I finished playing it, so many emotions invaded me, obviously I was sad to finish the game but at the same time I felt very satisfied... Read more »
0 comments 6 points
By carito728 on 2023-02-06r59230Vote: 5.5
<report>The writing of most of this game has the same vibes as the black and white pictures people would post on Facebook in the late 2000s trying to be "deep" and "edgy". It's on the nose, corny, and so dettached from reality it's pathetic.

The plot progression is so slow-paced that Slow Damage is essentially a Slice-of-Life without actually using the strengths of the SoF genre (well-developed or charming characters, good cast dynamics, entertaining relationship between the protagonist and one or more characters, etc). I was bored throughout most of this game. A lot of time was spent following Towa's usual routine of walking around not-talking to people. He's an emotionless protagonist so all his... Read more »
1 comment 5 points
By violetmornings on 2021-07-01r75483Vote: 9
<report>I'd like to begin my review by saying that I knew N+C were making this game, back in 2017-2018 when I got back into DMMD and TNC. But this? This game, I did not expect anything like this from N+C, EVER. It is heart-wrenching, filled with painful memories, tangled with sorrow. It had it's small portions of being funny, ridiculous, but most of all, it's an emotionally packed, terrific visual novel. I would, although recommend to be in the right mental state for playing this game. It gets very dark and triggering, especially in the final route, which caused me to cry 7 times in a row and I had to take a break. No other VN has made me sob that much in a time of 5 hours. But Slow damage managed... Read more »
0 comments 4 points
By kadamitas on 2023-12-31Vote: 9
<report>Ended up writing a 5.5 pg long in-depth review of this for fun, plus another 5+ pages of analysis. Which, frankly, is a disgusting amount of words, so I'll spare everyone by posting this instead:


Slow Damage is a great game! … if you are the right audience for it.
As soon as you aren't a part of that group it's probably insufferable.
It is unapologetically edgy, violent, hypersexual and 'realistically' queer in a way that goes beyond what I normally associate with mainstream BL and GL content. Incredibly pulp noir at times, with nary a droplet of shame – yet self-aware enough to poke fun at it and use it in a meaningful way.
If you aren’t the audience this game wants, you'll know. The... Read more »
2 comments 3 points
By narutochats on 2023-01-06r59230Vote: 10
<report>I never expected this game to have such a big impact on me, but after 14-15+ years of playing hundreds of visual novel games (and only in recent years BL) this game has become one of my favorites. I will be using DRAMAtical Murder as a point of comparison often in my words below. Spoiler free ramblings.

By pure coincidence I had played DRAMAtical Murder (another Nitro+CHiRAL title) a few months prior, and at first I was disturbed by the game for some of the darker things that happen. However, something drew me back to that freaking game for some reason and I ended up loving it. I don't like harsher content such as non-con and the game features that, so I think had I not played DRAMAtical... Read more »
0 comments 2 points
By perfect-mistake on 2023-02-12Vote: 10
<report>spoiler-free review
If you're on the fence about getting this visual novel because it's BL, just get it, I promise you, you won't regret it one bit. Trust me I was in the same exact position, but the description interested me and I said: "augh to hell with it It can't be that bad can it". And let me tell you it wasn't bad in fact this became one of my favorite pieces of media ever, BL content be damned. This game is much more than just a "yaoi porn game" It's a masterpiece that explores how the past shapes people, and what's the best way to perceive it. The characters feel real, and I mean really really real I don't think it's possible to describe. any of its characters accurately with just... Read more »
0 comments 1 point
By sayuuki on 2023-06-20r75483Vote: 9
<report>This is an amazing game and I recommend it to any lover of the BL genre, or anyone who likes Nitro+ style content. It's dark, delves into a lot of subjects and for the most part does it well.

Pros:
- great story overall
- compelling characters with real development
- wonderful art, music and voice acting
- a solid representation of its genre (dark dystopian psychological stories)

Cons:
- pacing is a bit off at times but nothing major
- in the year of the lord 2023 we are still not rid for the lack of consent plaguing this genre
I can take non-con if it makes sense for the story, however in this game it does not in many parts.
- for me, the true route felt so perfect that it made the... Read more »
0 comments 1 point
By onorub on 2023-10-07Vote: 9.1
<report>I normally give Nitro Chiral 7-7.5 ratings so when i saw the big ratings for this i just thought it was an overreaction from BL fans and that i was just gonna rate it slightly higher, how wrong i was. The plot and specially the character work are leagues above what this brand normally releases, not to mention that i liked the way it integrated some adv gameplay into the storytelling. People might be put off at the beginning by how edgy the protagonist seems, but the VN did a great job at making his edginess entertaining as well as giving a good explanation for it at the end of the journey. My biggest complaint about it is that despite being fairly creepy, the bad endings are not exactly... Read more »
0 comments 0 points
By batabid on 2024-03-04Vote: 3
<report>A kamige for people with a surface level knowledge of BL visual novels and edgy BL in general, but kind of a heinously disappointing, frustrating, and dull mess of a game to veterans! Pardon the gatekeeping

From all the praise it's recieved, particularly from people who love to throw DMMD under the bus, I really expected something better this time around, but it's unmistakably just another Nitro+Chiral game in a rather unflattering coat of paint. Now, as the most prominent name in the world of BL VNs, Nitro+Chiral tends to receive both a lot of unwarranted praise and criticism alike for their games. The bitter feeling of their success being undeserved when there are so many beautifully... Read more »
2 comments 0 points