I/O

Safe / Tame (13)

Title

I/O

Aliases

アイオー

Play time

Long (42h30m from 45 votes)

Developer

Regista

Publishers

GN Software & Asgard (asugarudo)
Lemnisca Translations
Lem Fan Club
Tuna std.

Links

Wikipedia (en), Wikipedia (ja), Wikidata, MobyGames, MobyGames, GameFAQs, HowLongToBeat, IGDB, Lutris, VNStat

Shops

Description

April 26th, 2032 A.D. - Megalopolis Tokyo - 00:12 in the morning

A total lunar eclipse occurs for the first time in 3 years. Even though it's supposed to be a simple astronomical phenomenon, it soon sets off a series of unexpected events. Unexplainable mysteries, terrorist incidents, and network crime surge as if in unison. The truth mixes with lies, as if the world is awake but still sleeping.

Something has begun. Somewhere no one can see. Something no one knows about.

This is a story of the chance meeting and tragic parting of the young men and women living in this world. Players get to play the game from 4 different points of view:

Route A - Hinata, a youth who has lost his sister and himself.
Route B - Ishtar, a freelance programmer and leader of a hacker team.
Route C - Ishtar, but seems a bit different from the Ishtar in Route B....
Route D - He, a man completely shrouded in mystery.

And thus..

"The beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning"

contenttechnicalhide spoilersshow minor spoilersspoil me!summaryall

Amnesiac Protagonist^S 3.0 Disappearance 3.0 Drastic Character Development^S 3.0 Dream^S 3.0 Enforced Playing Order 3.0 Fighting Protagonist 3.0 Flashback 3.0 Infodumping 3.0 Interdimensional Odyssey^S 3.0 Internet 3.0 Mesopotamian Mythology^S 3.0 Mid-game Videos 3.0 More Than Seven Endings 3.0 Multiple Protagonists 3.0 Protagonist Selection 3.0 Protagonist with a Sprite 3.0 Psychological Problems^S 3.0 Scenario Selection 3.0 Transhumanism 3.0 Unlockable Event 3.0 Unlockable Protagonist 3.0 Unlockable Routes 3.0 Virtual Reality^S 3.0 Cyberpunk 2.9 Mind Screw 2.9 Hacking 2.9 Combat with Firearms 2.9 Hacker Heroine 2.9 Protagonist with Voice Acting 2.9 Unlockable Choices 2.9 Corporations 2.9 Flashforward^S 2.9 Terrorism 2.9 Death of Heroine^S 2.9 Fighting Heroine 2.9 Protagonist with Multiple Personalities^S 2.9 Hacker Protagonist 2.8 ADV 2.8 Existential Crisis^S 2.8 Hacker Hero 2.8 Completion Status Indicator 2.8 Multiple Route Mystery 2.8 Unlockable Bonus Content 2.8 No Sexual Content 2.8 AI Heroine^S 2.8 Identity Crisis^S 2.8 Track Display 2.8 Female Protagonist 2.8 Alternate Dimensions^S 2.7 Built-in Encyclopedia 2.7 Male Protagonist 2.7 Orphan Protagonist^S 2.7 Cyborg Heroine^S 2.7 AI Hero^S 2.7 Cyborg Protagonist^S 2.7 Protagonist with Superpowered Side^S 2.7 Unavoidable Heroine Death^S 2.7 Death of Hero^S 2.6 Resurrection^S 2.6 Twin Tail Heroine 2.6 High School Student Protagonist 2.6 Time Travel^S 2.6 Mystery 2.5 Protagonist with a Face 2.5 Strong Female Protagonist 2.5 Transgender Support Character^S 2.5 Time Loop^S 2.4 Varying Ending Songs 2.4 AI Protagonist^S 2.3 Bad Endings with Story 2.3 Death of Protagonist^S 2.3 Desperation^S 2.3 Homicide^S 2.3 Playtime Counter 2.3 Date Display 2.3 Secret Identity 2.3 Philosophy 2.2 Revenge^S 2.2 Apocalypse^S 2.2 Genetic Research^S 2.2 Personal Armed Combat 2.2 Protagonist's Childhood Friend as a Heroine 2.2 Hard Science Fiction 2.2 Orphan Heroine^S 2.1 Protagonist with Heterochromia 2.1 Suicide^S 2.1 Albino Heroine^S 2.1 Depression 2.1 Brief NVL Scenes 2.1 Twin Sister Support Character^S 2.1 Clone Heroine^S 2.0 Combat Capable Friends 2.0 Ending List 2.0 Future 2.0 Future Japan 2.0 Game Over 2.0 Group of Friends 2.0 High Amount of Bad Endings 2.0 Life and Death Drama^S 2.0 Multiple Credit Rolls 2.0 Pistol Combat 2.0 Pure Love Story^S 2.0 Superpowers^S 2.0 Surreal 2.0 Suspense 2.0 Unique Routes 2.0 Amnesia^S 1.9 Descriptions of Violence 1.9 Blind Heroine^S 1.8 Romance 1.7 Scientist Hero 1.6 Rabbits 1.5 Sacrifice^S 1.5 Medical Doctor Heroine 1.5 Heroine with Glasses 1.3 Father Support Character 1.3 Reverse Trap Heroine^S 1.3 Villainous Heroine^S 1.3 Protagonist's Blood-related Sister as a Heroine 1.3 Villainous Hero^S 1.2 Leader Heroine 1.2 Heroine with Heterochromia 1.1 Lesbian Heroine^S 1.1 Christian Mythology 1.1 Brief Branches Only 1.0 Duel^S 1.0 Food Discussions 1.0 Student Heroine 1.0 Bad Ending(s) 0.8 Heroine with Gothic Look 0.8 Bloody Scenes^S 0.8 Villainous Protagonist^S 0.8 Few Choices 0.7 Protagonist Gender Choice 0.7 Genre Shift^S 0.6

Mini reviews

By lightsworn on 2021-11-13Vote: 10

<report>One of my favourite VN. The story is so amazing that it just keep you reading and reading. It's way different than your run of the mill romantic VN. Please give it a try sometimes, you won't be dissapointed.
PS: the song "fragment" is really, really good.

7 comments 2 points

By teamkazato on 2022-03-21r22481Vote: 8

<report>I/O gets a solid 8/10 from me. as I said, it was a fun ride, especially route A and B. I would call them the real meat of the Story.
although disliked route C
with all of it's time cuts
D Route was ok.
and E route was good for the most part. Music was quite good, together with some good sound effects, it builded up the atmosphaere a lot, probably my favourite part of it. The Relationship between Hinata and Sakuya and also between
Enlil and Mutsuki were really good
But it is by no means perfect. Especially with it's stupid time skips a lot of the times
It was also quite confusing a lot of the times
but otherwise I have nothing big to complain about.
25 Hours to complete all Routes including the True Endings
but I did not 100% completed everything.
because I did not read the bad endings

0 comments 1 point

By kradar on 2022-01-24Vote: 7.9

<report>This complex and convoluted sci-fi novel was admittedly very hard to follow, what with its pacing being disrupted on multiple occasions by the massive infodump and the various different plot developments that kept happening. However, it also piqued my interest exactly because of that, I had to understand what was going on, and now that I've read it to completion, I do have a, more or less, clear picture. All things considered, it's a good read if you like sci-fi and don't mind the mindscrew, and while the art is nothing special, the soundtrack is pretty nice, albeit limited

0 comments 1 point

Full reviews

By applemons on 2021-08-19r22481Vote: 7.1

<report>TL;DR: A strong recommend if you stop after finishing Route E.

I/O has a lot of immediate staying power - a lunar eclipse sets off a cryptic chain of events involving terrorism, crime, and four seemingly unconnected protagonists will have their paths converge in order to solve everything. No matter which of the four starting routes you pick, you'll have some degree of confusion when you begin; an enticing kind of confusion that'll have you keen to see what's next. However, routes A and B are longer ones that drag a bit in the middle - I'd personally recommend starting with C or D.

After completing each route and getting the special "1.0" endings (for replaying their endings after... Read more »

1 comment 1 point