Review of The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass
| Subject | The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass |
| By | Helpfulness: 4 Vote: 10tysonex on 2021-05-09 |
| Review | Sekimeiya is one of the best games/visual novels I've ever played. I've been interested in this game since the kickstarter and as a massive mystery game fan I had high expectations. It exceeded them in every single way. The game is about a group of individuals entering a tower for an event, who all get trapped and have strange experiences happen to them. They are taken on a ride for the next 12 hours. And boy, what a ride it was. This might be the single most complex/intricate narrative I've ever played in a game. There are so many twists and turns that the story takes and all of them are consistent with the rules of the world. The rules are hard to figure out, and the game does provide a small amount of help in understanding this. However, it is pretty much up to you to apply the rules in order to understand the events that took place. The game is for the most part linear (apart from small side routes here and there which are a couple of minutes long at most), but asks you questions along the way to test your understanding of the narrative. There is no consequence of getting them right or wrong, it is just purely to rate you understand of the world (you can ever compare the score you got with what the other players chose, which is super cool). I love this implementation and figuring out all the events that took place was so much fun. There are still parts of the game I don't fully understand and I intend to play through the game again to get some answers to unanswered questions. The story is around 20-30 hours long if you are a fast reader and want to understand the story fully, and 40-50 hours if you are not. The mystery is at the forefront of the game, so unlike most other VNs, there are little-to-no slice of life sections or moments of respite. I loved this aspect as I absolutely hated them in other similar VNs such as Steins;Gate and Root Double. The entire point of the game is solving the mystery and applying all that you know to figure out the events in the game. If you are more into character-driven stories, you may not like the story so much in this. However, I still loved most of the characters in the game apart from 1/2. The main characters are so smart and are competent unlike characters in other VNs, which I loved. In particular, Atsuki, Shiroya and Sai are my favourite characters. The game spends a lot of time in the minds of the characters you play as and reading their thought process and comparing it with your own was always entertaining. I also liked that the game uses little to no tropes like other VNs do. It is just so refreshing to not be constantly annoyed by some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ pervert character or some generic heroine #368 or whatever. The writing is excellent throughout. The story is also paced incredibly well for the most part. It starts off somewhat slow, but as the different events kick in the pace slowly starts to build up and you start to have no idea of whats happening. I'd say it's similar to the pacing of route A from Root Double where you are directly dropped into the action without really delving into some backstory of the characters. The are certain sections of the game which drag a bit, particularly in the middle, however it quickly picks it back up and the story starts firing on all cylinders until its conclusion. One thing I didn't necessarily like was that there wasn't really an epilogue to see what happened after the events of the game, but its more of a minor gripe as the game wraps up everything that is needed to finish the story. Another great thing is that there really are zero plot holes, I can really tell that the Trinitite team really put a ton of effort into telling a logically sound and consistent story. There are two mechanics that I absolutely loved in the visual novel. They are the search and the notes functions. These are so well implemented are are really crucial to understanding the story. I constantly took down notes as the story progressed and this in turn helped me keep track of all the stuff that was going down. Notes are needed as there are minor details that you can miss out on that could help you better understand certain events. The game does keep a couple of main notes for you that tell you the high level story, but you will need to keep track of some minor details that the game will question you about later. The search function was also so seamless, whenever I needed to quickly look up a series of events or the dialogue from certain characters, it was really easy to do so. These are top notch features that I feel are absolutely necessary in this genre and Sekimeiya has really set a standard for the industry. I've used certain IDEs and text editors in the past that aren't this good. The UI was also excellent. The art of the game is great. While some of the backgrounds in the tower itself are a little generic, they do their job well. What really does stand out are the CGs and they are GORGEOUS. The characters look great and the scenery of Yushibana is a sight to behold. The music is also pretty good. I felt that some tracks felt inappropriately used as i felt that quite a few scenes in the game really ought to have had calmer music. While it wasn't a big deal, it can really stress you out as you constantly have these intense tracks playing and you also have to try and wrap your mind around the story. The tracks themselves are all great however. I did have a few gripes with the game. The notes and search interface would bug out ever so slightly by keeping the text cursor either a few characters behind or a few characters after your previous notes. This was annoying as I always kept maintaining and updating my notes throughout the game, and if I wanted to change certain sections of the text I always made mistakes as the cursor doesn't properly indicate where it is actually pointing to. Another thing is that it isn't really easy keeping track of the "flow" of certain events since there is a LOT of complexity to the narrative. I don't think there is really an easy fix for this however. There is something added after the end of the game that helps you with doing this. There is also no voice acting in this game, so if its a deal breaker for you this game may not be for you. I felt it never needed it though. All in all, the cons never really detract from the experience. I had an incredible time with the game and if you ask me this is one of the best stories ever told in video games. If you are a fan of really complex mysteries and you love solving them on your own, this visual novel is for you. You can still also enjoy this without applying your mind too much, but it really is designed so that you piece together the story on your own. This is one of the best games I've ever played, and is one of the greatest visual novels ever, it is as good as if not better than greats like Remember11, Ever17 and Steins;Gate. I can't sing enough praises of this game and can't recommend it enough. Thank you to Trinitite team for this wonderful experience. You can really tell the love and passion the team has for the genre, and it is evident in every aspect of the game. The fact that they've created such an incredible VN as their first game speaks loads about their passion, skill and love for the genre. I really look forward to see what's next for the team, as they surely have a lifelong supporter in me. I really wish I could wipe my memory and play this incredible game again for the first time. Great job to everyone who worked on this game! |
| 4 points |