Katawa Shoujo was released yesterday, five years after the project was started on 4chan and about ten to eleven years after the concept was first posted. It's entirely free of charge. This is a Visual Novel about a schoolboy who finds out in the most dramatic way that he suffers from a heart condition and is sent to a school for children who require additional care, be it because of missing limbs, or because they're deaf or blind. It's a dating visual novel, but one which focuses entirely on the story, no resource management game behind this one. Unlike Angie, this is the model I prefer because I play these games solely for the characters and expect the writing to be good enough to hold me. Anything else just feels like it gets in my way. In 2009 Act 1 was released, which represents about a fifth to a quarter of the game I think. It was a big surprise because it was actually really well written and tastefully done. I rather enjoyed it and found myself wanting more, but progress was slow and I was expecting the project to die. Shortly after this release one of the developers put up a blog post which went into more detail about the development of content thus far. A further post covering everything after that point has also been written. In 2010 a taster trailer was put out. I believe it had been put together specifically for an event the Japanese translation team were attending. Nothing new for those who had played the demo, but I did enjoy the music and I thought the presentation was rather good. Finally, out-of-the-blue came an announcement that the game was ready for release, along with another trailer celebrating the development of the game. I noted immediately that the graphics for the introduction were much improved.Well I'm downloading the site torrent now and will be trying to fit it in between my KOTOR and Old Republic gaming. I believe the final product has nude scenes in it (H scenes I think they're called), so I might be playing this when the other half isn't around so as to avoid the eye of judgement ;)Congrats to the team for managing to put this out though, and I only hope the rest of the game is as good as the part of Act 1 that I played.
So I'm through Act 1 and made roughly the same choices I did with the demo I think, taking me down the Emi route. One of the things I find refreshing is that almost all the girls are interesting people, they have enough quirks to make them individual, but not so many that they're irritating and you wonder why your character is within a hundred feet of them. It helps that the main character is not a total ass, something which is all too common in VNs and you're left wondering why anyone is hanging out with you and your teenage tantrums. Another point of interest for me is the pairing system it uses for act 1. All the girls move about primarily in pairs, so even if you route with one (and I'm basing this off Emi) you will see quite a bit of at least one other girl. This makes a nice change from the usual case of invisible people where, in a non-resource management VN, once you pick someone the rest of the characters pretty much disappear. We'll see if that lasts in act 2. There was a rather nice little animation linking the two acts together which was specific to the girl I was with, good to see something like this at a join rather than tied into "victory". One little concern over how quickly we got some physical descriptions/appreciation in act 2, though I can't say they were out of character for the situation (male schoolboy... hell, male). All in all I have enjoyed myself so far. The writing maintains a pretty good standard throughout, there are some bits which have me laughing (mainly with Kenji) and the setup of the main character is well integrated into the story and elegantly sets up the bond with Emi.
Pushing through Act 2 at the moment. I think the game was planned to be four or five, though perhaps it's only two with the first being the one where you pick a path. I like that you gather little scraps of paper around the edge of the main menu reflecting the art of the acts you've been in, where it seems to be girl specific in act 2. Thus far the writing has continued to be of a relatively good standard, I think my only concern is the lack of decision points. Quite a few in the first act, but I've only had one in the second and I was beginning to wonder whether I'd ever see them again. There was a nice spanner thrown in the works via a letter you receive, but then my character throws it away. Irritating. Seems like something that should definitely have been a decision point, though as he misses the bin I can only assume it's going to come back later, probably to haunt him.
Finally reached the end of Act 4 and the Emi path after about six hours all told. Full credit to the guys that put this together, it's an incredibly polished product, the music, art and even the little transition and animation tricks all come together beautifully. Something which could have been so crass is instead incredibly touching. It just captures the feel of the unknown, moving on with your life and young love so well. Even down to the physical stuff where two people are experimenting with sex (and that this isn't the victory condition). I felt kind of old at times, it's all so long ago. Then it ends on a perfect note. About my only criticism is that Act 2 was a bit of a wall of text with only a single decision point, they needed a couple more in there or to edit it down a bit, especially considering that act covers about two hours of "gameplay". Act 3, when things get serious, was much better at balancing story and decisions. I also assume that a couple of loose ends with the miscellaneous characters will be further explored via other paths. All in all though, I loved it and will definitely be going on another few runs through it.
I want to take a moment to praise the cinematics again. They were a total surprise to me, and having finished the Shizune route it's nice to be able to go back to them and read a little deeper into them than you could the first time around. (Shizune left, Misha right) Unfortunately the Shizune route was a disappointment. It hits its high notes fairly early where you're stuck early on as to which of the girls (Shizune or Misha her interpreter of sorts) to give a doll you win to, and then as the route progresses the way you slowly start to tackle sign language and lose your dependence on Misha. But once the story hits Act 3 it seems to lose its direction, there's far too much stuff going on that never ties back to Shizune in a satisfying way, never even ties back into itself, or fails to advance your plot with her. It all feels a little distant and cold, the game is telling you you're dating but it doesn't feel like it at all and then it ends on a bit of a bittersweet note. You spend too much time learning about her and Misha without ever really progressing your relationship with her. About the only real positive is that Kenjii, the conspiracy nut who lives across the hall from you, has some fantastic scenes. Definitely the weaker of the routes so far.
Came to the end of Rin's path and it was really well written. Perhaps a few too many inner monologue of things someone said, but the writing was at an otherwise high standard. It's not a happy path. Three ends, two are pretty gutting and even the third one leaves you wondering. It's a strange path because in Act 1 you see Rin as someone who's interestingly odd and somewhat comedic. But as you progress down her route you realise the comedy comes from the interactions between her and others, when you're trying to get to know her better it's her strange ways that really prevent you from closing the gap no matter how much both of you want it. It's genuinely frustrating, but it's supposed to be and makes for a depressing drama as Rin tries to find ways to make herself understood and you keep throwing yourself against the wall trying to scale it. It also features the most heart-wrenching eroge scene I've seen in a visual novel. I would have to cast my vote for the Emi path over this, but only because it falls more in line with my preferences. This was high quality stuff.
Thanks for pointing me at that. It's the entire sub-genre of no resource management visual novels he's taking issue with so far as I can tell. Fair enough, but not really a Katawa Shoujo issue, it's like having the guy who doesn't like base management giving his impressions of an RTS with base management. It becomes obvious pretty early that he isn't buying into the setup and so ends up hating it. He asks why he should care. Well, for the same reason you care about any game setup: because you find it interesting. As the characters are all a visual novel has to offer if you don't like them then you won't like the game. I think this game is simply too weighted in normaility for him, the stakes are too low and so he doesn't care. For my part it is the basing in reality that I love, I'm a sucker for school based visual novels because it's an experience that's easy to relate to. Quite simply, the genre isn't for him. His "I can judge it as a visual novel" is incredibly weak when clearly it's referring to the genre but he twists it to mean visual/graphic novels. He says at the start that it's unhelpful to argue over what's a game, but then gets in a jab about how this is pretending to be a game. This is a niche genre to be sure, but he's not really approaching it on its merits, it would have been better to do something on visual novels in general and relate this game to that. I find it very frustrating that he doesn't really go into any depth about his complaints. He says he doesn't care about this and that but never states why, not offers any input on what he finds engages him in game stories and character interactions. I can't understand his issues because he's giving me nothing to relate to. Unfortunately "impressions" seems to be shorthand for this sort of thing. I have To The Moon on my backlog and once I've finished this perhaps that would be a good game to tackle because, from the little I know about it, it strikes me that while the camera is placed differently it will have a lot in common with the visual novel genre.
Yeah, I was getting that impression even as someone who has not played these types of games. To The Moon is a good comparison because while there are some bits that are unequivocally "game," they could be excised entirely and the game taken as a whole would be largely unaffected.
I do agree with his up skirt complaint. There's one image used during an argument where you can see the panties of one of the girls. It's so unnecessary and out of keeping with the tone during the rest of the game. I complained about it on their forum when they put the demo out, I have no idea why they used it as is.
Ok I tried it briefly. The visuals are rather nice for what it is, but it's rather chatty, isn't it ? I mean, the protagonist appears rather angsty and rambling, he describes everything and that gets pretty boring after a while. I don't mind reading, but even if it's competently written, the writing doesn't really carries it. Competent isn't enough to sustain interest, and there seems to be a lack of decisions at that point. How can I save (I'm playing on a mac) ? I couldn't figure it, so I quitted the game, expecting an autosave, and nope, I've lost a good 15 minutes...
Thanks for highlighting the game, Quitch. I doubt I'll play this any time soon, but I liked reading your perspective.
I did one of the cycles. It's a nice read, but I wouldn't call it a game personally. I'm taking this as being more a manga that I'm reading instead of an actual game, and if I look at it from that persepctive, it's good. If you want something that's more of a game, and less explicit, look up Shira Oka. It's worth $10. Has some pacing issues at the end, but I enjoyed it last year.
Trust me, this guy isn't angsty for a visual novel hero. Considering that his life has just been destroyed and he's recreating the entire thing from scratch I think he handles it pretty well, though he worries more about some things than I would. Like with any visual novel it's how much you buy into the setting. This is a "slice of life" visual novel, which means you need to be able to put yourself there. If you feel distance between you and events then yes, it will bore you. I love every little melancholic heartstring it twangs, so I'm 100% there. It's not a case where it's giving you just enough to know what's going on, it's putting you into the life of someone and you live it with them, day-by-day. You either enjoy living their life or you get bored. Almost no mechanics, just pure escapism. I tend to play one act per sitting, then take a break, though I use the Skip feature (ALT GR) to whizz through stuff I've already read when I'm forcing a new route via Act 1. I save via right-click and choosing Save from the menu, S might be the keyboard shortcut. In terms of decisions, act 1 is the most heavily packed because you have to pick a route, after that I'd say Rin's path offered by far the most choices so far., but in a visual novel you only tend to get one or two major choices and the rest are tiny nudges at best. I own Shira Oka, but I don't like the art, I didn't particularly like the characters, and I'm not a fan of the resource management gameplay style of visual novel. I had more fun with Planet Stronghold which mixed in a little RPG with its visual novel, though the writing is no where near as strong as it is in Katawa Shoujo.
So now I've completed Lilly's path. This is more slice of life than any other path, for two acts you do little more than drink tea, take walks and enjoy hanging out with your friends. After the depressingly dark drama of Rin's path this was a breath of fresh air and I really enjoyed myself. In Act 4 it goes from 0 to melodrama in no time at all. It's like something out of a cheesy Hollywood film where the hero says his goodbyes then tries to chase down the heroine after wrestling with his conscience. It works for me because where I simply watch it happen in a film I sneer, but give me a few decision points where I feel I've engineered these events and I can feel my heart in my throat willing us on to succeed. It oddly runs events on after the credits, something the other paths haven't done. I'm glad there was more because the ending wasn't quite satisfying enough, though I think they could have slotted it all in before the credits for consistency. Of all the paths this makes the most of your condition, it comes up quite a few times and where in other paths you focused on the girl this time it's more that you're the injured party and she focuses on you. This is used well for the sudden reversal at the end when you realise you need to seize the day to be happy. Of course, you also end more fragile than in any other path, frankly it's only in Emi's path that you could seriously say you've improved your health. Also, Kenji, your weird feminist conspiracy obsessed dorm-mate comes over really well in this path. Because he's in the same class as Lilly you get to see a little more of him and actually get to know him better. It was touching in its own way. He turns out to be more human than he appears. Hanako, being Lilly's close friend, is heavily involved in this route too. I suspect Lilly will be heavily involved in Hanako's route. It's good because it helps develop the feeling of a social circle around you so you're progressing in life as well as in love. Finally, in Shizune's path you get a perspective on how Lilly and her came to cross swords, and in Lilly's path you get a different perspective and a different resolution. Again, it was handled with remarkable deftness and surprisingly few words. I give this path a hearty thumbs up.
I've gone and added the videos for each girl in my previous posts. These play at the opening of act 2 depending on the route you've gone and I think will help give you a better understanding of the girl and the route. I'd recommend watching them in wide mode on YouTube rather than embedded or you'll miss some of the more subtle facial moments. I love the piano, what a truly versatile instrument. Even if you have no interest in the game, the videos are fantastic. Actually, I think Hanako's may be the best one, but I'll post that when I've finished her route.
Hanako's path. This is the path. Not for me that is, but I think this is the one people were looking forward to the most. The path of the white knight, a broken girl in need of saving by the prince on his steed. I've played these paths in order of my interest in the girls and so I trudged into this one a bit out of the wish to see it all to the end. You don't really learn anything about Hanako unless you really go out of your way to do so, and I don't go in for the fragile and timid type so I didn't find myself drawn to her. First, let me say this has the best opening animation; it must be watched. The first thirty seconds showing her trauma until finally, she finds you, her rock. The piano accompaniment was perfect and really helps you feel her fearful isolation, how overwhelming it is for her and why she has such reliance on people like you and Lilly. It's actually a bit of a back and forth relationship and Hisao has some strange aggressive and perv tendencies during some of the early moments that seem almost out of character. There's no doubt that Hanko bears as many mental scars as physical ones and you spend a lot of time with her and Lilly trying to close the gap between you, sometimes feeling you're closer and other times that you're drifting apart. But there is there slight sense of progression and when it finally resolves it does so in what felt like a satisfyingly mature way even though it has a bit too much of an exposition of feelings dump right at the end. I like how her arc turns the white knight idea against you. She doesn't want that and if you pursue that route then you can end up facing a very, very angry Hanako and her bad ending. It was an excellent scene and the artist does an incredible job capturing true rage on her face. Another high point would be her breakdown during a lesson in act 3. It's a piece of horrifically understated drama occurring to someone alone in a crowd that also brings out some more of Shizune and makes me regret even more how weak her arc was. To be honest, I think I preferred attacking this particular relationship from Lilly's path. It has too much of a feeling of Rin's path, you sort of stumble into what is probably love, but you're not sure, and it feels as much as something done out of a lack of choice as a natural desire for that person. On Lilly's path I felt you got the satisfaction of befriending her and improving her life, without the awkwardness of sort of stumbling into a "probably love but is it?" relationship. So that takes me to 100% completion I actually had to get a flowchart to track the final 1% I was missing from act 1, and that opens up an extra item of art in the gallery. I admit to being a little disappointed in it as it isn't in keeping with the game's style. Ah well. In closing, I played the paths in the order I expected to enjoy them but I think a final list of paths from best to worst (based on my enjoyment, not writing quality or anything like that) would be: Emi - Lilly - Rin/Hanako - Shizune I'm amazed at how a simple thread on 4chan has turned into this incredibly well polished product. It takes a subject that could so easily be turned into a cheap fetish VN and handles it with real class. The art is excellent, the music superb and the animations presenting each girl really make this game a cut above and the writing remains good throughout. The only thing it's missing is voice acting and I can't say I find myself pining for it. All-in-all this is one of the best visual novels I have ever played. Well done all those involved. Anyway, I need to retire to mope. After investing this amount of time in any game, or book series, where I really get into the characters, it feels like you're losing a group of incredibly close friends once you finish. Visual novels don't make for a great replays unless you give them several years so it's likely this is the last I will ever interact with these characters and share in their lives. I need to go dwell on their stories and my feelings for them, process it all and then bounce back in a few days time.
I've now played Emi / Hanako / Shizune, and definitely agree this is the weakest story. With both Emi and Hanako, it seemed there was a level of drama and intensity that started gently then gradually increased until you reached a very powerful conclusion. With Shizune it seemed like there was just a... weird meandering thing that didn't seem to mean anything or go anywhere, interspersed with bits of "life philosophy" that felt very disconnected from what was going on... and just not interesting or engaging. And then! Something happens, [SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS], and you discover that Misha is in love with Shizune and always has been. And that feels like the one bit of... something real in this whole path. I was gunning for Misha & Shizune to end up together, since that connection feels far more real than the one between Hisao and Shizune. But... nope. Can't happen, doesn't happen.
It's odd, you spend most of Act 3 with people who aren't Shizune. She's off with Misha. Where's the development? And that forced comedy element in the form of her father is so bad. It never feels like you and Shizune are together, then at the end you're left feeling that after all that you're probably going your separate ways now.
I will probably not play this but I do thank you for this most insightful review. Actually, I'd been looking for something similar but forgot til now. A friend (the same to date pigeons with me) remarked that one of girl's paths reminded him of me so that was why I was so curious.
Do you know which one he meant (you're making me curious too)? I have only played the Shizune route so far, because I wanted to start with the first girl I saw and it has put me off the game a bit. I will play all the routes eventually, but the constant wondering why she's so serious and how driven she is bored me. I loved Misha though. They could have done more with her, in my opinion. And I liked Lilly's sister. She seemed pretty badass, so I'm looking forward to see more of her on Lilly's route.
Oh good, I kinda started Hanako's route. Here's a picture of Akira, Lilly's sister, if anyone is interested: Damn sexy I don't have that much experience with VN (except maybe Phoenix Wright, if that counts), but you really care for the characters. I even liked the MP. He's quite caring, most of the time. And it's a very pretty and well-developed game.
I've heard the same thing from other sources as well, so I won't. It'll just take a bit longer to finish the game cause I'm not hooked yet. Hoping that Hanako can help with that ;).
They're doing a piece of art per-day at the Katawa Shoujo site at the moment. I rather liked the art from day 2 by Mike Inel who did the animations.
I started the game out on Hanako's path and I really loved it. It resonated with me a lot because while I've recovered now, I used to be a lot like her. The scene where she has a flashback/panic attack in the middle of class really hit hard for me. But the ending was really disappointing and honestly creeped me out because Aside from the ending I enjoyed it. I stopped playing towards the end of Lily's route though again because of the sex scenes. Maybe it's the writers themselves, because they felt really forced in her route too. This time I think it was more of a writing issue rather than content issue. It's almost as if they didn't really know how to write those kinds of scenes but felt as if they HAD to include them so they were done kinda sloppily. I really liked how they dealt with the main character's heart issue more in this route and actusally made it a problem for him. I also found that to be another relateable aspect, as while I don't have a heart condition I have MS, so some of the scenes kind of made me feel less alone. I guess that sounds kinda dumb since it's just a character, but yeah. And while I know you can disable sexual content in the game, I can't bring myself to because I feel like I'd be missing some of the story that way, even though I'd like to skip them. I guess in a way it's like seeing a train wreck, it's horrible but you have to watch anyway. It would have been cool if they had an option to romance Kenji though. I heard he has a route, but I also heard some spoiley things about it that makes me not want to try for it. I heard that he was originally going to be included but it didn't work out. Probably because they thought just including a 'gay' option would scare away their main audience. Unsurprisingly, he's my favorite character. If he was real we'd probably be friends. Overall I thought it was a really good game for what it is. Even though it's free, it's a heck of a lot better than a lot of games that you have to pay for. It handled the disabilities really well. One thing that bothered me the most though was that they weren't clear on what kind of school it was. At first it was implied that only students who were disabled in some way could be enrolled, but a comment by one of the characters in Lily's route said something that contradicted that. It probably shouldn't bother me as much as it does, but it makes me feel really confused. Also, it probably wouldn't happen, but I'd love to see a male version of it.
Can't say as I thought the sex seemed out-of-place in the Lilly path. To me it fit with people of that age, it's part of why I like the game, it's that period of initial discovery and experimentation, where being alone together was an excuse for more sex. Contradictory blog entry by Losstarot This video spoils the end of the Kenji route, so don't watch it if you haven't run into that yet
