Recent reviews by RockeT

Synopsis
Seven Days tells the tale of Shuuichi Kanzaki, a young man who, thanks to his rather peculiarly resourceful classmate, Masaru Kinokuniya, stumbles upon a cursed video. The man of reason he sees himself as, Shuuichi takes his friend's "dare" and decides to watch the video, only to realize shortly later, to his own bewilderment, that he was not quite exactly being bamboozled. Out spawns a creature from an otherworldly plane of existence and assaults the protagonist. The bleak situation comes into speculative resolve by a Shinto priestess, and his good childhood friend, Murasaki Sairenji, as she attempts to exorcise the begrudged spirit, the result of which is far from the expected one. Both Shuuichi and Murasaki have to deal with a body which, although now bereft of former hostility, still serves as a vessel to souls of seven girls whose lives ended far too prematurely and who as such harbour profound grievances against the world that has abandoned them. Will Shuuichi be able to grant them their postmortem wishes and the ends they desire?

Visuals

The game features a relatively wide library of meticulously crafted, charming backgrounds, character sprites and CGs (some of which contain fanservice). Each area and each CG, indoors and outdoors alike, not only have been drawn in full HD resolution, but are also vibrant, picturesque, and rich, giving very little room to doubt or dislike about the graphical suit of Seven Days. Consequently, this brings the title amongst the most aesthetically pleasing visual novels I have come to contact with.

Music and sound

Sporting a 23-song-long soundtrack, a plethora of various sound effects, and top-notch voice acting performance (save for the protagonist who remains silent), Seven Days never fails to set the appropriate mood and tone regardless of what's happening on the screen. Be it a moment of cozy and casual talk over food, a fast-paced action, or an emotional encounter, you can rest assured that your ears will be delighted. All voice actors play their roles in a convincing fashion, giving each character noticeable and distinctive feel and depth. However, there is one downside when it comes to the soundscape as a whole: the game will lose its sound should you alt-tab while playing fullscreen. The solution to that technical mishap is to alt-tab out and into the game again or checking the sound settings and restoring the defaults (or not playing in fullscreen).

Writing

While initially Seven Days might resemble Clannad (and similar titles) when looked at from a certain angle, it quickly distinguishes itself with a much more philosophical setting and subject matter. The plot is not about wooing the heroines in order to lead a life full of sunshine, rainbows, and, quite possibly elsewhere, fun in bed, it's about assuring wretched ghosts a safe and satisfying passage into the afterlife with what limited time is at their disposal. In the spirit of this, the game fundamentally tackles such themes like religion, mortality, sense of life, transcendentalism and parallel universes. Fortunately, the atmosphere is not as tense all the time, for it would have made a somewhat heavy and possibly displeasing (at least to some) read in result otherwise. There are ups and downs, moments of joy and moments of sorrow, and one has to deal with them accordingly.

A few elements in the story might not seem sufficiently explained in a way one would expect them to be, with one not being explained at all, and with one scene missing a correct transition if you meet a certain condition. For a person attentive to detail this definitely has the immersion-breaking potential, luckily only for a brief moment as once this problematic piece is out of the way, the narrative continues as normal with no further glitches in sight.

When it comes to the aspect of longevity, the game should take about 25-30 hours to go through at a steady, consistent pace, but that will naturally also depend on whether you plan on hunting for all possible CGs and achievements. When it comes to books and VNs, I usually prefer taking a fairly slow approach as that allows me to immerse myself in the world and its storyline significantly easier, against a tempo that one would consider a "normal" reading speed. As such, I exceeded the 35-hour mark when the story has concluded. In contrast, if you're a fast reader, it might take you even less than 20 hours to beat the game. Worth noting is also a currently absent bonus chapter (with 4 CGs to accompany it) that will be added somewhen in 2020. This probably means an extra hour or two added into your clock.

Summary

Seven Days With You: the Most Precious Memory in Our Lives (as that's the full title of the game) is a fantastically written, bittersweet tale of life, death, and the value and importance of the universal resource we all possess: time. Despite subtle, mostly mechanical flaws, the plot holds its ground with heavy feet, firm face, and warm embrace waiting for you, should you decide to come forth and venture through all of its chapters. Strongly amplified with second to none audiovisual aspects, the game offers a handsomely rewarding experience that will linger with you long after you've finished the story and put it back on your digital shelf.

Final score: 9/10.

12 maps, 10 classes, a wide array of weapons and hordes of mutants just waiting for you to inflict tonnes of senseless violence and spill hectolitres of their blood on top of that. Meat and gore galore, what's not to love?

Definitely one of those must-play games. It's an action-packed survival Co-Op that requires both individual and teamwork skills to beat maps, especially at harder difficulties. You can't simply spam whole area with bullets (well, you might, but you won't last long) as you need to make proper use of your perk abilities (7 to choose from) and weapons (varying for each class) to clear ever-increasing waves of mutants (or zombies, if you prefer). Genuinely well-made maps and balanced weaponry seem only natural here.

The two downsides to this game are an abundance of DLCs and - at times - performance. Fortunately, nearly all of DLCs consist of character packs and only minority showcase new weapons. There are also reskin pack for weapons (golden and camo), but if you're not really into these things, they will only irk you. Performance is a big thing, though - if you have got an old(er) machine, you might find your KF dropping frames as hell, even on the lowest video settings.

Cutting long story short, I have to say Killing Floor is one of the best games I have ever played in my life, even despite its flaws - and by comparing to tonnes of fun it can give you, is really inexpensive.