A very boring SoL/mystery game with terrible writing.

I personally am not very fond of the SoL genre in general. I find that they are boring and unintuitive because they use the same formula repeatedly and most are usually very bland in nature. Perhaps preferred by ones who like to waste their time. Now if the SoL is interesting due to its setting, characters, or themes, I am all up for it, but unfortunately Re:LieF is a visual novel that will definitely waste your time on. I read this visual novel and I am purposely writing a review on it so that you don't waste your time with this garbage.

This VN was #1 in scenario for Getchu's VN awards in 2016 and I did have some expectations, but boy was I blown away and flabbergasted by how people could vote this to the top. Then I reassessed my thoughts on the novel and kind of understood why.

Not only in Japan, but for the entirety of the modernized countries, most young adults have no purpose, no dream, and no hope. Most live in a concrete jungle while being like a zombie pushing the cogwheels of society aimlessly. A hopelessly bleak interpretation, but you get the point. This novel capitalizes on this problem by having the main character as such. Not only that, but there is a government funded school for such similar adults to stay for 1 year to regain their thoughts and their meaning of life. Realistically a 1 year NEET rehabilitation course with free tendies to top it off. A "somewhat" interesting premise.

Now, many people who read this VN will most likely sympathize with this novel and the struggles that the MC goes through. They will probably relate to the MC more often that they would like to admit. Just like how one will watch a Harem or Isekai anime for a quick dopamine rush from the satisfaction of watching the MC(insert viewer) get the girls or be overpowered, despite this VN being a terrible piece of work, probably does a better job than the Harem or Isekai anime because of the medium it is in and how the reader could sympathize strongly with the MC. Another example is how someone could read The Catcher in the Rye as a teenager and regards it as the best book ever because it someone relates to them in a personal and perhaps spiritual level. Pretty much targeted towards the market demographic that actually play these type ofgames, NEETs and basement dwellers(me included).

Now enough of that, I will talk about why this VN is so ♥♥♥♥. The SoL are even worse than generic. They are so so so bland and the humor isn't even hit or miss, it's just outright bad. The SoL moments are almost always basically two to four characters talking about some random topic very blandly and the humor is dry at best. If you thought that the SoL was bad, the mystery in this novel is even worse. How the mystery is built up is completely incoherent and even contradictory at times as if someone with schizophrenia wrote the damn thing. Every route other than the true route are just hints and the more hints you get, you just become more confused. Is the mystery that has been built up even worth it? Not really. Another aspect of the writing that made me want to skip the VN more was the romance. Now I get that VNs generally need SEX scenes in order to sell, but it just feels like all of the romance was just tacked on and horribly introduced for every single route. It was honestly jarring to seeing someone from acquaintance to lovers within 10 minutes. The characters are also boring and have conflicts that they have are about as interesting and deep as watching two flies procreate.

Now if there is one saving grace, it is the artwork. It definitely is good, but not in the way you would expect. The contrast and depth of the backgrounds and the character's body is probably one of the best in VNs. The characters' bodies and backgrounds were eye candy, but the overall tone of the characters is something I didn't like. It feels like the head and the bodies were drawn by different artists(probably right). A very anime head with a semi-realistic body doesn't sit too well with me. Not to mention that the contrast and coloring of the heads were somewhat different to the bodies.

This is a BAD game and do not be fooled by the sales numbers or ratings that this game has. THIS IS A TERRIBLE AND BORING GAME that was ruined by the writing. If you are reading this for the sex scenes, just extract the CGs, you'll save yourself the torture of getting through this.