Recent reviews by ♞ Red [EqtsInvcts]

Your Holo is on another Planet.

For realsies, though, from the brother who wrote Spice & Wolf comes the dark middle chapter of a non-interactive visual novel trilogy some like-minded people and I literally threw money at a Kickstarter for a while back so it could get localized and put on Steam. Up to this point it has basically been the Anti-Wolf of Wall Street, because this is basically about a gigantic golden boot stomping on young 99%-ers trying to break out of economic inequality on an extreme free-market Moon. Much of the following aspects of the review will reference events in episode 1 so I'll use spoiler tags.

If you're familiar with Spice & Wolf and liked it, you will enjoy reading WORLD END ECONOMiCA and should start at episode.01.
If you liked WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.01 and don't mind Hagana's absence , you're in for a treat.

They attempt filling the heroine gap left by Hagana by introducing a new heorine, Eleanor, who experienced a similar plight as the protagonist in the distant past and is dead set on becoming a public enemy to fight the power. Our boy protagonist, Haru, is still fresh out of his trauma and much of his character arc for episode.02 pertains to him getting back into the game in his encounters with Eleanor and Chris. This a gripping "belly of the whale" arc that really got me jonesing for episode.03. Oh, and our lovable anti-trap Chris is carrying the team while slowly realizing certain feels for a certain protagonist.

I remember there were a few people who had gripes regarding episode 1's translation in its early iterations, but I think they've been doing a great job taking advantage of having a beta (which is what I originally played) to mitigate such issues this time around.

Also, if you're still reading this and haven't even read WORLD END ECONOMiCA, again, you should definitely check out episode.01 which I also totally wrote a more proper Steam review for if you're still wondering if it is really for you. Episode.03 really needs to come out already!

"If I did this, would it mean anything to you? \m/̷ "
Hopefully, it means a sequel!

Maybe murder mysteries with some dark twists are a guilty pleasure of mine, but this will probably be my favorite game under $10 for 2015. I do enjoy adventure games and the nostalgia of FMV, so I'm a little biased. I thought the dialogue got the job done, and the acting (ranging from campy to outright ridiculous \m/̷ ) certainly sold it to me. There isn't much in terms of gameplay beyond cycling through dialogue regarding evidence and notes you happen upon in your adventuring while weighing potential contradictions, but I think the minimalism of this approach works in the game's favor. It's refreshing to enjoy an FMV game that isn't too cumbersome about gameplay for this price! While I was a little mixed about the ending, I'm okay with it being an issue of time and budget on the developer's end, I still think the overall package presented of Contradiction is awesome and I'm definitely left wanting for a sequel.

By the way (this is a bit of a tangent), if people liked the darker undertones of this and was looking for something even more graphic and unsettling while being open to the prospect of digging up a visual novel, Kara no Shoujo is probably my all time favorite among murder mysteries across gaming media. Higurashi is also up there if you're big on a heavy read, and that is on Steam! I was sort of expecting some super dark twists out of Contradiction considering the age gate, but it doesn't quite get there. For those familiar with FMV games of yore, it is certainly no Phantasmagoria in graphic content; Contradiction is quite tame! Still, it did do an excellent job in satiating my FMV murder mystery hunger. Speaking of FMV murder myster hunger with respect to Contradiction, however, I'll certainly be hungry for a sequel!

\m/̷

I know everything that is going to happen in this series and Higurashi still keeps me at the edge of my seat. This exemplifies pure horror, reminiscent of classic films such as Caligari. I appreciate how the store page describes it up front as a "sound novel" since the sound accompaniment is really what completes the experience of classic horror, here, even more so than the visual aspect of it. That isn't to say the updated sprites aren't appreciated, of course - I'm actually pleasantly surprised how MangaGamer was able to include it in release! Nevertheless, Higurashi does not need flashy CG art scenes or voice acting to convey horror. Needless to say, I'll be taking the entire series home ~ ☆

Shameless reference aside, I really do look forward to the rest of the chapters coming out. Maybe even an Umineko release, someday!

A dramatic opening to a 3-part bildungsroman of a kinetic novel (as in a visual novel without player choices) written by the author of the Spice & Wolf light novels, WORLD END ECONOMiCA is an awesome, heavy read about a young and naive runaway named Hal (or Haru depending on how you'd prefer to romanize it) trying to make his fortune on stock trading in order to accomplish his dreams of being the first human to set foot in a part of space beyond the Moon. He takes up residence with an energetic Church caretaker, Lisa, and another young, enigmatic runaway girl known as Hagana, who is a socially awkward math prodigy trying to scrape by. While he tries to keep his investing life a secret from his guardian and cohabitant, a series of setbacks in the Church forces his hand, and the stakes of his investing ultimately ramp up to encompass more than his long term ambitions of earning enough money to fund his space exploration where no other human has gone before.

It is especially refreshing that it features such a great cast of fundamentally flawed characters against the backdrop of poverty, which is relatable even with the context of the futuristic Moon colony setting. While this first episode presents a complete ~8-10 hour storyline with a proper(? some will argue against it, but I think it's appropriate for a 3-part series) episode resolution, the next two episodes are currently being Kickstarted (and it's already well over the original $22k goal and may even get enough funding for a Vita release; WEE -complete- Kickstarter ends 9 Jul 2014); I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good drama of a VN read, and for the greatest deal I'd recommend you pledge to the Kickstarter for the -complete- (all 3 episodes) for a lump sum pledge of $20 via the Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sekaiproject/world-end-economica-complete to get the best deal on all 3 episodes.

It appears the next 2 episodes are slated for a Spring 2015 release. Just coming out of the episode 1 ending, I am especially eager to read this very interesting take on a coming-of-age drama through to the end!

The most stressful shoot 'em up I've played since Ikaruga in the best way possible.

Mechanics are complex (continuing my Ikaruga analogy: instead of polarity, there's A LOT more things to keep track of and worry about, but there's also A LOT more ways to kick butt and win and look like a hardcore shmup player with little effort) but the learning curve isn't too steep, although mastery of the different abilities is key to a low-damage, perfect playthrough. I also appreciated the seamless transitions between chapters (that title card!), and how great the presentation was with regards to the scoring at the end of each chapter. In that respect, it had one of the most elegant UIs I've seen from a shmup.

Visuals are top-notch for the shmup genre, accompanied by a great OST and solid Japanese voice acting (with subtitles), although the VA sampling is a little uneven at times, so be careful with the dialog at high volumes.

Astebreed even comes with a shounen anime-y space opera story. (Campy to point, but appropriately so, and told quite tastefully.) Frankly, it's the most story I've seen out of this genre since the entirety of Touhou. Storytelling is succinct in that the cutscenes don't detract from the fact that this is a shmup.

It is definitely challenging, which is why I opened stating it was my most stressful experience since Ikaruga (and what I've played of Touhou, I guess) but there's a Chapter select and as far as I know you're not limited to any continues, unless you're going for the achievements. The game is brief but due to the challenging nature of having low-damage runs and maximizing your score by mastering the mechanics, it's definitely up there in terms of replayability if you're a shmup fan. I might revisit this a lot more than I revisited Ikaruga, as much of a labor of love that was.

Overall, I'd recommend Astebreed to everyone since I daresay it's one of the most modern evolutions of the shoot 'em up genre I've had the pleasure of playing.