I never really thought that visual novels would be my kind of thing, but I changed my mind about that game genre when I started to realize that there are many different kinds of visual novel games on the market (I didn´t like them because I thought most of the games were of romantic nature, which isn´t my cup of tea). So I started to change my mind and attitude towards the genre over time (I had a change of heart last year, or to be exact. My transformation started once I had played through “The Letter”, which is a really good visual novel horror game). And good thing that, or else I might have missed out on Cotton Candy Cyanide´s awesome sci-fi/psychological thriller/romantic visual novel game “Quantum Suicide” (for Windows, MAC and Linux). Especially since I really like sci-fi and anime movies and games (both of which are a huge part of “Quantum Suicide´s” look and feel).
I actually enjoyed the game so much that I played through both the original demo and the prologue demo as well (I will upload a playthrough video for the prologue tomorrow). And the main reason behind that would be the fact that I found a liking to the in-game art style, design and graphics in “Quantum Suicide” . And not to be an a**hole or anything now, but “some” visual novels look absolutely terrible. And I know that graphics isn’t everything, but I´m really picky on the graphical front when it comes to visual novels. There is no need to worry about that in “Quantum Suicide” though, because the game looks like an interactive AAA anime movie. And every single character that I´ve talked to in the game (so far) has been both interesting and memorable.
And since the dialogs and the background stories (each character has his or her unique background story) are truly awesome as well, you simply can´t stop yourself from wanting to know what will happen next (that´s the “great motivator” of the game). In the matter of fact, there are even different dialog and action options throughout the game. And every single decision you make, will affect the outcome in “Quantum Suicide” (for good or bad).
And speaking of background stories, the plot in “Quantum Suicide” takes place in the year 2092, and our planet (Tellus ) has been destroyed. So a team of Earth´s finest and brightest has been sent out on an intergenerational mission to find a new home for humanity. And you play the role as a second generation spaceship-born researcher, which has ended up on a spaceship called “the Everett” (in the full game, you will get the option to choose the gender of your character). Yes, I know what you´re thinking right now “that doesn´t sound all that exciting”. Well, think again! Because drama exists just around the corner in “Quantum Suicide”. You know, the kind of drama that involves love, lies, death, danger and crazy hologram A.I´s?
And not only that, you also have to make (and break) friendships in-order to stay alive. All while the ship’s hologram A.I is trying to kill everyone on board of the Everett spaceship (she forced the whole crew to participate in a deadly card game of life and death). And like I mentioned earlier, you also have a mission to save humanity. So, yeah. As you might imagine, the tension between the different crew members will just grow larger over time (who can you trust with your life?).
So with that said. I have to admit that I was quite surprised to find out that there was still room for some romance, love and even a handful of lewd scenes in the game. I don´t mind that though, since it blended in perfectly in between “Oh my god I´m going to die!” and “why am I playing a video game about unicorns in the middle of the night?” moments. Well, let´s just say that I´m really happy about the fact that “Quantum Suicide” has been really successful so far (Cotton Candy Cyanide reached their $30,000 goal on Kickstarter just recently, and “Quantum Suicide” campaign! has been greenlit on Steam Greenlight as well). So I can´t wait to play the full game sometime next year (late 2017, so I´ve been told).
And if you feel the same way as I do. Then you should most definitely download and try the playable demos for “Quantum Suicide”. Trust me, you won´t be disappointed!
Pros:
+ Awesome graphics, art styles and designs
+ Interesting and funny dialogs
+ Very fitting background music
+ You get different dialog and action choices, all of which affects the outcome of the game
+ There are plenty of colorful and memorable characters
+ I really like the Japanese voice actors
Cons:
– More action and dialog options would be nice
– You don´t get to know the main character all that well
***THE MOVIE CONTAINS SPOILERS!***
Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround
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Tags: Cotton Candy Cyanide, Indie games, Quantum Suicide, Quantum Suicide preview, Visual novel