The Cherry Orchard

What an odd, amusing adaptation. Vapourwave art wank all the way. Love the voice work.

This was super-neat!! I've been on a chekhov kick lately so this was a treat, love the shaders and music too.

I like plays. I like classic Russian literature. I like cool computer visuals. I've never experienced anything quite like this before, but somehow it mashes up those things and makes them work together. And the awesome shader work isn't just a "visual theme" (although it *is* that and a bold choice of a theme, too), there's some interesting storytelling going on with the effects too. Probably not going to be for everyone, but if it sounds remotely interesting, give it a shot! I'm glad I did.

The Cherry Orchard is the MOST visual novel, literally a CG adaptation of the Russian play of the same name. There's a pseudo-cyberpunk element to it, however, with vaporwave and techno visual effects that accentuate some of the story's subtext. It's a little jarring how the lip synch doesn't really match (but maybe that's my slow computer not able to handle it), and there are a handful of small glitches that don't affect the gameplay, like the hovertext in the settings sometimes flickers, but overall it's interesting to watch.

[b]UPDATE (December 4th, 2020):[/b] I greatly appreciate the developer's diligence in addressing various user concerns and releasing a substantial update to this work since my original review. I am more than happy to change my review to Recommended instead of Not Recommended. This is a great way to experience Chekhov's work and I applaud the devs for bringing this to a casual audience, with a great aesthetic style to boot. -- This was a very cool idea, adapting this classic play into a kinetic novel - especially with this clearly vaporwave-based art style. Unfortunately, it could have used more time in development. It looks like this project was rushed out the door before all the scenes could be fully animated and polished. The scenes keep switching between fluid, real-time animations and sequences of frozen poses and expressions. This is very jarring and immediately cheapens the entire production. I can only hope this was a result of some resource constraint, and not part of the original vision. [b]UPDATE:[/b] This was in fact the case, and I'm sure I won't be alone in both sympathising with the developers and remaining put off by the non-animated segments. However, I think I'v…

A lean and precise abridgment and overall terrific adaptation of a terrific play. Well-acted and inventively executed in a seldom-seen style.