Asterism (2021)

Asterism is a visual novel about a young Aligner, a high school student who, along with his friends, has the supernatural ability to detect specters and banish them using weapons made of constellations. And by 'constellation', I mean a physical manifestation of the mythological concept. Constellations appear in both a weapon and human form, the former the means to banish scepters and the latter being characters within the story. Once you accept the premise; it makes sense, I guess? The plot can be summed up rather succinctly; it is about the protagonist Aligner and his friends rescuing constellations of the Zodiac from being consumed by specters. This is a visual novel with a number of different dialog options throughout the narrative, but unfortunately, roughly 90% of them are trivial and are usually only a line or two different with no consequences whatsoever. The remaining choices affect whether or not you enter into an optional (and easily obtained) homosexual romance between the protagonist and his best friend, though much to my chagrin, it turned out to be a very minor detail within the context of the overall story. If you're looking for a good romance between two men as…

This game had a lot of potential, but it ended up being really disappointing. The plot lost it's way after a few main points, and never picked back up. The "love interest" was an after thought that I genuinely feel was just a cash grab. Hopefully the creators put a little more effort into plots in future games.

It was pretty boring so I didn't get very far.

I really enjoyed playing this game. I played the demo of it a while ago on itch.io, and I liked what it showed of the full game. Now that I have played it (I played it offline), I can definitely say that it is worth eight to twelve hours of your time. I found the story and characters to be very engaging, and I liked the artwork, the soundtrack and the writing. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an immersive experience.

Overall, I don't see the point in describing the game's plot, as the developers' description explains it well. I spent several evenings playing this game, and I can say they weren't boring, just calm and enjoyable. Despite the adventure element, the game has such a cozy retro vibe that I felt very comfortable. There are no nerve-wracking events, and the characters are very charming and diverse. The graphics are attractive, and some technical issues with the gallery that were present early in development have already been resolved. The music is pleasant. I would recommend the game to those who enjoy cute young characters and aren't looking for thrillers or horror.