Before Arriving at the Terminal

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👻 Before Arriving at the Terminal – Urban legends before the last stop Before Arriving at the Terminal is a Japanese visual novel. First off, I must admit: I'm not fluent in Japanese, so some parts may have been misinterpreted. (Apologies in advance~) Told through a series of “encounters,” this story follows a group of students as they react to and explore various urban legends that start surfacing around them. While labeled horror, some moments genuinely gave me chills—especially those eerily close to real life (like dozing off on the bus only to wake up in the middle of something [i]off[/i]). The protagonists alternate between boldly testing and cautiously examining these tales, weaving the legends into something tangible for the reader. These include dares to explore abandoned hospitals, checking out hidden shrines, and even staying in school late at night just to see if the ‘school ghost’ exists... But beneath the scares lie themes of nostalgia, youthful uncertainty, and quiet loneliness tied to growing up. The story can get a bit convoluted (possibly due to language barriers), and the art isn’t particularly standout—but the atmospheric background music more than makes up…

Not sure what happened to me this past weekend but I jumped down a free visual novel rabbit hole. As with all the others I skipped the story and grabbed the easy achievements.

"Before Arriving at the Terminal" isn't a game. It's an e-book dumped on Steam masquerading as a game. As a visual novel/e-book/fan-fiction, this has no notable gameplay. It's just clicking through badly written dialogue that would never be accepted in print by an actual professional publisher. How did something this badly written end up on Steam? When someone can't get published in print, they spend $100 and dump their high school fan-fiction onto Steam Direct under the guise of a game. This is a badly written high school anime club dropout fan-fiction e-book, blending "slice of life" pulp writing with mild horror elements, following several schoolchildren around. I don't know why Steam Direct non-game e-book authors tend to focus on stories about kids. Visual novels/e-books are the worst way to try read a book (and they're always written far worse than real books too). Imagine reading your favorite book, be that War and Peace or The Davinci Code (are you ok??), but you have to click the mouse for every single sentence that appears. You'd hate it. It's a garbage way to try read a book... and even if it wasn't, this still isn't a game. Now imagine that clicking experience, but…

Игра 'Before Arriving at the Terminal' – это короткая, атмосферная и жутко личная визуальная новелла, которая оставляет после себя долгое послевкусие. Сюжет, разворачивающийся во время поездки на автобусе сквозь мрачный, сюрреалистичный город, мастерски передает ощущение тревоги, отчуждения и предчувствия неминуемой беды. Визуальный стиль, выполненный в пиксельной графике с приглушенной цветовой палитрой, создает гнетущую атмосферу и прекрасно дополняет общее настроение. Минимум интерактивности только усиливает ощущение бессилия и наблюдателя, заточенного в этом кошмарном путешествии. Персонажи, хоть и показаны мельком, кажутся живыми и наполненными собственной трагедией. Выбор, пусть и небольшой, влияет на восприятие истории и добавляет реиграбельности. 'Before Arriving at the Terminal' – это не развлекательное приключение, а скорее интерактивная поэма, исследующая темы одиночества, страха и неизбежности. Если вы цените атмосферные, медитативные и немного меланхоличные истории, то эта игра, несмотря на свою краткость, определенно стоит вашего внимания.

Alright. + Easy completion