CARTAGRA

This is going to be a mix of me reviewing Cartagra’s original main story, what’s been added in the HD remake, and the restrictions for the Steam version specifically. [h1]Main Story Thoughts[/h1] Cartagra was Innocent Grey’s debut visual novel, the same studio behind the Kara no Shoujo (KnS) trilogy. I wouldn’t call it bad, but it’s a clear downgrade from KnS. It’s very much a product of its time, written by a different scenario writter, which shows. On paper, it should feel similar to KnS: a bleak, gritty murder mystery set in wintertime 1950s Ueno, Japan. In practice, it has too many flaws for me to recommend it without hesitation, even to people who just want context on the Cartagra characters who cameo in the Kara no Shoujo trilogy. One big positive is its length. At around 15-20 hours, it’s much shorter than the KnS games and uses a traditional choice system instead of having required detective gameplay when investigating rooms and dead bodies. If you dislike gameplay interruptions, you may prefer this title. I also appreciated that Shugo interacts more with adult characters compared to KnS1’s heavy high-school focus, though Cartagra still has a few questionably included h…

I read the og version of this VN Mangagamer TLed and released 10 years ago and liked it, so I decided to pick up the new version b/c I felt like rereading the story. Immediately I noticed art has been improved vs the old release (you can see all the charas' faces have been redrawn and they look a lot cuter compared to the old art, esp Kazuna who looked kinda wonky in the og release) and I heard this version of the VN has extra story content (most notably it seems to have a short route for Rin, who didn't get much love in the og release despite her being one of my fav charas in the VN). This version of Cartagra doesn't have any r18 content like the og release, but the r18 content in the og release was really excessive to the point where it often killed the flow of the story and ruined the tense atmosphere. I didn't really enjoy the r18 content I read in Cartagra and I'm happy going without it for the new art and story content, but if this is a dealbreaker to people the old release is still out there if you go looking for it. I haven't read much of the remake but I do think the updated art looks nice, and I know the story has some really charming characters (I really like Kazuna an…

Pretty good so far, I'm just 1h in and this is my first VN. I got the notification that this came out right when I got off work since it looked interesting on Steam discovery. The plot is engaging and nobody has posted a review of this at all yet. It seems like some people have read the original, but I don't know anything about that, so this game is my first experience. I'll update this as I continue reading.

I already read this on the switch and it is safe to say, no matter how family friendly you make it, it still doesn't take away the beauty of the story.

Yet another masterpiece from Innocentgrey