SHINRAI Saku - Blooming Beyond Despair

Not as much to say about this one, it's another solid entry in the series, obviously a requirement to play the first one to understand what's going on here. It's nice to see the characters get to do their thing again. Good mix of comedy at the start followed by the drama of the aftermath of the events from the first one, combined with short introductions and getting the feel for characters who I assume are going to be relevant to the sequel. Everything felt pretty grounded, appreciated the gray-area takes on certain topics. Games go 3 for 3 in the music department. All in all, definitely a pretty short but nice follow-up for fans, should be interesting to see where 3 games worth of small build-up leads. Also, the bonus content with the original sketches was a neat thing to see. Fun bonuses.

[H1]Gosatsu doesn't miss[/H1] I wasn't sure what to expect of a bite sized, kinetic VN. That's not my usual speed. I like my murder mysteries, I like my branching narratives, I like control. Coming back to Shinari without a murder to investigate? After my feelings from Genba, while positive, were more mixed than the original game? I would be lying if I said I was hyped for this. More curious. But having played Shinrai Saku, I'm very glad I gave this a shot. The underlying craft here is just... solid. A short story primarily dealing with the consequences of what happened that fateful halloween night. We hit comedic shin(rai?)nannigens and sincere emotion in equal turns, and both are done well. I don't tend to think back on Shinrai in terms of its character work, it's the mystery that really got its hooks in me, but after Saku... yeah, I underappreciated Gosatsu's skill with character and an extended cast. Solid little entry, very excited to see what comes next.

[Note: you might see my name in the credits for this and that, but I experienced the game with very little prior knowledge, very close to the final result (albeit slightly more bugged than what you will).] As someone who really enjoyed the original SHINRAI and was pleasantly surprised with its character writing, the premise of Saku was already a good point for me, especially how a certain character would be dealt with narratively. I had high expectations, and I wasn't disappointed: it's just good. It addresses everything in a mature way, and I really like how the trauma the cast of the first game has experienced isn't just handwaved for the sequel, on the contrary! It all flows so nicely, and I'm looking forward to the next game even more now. Of course, I said "mature", but kids will be kids and if you thought Saku was going to lack silly antics and high schoolers acting embarassing you'd be wrong. But the focus is definitely on character growth, redemption and forgiveness, and it does so especially well in the short time it has. If you liked SHINRAI, this one is a must play!

[Note: I was one of the beta-testers for the game, so don't mind my playtime. I played it totally blind very shortly before its release, so although I played it a little earlier, my experience with it was essentially the same as any other player's.] If you've played SHINRAI - Broken Beyond Despair, the murder mystery visual novel released all the way back in 2016, and enjoyed it, I wholeheartedly recommend that you check out this sequel. It's a great one. It might not be as interactive as its predecessor, but I didn't mind that in the least. I'm a big fan of Gospel's writing and artstyle, and if I had to describe my experience with SHINRAI Saku, I'd say it was somewhat akin to binging a good anime season. :D I had a genuine blast with it. It was heartwarming to hang out with this lovable cast of characters again, after all this time. I'm looking forward to any future projects from this passionate indie duo. Thank you for creating this!

As mentioned in the store page description, this is a direct sequel to [b]SHINRAI - Broken Beyond Despair[/b], and it is neccessary to complete the prequel first to best enjoy the story here. [b]SHINRAI Saku - Blooming Beyond Despair[/b] picks up shortly after the events of the first game and sets things up for the next entry in the series. One thing that Gospel (the writer) did well in Broken Beyond Despair was making you care for the characters – each character is unique and brings something new to the table – and the same level of quality writing can be found here as well. The art has also vastly improved from the previous game, with the character sprites getting a huge upgrade. Props to Natsu (the artist) for that! Really looking forward to the next game!