Sona-Nyl of the Violet Shadows Refrain

Such a beautiful and mesmerizing VN in all aspects, it truly felt like reading a fairytale with sci-fi elements! The world-building is quite interesting, with the execution taking advantage of fusing steampunk and fantasy aesthetics to create a unique setting and very dreamlike ambience. Moreover, the presentation is immaculate - the art and music are breathtakingly stunning, and even the writing feels ornate with its fairytale/poem-like prose. Additionally the character cast is striking, diverse and with intriguing storylines. While the narrative structure might get redundant after a while, it didn't feel overwhelming to me as I tend to enjoy this writing style. The story itself, in my opinion, is one which relies more on the sentimental factor rather than actual plot for the impact. Though I did enjoy the plot, its episodal repetitive progression becomes palpable quite early on, which caused the story feel kind of predictable and not suspenseful for the most part. However the mystery is still present and I was really invested in the reveal, although the sci-fi and steampunk aspects ended up being more in the background than I'd wished. As mentioned, this story lays high value …

Very polished and high-quality VN in pretty much every aspect. The art, story, music, voice acting, are all wonderful. The fact it's so dense and constantly serious (without being grim) might turn off some people, though. There's also lots of repetition, making the prose rather ritualistic in a charming way. It's a very sentimental, poetic kind of story in general. I would say it's much closer to a traditional book than a VN than most games in the genre, and more specifically feels like a modern fairy tale. I somewhat wish it could have received an English dub, considering the story takes place in a fictionalized America, but the fact it got a translation is a blessing on its own. A very well-handled one, too ! Props to MangaGamer for porting the game so nicely and faithfully on a modern engine (Ren'py), while also combining both the original R18 version and all-ages re-release with its added bonus content in a single game. Speaking of, the former is only unlockable by downloading a patch on the publisher's site, but the Refrain (all-ages) version is overall more complete ; if you only intend on playing it once, I would recommend playing this version (the R18 scenes from the ori…

Real reading time: 16:34 - the music is amazing so it was used as BGM while doing some other things on my computer... Review: I'd recommend this to most readers wanting a story based game. This is just a beautiful story. It's emotionally resonant while not being preachy. It's a story of an immense journey through finding oneself. It's a journey to the violet horizon. I do feel obligated to warn you though: this is not a purely happy journey, there is some real drama here. It's a bit of a heavy read at times due to this. Lily and Elysia are both well written characters and both of them are touching in their own ways. I found myself at multiple points through the story wishing for their happiness and the success of their journey. I rarely get invested into stories as much as this one. The art is gorgeous - as is most Liar-soft titles - and the music is atmospheric and wonderful. There is quite a bit of repeated text. It is repeated for emphasis, so it is not without its purpose, and your opinion of it may differ from mine a bit, but I found it to be used smartly, although by the end of the story I was beginning to get very tired of the repeated phrases and text. There are…

This is like experiencing a picture book. This is my first encounter with Liar-soft. I did not expect the full narration, including thoughts. Having voiced MCs is quite rare when taking into account the VNs I've read until now, so that was quite a pleasant experience. Some voices may seem monotone, but it makes sense when taking into account who the characters are, and what they feel. The whole game is gorgeous, no matter what is presented. The dull, grey landscapes? Still beautiful and invoking a melancholic feeling. The colorful, picturesque places? They felt like a dream. The story overall is not too complicated and it surely relies on the characters. And I did end up enjoying them, which further enhanced my experience of the game. I had no idea what is going on in the beginning, and it is specifically made so that you don't know. You know as much as the protagonists. You see what the protagonists are seeing. The game managed to create a cohesive narrative and create a world that made more sense the longer you played and the more you got invested into its characters. Although the game is overall bittersweet, I fully enjoyed it and I am pretty sure a lot of people will find s…

これは地下の詩。。。なんてね

Visual Novel from the Golden Era. No explanation needed.