Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen

Amazing start of a trilogy

Peak

This is a pretty good visual novel with Strategic RPG segments. I really love the world building and the plot, which are really well-crafted. The mystery around the MC is slowly peeled back in a very satisfying way, and the world is really complex and fascinating. The game also has beautiful art and a great OST. I was less enthused with most of the character writing. This very much feels like a VN written in 2002 (which it was) in that respect. The heroines are fairly 2 dimensional and all inexplicably obsessed with the MC, creating an often cringe-worthy harem situation. There are a few exceptions to this (Ulthury and Kuuya act like actual human beings more often), but on the whole the heroines don't really get character arcs. They're just there, being cute, pining after the MC, and kicking ass. That would have been enough to get me to drop many VNs, but the excellent plot kept me reading - as did the knowledge that there are two more games in this series that are significantly more well-regarded.

Really suprised me, please try it!

8

6.5/10 Like most other reviewers I'll first note that this game is just a visual novel. The attached battle system is simplistic and none of the fights present a challenge. The game's story is real slow creep that suddenly wallops you in the back of the head in the last 5ish hours. The game splits its narrative presentation between larger story events and numerous slice-of-life side events. I found this at points to drastically affect pacing negatively. Your sense of anticipation would be killed after an engaging story sequence because you're then forced to read through 3-5, while often charming, low-stakes side events. There are a few story threads that I didn't exactly like having to engage with, but I suppose that should be expected if you consider this series' origin. Overall I found the story intriguing enough to want to see how this world develops in later games. Achievement wise I got 40/49 in my first playthrough (46 hrs). Uncertain if you can full clear in one go, but I think a second New Game+ clear could be done very quickly.