DATE: APRIL 9, 2021. [Julian Date #99.]
Owing to some nebulous technical difficulties, I've had to resort to opening a Thread here for my Review, since the Comments Section has inexplicably vanished [undoubtedly by virtue of some Hidden Magick]. This is no matter which ought to be of any concern. Having promised to review your Work, I will honour this promise with a detour from my ordinary queue. To date, it may very well be my longest Review for a NaNoRenO Project; at least, this is so for this Year. I hope that you enjoy the feedback as much as I enjoy writing it, knowing that to the same extent as you show potential you would want help bringing it to fruition.
The Story:
This Game is saccharine on the outside but bitter on the inside, much like the caffeinated beverages which its protagonist markets. I must suppose that the Coffee itself is an objective correlative for the Protagonist, whether deliberate or not. The Protagonist is a daring choice, on multiple levels, though the choice belongs to the Developer rather than the Player. One would not suppose this initially to be the case, of course, since the Illusion of Choice appears as early on as in the Gender Menu which appears prior to the Story's Exposition. Ironically, this Menu is divided into two parts: one for selecting Gender and the other for selecting the Avatar, yet it is clear from the Game's Art Style that one of these Avatars is explicitly Masculine and the other is explicitly Feminine; further appearances by N.P.C.'s reinforce this pattern and make no attempts to obscure it, even giving characters names as simple and essentializing as "Beautiful Woman", but it's a welcome breath of fresh air in the midst of the Protagonist's own pretentious monologue. Considering that the Protagonist is scripted without much attention paid to his or her gender, offering a "Choice" of Gender comes off as quite unnecessary and misleading, though perhaps that is supposed to be consistent with the Game's themes. To add to that the abstraction of distinguishing the Gender from the Avatar only invites the Player to indulge in an aesthetic ambiguity which is never addressed Thematically within the Game's actual Text... but I digress. To top off this latte, the Protagonist was clearly written by and for a Female Audience, even assuming a demeanour that is not only stereotypically "female" but ALSO stereotypically "not male"; I still recall Saturday morning cartoons making jokes about such mannerisms to that same effect. One who is tasked with reviewing a contemporary work of Literature in ANY Genre ordinarily trains one's self to look past stereotypes, even if they are relatively recent or well-established and enduring, yet the Writer Herself makes no attempt to avoid stereotyping far more venomously in her Protagonist's cynical outlook.
Of course, what this Narrative excels in is Modern Irony. Playing as a Narcissistic Sociopath is usually a rewarding experience, since it offers the Audience a unique insight into a psyche which is at once strange, compelling, terrifying, and hilarious, altogether divorced from Conventional, Civil Consciousness. The Protagonist of this Story exhibits a slew of transparent antisocial traits, shirking family with false displays of affection intermingled with sardonic jibes, idealizing her admittedly unreliable elder relative, using the latter's erratic behaviour to aggrandize her own work ethic and pride, a pride which must, of COURSE, be utterly immune to even the most well-intentioned and informed Criticism from the Aristocratic Class of her Society. The story explores themes of Ressentiment and Envy. The Protagonist inhabits a World ripped right from the pages of Harry Potter: a witch driven into hiding, [one should make no mistake; her race is "witchfolk", so again the Gender is nothing ambiguous] she seems bent on Making Witchcraft Great Again, restoring the Magical Master Race to its former glory. Her vendetta against those not privileged with Magickal Prowess is all too transparent to modern audiences in her deeply prejudicial interactions with my favourite Supporting Character, Mikhail. This young gentleman is perhaps the one most sympathetic N.P.C. for Readers to root for; suave, sophisticated, and honest to a fault, [to say nothing of his apparently Eastern European candour] he comes off as a heart-throb, radiating confidence in the importance not only of his own position in Society but ALSO in Society Itself, expressing concern for those Ideals of Quality and Customer Service which all Independent Businesses pride themselves in.
Of course, one would expect that Mikhail would become the perfect Character Foil for the Protagonist. Matching her own convictions with his own charisma, Mikhail is a man who knows what he likes and goes after what he wants. He reflects that traditional Russian motto that "the young go before the old", though we learn quickly that he has nothing but reverence for his generous and exemplary Father Figure. By all rights, this OUGHT to be the Chief Love Interest of the Story, yet here the Developer throws us a curveball: not only does the Protagonist RESENT Mikhail, but she also cannot HELP but to abuse him by abusing her own Magickal Powers. As such, the very first Options Menu to appear AFTER the inconsequential Gender Menu(s) offers two permutations of the same perversion: to either "Prank" him or to "Distract" him, but with Magick.
Of course, [I know I'm starting a paragraph with this clause for the third time, since we remain on course] Readers who are puzzled by the Protagonist's behaviour may benefit from the following explanation: the Protagonist suffers from a disease typical of those who hold minority status in a Society; the works of numerous post-structural philosophers, such as Deleuze and Guattari, explore this phenomenon. Sociopaths are often the products of the very Societies they corrupt. Driven into isolation, they no longer identify with the "Nobility" of their Social Order and its foremost representatives, either the State on one hand or Wealth on the other. The Protagonist, eager to consolidate her economic independence, lashes out by using the very forced secrecy of her Magical Powers to her own advantage, though of course this is ignoble. Greeted with overt criticism, she shies away from her own instincts to overtly contest Mikhail's confidence, probably because she knows that she would lose in any argument of this kind. Confining herself to a secret contempt of which her targets remain innocently unaware, she swears to avenge her pride by using Magick against them, all the while pretending it is for the Best Interests of her admittedly estranged Family.
Thus you are welcomed into a story which is Sweet on the Outside but hollow on the Inside, save where it serves a toxic filling. Make no mistake: this is not a happy-go-lucky tale of Magick and Mystery, of Unlikely Friends and Surprising Love Affairs. This Visual Novel is, in fact, a probing examination into the effects of Class and Heritage upon the Psyche of the Misunderstood Talent. Yet at this point my praise for the Work must be cut short, for despite that calm which comes from Objectivity no review is complete without some measure of Evaluation and Criticism.
The Music:
The first aspect of this Visual Novel's Design which I had deliberately to disable was thankfully easiest to do away with: the Soundtrack. The Work opens with a redundant electro riff reminiscent of Daft Punk, but imagine that you sampled the least developed segment of an early Daft Punk demo off of Homework and simply put it on repeat. Now imagine that for every, saturated note you added an Attack at Maximum Velocity and ran the whole affair through an obnoxiously loud "Equalizer" devoid of Filter or Atmosphere. What you get is not only the opening overture but the foundation for the remainder of the O.S.T., a soundtrack that cannot be called a "Score" in all fairness, since it seems to have nothing at all to do with the Storytelling.
Perhaps, were some of these tracks to have been subject to several revisions, they might have served their function(s) more effectively. Conversation between the Writer and the Composer was most probably sparse, since the potential inherent in these compositions is wasted on a soundscape I might best describe as "metal piano": fitting for a rock opera, but hardly germane to a sentimental, introspective Drama. Little thought was given to matching Sound Design to Script Design, and the outcome is so jarring that it becomes impossible to focus on the nuances of the Story when the House Beat blares across what sounds like the entire auditory spectrum.
If the Music lays it on a little thick, that's fine, but there's no Muting Writing. While the Subtext, as I've expounded upon, IS there, it hides not under subtlety and mystery but rather heavy-handed STATEMENT. While the Protagonist is outwardly quite soft-spoken and reserved, inwardly she seethes with Judgement, Hypocrisy, and Condescension towards undeserving suspects, suspects who are tried for crimes that they did not commit, not knowing how they stand accused. This would be of quite little consequence, were it not so that MOST of the language is INTROSPECTIVE VOICEOVER. While this technique leaves no stone unturned in terms of lore and psychological drama, it categorically Does Not Work for imaginative storytelling. The Protagonist's ongoing internal ramblings about her past obscure any hope of a pregnant pause or a deafening silence enriching the Scene. The rule of "Show, Don't Tell" has hardly ever been more brutally violated, despite the Medium being that of VISUAL Literature. While internal monologues can work in establishing subtext, such as in the works of Salinger, they only do so by avenue of an unreliable narrator, and while the Protagonist of this Novel is undoubtedly an unreliable PERSON, there is simply not enough shade thrown on her Character EXCEPT within the context of her dysfunctional relationships.
Again: it's not that these do not suffice for Storytelling, and the blaring gap between the Protagonist's internal and external world remains believable, however despicable. It's rather that, were more time spent on Dialogue and less on Internal Monologue, the Narrative would benefit both Aesthetically AND Ethically. Aesthetically, we would be left to our own devices in how best to interpret its Mysteries. Ethically, we might feel the same sympathy for the Supporting Characters as I already do, but we would rest assured that the AUTHOR feels those sympathies as well, and to that same extent we would feel a surpassing sympathy for that same Author. To the same extent as the Protagonist revolts us with the blaring disconnection between her Ego and her World, manifest in the sociopathic disjunction between her outward statements and her inner judgements, we might be tempted to miss the Author's message entirely, mistaking what is surely a very subtle and incisive satirist for the same, seething cynic portrayed as our Unfortunate Hero.
In SUMMARY:
This Visual Novel is a daring and incisive Satire for fans of Abnormal Psychology and Economic Politics. A thoroughly contemporary work, it succeeds in subverting tropes in the Genres both of Visual Novel and Young Adult Fantasy. While some of its subtleties will be lost on Readers who make the fatal mistake of rooting for its anti-Heroine, we can expect that future versions will pay greater heed to creating a less abrasive aesthetic, taking some of the edge off and serving up a far smoother brew. I have yet to finish playing it, but I can already taste its potential.
Rinzai Gigen,
Subliminal Mind Games.
[({R.G.||S.M.G.)}]
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