Thursday, January 5, 2012

Katawa Shoujo (PC)


Katawa Shoujo is a free indie Visual Novel game by Four Leaf Studios released January 4th 2012. The game was based off a sketch by Doujinshi artist Raita, about disabled girls. The sketch became very popular on 4chan and soon, development on a game was started.

The general premise of the game is you play as Hisao Nakai, a high school student who suddenly finds out he has a very serious heart condition. Because of his condition,  he is sent to a school for disabled students. Being a visual novel game, I'm sure you know what's coming up next haha. So at his new school he meets an astonishing amount of cute disabled girls who for some reason are all extremely interested in him.

Now I usually don't play visual novel games, but the sheer excitement people had for the game was enough to make me want to try it out. All I can say is wow, I am so glad I took the time to play this game.

The game is top notch;  I couldn't tell it was an indie game. It seems like so much thought and care was put into every element of Katawa Shoujo. The level of professionalism really is astounding. The artwork is great to look at, the music always sets the right mood, the writing itself is always clever and interesting. The characters themselves are so fleshed out, you can't help but fall in love with them. It really is something to see how each girl manages their disability.


But there is one issue, and it's that not all stories are created equal. Each character was written by different people, and at times you can definitely tell. The writing style feels vastly different from girl to girl, and some are definitely better than others. I do with the overall package was more consistent, but I suppose it can't be helped when the project was such a group effort. But even at it's low point, it is still a much more well written game than most.

Overall I highly recommend this game. I'm not an expert in the genre, but judging the game by it's own merit, it really is a fine crafted game. If you are like me, once you get your hands on this game you are not going to be able to let go!

Pros
+ High level of Polish for an Indie Game
+ Great Artwork and Characters

Cons
- Writing can be inconsistent

No comments:

Post a Comment