Steins;Gate

There is no shortage of visual novel games out there, but Steins; Gate is actually regarded as one of the very best of the best. This has been given so much praise over the years it is hard to ignore. With a sci-fi twist, I have always felt that this is one visual novel that does more than what most others do and as a result, it gives you an experience that is more robust than most other visual novel games.

Welcome To The Land Of Tomorrow

The strongest aspect of Steins; Gate is the story and the characters which are the two most important ingredients for any visual novel game in my opinion. Our main protagonist is called, Okabe and he along with his ragtag group of friends have somehow created a time-altering device with a microwave! The premise sounds so strange, but it could not work any better.

Okabe and his group soon find that tinkering with the past is not the best idea and it can have major consequences. They soon find themselves thrust into dealing with an organization called SERN and a man who claims to come from a messed-up future! It is wonderful stuff and it will have you guessing the whole time.

Humor & Heartbreak

It is the way that Steins; Gate is written that really wins you over. The game starts with a bit of humor and this brings you in and makes you feel, relate and care about our main characters. The story takes many twists and turns and thanks to your trust phone, you can move the story in many different ways. There are six different endings and I feel that this gives you more freedom and choices than many other visual novel games I have played over the years.

The story is one of the best I have experienced in a visual novel. I am trying to be as vague as possible as it is the kind of thing you need to experience first hand without any spoilers for your first playthrough. By the end of the story during your first playthrough, you will have been taken through every inch of the emotional spectrum. You will have laughed, cried and even been mad at certain character's actions! It is all wrapped up in a truly gorgeous presentation with some excellent voice acting to bring the characters to life.

I am a huge fan of games in this genre, but I would have to say that Steins; Gate is one of the very best that this genre has to offer. I love the sci-fi story that it tells, but it is the characters and their development that kept me hooked and ensured that I played through it multiple times. You are looking at 30 plus hours in a playthrough for this and despite what you may think, those 30 plus hours will fly by!

Final Score: 9.5/10

Pros:

• The characters are fantastic
• Lots of character development
• The presentation is awesome
• Multiple endings for you to experience
• I love the sci-fi story and the choices you can make

Cons:

• The game loses impact if you read spoilers!
• The anime that followed this did not live up to it