Steins;Gate

I have played many games over my years. Games including action packed, story driven, character focused, horror, fighting, suspense, primarily fun. I mean honestly I've played them all. But no game. No game I have ever played, made me actually weep. Streaming tears. This is the only video game I've played to make me feel the way I do. Pure emotion. This is exceedingly rare for me and I haven't cried in a very long time as of writing this. But I urge you to play this game if you appreciate the art of videogames or you enjoy visual novels. I'm going to be having this one on my mind for a very, very long time

Steins;Gate is a visual novel at its finest and tells one of the foremost and most complex time travel stories you could ever experience in all of media.

It features fascinatingly detailed and unique artworks, an atmospheric and playful soundtrack, well-written and relatable characters and interactive choices leading to different endings hitting your emotions in a different way. Critique of Japanese pop culture and society are merged with a dramatic, joyful and humorous narrative, science fiction adventure and love stories - all of it is excellently balanced.

The script is wonderfully translated and tips are explaining Japanese memes, cultural references and more, preventing you from getting confused. I personally recommend the original Steins;Gate visual novel, but ELITE is doing fine as well, if you have no access to the original.

Steins;Gate is one of the most cathartic experiences I've ever had.

This is a review that I'm writing mostly for myself, and it'll be very biased. This is a game that changed me, and when things like that happen, I feel like it's my responsibility to talk about it to someone, contribute to its positive rating, and share it around. This was an unforgettable, otherworldly experience that I regret not having played sooner. It is an unbelievably beautiful story and a golden example of stellar writing in visual novels. As I'm typing this, I've just recently finished all the endings, gotten all CGs, and plan on jumping into STEINS;GATE 0 and going deeper through Linear Bounded Phenogram (I've only played 2 stories from it so far) soon. Regardless of how good those other games are, the original by itself will have me thinking about this series for a long time, and I'll be taking it within my heart for the rest of my life.

I played STEINS;GATE completely blind. I knew about it due to its high rating on MyAnimeList, but saw that the anime was an adaptation of a game, so I looked up about both to see which one was the better/more complete experience. As if "blessed by this worldline", it was on sale. I purchased it and went in knowing pretty much nothing about it other than the fact that it involved time travel. It's a topic I find to be very fascinating. I was utterly blown away to find out how meticulously the story addresses not only time travel, but so many science related topics in general along with the nuanced personalities of its cast. How it somehow manages to avoid plotholes and contains super well written, eccentric, vibrant characters. For some moments, it can all feel so real too... for the average person, at least. I don't usually care this much about VNs but this one had me since the beginning. I had a gut feeling since I started that this would turn into one of my favorite series of all time, and it did. I'm happy.

There are 6 endings, all of which are handled with immense care and love, and most being worth doing simply to explore new sides to the characters involved in the main story. It took me about 47 hours to complete the true ending (I tend to take my time with stuff like this), and 5 more to witness the other endings. Fortunately, I had saves right before important choices thanks to a guide, so it was a relatively quick process to get to them. The path of which the story takes is decided entirely through the player's phone, so you have to consider your options carefully when replying to certain e-mails.

The art style of the game is unique and absolutely gorgeous. It has a crystal-like aesthetic to it that is genuinely mesmerizing to me, with characters possessing light colored pupils along with textures and shading that blends colors in a stunning manner. The sprites are all very expressive and dynamic, and while there aren't too many, they're flexible and transmit everything that's necessary in every situation. Most CGs look really great too, and the little bits of animation that are in the game are well done and iconic. Players are also given the option to look at all the art again in the menu's extras once they're first seen.

While I don't speak Japanese, it is undeniable that the voice actors gave it their all for their characters. Every cry, desperate scream, anger outburst, defeated groan, joyous laugh, and such emotions sound incredibly real. This is a very extensive novel with a lot of voice lines, and not once was I taken out of my immersion due to a lack of vocal authenticity. Players can also repeat any voice line through the game's log. The soundtrack is delightful, with so many catchy songs. The main theme being an intriguing and somber piano composition that's quite difficult to perform. The slice of life tunes are cute, endearing, fun, and the more serious music is sublime. All the sound in the game is really well mixed and produced, and it even provides specific volume sliders for its characters in case one's unhappy with the volume balance.

When it comes to the pacing, although the game can feel slow at first for some, once it picks up, it's mega exciting, sparking intense curiosity, and at times conveying sinister vibes like no other story driven game that I've ever played. The transitions between the downtime and thriller sequences are seamless and handled masterfully. All 8 main characters receive a tremendously substantial amount of screentime, rendering them all memorable. They're faced with exceedingly complicated dilemmas, some occasions that force them to come out with strong guilt and no complete payoff. I think the best way I could put it for one of them without spoiling it, is that they have an issue that is deeply rooted in something unchangeable, and that they cannot overcome through mere self-acceptance. Goes without saying, the localization team did an outstanding job, especially with the details. Something that's a bonus for me is that this is a game that aged extremely well, the only reason I'm reminded that it's from 2009 is because of the old phone models that constantly show up in the game.

Honestly, I don't think I've had this much trouble putting into words how I feel about something in a long time. I could ramble on and on about my endless thoughts about this game, but to try to summarize this now... I suppose STEINS;GATE opened my eyes to the possibilities of reality harder than any other form of media or person ever has. It's not like I wasn't already aware of what the future can hold and how unpredictable life can be, but somehow my point of view on all these things feels reborn. It made me more accepting of some general struggles and it simultaneously made me even more human than I was before. I'm sure we've all had this happen at some point in our lives, and this sounds obvious, but there are moments where a few words or a single action (or lack thereof) can seriously change the way somebody reacts to a particular situation. It instigated a necessity for me to sometimes look beyond my feelings and perspective to truly understand what's actually going on. Not that I didn't do these things already, but this story has given me some much needed inner enlightenment about the way I deal with a number of people. Thank you 5pb. & Nitroplus. 10.0/10.0