World End Syndrome

Sat 29th Jun 2019

Nintendo Life said:

World End Syndrome has the branching story paths you would expect of a visual novel, but it manages to keep tons of fresh content in store for several times through, and makes the process of replaying fast and exciting. The core story is also built to offer more and more insight as you run different paths, making for a sense of a coherent game and not just a handful of alternative outcomes, each asking that you pretend the others never happened. It will inevitably have you barrel-scraping for story scraps if you have the 100 percent itch, but can stave off that kind of rote work for an impressively long run.

The story is teenage love and lust and corny, throwaway murder, all washed in seaside summer and decorated with knowingly blatant “twists”. If that sounds like your thing then there’s nothing here not to recommend for visual novel fans. For the visual-novel-curious, is this where you should take the plunge? The story signposting and interaction model are sophisticated enough that your patience through the linear prologue will be well rewarded. If you do feel like walking away after 8 or 10 hours, then the game will hand you a neat get-out at your first proper ending, which won’t leave you feeling like a quitter.

Overall, polish and craftsmanship elevate a lightweight but amusing story to something that really stands out. For visual novel freshmen, it could even be your first crush.

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8/10