Feature: A Perfect Metascore? We Play The Switch Game "Better Than Zelda: Breath Of The Wild"

Played it on PC a few years ago and I'll echo the sentiments of those Metacritic reviews - easily the best VN I've ever played. Somehow instead of losing its luster as it goes on it just manages to get better and better.

very interesting….

Higher rated than Breath of the Wild? It got a 97, so it's difficult, but can be done, 21 games have tied or beaten that score. Higher rated than Ocarina of Time though? It has a 99. so nearly impossible. You need a minimum of 7 reviews to be put on the all-time list on Metacritic, this game currently has 6. It's up to NintendoLife next week to decide its fate.

I've heard of it and its perfect score but haven't picked it up yet. Skipped the article itself since I want to go in blind myself.

Woah, I’d heard rumblings but had no idea it was so critically acclaimed. Guess I’ll take the plunge at some point but try to avoid spoilers, Steins;Gate was so much better without spoilers.

Now I want to play this...not because of the score but because I absolutely love weird visual novels

I refuse to believe that critics think this is the game that is better than OoT or BoTW.

@nessisonett No *****, lmao

I'd already be all over this if I wasn't saving myself for the Ace Attorney collection releasing in a couple of months, lol. I can't do too many visual novels in one year.

With that said, I'm looking forward to playing it. The gorgeous josei artwork and dark, gothic premise/setting are very much my particular brand of catnip.

@ArtiomNLS @nessisonett In this case, it's so highly rated on metacritic because it only has six scores, all tens, from some small publications.

FINALLY! I’m so glad this one ended up in Kate Gray’s hands. I’ve finished the main story, which was a 10/10 for me, and am now about halfway through the prequel that unlocked, which is…not as good. But I think maybe I should have just taken a break between the two titles.

@Ralizah I did know that it had a very cult following though. So as much as there’s an anti-VN group of critics that will absolutely drop this rating if they review it, it does seem to be well-liked.

@iuli Look at what the player critics say lmao

@iuli Here's some of the 0 scores from "players" reviewing it on metacritic:

"It has hardly any combat, it's just boring overall. I was literally waiting when will game actually start, but apparently it never starts. You just read it, that's it. That's the whole "game".
How the hell has a book, 100/100 metascore on video game site? This is literally insulting. I just can't..."

"What's worse - reading a boring book that has extremely high metascore (not that it ever matters) or reading a boring book and pretending that it is video game?"

"Imagine pretending that book is a video game, because you actually don't like real video games, but you wanna look cool, modern and trendy so you could say that you play video games too, but it's actually just virtual book. That's next level pathetic. How is it so hard to understand that gamers read books too. It's not like gamers hate books or something, that was never the point. Point is that video games and books are different things okay? crazy, am i right? Giving 100/100 score to book on video game site is just absurd. If we start pretending that books are video games, i wanna get off this planet. I'm done."

@nessisonett Yeah, I think it's kind of fun that the "tha gameplay sucks, all you do is press the A button and read" crowd have ignored it and people can continue annoying "core gamer" nerds by talking it up as "the highest scored game of all time," haha.

It's widely loved in VN circles. It strikes me as very old-school josei. Oh, and I guess that's another reason I wouldn't read it this year: I'm currently in the middle of Kaori Yuki's amazing gothic horror shoujo classic Godchild, and I wouldn't want to start mixing up the two.

@iuli Well there are always both extremes, but the ones giving it 0 are also hilariously petty.

I don't think I've heard this name more than twice, but I love a good VN now and then.
Guess i will have to look it up

I can't even tell if that picture at the top of the article shows two guys or two girls

It is hard for me to trust critics when they give RE4 rip offs like LoU2 and GOW higher scores than XC and FETH.

Kind of reminds me of the Fidget Spinner. See your mate with one and you want one, everyone wants one, and that leads to high sales. A couple if months later they are forgotten about. But the high sales remain. Or high score for video games.

It takes me THIRTY TO FIFTY HOURS to read Kate Gray's articles. hehe

@tntswitchfan68 Top tier nonsense comment there.

i want this VN. waiting for a discount while i'm playing famicom detective club

I’m disappointed.

I was legitimately expecting a review of a game LITERALLY called Better Than BOTW.

Someone make that game, so I can play it. Thanks.

NINJA APPROVED

But what’s the resolution and frame rate!?!!!??!? ;p

@nessisonett Grow up. Am I wrong? Nice way to show how to act childish instead of actually debating.

@tntswitchfan68 Yeahhh, I honestly thought you were trolling. Never mind.

I’m about 15 or so hours in, and I’ve enjoyed my time with it. The story can be repetitive in places, and the writing can be grating and anachronistic in sections. Not quite a 10/10 for me, but it’s still a great visual novel. I’ll be interested to see how Gray reacts to later segments.

@ArtiomNLS

Literally none of those critics said it was better than OoT or BotW. I’d give the main story in House in Fata Morgana a 9 myself. It was very memorable but started to drag towards the end. Also kinda annoying how some expressions were repeated far too often. I’ve played (well, read) the prequel for a few hours, and it’s not nearly as interesting. It might be a while before I get to the sequel with the modern day setting. (All three are included in the Switch version.)

This can´t be a better game than BotW because this is not a game. It´s a visual NOVEL, like a comic. A novel is not a GAME. No gameplay at all = no videogame. If you don´t play it, it lacks the essence of what we call a game.
People may give this book a perfect score if the story and so are good and well written. But then, that will be in comparison to other books...

I guess if you value stories something like this'd be cool. Me though, I like video games more.

Will wait for a sale I think xx

So I've been under the assumption that the incredibly high score is at least partially that its a niche title that only the people who would love it have actually bothered to review it or were even aware it exists. But I also have to assume its really great for what it is.

Currently got a physical copy of this preordered from Limited Run Games, really looking forward to it. I've recently been going through all the endings on Code: Realize - Guadian Of Rebirth and been having a blast with that.

What the funk?

Great article. Much better than yesterday's confusathon. I won't be buying the game as its not my thing but I loved the article.
Next up. Spyro was fighting for gay rights without you knowing back in 1996.

@AnnoyingFrenzy

Damn, that is an insightful and epic post. In my opinion Ocarina of Time is magical, literally so much of my life revolves around that game in different ways. In 500 years, if videogames ever properly go mainstream it will be seen as the masterpiece that it is.

I wish I had context regarding the, "I'm a beeaast!"

A good review means nothing. This game is NOT better than Breath of the Wild. FACT!!! Can you wield a legendary sword and defeat bokoblins and moblins and keese? Didn't think so.

I love how this article seems to have invoked the dark arts to summon a bunch of no avatar, barely legible posts defending the honour of BotW despite the fact the entire ‘challenge’ from this game is tongue-in-cheek.

@nessisonett
Do you troll just for the sake of it? People have a right to their opinion and your comment literally makes no sense .

No offense to anyone who enjoys this sort of game but that sounds like everything I don't enjoy in gaming compiled into a hot pile of garbage. So I very much appreciate this article's easing into the content because I was getting curious about the high scores.

@nessisonett No, I was not.

This kind of thing is why I really don't like reviews and calling things "best" anymore. It's all subjective and not really comparable. Saying a visual novel is better than BOTW is like saying potatoes are better than orange juice. Or a bicycle is better than a garbage can.

They don't remotely do the same kind of thing. And what they have in common is only in the broadest strokes. A VN and BOTW run on a game console. Orange juice and potatoes provide nutrients. A bicycle and a trash can can both be made with metal or plastic...

I really think that things should only be compared when they are the same kind of thing. The same genre. Compare BOTW with other action adventure games. Compare Game of Thrones with other adult oriented fantasy TV shows. Compare orange juice with other juices.

I like VNs and I LOVE a good book. But compare things that make sense to compare, thank you.

@Rohanrocks88 Maybe read another writer’s articles then? Just a thought.

Yeah this is just way more niche, chances are if this appeals to you, you are going to love it, but it's only a cult audience that this appeals to.

@kategray just want to say that I think your articles are fantastic, and are a great read xx

@iuli Low user score is probably a bunch of people who are butt hurt about it having a higher score than Zelda, or went into it not understanding it was a VN.

Just like it’s high score is the six critics who bothered to play it were into VNs (or HIFM already) and wanted to play the Switch release.

100 served its purpose, it brought more attention to a game that deserved it. The score will come down the more reviews come in and nerds can fight about what number is bigger.

So why not a review then? A diary seems more labor intensive than giving the game a score.

Played this few years ago, great story but it didn't end up in my personal top 3 VNs.

@the_beaver Googles it

Definition of game:

"A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. ... Key elements of a game are input, gameplay but also story, sometimes all combined or each one being it's own separate thing"

VNs are games, that discussion has been there for ages, same for people claiming educational games "are not games" because they are made for learning purpose.

You have your own opinions which is fine, but don't try to change them into a "fact" while they are not.

Wow @kategray that is some compelling writing, I was glued to the page all the way through. I'm already hooked waiting for the next entry! I definitely won't spare the time to play this myself so... yeah, I'll be waiting! grins

@Lanmanna

It’s just a reference to one of the characters, who refers to himself as a beast.

I really like your articles

@Rohanrocks88 Some people prefer articles that are also well written instead of just going through bullet points. Just a thought. I quite liked the article even though I'm not at all interested in these kind of games

Got this coming from LRG as I heard it’s perhaps the best VN ever and I don’t really play VNs. So this might be a fun place to start.

Edit: thinking about it... I suppose those memory sequences in Lost Odyssey were like small visual novels. And wow were they effective. Feel like revisiting them actually.

@Rayquaza2510 "a structured form of play". Ok, that says it all there is to say.

I swear @KateGray, you have some of the most entertaining articles I've read in my life. Excellent read and thanks.

I have been reading news on this site on a daily basis for a couple of years now. And I have to say, ever since you joined the writing staff, @KateGray, this site went from being good to absolutely great. Your articles are always a pleasure to read and every single one of them brought a grin to my face at least once while reading them. This diary is another superb piece of writing and enjoyed being involved in your thoughts on this game. Keep up the good work!

The game sounds interesting...keep in mind it has only 6 meta critic reviews and is significantly lower than BOTW from fan reviews. But hey, I’m willing to give it a shot if it is 9 or 10/10 level

@Rohanrocks88 a sweet girl? And here I thought I was a 30-year-old woman

@Andy_Witmyer She's going the extra mile for us

Apologies if I offend anyone, but this isn’t a game. It runs on a console, yes. But it isn’t a game. They are called visual novels not as a genre, but as a medium. They are stories. Pressing a button to continue the dialogue does not constitute it being a game.

So this doesn’t count in the slightest as “a game rated higher than Breath of the Wild.” The story is phenomenal, yes. And I’m glad people find it so. But this is not a game.

I just want to say that I think it'd be better to discard the notion of constantly comparing this game to Breath of the Wild, and to stop viewing it under the lens of "I don't see what makes this a 10/10." Not only is it not fair to Fata in general, but it just gets the anti-VN crowd all riled up even more. Fata is my favorite Visual Novel, and one of my favorite games of all time, but I wouldn't compare it in any way to Breath of the Wild. Granted, you seem to be enjoying it, and Door 1 is widely considered by the community to be the weakest door.

I hope you like the rest of what's in store.

Genuinely intrigued- cheers for writing this! Never would've heard of this game otherwise. Added to wish list.

@nessisonett

As if Breath of the Wild — the most widely canonized game of the past five years — needed defending at this point.

Also, do people not understand review aggregators? They've been around for a while. If your game has a handful of reviews and they're all positive, there's a chance you might have a higher percentage or average score than a historic videogame with dozens and dozens of reviews to its name. The article headline is obviously supposed to raise eyebrows and send tongues searching for the nearest cheek. No one's actually or seriously comparing both games here.

But is it better than the Switch calculator?

You cannot compare a visual novel to an actual game, you just can't. How can anyone in their right mind say that a visual novel is better than any game, let alone one that is as critically adored as BoTW? It's freaking asinine and borderline insulting. A visual novel barely qualifies as a game as it is; it's an interactive book. IMHO. comparing it to a REAL game makes absolutely zero sense, period.

Well it's on vita, now I've no excuse not to play it

Don't really see how an interactive novel can be comparable to one of the best open world games in creation.
Was your favorite part the incest or cannibalism?
Not something I'd want anyone under 18 seeing and not something I'd promote to adults.
People need Jesus.

@Chamver I enjoyed Fata Morgana far more than BotW. 🤷

Sorry I wouldn’t even give it a 70. Meta critic is XRp most of the time as it is.

@Rayquaza2510

Than every digital Comic or Book is a Game, because there is no Difference in Pressing A the whole Time to get through or clicking with the Mouse / touching the Screen to skip a Page.

A Game should have at least some Interaction, this Novel seems to have nearly none.
Take a Look at the Text Adventures of the Eighties as an Example.

Even though I like VNs, this didn't really felt like something interesting for me. Not sure why, but why comparing a VN with BotW? I don't get this?

@SmittytheLad Fun fact: A story can depict something unpleasant - like incest or cannibalism - without it being a promotion of those things. Some stories are only appropriate for adults, and that’s alright.

“People need Jesus.”

Now that you mention it, the Bible also features both incest (ex. Lot’s daughters in Genesis 19:31-38) and cannibalism (ex. Jeremiah 19:9.) Definitely not appropriate for children, I agree.

@tntswitchfan68 “Am I wrong?”

That LoU2 and GOW are RE4 rip offs? Yes, yes you are. I like RE4 the best of those games, but they aren’t really all that similar besides some superficial story elements - elements shared by many other pieces of media, some of which predate RE4.

@Sondheimist it is also the controls, perspective and gameplay. I lpve RE4 too.

"After playing for a few hours, and realising that this game would probably require a bit more explaining than a simple 1000-word review, I asked the editors if I could also write a diary, of sorts, to get all my feelings across. Again, they said yes, for some reason. I think they trust me too much."

I don't blame them, Kate. I don't leave a lot of comments here, but when I do I try to make them meaninfgul. And so please believe I am sincere when I say I have really enjoyed your writing on this site so far.

I'm an old school gamer who was raised on a diet of Mean Machines and CVG, two classic British video game rags that had that dry British humor I came to enjoy and have missed as everything got so 'professional' and serious. Your writing reminds me of those days.

Case in point; this article. I read the whole thing and after realising I have no interest in ever playing this game (not a fan of visual novel style games) I still look forward to reading the next diary entry and your eventual review.

To your editors, I say "great hire." And to you I say "keep it up!"

Weebs have ***** taste in entertainment so I'm not surprised in the least.

Does it have New Funky Mode?

It's 100 at Metacritic because only 6 people reviewed it, LOL. No mainstream media wants to review games like that, this article is a scam - it's a paid ad.

"The rest of the game so far has been on auto-play, like a book that's reading itself, plus nice pictures."

So, basically a Naughty Dog game but with good writing?

@Heavyarms55 Potatoes ARE better than orange juice. You can deep fry potatoes. Can you deep fry orange juice? No! Empirical proof.

@Azuris but that is a opinion, because VNs are games.

Look I get the point what you mean because it does make sense, however the only issue is being that people that consider VNs to not be a game, look at it in a too much of black and white way.

Meanwhile people make the same "black and white" mistake by giving examples of what could be a game then, because "if a VN is a game, so should be a comic book".

Anyhow I learned not to try too hard to explain to people that VNs are a game, even if I tell them I am not the one that made that conclusion, but that I just agree with it.

Also there are plenty of VNs with interactions, that is the magic of the medium, Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, Nonary Games, Utawarerumono and Persona 4 Dancing All Night to name few.

Opinions exist for that and there is plenty of stuff I don't agree with (I like all old Zelda games for example, but dislike Ocarina of Time to name one), so I leave it at that.

At least you didn't troll like some other commenter did.

@NEStalgia I just started to imagine a fried orange, I guess potato is indeed better

This whole article feels a bit click-baity... i dont know, i never heard anybody saying this game is better than Botw. It's a fantastic adult horror/romance visual novel, but i don't get the comparison at all here.

A lot of "it's no that good" feelings here.

@Jumping_Dead it clearly says that the comparison is between metacritic scores, as this game currently has a perfect 100 metacritic score while Zelda BotW has a slightly lower score

It's not one I've heard of before. As it's a well regarded visual novel, I'd likely enjoy this.

I love books. I love games. I have never finished a visual novel, save ones with actual GAMEplay like the Zero escape series.

@Stargazer Hundreds of games have a "slightly lower socre". I've never seen a page wondering "Is Ocarina of time (metascore 99) better than tony hawk pro skater 2 (metascore 98)?" It just makes no sense.

Ahh good old Switch getting more VITA games

I want to call this click bait because there is no way hell a damn visual novel can compare to the visual action adventure open world of Breath of the Wild... We gonna start comparing shooter em ups and fighting games to it next?

@Rayquaza2510
But that was my Point
If this exactly Novel has no Interaction it is a Fact, not a Opinion.
So this Novel is clearly no Game.
Others that have clearly more Interaction and even change the Outcoming of the Game et cetera, can be considered Games.

Thats why i mention early Text Adventures, because they are pure Text but have many Ways to interact with everything.

(My Informations about this Novel are absolutly based on what i have read here.)

There has to be a Line between the Books, Novels and Games, even if the Transition is fluid.

I had no idea people hated VNs so much until this comment section, holy moly. If you dislike them so much, go do something more productive with your time instead of letting others know exactly how much you can't stand them.

As for those arguing it's not a game, it is marketed as a game and sold on platforms specifically for the sale of games. It might not have much interaction besides advancing dialogue and some dialogue choices, but it has save slots like any other game. It's a game.

Steins;Gate has minimal player input and it's another one of the best games of its kind, do you people blindly hate that just because it's a VN too?

"Apples to oranges"

This is why I hate review scores. There is almost little reason to compare different genres, especially here with two substantially different genres: a VN vs. an action/adventure open world game.

This article popped up in my news feed, never heard of the game and the only visual novels I play are of the phoenix wright and Persona nature. But your curiosity was Infectious so I stopped reading at the spoiler section and downloaded the game for myself. Just opened the second door and it's definitely got it's Bestial claws in me now.

Thanks for shining the spotlight to my little corner of the world, looking forward to comparing our impressions of this obscure 10/10 VN about a house ☺️

@SmittytheLad a reminder that jesus purposefully used cannibalism as a way to test peoples faith in him
John 6:53–57
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me."
he also referred to himself as bread a lot... regardless, this whole thing was pretty messed up given that most of the ones he gave this speech to where following him around for what was essentially a false promise of free food.

@BlackStar9000 yeah, great idea

@Azuris I've reached a few dialogue options in this game, don't know how much they affect the narrative so far, I'm up to door three now.
I see your viewpoint, but there's also a section in the Main menu that appears to be there to navigate, I assume, the possible different endings. So I don't know if that helps you classify this group memetic as Videus Gamus or Virtua comica biblios.
But yeah it's been 99% just reading and 1% choices.100% moorish.

@Rohanrocks88 just scrolled up to see what your issue was. Something about it taking three sentences to glean one piece of information? Come on dude even you yourself used a multitude of sentences to write that unhelpful critique. Give the 30 year old woman the ability to write in her voice. but yes, just as you found the piece to sit uncomfortable on your noggin, folks found your words to be spikey on theirs. Glass in a stone house thrown and all that. I hope you aren't truly feeling ostracized though, I can imagine that would be tough. But if you read your qualms from an outside perspective you may see a hint of hypocrisy in them.

@ArtiomNLS I prefer to think of it in a different way. I love Ocarina of Time too, but it's kind of like how I love rollercoasters and gummy candy. I enjoy both for different reasons. Rollercoasters are definitely more exciting, but just because I sometimes like to enjoy gummies while watching YouTube, doesn't mean I consider gummies to be a rollercoaster killer. Both things are too dissimilar to come up with any parameters to adequately compare.

@AnnoyingFrenzy It may be more than a week. Don't forget, this is a collection that contains three VNs, not just one, plus extra side stories. Sure, there's the main game, but there's also the fantastic prequel, and...decent sequel. Not all the side stories are amazing, but there are some that are pretty great too, and it's welcome content nonetheless.

@AlbaTross579 that's, uhhh...an interesting comparison...

@ArtiomNLS And simultaneously not a comparison, because I don't think it's worth even attempting to compare those two very dissimilar things. Likewise, I don't think there's a real point in trying to compare Ocarina of Time to The House in Fata Morgana. One is one of the finest action/adventure/puzzle platformer titles ever made, and the other is one of the finest visual novels.

About the only thing I can think of that ties them together, other than the fact that they are both entertainment software, is that I sometimes hum Saria's theme to this day, and nowadays, I sometimes hum Nellie's theme.

Not sure I’ve ever read a more shallow reading of Fata Morgana. Completely divorced of any of its themes or meanings in favour of weak back page jokes. Idk, maybe actually acknowledge the writing instead of “lol incest” or frankly absurd comparisons to things the game is nothing like

Extremely disingenuous to say this game has a higher rating than botw when you look at the amount of reviews for each game (109 for botw and 6 for in data Morgana at the time of posting this comment) and the user scores are miles apart as well.

@TheLegendOfDan Clearly you're not familiar with the concept of review bombing. Many of those "reviews" are by people who haven't even played the game, or only played the first hour, if that. User scores on Metacritic have a huge problem with that.
I would agree that this game is probably more of a 9 or 9.5 than a 10 though.

Honestly, I don't envy Kate's position. She either pisses off fans of this VN, or breaks the internet. As for me, I take this as proof that Metascores were always an overrated metric for measuring a quality of a game, and are taken way too seriously. I'm grabbing popcorn regardless, because the amount of crying over this is quite amusing. Plus, an obscure title is getting free publicity, and I couldn't be happier.

There are many, many games that are better than BotW. One more really wouldn't be a surprise.

@KateGray Apples and oranges doesn't really cut it here. It's more like Apples and chocolate, and the chocolate has been reviewed by only 6 small-time critics, some of which appear to have a penchant for anime genericness

@gamekill I guess... :S

Well, I'm a long registered user and keen reader of this site's content, so,.just because Im not gonna give a thumbs up, shouldn't mean that I have to be hated with replies... get a grip,

But, this was, terribly written, confusing and fastigating to read, weird "review"

It no longer has the perfect score. It now sits on 97, sharing the score with zelda and mario odyssey. And fata morgana has only 9 reviews. Botw has the more perfect scores than any other game in history. The order in metacritic is now botw, odyssey, morgana.