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Narcissu is a free Japanese visual novel, released in 2007, telling the story of a terminally ill young man and woman. Famous for its minimalist presentation. Released in two parts: the first one took me close to 2 hours to complete, and the second was a bit longer, taking 3 hours.
I thought it was really good. I don't have as much to say about this as I did, uh, about the previous game I covered. The characters seemed relatively simple, but for such short games, it didn't really matter to me. The story was interesting and while the ending was maybe not too surprising, it was still effective, and the journey getting to that point was quite something.
"She had to be talking about the last of those ten things she'd wanted to do."
I seriously really like the art style though. Most of the visuals consist of glimpses of interior views and landscapes (and sometimes some questionably accurate car models). Characters are illustrated only in specific moments, with unique art each time. This gives Narcissu a much more polished feel compared to the usual "cardboard figures sliding around" aesthetic of most VNs. I wish more visual novels did this.
"Complaints...? To God? Maybe she was serious..."
The one annoying thing about the game is the fact that it's bundled with not just one, but *three* different English translations, some of which seemed less readable than others. I don't remember which one I chose, and I don't have the game installed anymore so I can't easily check. Overall I gave this game an *8/10* when I finished it. Considering that Narcissu is completely free, I'd say it is definitely worth reading.
The game is officially released on Linux, but I didn't feel like installing it through Steam, and wanted another method. Someone has made an AUR package for it (with an updated game engine, no less!), and I just used that instead. It's a visual novel so it should run fine on just about anything with no issues.
Game finished 2023-08-22 - yay, only 2 months ago rather than 3, my blog is cathing up! - 4h 45m
gardenapple - 2023-10-23
