Note: An awesome friend gifted me a copy of this game, which I'm very grateful for. ^^
Surviving in an alternate post-World War II Japan has never been this brutal or this exciting. :o
Introduction
Rose Guns Days -Season 1- is a kinetic, episodic visual novel developed by 07th Expansion and published by MangaGamer. For those who are aware of 07th Expansion, yes, it's the writer Ryukishi, who is the mastermind for the stories of
Higurashi,
Umineko, and more recently,
Silent Hill f. You take on the role of Leo Shishigami, a soldier who has recently returned to Tokyo, Japan after having been a prisoner in a southeastern Asian country. As he's going about where to find food, he inadvertently stumbles upon a scene in which a young woman, Rose Haibara, is running away from some shady guys. Leo comes to her rescue, and soon afterwards, he ends up becoming one of her bodyguards, working at Club Primavera, a place for ladies of the night to work safely and where Rose is the Madam. Some crazy, explosive antics ensue, keeping you on the edge of your seat and making you wonder what'll happen to Leo, Rose, and their friends...
As for the gameplay, the story is linear, so there's only one ending. A few choices are presented in regards to where you can go in Tokyo, but the order doesn't affect the overall story's direction. There are a total of 5 chapters, and in the story, there are several combat mini-games that involve defending and attacking. At the beginning of the game, an option to go through the tutorial appears, so if you want to play the mini-games, I highly recommend playing it. The controls are fairly simple although you'll have to be quick with moving the mouse and clicking the mouse buttons. However, you can choose the option to skip the mini-games (auto mode) when you start the actual story. CGs are present in the mini-games, and there's a varied soundtrack although no voice acting. At the time of this review, no Steam achievements or trading cards are present, but the game will count towards a user's global total.
Review
Ever since reading my first
Higurashi visual novel, I've been a big fan of Ryukishi's works, and yup, I've read all of the
Higurashi series as well as
Umineko and phase 1 of
Ciconia. (We really need more of
Ciconia btw. XD) Before
Rose Guns Days came on Steam, I was aware of this visual novel, so I got very excited when I saw that this game was finally here, and thanks to a wonderful friend, I got the chance to read this VN and share my thoughts. ^^
Story and Writing
Before I go into the story, I should note that
Rose Guns Days is a standalone story, so it isn't necessary to have read
Higurashi or
Umineko. With that, I love how the story starts off. It doesn't take long for the action to begin when Leo finds himself rescuing a damsel-in-distress. He's willing to help, and there's plenty of fist fights and later, gun fights. It goes without saying that there's some violent scenes although nothing visually graphic is shown. Leo is a fun MC, acting carefree despite the toils that WWII has taken on him. There's such a great cast of characters, like Rose, who's compassionate and wants to help her people, especially as Japan has been taken over by American and Chinese forces. The story does take place in an alternate version in which Japan becomes occupied by these forces and its people are struggling to survive. It even affects Japanese culture, as English and Chinese become the dominant languages. Getting back to the main story, I liked following Leo (although Rose and their friends get their fair share of time on-screen) as he learns about the state of things in Japan and how Japanese men are struggling while women are ok as long as they can work. Of course, some do not like this change and take actions that reflect their feelings, and Leo is caught in the middle of it. I found myself getting heavily invested in the story, and since this is the first episode (although I understand that it was originally a long VN), it leaves off on a very exciting cliffhanger, making me eager for that next episode.
Since I just mentioned that it's an episodic series, I am aware that this might be decisive for those who would have liked the entire story. Personally, I'd have been ok with either direction, but I like that this is episodic since it can feel a bit exhausting to read long VNs at times.
Also, I should note that there are short parts in the story which take place in the early 21st century in which you play as Julie Hayashibara. She's a reporter who is invited to interview Madam Jeanne Amakawa, leader of a Japanese mafia who wants to tell Julie (because she's pure Japanese) about what post-WWII Japan was really like, which leads to the main story about Leo and such.
I should wrap up this section, so I'll just say that with the writing, it's very well paced. There weren't any moments where I felt like events slowed to a crawl, and I especially enjoyed those fight scenes. The English translation was done very well, too, which is no surprise when you know the team behind it. With the editing/proofreading, I only noticed one very minor grammatical error, so the writing feels very polished.
Other Aspects
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there's some gameplay here although as I mentioned earlier, it's entirely skippable, so you can just enjoy the story itself. However, I like to challenge myself whenever possible, so I went ahead and learned how the fighting mechanics work. It's fairly simple with using the mouse, and if you get stuck, you can always spam the space bar. lol
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3707795194
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3707795625
Even though it would have been great if Steam achievements had been present, this isn't a deal breaker for me. The story and gameplay are lots of fun, and achievements are just more of a fun bonus to me. I would have liked to replay the mini-games to try to get higher scores, but there doesn't seem to be an option to do so unless you replay the story.
As for the art, the sprites are updated in the usual anime style. The sprites are drawn and colored well, and I like the slightly blurry, photographic backgrounds. The only CGs present are the ones in the combat mini-games, but the story and art carry the game so well that I don't mind that there aren't many CGs.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3707795444
With the music, the tracks have a great variety from the exciting, action-packed fight to the slightly scary mood that keeps you on your toes. I even recognized a track from
Umineko, which made me squeal in excitement. (
Umineko is such a great series, so I highly recommend checking it out. ^^)
Conclusion
Would I recommend
Rose Guns Days -Season 1-? If you enjoy visual novels that narrate a very exciting story, enjoy alternate history, and/or especially like the words by Ryukishi, this is totally worth getting. Although we'll have to wait to get the next episode, I think it'll be worth it, and I can't wait to find out what happens to Leo, Rose, and the others. Also, there's a preview of new characters appearing, so I'm very excited. ^^
For more detailed, fully complete, high quality reviews like this, please follow The Introverted Gamer, prioritizing heart and soul always. ^^
