Komorebi

TL;DR - All style, no substance. Missing features available as standard in 99% of free VNs. Instead, go play a free VN on Itch.io, another VN on Steam or play Winds of Change instead by Klace now while it's on sale (currently around 1 GBP at time of writing) which sets a much better atmosphere for 10x cheaper. I really wanted to like this one as I enjoyed Winds of Change, and picked it up on a whim during the Anthro Festival sale, but 20 or so minutes in and couldn't bear continuing with this one for several ones. 1. The weird graphical querks - I usually play VNs on the Steam Deck and the whole 'I'll make the whole background move' at a slight mouse touch is really noticeable on it. It's probably a me problem not looking at the trailers beforehand, but this actually made me feel a bit queezy? I don't really see what it's adding either? Also the whole 'breathing' animation (the sprites elongating up and down) is really cheap and lets what is a polished art style down. Adding querks for the sake of querks isn't a good thing. 2. The UI - It's practically barren and lacks accessibility options and a backlog. I sometimes miss things, or life gets in the way and I come back after a short break and would like to be able to reference back. If you're selling a VN at the usual price of 20 or more GBP, I would expect these as standard - case in point, most VNs on Itch.io which are free to play have these, and as far as I remember, Klace's other VNs had these? To add insult to injury, many other free VNs have dyslexic text options to help those who can't read as well and this is also missing. 3. The story - Again, subjective, but there was nothing to pull me in in the time I played. I was introduced to two characters (one being the counsellor, the other the 'online friend') but the friend just seems to come from nowhere? There was no build up as to why I should care? Like what connected them in the first place? Shouldn't that be built upon a little in the car ride at the beginning? Again, free VNs have pulled me in way before this point with either their premise or art and I don't particularly feel like waiting around for an hour or two before it's explained. Overall, it seems closer to Major/Minor which I also didn't particularly like (or finish) but at least that didn't have the annoying querks, and had in theory an interesting premise. I've read that the story of this is basically a Klace insert from another review (which people have argued that Major/Minor also is) so based on that I've asked for a refund.