[h1]Strange, chaotic, so interesting VN[/h1]
[b]If you like narratively standard VNs, approach with care. If you like unorthodox, strange narratives that blow your mind, highly recommended.[/b]
Review written after having played 7h30m of the game, reaching the end.
[b]Gameplay:[/b]
Shards of Chaos is not your regular Visual Novel. All the elements are there, but they're not disposed in the same way as linear narrative ones, including those with branching narrative and multiple endings. This VN is something different. Actually I'm going to give you zero spoilers or hints about what's the story about or what the MC tries to accomplish. That's something for you to discover. Because this is one of those cases where the less you know, the more you enjoy.
I have to admit that I love narrative games, but VNs are far from being my favourite form of game narrative; unless the subject interests me. Shards of Chaos grasped my interest quickly, not only for its story but for its structure and original elements. The game shows soon that it's not an usual VN. I'm going to list now what set this apart from other VNs:
[list]
[*] Time jumps, uncontrolled, sometimes returning to previous scenes, having to reenact them but with some changes that you better pay attention to.
[*] Lots of deaths await for the MC; but narrative doesn't stop, specially when there's time jumping as a tool.
[*] Non NPC narrators. Explained later.
[*] Quick time events; rather quick time decisions. Instead of giving you all the time in the world to choose between 2-3 decisions, most often you have a time bar making you decide before even being able to understand what exactly the decisions mean.
[*] A few times where you wander around 3D environments controlling your character with WASD from cenital perspective.
[*] Garbled text that's hard to read, but it's there, hidden among strange graphs.
[/list]
While there's a slight touch of sci-fi, 99% of the story deals with the supernatural. From arts (magic) unleashed by the characters, shadows which want to devour and destroy all life, to seemingly omniscient cosmic entities, and let's not forget gods, both alive and dead. Oh, and hints to alternate realities which are part of the MC past.
As other VNs not happening in the actual world, but in original and lore-rich universes, it has its own language; of course words, but also its own way to convey the conversations and narration using different devices. Most words are pretty easy, like art = magic. Others are kinda mysterious. Also, some of the characters, besides being varied and some quite original IMHO, have their own stories and goals which sometimes seem to only cross the MC story rather than being fully part of it.
Now a bit of literature. One of the ways to narrate a story is the "omniscient narrator", that unnamed voice who narrates the story, knows what all the characters are thinking and feeling, jumps to somewhere else and tells you something that the main characters ignore, etc. Well, what if you don't have one, but many of those narrators? They're not NPCs, they're like entities who might play or not a role in the events. There are two kinds of these narrators: what I call the "local narrators", small entities like a summoned whirlwind sharing their thoughts "always cold, coming with snow and hail" or some other as passing by, like the "voices from a dark past" musing about the dangers of entering a darkness filled with monsters.
The other kind is the "cosmic narrators", the true omniscient narrators, cosmic entities with different interests or views that sometimes ponder about the ocurring events, or yet another death of the MC. They seem to be the ones who make the time jumps, according to their needs. These multiple narrators not being real characters (as I understand NPCs) bring a new element to the narration, as there are quite many. Local ones often appear once, while most of the cosmic ones are recurrent. This element, however, comes with the chaos that the writer wanted in the story. You need to pay attention to who is speaking, because it might not be in the scene.
Add the uncontrolled time jumps, recreated changed scenes, disjointed plot, more questions than answers... And you end with something like 2001: A Space Odyssey. While playing I tried to put all my attention to follow the story, which ends being somewhat dense due to these elements plus a somewhat convoluted writing here and there. I think I succeeded for about two thirds of the story. Then I kinda started to lose the path, as more character stories seemed to cross the MC story rather than going along with it. Nevertheless it was a very interesting, overwhelming, original, beautiful, sad, tense voyage.
While I appreciate the complexity of what the author tried to achieve, there was something that kinda annoyed me. Do you know that feeling when you're reading a book that you're close to the end, just to check the remaining pages thickness and discover you still have 200 pages ahead? Or when watching a movie, thinking you're in the third, final act, just to check the time and discovering you're just halfway? After the fourth hour I had that feeling too often. And I wanted to keep on, discovering more, enjoying more, but at the same time I needed a closure hoping to get some explanations. But as Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke (creators of 2001) said, "we didn't want to give answers, we wanted to give questions". To make us think, imagine, going beyond being mere passive spectators.
So it wasn't an unpleasant walk, just a weird one. Sometimes addicting, sometimes confusing, sometimes giving satisfyingly great revelations. A story that I know I'll go back to somewhere in the future, like those masterpieces calling you to be read again (Dune, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer) or to be watched again (The Godfather, 2001, Lawrence of Arabia, depending of your tastes).
I know some people who dared or will dare to try it, will end being disappointed for the same reasons that make it to myself and others so great. It is close to being a masterpiece, while not reaching it, but it's more than an acquired taste.
To finish this enigmatic review, I'll give you a spoiler: when the game ends, you get rolling credits. At the end of the credits, there's a sentence, big and in bold, which IMHO resumes the intention and success of the writer, while also resuming the whole story: "A Long And Chaotic Journey; Starts/Ends."
[b]The good:[/b]
[list]
[*] Unorthodox, chaotic, non-linear narrative for the demanding minds of readers.
[*] Excellent MC development.
[*] Amazingly great soundtrack, varied and of great quality. Same for the sound design. Everything mixed to make each scene feel tense, eerie, violent, harmless, etc. from heavily distorted guitars to piano.
[*] A few times where you wander around 3D environments controlling your character with WASD from cenital perspective.
[*] Interestingly complicated story due to time jumps, reenacted scenes with some differences, many non-NPC narrators, and more.
[/list]
[b]The bad:[/b]
[list]
[*] Overly unusual VN; not recommended to everyone who likes VNs.
[*] Not a lot of variety in backgrounds and scenery.
[*] Hard to follow story due to time jumps, reenacted scenes with some differences, many non-NPC narrators, and more.
[*] No multiple endings (well maybe this is a plus, as it would be hard to follow what to do to reach each one).
[/list]
[b]Conclusion:[/b] For lovers of original narrative with time jumps and supernatural stuff, [b]Very Recommended,[/b] specially at the normal price, which I consider very low for this quality experience and 6-8 hours of entertainment. Otherwise, for people who prefer standard VNs focusing on story and characters, approach with a warning; I'm neither recommending it to you or not. Read reviews to reach to your own "it's for me", "I might try", or "I better pass".
