STEINS;GATE

Steins:Gate is one of those Visual Novels that can leave a lasting emotional Impact on you for the rest of your life. It is, by no means a "perfect" story. Many aspects of how things work are not elaborated on fully or contradict one another, but then again... that's not the focus of the story. I came looking for an interesting Time Travel story, but what I actually got was a Story of loss, of grief, love and most of all humanity. Despite its Sci-fi aspects, this game has such a deeply human story and its reoccuring narrative theme of sacrificing everything for the people you love genuinely made me tear up. Okabe's Character development throughout the story and his relationships with the other characters are so well done that by the end you almost forget how weird of a person he is at the beginning of the narrative (not the bad kind of weird, just the cringe kind) That said, this game is definitely a product of its time in more ways than one. What kept irking me the most was the "humor" typical to anime that boils down to one person (Daru and sometimes Okabe) being a massive pervert. Oh, and can't forget the MC accidentally walking into a shower scene (which, obviously, is fully illustrated). At least Okabe actually feels bad for the two or so times he acts out of line, which is definitely a more mature way to handle such topics than most anime and VNs take (as in just pretending it's normal)... I AM blowing it out of proportion a bit though. It's by no means a focal point and feels more like it's supposed to be critical of japanese moe and otaku culture than anything. It's a speck of dirt on an otherwise truly amazing story that will leave you as an emotional wreck once you're done. Overall, can recommend (though it's a bit expensive. Might want to wait for a sale since those are pretty common)