Visages

DATE: APRIL 6, 2021. [Julian Date #96.]

This is a work of science fiction which combines futurism with nostalgia, if only by its retrofabulous recycling of dated sci-fi tropes. From Huxley through Dick and up to Evangelion, Stand Alone Complex, Mr. Robot and the X-files, there's just too much familiarity here for me to get lost in bemusement, but, thankfully, I don't need to, since the World is just bleak and sterile enough to feel ironically COMFORTING to a millennial on Lockdown.

What this story lacks in originality of Concept it makes up for by adherence to the Visual Novel Formula. Voluptuous female professionals with mysterious backstories and diverse temperaments compete for your attention as the "Leader", and Good News!! You happen to be the exact replica of one of their former love interests. Perhaps this dystopia is more utopian than it first appeared. Maybe being "locked in" within "tight quarters" can be fun!!

Unfortunately, the Second Chapter ends on what appears to be a suggestive cliffhanger which has nothing overtly to do with the "ominous conspiracy" vibe. Despite the script being punctuated mercifully with Option Menus, little is developed in terms of Character or Story from these Choices, though I have yet to play through the Entirety for a second time in order to compare the subtleties and clues. Some choices are just blatantly consumeristic, too, like: buying a sweet cake instead of a granola bar. INGEN!OUS and TERR!FY!NG. Yet it's cute; I just wish it came at a moment REQUIRING some sort of emotional comfort food and simple solace.

Consistency between Design Elements is lacking and its absence reflects an overlying lack of "directed" storytelling. The faceless protagonist meanders about in a predetermined routine and blurts the subtext, often sacrificing spelling and word choice in the process. The Music feels too sad, too dramatic, too playful, too soon; it wanders off in exploring Emotions which the text itself does NOT convey or evoke, with little help from the deliberately bleak and lifeless visuals.

All that being said, however, it reads like a first draft for a P.K.D. novel, so I cannot complain. I understand it is a work in progress, and I admire the author for taking this direction. At least it's not another baking game... yet. Entertainment Value and Intellectual Ambition are clearly THERE, but for a work of speculative fiction it does not give one much to speculate ABOUT, preferring to speculate FOR you in stark, naturalistic terms that simply lack the glamour of Futuristic Mysteries... but I kind of like that, to be honest. Maybe I'm only upset that the steely, cold one was not to be my Love Interest at the end of the Demo. She really "carries" this narrative, even though the relationship between her and the Protagonist is a bit sketchy in terms of Doctor-Patient Trust.

Rinzai Gigen,
Subliminal Mind Games.
[({R.G.||S.M.G.)}]