In start;again you play as Sebastian. Awakened in a strange location with three strangers and thrust into a game of life or death with only two hours to escape.


Who do you trust, who is behind it and how did you get here? You with three other strangers need to figure out this game of life or death. You play as Sev or Sebastian who meets three other strangers along the way; Nini, Mika and Rinne.


start;again is the meshing of a visual novel with puzzle elements. It has mystery, suspense and even some romance thrown in.

The game is experienced across 4 routes. Using the game's flowchart you can jump between the routes at any time. From time to time you will have puzzles that require clues from other routes in order to progress. You cannot save and load between routes. The only way to change routes is through the flowchart. This is done on purpose so you have to engage with each route. As you progress more sections of the flow chart open up.

Each path will focus on different relationship points between Nini, Mika and Rinne.

Settings include display settings, skip choices, text colors, rollback, text speed, auto-forward and audio controls. In-game features include saves, skip features, a history log and a notepad.

The hud is clean and the text is easy to read. And while they do provide a notepad it is not text based but more like Paint. I would keep notes with a good old pen and paper beside you.

* To rollback scroll your mouse wheel up. I suggest keeping rollback switched to “on” in the settings tab in case you miss clues needed for puzzles.

What the flowchart looks like as you progress

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3265092793


Visually I love the look of the main characters. Drawn in an anime style with a more subdued, darker palette. The backgrounds give a very painterly feel to the overall atmosphere while making the sprite art pop out from the background. To be honest I am not fond of the backgrounds at all, they look like they were all put through the oil paint filter in Photoshop. The poses of the sprites do not change and are very static but they do have subtle facial animations.

There are some special key moments depicted in a beautiful art style (cg art) but not many. I wish there was more as what was in the game was a treat.

A favorite special moment (only showing one as there are not many and I want people to discover them as they play).

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3265092731


A very interesting visual novel with great writing. I love how all the routes converge to tell a complete story. Gathering clues and piecing it together is a unique twist on a visual novel. It is like playing detective. And when the pieces start to come together it is a very interesting twist at the end. 🧩

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In [i]start;again[/i] you play as Sebastian. Awakened in a strange location with three strangers and thrust into a game of life or death with only two hours to escape. [h3]The Story[/h3] Who do you trust, who is behind it and how did you get here? You with three other strangers need to figure out this game of life or death. You play as Sev or Sebastian who meets three other strangers along the way; Nini, Mika and Rinne. [h3]Gameplay & Features[/h3] [i]start;again[/i] is the meshing of a visual novel with puzzle elements. It has mystery, suspense and even some romance thrown in. The game is experienced across 4 routes. Using the game's flowchart you can jump between the routes at any time. From time to time you will have puzzles that require clues from other routes in order to progress. You cannot save and load between routes. The only way to change routes is through the flowchart. This is done on purpose so you have to engage with each route. As you progress more sections of the flow chart open up. Each path will focus on different relationship points between Nini, Mika and Rinne. Settings include display settings, skip choices, text colors, rollback, text speed, auto-forward and audio controls. In-game features include saves, skip features, a history log and a notepad. The hud is clean and the text is easy to read. And while they do provide a notepad it is not text based but more like Paint. I would keep notes with a good old pen and paper beside you. * To rollback scroll your mouse wheel up. I suggest keeping rollback switched to “on” in the settings tab in case you miss clues needed for puzzles. [i]What the flowchart looks like as you progress[/i] https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3265092793 [h3]The Visuals[/h3] Visually I love the look of the main characters. Drawn in an anime style with a more subdued, darker palette. The backgrounds give a very painterly feel to the overall atmosphere while making the sprite art pop out from the background. To be honest I am not fond of the backgrounds at all, they look like they were all put through the oil paint filter in Photoshop. The poses of the sprites do not change and are very static but they do have subtle facial animations. There are some special key moments depicted in a beautiful art style (cg art) but not many. I wish there was more as what was in the game was a treat. [i]A favorite special moment (only showing one as there are not many and I want people to discover them as they play).[/i] https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3265092731 [h3]Overall Experience[/h3] A very interesting visual novel with great writing. I love how all the routes converge to tell a complete story. Gathering clues and piecing it together is a unique twist on a visual novel. It is like playing detective. And when the pieces start to come together it is a very interesting twist at the end. 🧩 [quote]Please follow our curator page, [url=https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/curator/4680120/]Otome Lovers[/url], if you'd like to see more reviews like this one! [/quote]