Recent reviews by JSH

Released in 2005, Narcissu is a free visual novel created by Stage-nana. There are two parts to the VN, Narcissu and Narcissu Side 2nd. They are complementary to each other and I highly recommend reading both in order. If you don't read it in order... well it will probably be confusing.
It's very short taking about 3 hours or so, depending on how fast you read and whether you want to listen to all the voice acting.

Visuals:
Art is very minimalistic, and the backgrounds only cover about 1/3 of the screen
Kinda disappointing, but being a free game I can hardly complain.
While there aren't too many backgrounds and CG, the game is fairly short and takes place in only a few places.
So it completely makes sense. There are very very few character CGs and when do appear, it is just at the right time, and at the right moments to complement the story. Super minimialistic, yet effective in it's own way.
Some say silence is an important part to music, and certainly applies here as well.

Sound:
Voice acting is good. Nothing outstanding but each voice fits the character. There aren't too many characters in the first place, but the voice actresses do a good job.
On the Soundtrack, it is quite beautiful. All the tracks greatly add to the ambience; although a bit depressing to listen to alone. For such a short game, there are lots of different tracks. I've seen longer VN with only half the tracks that this game has. 12 songs for the first part, and 14 for the second for a grand total of 26.
It even incudes a few vocal tracks!
One complaint I have is the abrupt cuts in music during scene change, or at the end of a scene. I wish it had some sort of fade. The sudden stop to the music kinda kills the mood the game has.

Story:
There are two parts to the story, Narcissus and Narcissus Side 2nd
The first part is sort of like an introduction, but the 2nd is what completes the story as a whole.
While it is possible to only play the first part, you owe it to yourself to complete the second. Trust me, you'll feel a lot less depressed :(
The second part definitely wraps up the story and leaves with a glimmer of hope.
The plot is definetly not the main focus here. It is more about the life of each character and their emotions. Struggling with death and hopelessness. Again, going with minimalistic art, I'd say the story is very minimalistic as well. A lot of things are unsaid, giving a lot of freedom of interpretation for the readers. I quite liked this style, and allowed for some thought provoking dialogue.

Beautifully written, and thought provoking, it makes you wonder what I would do in that situation. Could I have the power or courage to be hopeful in despair?

If you enjoy Visual Novels, then go ahead and try it out!
It's free and there is nothing to lose~