Stein’s Gate 0, A Sci-Fi Visual Novel Done Right

By: GeekyGamerGirl87

Steins;Gate 0, which is developed by Mages, Inc and Published by Spike Chunsoft Co., LTD is a science fiction visual novel adventure, that is mind blowing and very intriguing and leaves you wanting more.

I remember watching the anime for Steins;Gate and so when the developer’s offered a code to read the visual novel for free for this review, I was very grateful for it. I like to look at visual novels as if they are a form of manga just in digital format and offers a lot more than a manga does, in terms of it offering more interactive elements.

Before I start this review, I would recommend that you read the first visual novel Steins;Gate or watch the anime adaptation of Steins;Gate before beginning Steins;Gate 0.  If you do not take the time to read the first visual novel or at least watch the anime you may be completely lost when it comes to this visual novel, as this picks up right after the first novel and when the anime ended.

As to keep from spoiling the storyline of the second visual novel; I am going to try to be as vague as possible. In this visual novel, Rintaro Okabe is in the beta timeline of a world he has once visited. In this time line he has traded in his lab coat and charming personality, for a dark suit and a sadder demeaner.  Suzuha – a time traveler from the future – has told Rintaro about the grim future that is to occur, if he doesn’t take the right pre-cautions in the past to reach Stein’s Gate.  However, unable to accept what he has done in this timeline, Rintaro is refusing to go into the past again. A lot of the novel focuses on Rintaro coming to terms of what he has done, and whether he should go back into the past to make things right. The novel does offer other storylines but again to keep from spoiling the novel; I am going to refrain from discussing those other storylines.

In terms of “gameplay”, although it is a visual novel; it does hold some interesting  features that I haven’t seen in other visual novels I have read in the past. One of the biggest features I really like is the “Tips” feature. Simply put, the “Tips” feature is a glossary that can be access via the menu screen. In the case certain terms come up that I didn’t have any idea of what they meant, I was able to go to the “Tips” screen and look up those words and it helped me to better understand what the character meant.

Another feature, that I thought was very interesting; that also helped take a break from the reading was the interactive feature of Rintaro’s cellphone. From time to time Rintaro will get a notification on his cellphone, and you are able to read a sideline conversation with one of his friends/acquaintances. I thought this was a neat feature and added some additional humor to the novel. Instead of just reading the novel, it gives you a bit of a distraction.

The novel also has the option for voiceovers. The voiceovers are in Japanese only, which is great if you do watch subtitled anime. If not, there is the option of turning off all the voiceovers by going into the novel’s menu screen. You can turn off individual voiceovers or you can turn them all off one by one. Therefore, if there is a character you just don’t like; you can simply turn off their voiceover. I personally left them on, except at one part of the game where the voice over was not the greatest. The voiceover sounded like a robot reading in broken English and it was almost enough for me to turn off the novel and be done with it, until I remember that I could turn off the voiceovers. Therefore, for that part of the novel, I did turn off the voiceover and once the scene was over, I did turn the voiceovers back on.

One thing I wish would have happened is that the character Maho would have had a voiceover. However, there was no voiceover for her. I felt that she was an important enough character to have her own voiceover. Although, it’s not a deal breaker that she doesn’t have one, just more of a personal preference. There are two other characters who also don’t have voice overs as well. The only reason I bring up Maho needing a voiceover is because; when you first meet Maho she does in fact start talking with a voiceover. Then the voiceover drops out, so I can only speculate that she was going to have a voiceover, but the developer’s decided against it.

The art of the novel is well done, and I found myself unable to step away from the novel, once I got passed that part with the broken English robot. The story keeps me intrigued and just when I think I may have figured out something;  the novel pretty much proves me wrong or the storyline twists and I am left with a dropped jaw.

As far as achievements there are a total of 28 achievements  for the novel; so, achievements hunters assemble and collect those achievements. Also ,for our trading card collectors the novel does offer trading cards as well.

Overall, I highly recommend Steins;Gate 0 because once you start reading this novel, you are not going to want to stop reading it, it is really something that keeps you coming back to read more and more of it. Steins;Gate 0, will be available on Steam on May 8, 2018. For those of you that do own the first Steins;Gate you will be able to get Steins;Gate 0, for a discount of 10% off its original price. If you do not own Steins;Gate it will be available at a lower price, due to the release of Steins;Gate 0.