The Midnight Sanctuary is Simply Astonishing

By: GeekyGamerGirl87

I have read many of visual novels over my time, and some of them have been phenomenal, and others have needed a little work. However, I have never come across a visual novel that has intrigued me and has been completely astonishing as I have with The Midnight Sanctuary. Developed by CavyHouse and published by UnTies, The Midnight Sanctuary – although classified as a visual novel — I am not completely sure that I would even call this a visual novel, at least not in the traditional sense. The Midnight Sanctuary plays out more like an animated movie, and that was quite refreshing. However, I am getting a little ahead of myself. Before I begin this review, I would like to thank the developer CavyHouse, and the Publisher UnTies for providing thedailygamepad.com with a free copy of The Midnight Sanctuary for PC – it is also again available for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch— so that I could write this review.

As this is a visual novel, I am going to try to remain as vague about the story as possible without giving away too much of it. It is because I respect the writing of the writers of the novel, and as I am a writer myself; I feel that it would only be fair to touch the surface of what the novel is about in detail. In the novel, you will read about Daiusu village, a village that is filled with prosecuted Christians. The village head sends for Hamomoru Tachibana – a pastor of high regards and with a big appetite – to help them come into the modern times and to learn about the village’s history. However, things may not be what they seem in Daiusu Village.  The story will pull you in and leave you wanting more from the moment you start the novel.

Although The Midnight Sanctuary is technically classified as a visual novel,  I didn’t get that vibe from it. I felt that to me that The Midnight Sanctuary was like watching a subtitled anime because in this novel the characters move. If you the reader would allow for me for one moment to get in touch with my inner otaku side. Upon laying eyes on The Midnight Sanctuary, I found its art style to be mesmerizing. It reminds me a lot of the art style that is used in RWBY. However, it wasn’t just the art style that drew me in. As I am a huge anime fan, I felt like this novel was more like an anime, and that made me appreciate it even more.

Even though it comes off more like an anime, it still did have some of the traditional visual novel aspects in the novel. You do still have to read. It does still give you the options to interact with the novel so that you can choose which way you would like to proceed with the novel. However, it was because the novel resonated with me as an anime watcher that I enjoyed it as much as I did. Again, I have read many visual novels. However, I can’t think of too many of them that have done the 3D aspects. I know there are some that have done it. However, as I tend to read Japanese Visual Novels, I can say many of them are usually 2D. I have read visual novels based on anime, but not an animated visual novel, which again essentially is what The Midnight Sanctuary is.  I can say this is the first time I have read a 3D visual novel and I can tell you that I seriously want to read more of them if the novels are well written and drawn as The Midnight Sanctuary is.

When it comes to controls, I used the mouse. As this is a visual novel, it is just a lot simpler to use the mouse. I do want to take a moment to talk about the music for this novel. Although, I loved the way it came off as an anime, and I was impressed with the art style. I did feel that the music was a little mediocre. I would have loved for the music to been a little bit better. At times I did find it to be a little repetitive. Mainly when selecting which area, I wanted to explore next. Some of the scenes lacked music altogether and just did a splash of a suspenseful sound. I would have much preferred a tad bit of suspenseful music to keep me a little more engrossed.  Although the music could have been better, it was not enough for me to stop reading the novel.

Another thing that I did notice is sometimes depending on the speed of the text. The Novel would skip a bit. It was for about 5-10 seconds, but again this issue was solved by either turning up the text speed or turning off the auto text. However, as I am a pretty speedy reader, I left the auto text on and turned up the text speed, and that made the novel move more fluently.

If you are an achievement hunter, you will be surprised to know that The Midnight Sanctuary has achievements that can be collected. There are a total of eleven different achievements to collect. As this is a visual novel and if you love to read, the achievements will come to you rather quickly.  If you are a trading card collector, you will be glad to know that The Midnight Sanctuary does feature trading cards.  There are a total of six different trading cards. Again, they are trading cards, so you will only be able to get a few from your initial playthrough. The others you would have to go to the marketplace to obtain.

Overall, The Midnight Sanctuary is a great take on the visual novel genre, and I highly recommend it. Especially, if you are a big fan of anime or if you are new to visual novels. The Midnight Sanctuary is a great visual novel to start your journey into visual novels. The visuals will keep you intrigued into the story, and you will have a hard time wanting to stop reading it. If you would like to read The Midnight Sanctuary for yourself, you can do so by purchasing it on Steam, PlayStation Store, Nintendo e-Shop for USD 9.99.