Neon Clash Echoes of the Lost - Review

Awww yea! a Yakuza otome game.

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Amulit/Voltage.

Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://products.voltage.co.jp/neonclash/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v47769

Release date: 11-12-2025

 

Got this on a whim because its theme is three kingdoms and I got nostalgic.

Seeing how there were yakuza/mafia themes and me recently going through

the yakuza series did influence my decision somewhat.

Instead of ancient china its a futuristic setting.  I thought I grew out of my

three kingdoms phase which kinda died but this kinda renewed my spirit, even if

I have some grievances with this title it was exciting to play through. 

 

Disclaimer: This is purely my own opinion and it could be different from yours

this is not meant to be some kind of all-truth, just an opinion that came from playing this.

If you don't like what you're reading then close the tab, move on and just idk play it yourself. 

 

 

Pro's

- Interesting and engaging plot.

- Diverse cast of characters.

- Eye-catching artworks.

- Great soundtrack.

- Character epilogues are a satisfying conclusion. 

 

Grey Area

- Awkward sounding names.

- Plot focused, can be a bit light on romance but it doesn't forget its an otome. 

 

Con's.

- Font for text was imho not great on switch lite*.

- One bad end contained NTR; its in chapter 2 so use a guide if you want to avoid it(or get it). 

 

---

Neon Clash is a modern take of the classic three kingdoms story.

Its not afraid to bring fantasy and science into the mix.

I did think some things could be explained better but it is what it is 

It was fairly dark, there's violence & splatter but I didn't think it went too far. 

Although I do think it covered a relatively small part of RotK

and it mostly focused on Dong Zhuo being a pain in the neck

and butting heads with Mun aka Cao Cao.

I know from playing similar games that the story goes farther than this

but the story of Neon Clash took its inspiration from the beginnings.

This wasn't a work that could be happy all the time, it was quite grim at times

but even so there was light at the end of tunnel.

---

 The heroine Liu Kroa was cool but also a hot mess, she tried her best and lived in the moment.

She's proactive and had spunk. I liked her friend Meimei as well, they had good chemistry.

Kroa starts out as not wanting to be too involved, though only a matter of time

untill she was. The state of the world they live in was not pretty.

I actually really liked how everyone part of her group became her family.

A lot of shit happens and she does have some self-doubt or think she's not good enough...

but I think its only normal because she is responsible for the people in her group.

At times it was painful to see Kroa realize this but she did try to be better.

She is based on Lui Bei whom... also made a lot of mistakes and this is

woven into her character. Lot's of times I was thinking well that was stupid

but its not like the counterpart made the best of decisions.

Due this I can't be too hard on the writing because they really used RoTK as a basis.

---

 

- The Artstyle was eye-catching and mostly consistent in terms of sprite & CG's.

The background art was also good, it had a nice urban chinese feel! The UI was stylish as well. 

- I bought the japanese version but it had english text! sadly the text was rather tiny

so maybe that is why the english version was delayed? there were some typo's but they

looked like errors anyone could make, they weren't constant. It read well enough

Had they given this one more thorough QA sweep the typo's would be gone.

I wondered why it was delayed but I figured it was either the font or the awkward names

I didn't really encounter any bugs throughout my playthrough. 

Also about the font, the text actually looks fine if I view screenshots of it on my PC

but on my switch lite its just... way too small. I don't think its optimized for it.

- Music fit the tone of the scenes, there were some good jams and I had no real complaints.

---

System

Standard stuff, you make choices over the course of the story

but you're graded at the end of a chapter which gives points.

Choices do matter because if your performance is poor, its straight up bad end in ch6.

With those points you can also buy mini episodes but they are entirely optional.

I didn't read any of the mini episodes as I progressed the main story, I was able

to buy everything from the shop when reaching the truth end.

The unlockable mini episodes were really short, fun random scenes.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Overall this had some high production values, its pretty in line with most console otome's.

The story had me hooked quickly and it was engaging but romance wise... its lacking.

It wasn't a traditional otome game. Neon Clash has a linear plot with some bad ends

along the way. There are character endings but to view them you must clear the main story.

There wasn't much replay value but the game is pretty lengthy being over 45 hours long.

You may or may not need to play it twice depending on how well you did, if you do poorly

getting the true ending may be difficult which means the epilogues are out of reach. 

The bad ends were not great in number so its possible to avoid them.

If your aim is to see the character endings then I suggest you use a guide. 

We need disguises.

Its clear to me that they focused on telling a story without the need to branch out

and focus on individual characters before delving into the truth route. I suppose with a setting

like this it was hard to romance anyone to begin with so the LI's either felt like they were

close friends or colleagues. There simply wasn't any time for it. I thought Hiyok's chapter was sad 

and I almost gave up hope of there being any romance but it wasn't completely hopeless. 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I loved the character interactions and there was a decent dose of humor. 

There were some aspects that I couldn't quite take seriously😅

but they knew when to joke around and be dead serious. 

The naming sense could be better though, its easy to find some

counterparts but others were more difficult to figure out. Like I am not entirely sure

who Ji or Wenyu was but I figured the latter was Zhang Liao because he bounced around. 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 TL;DR 

 I did enjoy playing through Neon Clash and recommend it to anyone

who like story driven visual novel with a strong protagonist. 

The story and characters were pretty good but... if you come here for romance

it could be a little disappointing due to how story-driven it is.

I wasn't completely sold on the otome game aspect of this game due to its structure

but the character endings were really nice to close it off with! I lost hope for proper

romance during the main story but I felt like I was rewarded when I did Gante's epilogue.

In the main story I enjoyed what little crumbs there were but it was just too little, I got

annoyed at the heroine's evasiveness. 😔 Some scene's made me d'aww but that's about it.

It was still exciting to play through but yea... with the structure of the game you do

sorta romance everyone during the main story to the point Kroa has a harem.😂

But then I remembered this...💀 

It is kinda nice to be free from having to sit through 5 routes to get the full story

so all in all I didn't regret playing it because it was an interesting work.

I know there are VN's where there's a big common route and then really short

individual stuff... but this game skips the replay it 4+ times part so I think

there is a plus side to the game being linear because its not really fun to skip

half the game. Neon clash solves this issue I had with some older games.

8.5/10

The only real downsides for me were some pacing issues and the font!

often I had to take breaks because it takes too much effort to read it like that.

After clearing the game I kinda wanted an ending for Rin and Yulong... but they have none!😞

 

Character rambles after the jump but they're just some thoughts of them because

there aren't really any routes. I'll share some of my fav CG too.

There's not many spoilers but if you want none uh just stop reading I guess? 

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yakuza: Like A Dragon 7 - review

Like a WHAT?!

Genre: RPG.

Developer/publisher: Sega.

Platform: PS4/5 etc.
Official Site:N/A.

Release date: 09-9-2021

 

Not sure what to play next I decided to get started on this game

that has been sitting in my backlog for like half a year! 

 

 The game is still set in the same old Kamuro-cho because where else?

or rather you start there but the majority takes place in Yokohama.  

This time we got an all new protagonist Kasuga Ichiban! It didn't seem like

I had to have played the previous games but it was nice to catch some references.

For most of the game it felt like its own story, but some things may have more impact

if you know who some familiar faces later in the game are. 

 

Pro's

- Fun cast of characters.

- Plenty of side content you can do at your own pace. 

 

Grey area

- Story is interesting but it is also messy. 

 

Con's

- Pacing issues, difficulty spikes.

- Confusing plot. 

 

--- 

At first it felt like I saw this somewhere before like the beginning of Yakuza 1

i'm not sure which was more dramatic though but I can definitely see a call back. 

Much like Kiryu, Ichiban also had to spend time in jail but much longer.💀💀💀 

The fun actually starts when Ichibum gets out of jail, he got a bit too excited

and hasn't quite gotten the memo yet. They messed up his hair so he's stuck

looking like he's been struck by lightning. Ichi also felt like he was a bit delusional

and very insisted on doing stuff his way even tho he had someone trying to look out for him.

Oh no... anyway it was quite entertaining to follow Ichiban get his bearings but things

went down the rabbit hole and I thought parts of the plot were confusing.

Was wondering what was up with him and some even say he was a Schizo...........

it certainly would explain things but I think he was just hard-headed.

No one seemed to mind his quirks which was hilarious.

 

Ichiban in a box.

 Storywise I wasn't really sure where any of it was going really. 

It went from Yakuza drama to being homies with the hobo's

to trying to find a job but that is just the tip of the iceberg

as its all down the rabbit hole from there which was just more drama...

Atleast some of it was entertaining, except ''the talk'' in ch10. (I'm tired...)

Then due to pausing the story to get better gear and immersing myself in some side content

I forgot half of the plot so it was like wait this game has a story?!💀💀💀

Now everyone in Yokohama will know Ichiban confections has the best rice crackers ever.

 Uh yea I guess I should go meet with the Omi now huh? about what again?!

That's it... that is my LAD7 experience.

From then on I was able to follow the plot better maybe cuz there wasn't much distractions. 

---

 

Also its no longer a brawler and it just plays like an turn-based RPG now.

 I didn't have much problems with the genre switch as it felt comfy. I don't really feel

like mentioning the gameplay as its just turn based with a job system

to change the characters classes(which I barely did) because it was a hassle.

 The only ones I changed was Saeko(to Idol) and Adachi(to enforcer). 

The battle system is a homage to dragon quest because the protagonist likes that game

I guess sega did a handshake with square enix to keep the names and other references intact.

I played on normal and it seems you're locked to that but I didn't have much

of a problem throughout the game, I could clearly tell when I had to upgrade

and get my shit in order which happened only twice in ch9 and ch12.

I hated this dungeon as it didn't seem to end but those enemies were funny.

 You also raise Ichi's stats(intellect,confidence style etc)like its some persona game

but you don't actually have any social links with NPC's. Raising Ichi's stats usually 

come from choices during substories,skills or the vocational school.

You can deepen your bond with your party members as well by fighting,eating or triggering

 party talk skits but often they'd reach a point they got locked so you had to chat at the bar

to raise it further, these events varied whether they were interesting but most were nice.

 

This game's balance is odd though, early on its rather easy. I got by with the joke weapons

from that one store for a long time along with some light crafting but I had to

upgrade everything in ch9/12 which made things more bearable.

 Unfortunately the upgrades were expensive and the only way to solve that is to do some

optional activities to get more money and the best way to do that is the management minigame.

I got kind of bored of it by rank 21 but I ended up finishing the whole thing anyways. 

 

The length? 50-60ish hours. My ingame save said 55ish but for some reason PSN

inflated this number by 10. Okay whatever maybe it counted me idling but the game didn't. 

Much like Yakuza 5, LAD7 also has a long finale so you gotta make sure you can play

for almost 3 hours because once you enter the final dungeon you can't save.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I recognize that place from lost judgment and I don't like it.

I know RGG recycles a lot but they do it in a clever way and I did enjoy exploring

Yokohama a little more in this game than in Lost Judgment.

The game was also permanently discounted after Y8 came out so its now 20$

with it dropping to 10$ on sales but this price is perfect for the contents you get.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The TL;DR of it would be that I think it was a fun game! but the story

was a bit all over the place? I didn't hate it or anything, at the end of the day its OK.

Honestly I liked the characters, interactions and substories much more than the overall plot. 

 I really struggled to follow some of it till it was straight up explained but even then

it still somehow failed to follow up on one thing in the ending, it made me angry. 

I think the switch from brawler to RPG was refreshing and it still

had the fun things I liked from past Yakuza games such as substories.

Ichiban wasn't constantly getting scammed like Kiryu did in Yakuza 1 in some of them

Ichi is actually helping others out of them. So I couldn't see him as a lvl1 dumbass

but there were some moments here or there cuz he can embarrass himself.😅

It took me a few games for Kiryu to grow on me but Ichiban did it in one game.

Hero missions were boring and repetitive and Ichiban's reaction is similar to mine when I think of it.

The only downsides are the somewhat confusing plot and some pacing issues.
I just think had they paced this game properly I wouldn't have to go out of my way

to get upgrades. They could have implemented dungeons better because chapter 8 was way

too short and to find myself slightly walled by combat the next chapter does not feel good.

It doesn't even get better because the enemy lvls increase like wildfire and I am like hold up?! 

There weren't really any big dungeons besides two so the rest of the game felt like yakuza 1-6

but turnbased. The best way to level ended up being the arena btw can you believe it?

I mean you can revisit the underground dungeons to grind but it was so out of the way

it wasn't even on my mind not even side quests/substories took you back there.💀

 Despite grievances I recommend it to anyone that is interested in an RPG

with an older cast and doesn't mind doing side contents. 

7.7/10

 

More ramblings after the jump, maybe some light spoilers but nothing too heavy

hench why most of the rambles are behind here.

Olympia Soiree - Review

Before Matsurika no Kei... there was Olympia Soiree. (Wait... that kinda rhymes?!)

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.

Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.aksysgames.com/olympia/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v24241

Release date: 09-9-2021 

 

Alright, I was always kinda curious about this one and got this on a discount for 38$.

I generally played pretty slowly since there wasn't anything else I wanted to play.

It was quite long and I kinda missed the time when a route took me almost a week.

 

Disclaimer: This is purely my own opinion and it could be different from yours

this is not meant to be some kind of all-truth, just an opinion that came from playing this.

If you don't like what you're reading then close the tab, move on and just idk play it yourself. 

 

Pro's

- Interesting setting and characters.

- Gorgeous art and fitting music.

- A heroine that quite literally spits fire.

- Monologue haters rejoice cuz there's none!(except extra's)

 

Grey Area

- Character focused and can be repetitive to do all routes. 

 

Con's

- Long common route without choices, felt too rail-roaded.

- 3249432593 flashbacks.

- Clunky UI.

- There are plenty of CG's but the pacing for some was not balanced.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------

 

The OP was alright but not something I watched everytime I started the game. 

I liked the ED themes more for reason. 

The story hooked me easily but this do be one of those games where

I found my fav right away and most other LI didn't quite click with me.😔

The only reason I did all the routes was for story reasons really! maybe its due

to the heroine, who was alright but I did enjoy watching her interact with the LI's. 

I liked her self-concious and grounded personality and she certainly spoke her mind

however I think she was a bit much as well.😅  Olympia can be a firebreathing b!tch

who will take no shit and does as she pleases but atleast she was self aware which is rare.

I do not blame her considering how she lived, she had all the right to be assertive.

There was also a tender side to her and I loved how she confided in Daifuku

this reminded me of trouble magia and it was adorable. I'm glad I didn't sit on this

because it was surprisingly romance driven with some good worldbuiling to boot.

However not every route went into the plot and you will need to do it all to fully get it.

When I looked back on the routes after Himuka's the initial four were

hilariously self-contained only revealing things as necessary.

--- 

The common route is just a long intro, the focus is mostly on Olympia

and explains the way of the world. It wasn't really a bad thing but I can understand 

It could be too long for some. The whole game is about picking a husbando

and you have a whole year but... despite that it happens within 2ish weeks. GIRL. 

The story definitely drove on desperation and at times it could feel unrequited or some

mild angst of this never going to work but... for the most part the romance was believable.

It didn't seem like the story cared about what if she couldn't find a partner. To which I started

to think this game is some propaganda for japanese teens to get babies due aging population. 

The lore sure is rich but most of the routes were more character focused

and a lot of main plot threads are just left hanging in most route.

--- 

 Wasn't really sure what was up with the technology level of the island, I know

there's random stuff that washes up ashore but some stuff was never explained.

I did start to dislike the setting of this game the more routes I did.

I persevered for Himuka/Akaza and to uncover all the secrets the island had buried

but its rough when you already found your best boi which for me was Riku.😔

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Music/Art/System stuffs:

Music was good, it fit the tone of the scenes. Art was gorgeous for the most part.

 The sprites were great and most CG's were good, the awkward ones were few. 

Most characters had a near equal amount of CG's but they would include variations

into the total amount so it said there were 30 when the unique ones are like 13 or so.

Some routes like Riku also have poor CG pacing so you get a lot of CG at once

near the end, other route had better balance but it stood out to me when I looked back.

I knew some complains about kiss cg's but they had some good variations...

One of Himuka's looked awkward at first but it was fine due to he follow up.

Extra's screen was cute.

 System is standard stuff, there are choices and an indicator but only in

the character route, the common route is devoid of choices.

Heroine had a sprite too which was nice.  There weren't many monologues, the dialogue

flowed well and was easy to read. The translation was very good and it flowed well

and some dialogue was really funny too, any mistakes I found were really minor. 

Each route had two bad ends but I think they're better if you got them unawares

I found that by going back for them after the best end, that they were rather abrupt

some even had characters behave OOC. I only liked 2-3 bad ends out of all. 

 

At first I did find the UI to be kind of clunky, text log is accessed from the corner and

you can't select save or load separately like in other games. You first have to click

on history and then you can save but if you wanted to load to have to press R.

Also what is history? just from its name I thought it was a flowchart...💀

I did get used to the UI but something about it esp the save/load section doesn't

sit right with me. Though with the ability to backlog jump why are there still

quick save/load options? feels like that is a relic from a bygone era.

    It can be nice to quickly see the other choice but there were barely were choices. 

Also when you hide the text to look at a CG it didn't hide the menu's

in the top left&right which seems like a huge oversight to me. 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More ramblings about common route:

--- 

I'm not bothered by the length but I was disappointed by the lack of choices in them.

Thankfully its a one time thing! you can start from the end of it on subsequent playthrough's.

 Tho suddenly I realized many otome gamers had fallen here...💀💀💀

After four routes most of it was generally unmemorable too. Like cool setup bro.

 Now what it did well was establishing the setting/lore and characters of the game

however it is 9 chapters long💀.  The average chapter length was maybe 30-45 min to an

hour some were short other longer. (9 common chapters and around 12-14 individual chapters.)

Olympia Soiree was a 50-70ish hour game for me.

---

At the end of the common route there is the choice of which LI to pursue.

 You can only do Riku,Tokisada,Yosuga and Kuroba first. Himuka unlocks after them and Akaza last.

What kept me going was the lore and the cast of characters.

I blasted through the first few chapters on my first day, but I continued

by reading subsequent chapters in the evening so it was pretty slow and chill.

By the time of the 8th common chapter I was like any minute now...

as I get bombarded with more lore upon already existing lore.💀

To make up for it, the final common chapter was rather short but ayyy sure took its time.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

There were too many flashbacks! thankfully the promise one

can be easily skipped  but they even used flashbacks for things that

were said a little while ago and that's just annoying.😠

I don't even mind stuff like callbacks at a later time to what a character says early on

but honestly  if Olympia remembered something just her saying so would be enough

so if they had removed over half of them flashbacks it wouldn't be so annoying.

---

 

Most LI had good routes but my favorite was Riku. 

Tokisada was just not for me, Both Yosuga and Kuroba grew on me then again....

when I really think about it they're also not for me but still great in supporting role.

Akaza was good enough to rank 2nd. Himuka was just OK I just have beef with his route.

Then who's 3rd? Daifuku of course!😊 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall 

 I think I am rambling a bit much but it was a long VN so it evens out.

Cold and Cruel and HEARTLESS!

Overall Olympia Soiree is pretty decent but in terms of contents its not much

better than say Matsurika, both games got some nasty stuff inside of them. 

This game was pretty long it took me nearly a week to clear a route, I kinda missed this.

Every route was relatively interesting in its own right but damn I think this game

has some of the worst side characters I have ever laid my eyes upon.💀

That ***king Kiwi and Tangerine, ISTG Ryuki! lemme borrow that air freshener!!!! 

😠😠😠

 --- 

Much like Matsurika no Kei the setting of Olympia Soiree also isn't very kind

to the heroine or other people living in the world, in the beginning I found it even

more restrictive. There were no choices untill much later into the game. Though both

games sure did love their lore its just the way they handled things was entirely different.

While wanting to change things was hopeful... its terrifying women couldn't even go to school.

 Both games also kind of force the idea of having kids being a sense of duty for a woman

and to that end it really isn't much better than Matsurika with its old fashioned worldviews. 

Does that make them bad otome games? no not at all! but during my 3rd route I really

wondered why there wasn't a route that was okay with not having kids.

I did think Matsurika had more varied ends than this game, Olympia was definitely stronger

as a heroine than Naaya but not every heroine needs to be the same that would be boring.

Things that aged poorly.

What I liked the most about Olympia; seeing her grow! she can seem immature

but has the ability to self-reflect however I do think they reigned her in a lot which

mostly relates to her power. I can compare Olympia to Cardia... but Cardia was a bit better

in using it to her advantage. Olympia on the other hand felt like she was held bac

 by trauma, she hated her ability but honestly its handled well all things considered! 

--- 

 The beginning of the game already foreshadows the tone so it was not gonna be an

ultra happy game and the setting is sad. I knew the writer was known to

put mysoginistic stuff in their games but I don't think this is a bad thing?

They're are allowed to create worlds with problems whether or not

they overcome them is different matter entirely but it would be nice if it did. 

Though reading stuff about the island like culture/way of life was depressing... 

most of it is told through minor characters. It did make it feel like change had to happen.

Needless to say, its easy to get comfy in the first three routes of the recommened order

because most of the worst stuff only happens in route 4 and beyond. 

--- 

Felt like he gets fatter every route as well...

TL;DR

Well... its still a pretty good otome game its just that I found my

favorite LI right at the start and most of the others weren't for me.😅

It had a great cast of characters so despite the common route being choiceless

it still was interesting going through it! but sadly while some side characters were likable

there were a bunch who were just made to be hated especially in bad ends.

Most route do leave me satisfied but there was a lot left up in the air or not

explained well enough. I brushed it off as Riku being an early game route but even

Tokisada had loose ends, Yosuga felt the most progressive thus far. 

The only other drawbacks were the many flashbacks and clunky UI(but you get used to it).

Also Himuka's route frustrated me when it was over since it screamed the truth is in the next route!

Akaza ended up having the most well-rounded route, its sad but most others

including my fav Riku didn't quite execute all the storybeats well enough. 

I generally did have a good time with it despite some small grievances and in terms

of romance it left me more satisfied than Cafe Enchante but doing all

the routes just felt a bit repetitive, especially if you find your fav early.

8.5/10

I'll recommend Olympia Soiree to those who like assertive heroines that speak

their mind and grow over the course of the story! as well as enjoy more

meaty otome games with decent worldbuilding & don't mind darker themes.

Though if you prefer shorter games and settings that are not problematic then I don't

really recommend this because it does have some of the same issues as Matsurika.

((If Naya and Olympia met though... I think they'd be great friends.

While most of Naya's LI's are safe, Olympia will roast Ruwo till he's burnt for sure.))

 

I am not sure if Matsurika no Kei will ever get localized though

but I don't see why it can't if Olympia Soiree could make it over. 

 

Character babbles after the jump, while they're not summaries its just

commentary/impressions along with as some of my fav CG's.

Its nearly a 5 year old game and its in english so digests are not necessary.

To be safe if you don't want spoilers don't read further. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Digimon Story Time Stranger - Review

 Genre: RPG

Developer/publisher: Bandai namco.

Platform: PS5, PC.
Official Site: https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/digimon/digimon-story-time-stranger

Release date: 03-10-2025 

 

I always liked the digimon franchise and watched S1 and 2 of adventure.

I remember watching frontier too but that was kinda it. I also played

cyber sleuth OG on switch so this isn't my first digimon game.

 

I wasn't originally going to play this near launch but I saw the Gatomon costume

and was like this is it! this is my life now and got into it!

 

Disclaimer: This is purely my own opinion and it could be different from yours

this is not meant to be some kind of all-truth, just an opinion that came from playing this.

If you don't like what you're reading then close the tab, move on and just idk play it yourself. 

 

Pro's

- Decent enough story.

- Fun dialogue which makes side quests worth doing.

- Its fun to raise/build your team.

 

Grey Area

- Takes notes from PS2 era games, in good and bad ways. 

 

Con's

- Some pacing issues, obvious padding.

- Final boss was too scripted. 

 

This game 70% of the time...

Story was surprisingly solid? it has some cheesy moments and a lot of wtf is going on moments

but it only made me want to progress and find out what is actually going on.

 Which is a good thing in an RPG cuz if you don't want to learn more

then what is the point of playing it? Anyway eventually all the pieces fell into its place

so it started to make sense and it only took about 40 hours for that to happen.💀

 

Length? shouldn't take longer than 40-50 hours if you focus on the story

I dipped on some side quests near the end though as there were just too many.

If you do it all, it might extend to 60 hours... but at what cost? momentum of the story maybe.

Atleast the game had content if you wish to engage with it that is, so its not a complaint. 

TFW the game is pointing out my outfit choice...

You can choose between a male or female protagonist and the one

you do not choose becomes an assist of sorts which was honestly a nice touch. 

The MC is kinda self-insert and you get dialogue options to react

to story events and sometimes they're funny too which was great.

Inori and Aegiomon were fun characters as well, without them i'd feel lonely.

I liked how the story cleverly used existing digimons and incorporated them

into it all, it was such a treat even if I don't even know/recognize them all. 

There were however some things that I had a hard time wrapping my head around

and it mostly involves the protagonist, needless to say just keep playing and most things

will make sense eventually. Also male MC was voiced by Shimono Hiro

so it was nice to have him be operator, don't think he would have talked as much

if feMC was anything to go by when choosing him as MC. 

Relevant.

The gameplay was surprisingly smooth and it didn't feel like I had

to digivolve back and forth as much as with cyber sleuth.

Well uh unless your name was Aegiomon but he had some accessories

that could put him into a specific form. So it didn't detract from the experience.

Though I did find there were a bit too many enemies on the field and its easy

to run into them if you're not careful, leading to potential jumpscares.💀

 

TL;DR

 Mostly had a good time with this game but there were moments

where I thought, are you dragging this out? but atleast they wrote

a solid and somewhat consistent story about time travel.

This theme is not particular easy and I recommend not thinking too hard about any of it. 

Story and character wise there were highs and some low's. I don't dislike it as a whole.

Maybe next time a less scripted final boss? other than that the game was fine.

Very good if you come here looking for challenge especially on harder difficulties

but I am a casual player so normal or easy mode is enough for me. 

As said outside of a few gripes there's not much I disliked.

Also I can't help but think that if I had done every side quest at the end...

that I would have burned out during the final act. So i'm actually kind of glad

I just winged it and only the final boss was beefier than whatever was before it.

8/10

Anyway I had fun leveling my mon's and occasionally training them... on normal

nothing was too hard and they gave useful advice during combat too.

Had I trained even more I may've made it too easy so I am glad I restrained.

I was never really too overwhelmed by this games contents and its easy to choose

what to engage with, ok maybe a little choice paralysis as to what to digivolve too

but incase I wasn't sure I just saved before it.

 

Definitely gets a recommendation if you always want to play a digimon game

or want another SMT-like game to sink some time into.

 

There's not really any spoilers beyond but I do have some out of context screenshots.

More ramblings after the jump.

9 R.I.P Sequel - Review

I've had my fill of spooky season with this...

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.

Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/9rips/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v52276

Release date: 25-9-2025 

 

I was a bit surprised when a sequel was announced for 9rip.

I mostly wanted to get this for Koyou but I will admit my memory of the OG

is already waning, thankfully there was a recap and plenty of callbacks!

As per usual I tried not to set my expectations too high and the only thing I am

disappointed by was the short length of the god after, I enjoyed mostly everything else. 

 

Disclaimer: This is purely my own opinion and it could be different from yours

this is not meant to be some kind of all-truth, just an opinion that came from playing this.

If you don't like what you're reading then close the tab, move on and just idk play it yourself. 

 

Pro's

- Wraps up the story and concludes the saga for most relatively well.

- Heaven afters are of decent length.

 

Grey area

- Focuses more on the heaven side than the god side.

-  Art mostly good but... you can notice the usual otomate shenanigans here or there.

 

Con's

- God afters except one are way too short.

 

Storywise it really varied whether an after story was interesting

and ultimately may come down to preference but that's just my opinion. 

 Each character has an after story for the heaven end and the god end.

With 9 routes, I realized by route 7 that not everyone was as relevant to the main

storybeats and the ones that executes them well (heaven side) were Seiya and Minami.

A lot of the others just didn't feel very... relevant or had some random plot. 

As for the OP I think it suited the heaven side more, its kinda funny but it is what it is. 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

System.

This doesn't really follow the usual after story/continuation template

where you just select a character and get their story. Here you start a new game

and then via choices at the start get to the routes. It only takes a minute, you get a brief recap

at the start of the after too which was really helpful.

Actually its really similar to how you end up on routes in the original. 

 

My first route was blind and I decided to do Kureha. After that I used guides.

There are bad ends or... premature endings in some of the heaven routes.

I managed to avoid those first time thru Kureha's so I when I looked up a guide I was

a bit shocked choices actually seemed to matter. Always trust Koyou!

God after's have only one ending so you can enjoy that without worry.

 

They probably could have removed the map selection part as it felt pretty useless

there were times with more than one location but if there's only 1 spot why bother? /shrug.

Turns out some points are missable, 9 in total which unlock locations in a special mode

where Sayaka sends you all over town to find the perfect hiding place. 

Thankfully Choro's guide listed the locations you could recover

but if you miss them its nothing to worry over, the special mode

does NOT even have a CG just a fun scene for your efforts.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Pacing was not too slow but it felt like there wasn't much time for anything especially

during god afters like it sure did try to deliver something but some didn't satisfy me.

The heaven afters felt like they were a bit more fleshed out and I enjoyed it the most.

With some like Hibiki I wasn't interested in the plot and new side character(s). 

 

In terms of length each god after was like 1/2 hours & heaven 4 so its 6 hours per character

you can probably already see what the problem is here so I will shut up about this.

I could probably have finished this sooner but that is no good for my menhera(mental health). 

 

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The heaven side feels like where most of the effort got put into and for some

it felt like it fleshed out more stuff. Others such as Kureha or Hibiki felt like a remix. 

I did think some had better outcomes but i'm gonna be real they just turned a less than

good end into a happy one.😅 I realized they didn't have all that much material to work with

and only a few of them were actually interesting, mainly Seiya,Minami and to some extend Koyou.

Wasn't sure if it was the writing but it kinda dipped and peaked for some of the heaven afters.

There were some new characters introduced, I couldn't care about most of them. 

Now I understand in the original heaven ends some things are up in the air so what

we get here is that the majority of the time is spend trying to make something of it.

 

God After's
Okay gonna remind everyone that over half the cast is dead

and Misa basically acts like an ankle bracelet for them, this shit is tragic.

Going to heaven doesn't sound like a bad deal for some. Its actually expanded

upon why certain things happened. So, no its not just random R.i.P bozo. 

Characters like Koyou, some demon or the ayakashi's got off better than certain others.

Shucks but it'll keep you warm for a minute.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Uh yea have some mini character babbles.

Kureha's heaven after did have a unsettling vibe at times which is in line with the original.

I couldn't help but want to pray things would end up relatively well...

I wasn't convinced by his god after and for some reason prefer his heaven side.

I don't think there was nearly enough time to have much of substance and wish they just

focused their energy in one place. Now its like you get a burger but its divided in half.

There's moments that I like but before I knew it, it was over. Sad. 

For Hibiki... i'm mostly indifferent for his heaven after and I like slept through half

of it only to jolt right awake in time for the end and I loved the 深 ending so much! 

Hibiki's god after was kinda meh, shucks for Minami tho... he just keeps taking L's just like me.

I'm once again not completely sold here but what sort of better outcome would there be

for Hibiki and Misa when all's said and done? so at the end of the day it was OK at best.

 Like its definitely an after story but the majority of the time is spend reminiscing. 

This tells me, we don't know what to do with this but enjoy! also R.i.P.

Koyou: In a surprising way I actually ended up invested into his heaven after.

Dunno if good or bad, it scratched that supernatural itch. There was no Reika, since

she was already dealt with at this point! in exchange we got some weirdo spirit that likes

 collecting dolls, among other things thanks I guess. Koyou's god after was decent and for

once it felt like a proper after story...but even this felt like it was over in a flash...

Sena: Heaven after went on for too long about his past with S-crown, I sleep.

I loved his god after for some reason because it hit all the right tragic notes.😭

I don't even like Sena that much so that gotta say something. 

Seiya: I loved his heaven after cuz I got some vibes from the kdrama tomorrow so of course

I was eating that shit up though that was just at the beginning. Seiya's character can 

also be very entertaining so this was easy entertainment. They struck gold here amidst a sea

of bronze and silver. God after was more like the rest... 2ish hours of fluff whatever R.i.P. 💀

Minami: His heaven after was enjoyable, maybe it was because much like Seiya

there weren't many new side characters though Meimei did take some spotlight

but he never overstayed his welcome so I was fine with the creepy shinigami.

His god after was hilarious though but as per usual... over in a flash.

Koharu: I thought his heaven after was a little boring something happened

that wasn't on my bingo card. I have 99 problems and this isn't one of them. Very bakamitai.

Koharu is kinda dumb but a real man gotta be a lil stupid, I still love him but basically:

 If you can't handle him at his worst, you don't deserve him at his best.💀👍

His god after much like Sena hit like a truck and I thought it was one of the better ones

like I fully understood now why Misa ends up like that because they took the time to explain it.

I find it hilarious how with both Sena and Koharu I didn't like their heaven side.😅

Yukimaro had a calm heaven after and it was pretty chill but it didn't have much

going for it and I thought it was pretty much a nothing burger.

OK maybe that's too harsh maybe a bun with cheese on it?

His god after was pretty good but uh not like they could have done a lot with that.

I liked how heartwarming it was, in these trying times I accept it with all my heart.💖

Touka only had one after, for his god ending. It wasn't paced like the others and was

a heaven after in disguise. Also suffers from truth route syndrome, but honestly

I didn't really like Touka that much, he actually made me uncomfy the more

time we spend with him  but of course Misa likes him so uh yea it is what it is.

Imma be real, this game turned me into a Minami enjoyer. 

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Me with over half of the LI's whenever a route ends.

Honestly while I am not satisfied with most god afters, an attempt was made and I accept it.

Though the heaven afters was where the meat of the game was.

Not sure if my expectations were wrong but was it wrong to expect more of the former?

I wasn't completely sold on the highlighted moments thing, since it leaves a lot

open to imagination but I wouldn't say it was awful either, just not my thing. 

They focused more on supernatural side of things because heaven afters

were far longer than the god afters which was really short.

Whether or not 9rip sequel is worth it depends on how much you liked the original

and if you want more content with Misa and ALL the guys.

---

It was nice they provided an opportunity to follow up on some things

or spend more time with specific characters, I could appreciate it for some

but after sitting through 1 character and a half I was like, damn have I really cleared

almost 2 characters already?! at this point I hadn't even touched Koyou my best boi.

Its only after I cleared my 7th route Koharu that some things that happened in other god afters

actually made sense. I guess you could figure it out but its nice there was an explanation.

--- 

Kinda sad one after or route can seem really short but I think its only normal

that with like 9 LI's you aren't gonna spend a lot of time with all of them. 

Overall if you do all it'll take you 50ish hours. That's still a good deal.

Much like the original nothing overstayed its welcome but I got tired by the time of 9th route.

I got the feeling the director wasn't especially focused on more romance focused

scenario maybe it not their thing and that's why everything felt so brief.

If I had to choose between no sequel at all or what we got, I'm still grateful we even got this.

7/10  

Its a little difficult to recommend if you only like one character but if you

really dig supernatural stuff and like the majority of the cast its actually OK.

To that end this is only something I could recommend if you liked over half the cast

but who knows maybe you didn't and still end up with a new favorite! 

 

This game will likely be localized and I will be disappointed if it doesn't.

Though with iffy I am not sure anymore, seems they're just bringing over

random games now while hoping its better received in ENG than Japan.

 

Gonna sneak in this edit but: 9rips sold out on release and charted in famitsu

but there's barely any reviews for it, now having played it... there's not much to even

write about but it seems oddly quiet compared to how they raised the pitchforks at MonoChi. 

 

My play order: Kureha > Hibiki > Koyou > Sena > Seiya > Minami > Koharu > Yukimaro > Touka.

Like with the previous game I decided to keep the pairs together and go from there. There's no

restrictions and you can mostly do whatever but I recommend Koharu and Touka for last. 

 

Character rambles after the jump there's spoilers in there as well as some of my fav CG's

so stop reading here if you don't want any of that.