Blankspace Reviews

Most visual novels I've played are just that- novels with some key choices that may or may not have repercussions down the road. There's really only a couple that I've played that have additional puzzle elements, and this game did it extremely well. What's great is once you get the puzzles down, it's really easy to quickly do them again- but the downside is repeating them over and over for achievement hunting purposes gets tedious. I get some of the puzzles are tied to the different endings, but it would be great if there was an option after your first playthrough to skip the puzzles for the sake of the story. But the story is freakin amazing. Just, oh my gosh, an incredible concept. Both characters' personalities were fleshed out well but I feel like the backstory behind Beryl wasn't developed well- but if you consider the plot, that actually makes a bit of sense. The tediousness of the puzzles was my first gripe of two, and my second is that there is no follow up after the game. Now, I could just be uninformed and maybe there's a sequel or DLC in the works, but with my current knowledge, it's like the game ends on a cliffhanger, even in the best endings. I can't elaborate too well without spoiling things, but there's this buildup in the game, especially after critical information comes to light, and nothing follows. With my gripes out of the way, I have nothing but praise. The art was great, I loved the facial expressions of both sprites. The narration and dialogue flowed naturally and was incredible- I especially loved Chris' internal dialogue at certain points. It felt way more natural that how I usually see it done in other visual novels. The relationship progression was great too. The puzzles were a mix of easy and challenging, but none were impossible- anything I looked up hints for I could've figured out eventually if I wasn't impatient at the time. I was confused on some of the items you get in your inventory- some you don't use. Like, ever. It's very misleading the first 2-3 playthroughs and you end up using them on everything, trying to figure out why the heck you have or kept them. That could be the point though? To try and add some unknown elements to make it a tad more challenging? Another thing I was confused on was how some plot points were hinted to, but then were never followed up on. This ties back into my second gripe about there being no follow up. There's this idea that there is more into what's happened/happening, but the game ends and so there's no exploring that slight foreshadowing. Can't tell if I misinterpreted the situation or if I'm overthinking or what. This next point is more a personal one- as someone struggling with a couple mental illnesses, this story touched me personally. I don't want to spoil anything so can't touch on specifics, but I felt seen. Some of the dialogue felt relevant and worth taking stock of. Which- is honestly probably true for everyone regardless, but it's especially prevalent for anyone struggling with that kind of thing. I definitely cried at least once. So. Yeah. There's that. Anyway, overall a great game, worth the price. Loved the puzzles and the story and the characters.