Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Enhanced Edition Reviews

The story for this, you shouldn't go in expecting a pure romance story— to pick whoever you like the most. It is much more than that, a brilliant subversion that isn't at all shocking or patronizing but natural (but it's not as though that wasn't obvious already by its known reception and even advertising description). It resembles more of a character study. The psychology of human relationships, interaction, deep hidden and repressed emotions and constant but relatable indecisiveness, [spoiler] self-doubt and regret that eventually accumulates into self-loathing[/spoiler]. All characters feel authentic and the writing doesn't stoop towards something predictable formed by typical scheming, bitter love triangles. It is very complex and heartbreaking with many philosophical contemplations left for the reader to figure and traverse for themselves. Many things are left unsaid of how characters view certain situations but remain clear. Unfortunately, problems occur that range from a technical standpoint (terribly bugged achievements, to getting stuck at the very final scene(s) in Chapter 2 on my steam deck, to the backlog script erasing after a simple loading of a save, no quick save option and also with the OST that loops abruptly from the beginning after it being finished; all more annoying to experience given the price tag not correlating with the standards of technical or QOL expectations) and an unfulfilled, not fully realized release that should have made this the definitive version. Never really cared for H scenes in visual novels, if they were included or not, it would never bother me. However, it is something to keep in mind that this VN, in particular, the scenes, which have been removed entirely with no such way to recover them either through some developer or fan patch (currently, almost a year later after its release and still nothing), were— according to long time fans, very integral to character development and story. In the end, although the removal of such scenes are reasonably disappointing and even frustrating, it should not be a decision to avoid the story entirely made purely because of these omissions. It is incredibly well worth it on its own. The voice acting is so spectacular for the two main heroines [spoiler] —technically three and third one also giving such a phenomenal performance as well [/spoiler] that it feels eerily authentic at times. I absolutely wholeheartedly recommend it, even this version.