RE-REVIEW: Steins;Gate 0


Title	Steins;Gate 0
Developer	5pb, Nitroplus
Publisher	Spike Chunsoft
Release Date	May 8th, 2018
Genre	Visual Novel, Adventure
Platform	PC, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4
Age Rating	M
Official Website

Steins;Gate 0 is now available on PC via Steam. If you prefer a more “animated” experience, Steins; Gate 0 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll. This review will be a bit brief since I covered this game in much more detail in my review of the PlayStation Vita version, which you can read here. Some people have asked me if you need to read the original Steins;Gate to understand this one and unfortunately, you do need to be familiar with the original novel’s story. Despite this being an alternate timeline, it is still very much connected to the first one and serves as a way to explain and add more detail to the ending of the first game. I will give a short recap below so you will get the gist of the story but even still, you want to experience the previous one. At the very least, watch the anime. It’s only 24 episodes so it won’t take you that much time to get through.

Our protagonist Okabe Rintaro is a self proclaimed “Mad Scientist” who ends up creating a time machine. Things go horribly wrong and someone dear to him is killed as a result of it. He is now suffering from PTSD and not quite sure how to live with himself. Of course from the ending of the original Steins;Gate we know that he does find a way to save this person, but Steins;Gate 0 is about the journey Okabe goes on to figure out that solution. And that journey is filled with sorrow, angst, and despair. Don’t let the cute female leads and slightly suggestive CGs you saw on Google or in an article thumbnail fool you. This is very much a serious story where characters make some bold decisions that have drastic, even at times tragic, consequences.

The PC version of the game offers a much higher resolution than the Vita one, going up to 1780×1080. This applies to all of the character portraits, CGs and font. It looks great and nothing appears too out of place or stretched out. I really developed more of an appreciation for the artwork thanks to this and considered using some of the CGs as wallpapers. That said, I did notice an instance in the glossary where they unfortunately still had to reduce the font size by a lot in order for the text to fit, making it look odd. Thankfully, this is minor and really only occurred due to the fact that the translation was far too long. The initial localization had some typos and grammatical errors here and there. This one seems to fix some of that and polish it up. One noticeable example can be seen when terms are added to the Glossary known as TIPS. See the images below for a a direct comparison with the Vita version on the left and the PC one on the right.

Now that we have both the PC version and a (hopefully) faithful anime adaptation, Steins;Gate 0 is more accessible then ever. You are all running out of excuses to not give the series a try, so what are you waiting for? It’s a great story with memorable characters and some truly touching moments. I know a lot of people have complained about the original, mainly that it starts off way too slow, but stick with it and you will see why it has the following that it does. $34.99 might seem a bit steep for a digital VN, but for fans of the original, Steins;Gate 0 is a no-brainer and ties the story together in a nice way while adding a lot to the lore.