This is a story that affects everyone. This is the bomb that Delphinium Interactive carefully places on your lap. You have to disarm it, but you have no clue how. Your key lies within reading the room and properly making the necessary choices for the adequate outcomes. But how are you going to make these choices without any information? Luckily for you, this is a game with a surplus of information that should you approach calmly, you’ll find yourself getting all the answers you need in minutes. This is because the writing takes a more direct approach. No overthinking things, just you and four individuals talking things out. A story that provides you all the pieces, you just have to place them in the right spots. It’s not what you expect at all from a game that only costs $4.
This is not a game where you one-off after getting the ending you wanted. In fact, if you’re reading this review and haven’t completed the gallery, you are doing yourself a disservice, so please go back and finish it. There are different routes you can take and while all of them aren’t as pretty and desirable initially, they provide all the necessary information to really start enjoying all these characters. You can learn all about the emotional and physical struggles between the four characters and essentially build your own walkthrough. All of this within choices that don’t seem to carry any emotional weight until you actually select them. The writing is deceitful, but that makes it breathtaking. When a game can take me from pure indifference to leaving me in tears, how else would I describe it other than masterful?
Starlight Shores is a game that allows readers to have fun in the moment while also allowing them to take in a deep and rather harsh look at some realities. Now you may wonder about the pace, as there’s no way that the writer cleanly gets away with putting all this information without some consequence. To that I say, they most certainly can, and it goes back to my point on how you lengthen a game through its choices. The developer never had to go past a single night because they allow you to get all the information you need within a couple playthroughs that don’t disrupt the flow of the story. Furthermore, when you make it as short as this, it gives the reader all the more reason to go back. You think to yourself that this can’t be it and that’s all it takes.
To say that I love the writing style in Starlight Shores is an understatement. I don’t just want Delphinium’s next game; I really need it. The experiences that are tucked away in this small package are unforgettable and gives people genuine glances at real world issues, all while keeping to the dynamic and letting the characters play themselves. The thought of having a longer project with a bigger word count gets me super excited for the future ahead. However, once again, the writing can’t carry a game if it’s the only thing that’s good. The art and soundtrack are phenomenal in their own right and, quite frankly, have helped keep my eyes and ears glued to the action. It’s honestly a complete package that I felt so bad was only priced at $4. I almost felt like I was pirating the game.
Let’s discuss the art in detail now, starting with the character sprites and CGs. Noticeably colorful, infinitely cute are the best way to describe it. No, seriously, that’s all I have. The characters are expressive with many pouts and wholesome smiles to warm even the coldest of hearts. Your jaw will drop to the floor when you see the CGs for the important scenes and endings. Backgrounds are full of detail and perfectly complement the mood of the story. The combination of Lia, Tanuma and Background TK make an exemplary work force and other visual novel developers should take notice.
One last song of praise has to go to the music, Alcaknight really killed it. The soundtrack at times remind me of various emotional journeys that I undertook with different visual novels. However, to be specific, it really hits hard with certain tracks as they remind me of Hoshizora no Memoria. The visual novel that completely destroyed me emotionally. The music really drives the emotional points home and make the director’s, Sam Kerr, writing shine. I would wholeheartedly pay for the original soundtrack should it be made available to the public. All in all, I have nothing to complain about when it comes to Starlight Shores. That’s the reality.
Starlight Shores is a storytelling masterpiece that brings real world problems into light with some of the most colorful characters I’ve seen in combination with the hardest hitting soundtrack of any English visual novel I’ve read to date. It definitely could have been way longer, but the length serves to its own advantages and allows for more people to digest the story in different ways and order. It really benefits from releasing in the middle of this pandemic as stories with emotional struggles now seem to hit way harder and closer to home. I’d like to congratulate the entirety of Delphinium Interactive on the masterful performance. I paid for my own copy at $20 which I feel is the proper amount this game deserves. But you can grab yours and enjoy 6+ hours of story for as little as $4. Buy it, you won’t regret it.
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