REVIEW: Leviathan: The Last Day of the Decade - Episode 3


Title	Leviathan: The Last Day of the Decade Episode 3: Being a Killer
Developer	Lostwood Games
Publisher	Lostwood Games
Release Dates	July 10, 2013 (iOS/English) August 9, 2013 (Windows/English)
Genres	Visual Novel, Adventure
Platforms	Windows, iOS
Age Rating	18+ (self-rated), 17+ (Apple)
	Official Website

More information is available for Leviathan: Episode 1 and Episode 2 for those who would like to get caught up. Starting this review from Episode 3 is not suggested as things won’t make much sense.

The review for Leviathan: Episode 2 left off with Oliver hiding the evidence he uncovered, and setting out to go see his guardian, Kristian. Kristian is inquisitive as to what you have been up to. Dealing with him was no picnic, and I made the wrong decision a few times before figuring out the correct combination of answers! Ahh well, that isn’t unexpected for a visual novel, or for this particular VN anyhow.

Kristian comes into the picture a bit more in this episode. In person, not just from flashbacks or thoughts Oliver is having. We get to know him a little bit better, though I still don’t feel like I fully understand him. He tells Oliver a tale of himself as a young lad, about a dog that he had. A dog he deeply loved, so much so that he refused to place any restrictions on it. He let the dog do as he wished, chewing things up, attack him with kisses and have a grand time. One evening, when their family had guests over for dinner, Kristian’s dad asked him to bring the dog into the dining room. Knowing this was a bad idea, but being afraid to disobey his father, Kristian called for the dog. Upon entering, the dog acted as it always had. It didn’t know any better, and attacked Kristian with kisses. Despite his best efforts to keep this from happening, the dog attacked his dad with kisses as well, and then things took a turn for the worse. Kristian’s beloved dog must have been hungry, as it stole dinner right off the plates of their guests. Kristian’s father was none too pleased with this, and Kristian himself was shamed. That something he owned and should have controlled acted in such a manner as to embarrass him was something he couldn’t deal with. His reaction was rather violent.

Listening to this story, you really feel like you are understanding something about Kristian that might come into play later on. I feel like it is telling me something about him that I am going to need to know. It certainly explains a bit about why he expects certain behavior from Oliver.

The Tree is something that I’ve been intrigued with throughout the game. So far, I’ve had Oliver be a good lad. I haven’t had Edna do anything horrible (well… not much anyhow). Let’s just say that I haven’t been unnecessarily evil. As such, my actions taught me valuable lessons. So says The Tree. Now, I can take ten steps towards aberration instead of five. I like the cause-and-effect, action-and-reward theme going on here, but… why am I now able to do more evil things without repercussion? Shouldn’t the fact that I have learned lessons from choosing the lighter, nicer actions mean that I don’t have the need to make that many wrong choices before things go bad? Trust me when I say that, sometimes, it would have been simpler to have Edna whisk someone off into the scary underworld where they could cause me no more harm or aggravation. It makes me wonder what the game has in store for me later. The Tree also told me I had a natural inclination for evil. Good to know.

Oliver has been thinking of his mother and worrying that he was forgetting her, or at least forgetting some important things about her. She is the driving force behind everything he is doing, so it makes sense that he thinks of her often. She is the reason he is investigating Kristian, and putting himself through everything that he has up to this point. He still doesn’t really understand her, even after discovering quite a few things about her in Episode 2. He knows some of the things that have happened in the past, and he thinks that he can understand what led her to some of her decisions, but he questions even that.

A new girl arrives at school in this episode. Ruth doesn’t care for her, but that’s more about how she looks than anything else. She is quite jealous, and doesn’t want her talking to Oliver. Though Oliver can see that Julia is a bit “off,” he ends up spending quite a bit of time with her. She often seems like two different people. Her eyes and demeanor change often. One second she is being silly or flirty, and the next she is deep and questioning. Accusing even. Something is definitely up with her. Keep playing to find out what!

Kael finds out that you aren’t as “good” as he might have thought. When certain things are revealed, he is rather shocked, but agrees to help you out. Doing so proves that he is indeed a good friend. I still think something is up with him. He is always a bit secretive, revealing information at a snail’s pace when it suits him. I know he has been through a lot, and has a complicated relationship with his dad. He truly is in a difficult situation, and I’m trying not to think ill of him. Hopefully, Oliver will be able to help him with whatever it is he is going through. I fear Oliver may cause him a bit of trouble though… We’ll find out in the next episode, I suppose!

Things are getting more confusing by the minute. There is some weird law that might prevent Oliver from going after Kristian, a supposed new friend is hiding things and seems to be two different people. Your best friend since childhood is shocked at things you have done, and it really feels like he might be hiding more than your new friend is. Someone who supposedly killed themself might not have, and it’s up to you to find the evidence. You and your band of friends… a group where you are never really sure who to trust.

I spent a few hours with this episode. Time well spent! At the end of this episode (depending on your decisions earlier in the game) things could be looking a bit bad for a certain member of your group. We’ll have to wait for Episode 4 to see how things progress and find out what our group of “friends” will uncover next.