And that's approximately 0.02% of the entire selection of free games. |
From this page. And if you calculate... Yep, more than 14 times the demanded amount. |
Now, this doesn’t mean that I won’t be critical
towards it. One of the great things about Steam is how developers can simply
release an update of their game as soon as said update is ready. This is one of
the cases where I actually hope my criticism is constructive to the development
team at Love In Space, and that they take it into account if they are to update
the game in the future. Mind you, I have technical criticism as well as
story-based criticism, but only the former really matters - I acknowledge that any of my gripes about the story are my problem only, as it is the story Love In Space wanted to tell. Also, to be clear,
the free game on Steam includes the first and second games in the trilogy,
titled “Sunrider: First Arrival” and “Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius” respectively.
The free game on Steam has the name of the latter, but includes the former.
The Sunrider series takes place in a world
where humanity has become the dominant species in the galaxy. An enemy faction
known as PACT has risen and the conflict between that group and the various planets’
governments has spiraled into a war. PACT has taken control
of many planets in its wake, and enslaved their inhabitants to use as workers and
soldiers. In return, an Alliance has formed among the free worlds to fight the
threat, but the war is far from over.
He DOES look only 16! |
Ava is the by-the-book, serious girl. Also the childhood friend. The romance visual novel stereotypes are getting so clear! |
It encounters the PACT troops once more, but is saved
in time by a mecha piloted by Asaga Oakrun, a heroic woman who comes to their
help and decides to join the team afterwards, helping the Sunrider with her
giant robot’s own arsenal of weapons. Hey, what else can I say: Chicks dig
giant robots.
Asaga brings the Sunrider and its crew to a nearby
planet where the ship is repaired by a pale blue-haired girl who also owns a
bakery: Chigara Ashada. She apparently operates both! Hey, why not. It’s
practically mundane compared to the later revelations in the game(s). Chigara
also happens to be a mecha pilot as well, though she specializes more in
debuffs and repairs (understand: HP healing). And from there on, the adventure
continues, with plenty of side-quests, missions with special requirements, and
more allies joining the fight.
And now, from a single ship, we're now three. Soon we'll be four, five, six. We are building our own mini-army! |
BUUUUUUUUUUUUTTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONS!
…I should stop there now.
As for why this concept got so popular on Kickstarter,
it’s because this is something that was never done before: A combination of a
visual novel and a tactical RPG/strategy game. Most visual novels incorporate
puzzles instead (just think of Hotel Dusk: Room 215, or the Ace Attorney
franchise). This combination, however? Not that I can remember. Some other
games come close, but put far more focus on one or the other.
Also gotta give it to them, the CGI models are pretty awesome. |
Upgrades are the key to victory! As always. |
Since those don’t have much of an impact on the visual
novel side, I should also mention that this game comes in six difficulties. The
first one ditches all strategy to be a pure visual novel game. The next 4 are
basic difficulties: Casual, Ensign, Captain and Hard. Then there’s a sixth
mode, known as Space Whale Mode, apparently so hard that very few have
apparently been able to complete it…
Those uniforms look so much NOT proper for a space army. |
This said! It’s not only a visual novel about space
warfare. It’s also about… love. Because it is perfectly normal for a Captain to
romance any members of his crew, right? The story of Sunrider borrows a LOT
from romance visual novels, delving into what I consider the most annoying
trope of the genre: You’re one dude surrounded by a cast of female characters,
and you can romance each and every single one of them if you try hard enough.
Captain Shields’ dialogue options range from formal (as should be normal from a
captain) to openly romantic (or, at the very least, close to flirting and
teasing). This clashes with the rather serious tone of the conflict. Also, you
know what they say: Never find love at the office. And in this case, the
workplace is an armed battalion at war against a powerful enemy. Breakup is the
least of Kayto’s worries; how about the death of anyone he had grown a romantic
interest for? I don’t think Kayto should date anyone he hires for this fight.
Without knowing the full story, I can tell something will go wrong there.
Long story short: I applaud the combination of visual
novel and strategy games, but I’m unsure about the combination of a
story-heavy, war-based story and the normally lighthearted tone of romance
visual novels. I mean, thank God it’s not a dating sim on top of that!
Speaking of that… Is it me or near everyone in the
game looks like a teenager? Kayto, Shaga, Chigara, space pirate Cosette (though
that one has an in-game justification)… almost everybody else. This isn’t an
issue as I’m quite certain it was the idea from the start. Romance visual
novels tend to do that. In fact, across all the information I’ve gathered on
Sunrider: First Arrival, the sequel Mask of Arcadius, and the third game titled
Liberation Day, I’ve seen about one or two characters who look like proper adults, this is one of them.
And that was likely what they were going for. I
don’t have a problem there. Or rather, I wouldn’t, if the characters also
behaved like adults. Unfortunately, it feels like a movie about high schoolers,
starring actors in their mid-20s who can look 10 years younger after two hours
of makeup. The characters are stated to be adults in the story. Yet, they tend
to act the part of the common stereotypes of teenagers seen in romance visual
novels, which are frequently set in high school. Kayto isn’t that bad, but then
again, you make the decisions for him; he can be by-the-book or a creepy flirt.
Many girls of the crew obey common stereotypes of the genre: The genki heroic
one who spouts memes and is always happy; the reserved, shy, pale-haired girl
who desperately wants hero-senpai to notice her; the aloof, task-focused, dark
or brown-haired one; the weird one with a clear interest in the hero and a fun
hair color; the one who incites suspicion in everyone but grows into an
important ally… Thankfully, all of them have the ability to kick ass in
strategic combat.
Quite easy to see what their mecha-driving uniforms wanted to emphasize... |
At least they were able to include almost everything they could. Except maybe a harem ending. Am I the only one creeped out by those? |
Some reviews on Steam describe this game as very
difficult. I’ve seen that comment, of course: “The Dark Souls of-” Can we stop
that, please? Can we stop comparing games of genres that have little to nothing
to do with each other? I mean, it IS pretty tough. But thankfully, there are 5
difficulty settings, from “Casual” to “Space Whale”, which is said to be
potentially impossible. Well that’s just great. And I'm a darn casual, so I know what difficulty I pick.
"Again me"? |
All characters are voiced and say lines depending on
what’s going on during space battles. They however only have a few different lines for each
situation (their ship getting hurt, attacking the enemy, using a captain’s
command, being picked for an action). The lines aren’t
sufficiently diverse, with maybe two or three different lines for each situation,
for each character. It unfortunately gets old quick to hear the same lines over
and over. More lines of reactions would have helped. Asaga keeps spouting
“I’mma firin’ mah lazer!” as if it hadn’t been overdone already by 2014…
What if I want to click in that area but I don't want to move? |
I guess this is all: Good game, I have a few issues
with the story, and some issues with the gameplay and system, but otherwise
it’s an impressive creation. Sincerely, congratulations to Love In Space for
this game. It isn’t perfect, but it’s fun, it’s complete, and it’s free. If you
enjoy strategy games and visual novels, I do recommend you try it, though be
wary of the points I raised about gameplay and such. And if you enjoyed the two
games in Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius, be sure to check out the third chapter,
Liberation Day.
Next week: Something else!
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