25Prism

Visual novels are games designed to tell you a story and let you enjoy every second of it, without having to do too much. Other than reading the text on the screen, you are sometimes required to make some kind of decision, but there is obviously no rush to do so. Hence, the experience is very much like reading a book, except that you get to alter the events as you see fit.

25Prism is not very different from the rest of the visual novels out there, unless you count the story. In essence, the gameplay can barely be described as interactive, since all you need to do is click through the dialog lines in order to move on. Naturally, there are choices that require your input as well, and you get a different ending depending on how you make these decisions.

The story is quite interesting right from the get-go, since you play the role of a man trying to deal with a breakup. As you casually stroll along a river, you realize that you are stuck in an infinite loop, along with two other women that happen to be in the same area at the time. Hence, your mission is to figure out how to escape this weird dimension, and maybe even pursue a relationship with one of the girls.

Since you’ll be reading stuff most of the time, it’s good news that the writing is more than decent. The events seamlessly blend into each other as you keep going further and further, and you can really get to know the characters if you pay enough attention. Most of the choices you can make are pretty tough as well, and they really do affect the ending in one way or another.

Visually, the game features colorful artwork and nice backgrounds to look at when you are not reading. Unfortunately, the said backgrounds change very rarely, which means that you might get bored of them in a rush. There are no animations to talk about, but the characters are nicely drawn from an artistic point of view, even if they have weird facial attributes most of the time.

Even if 25Prism can be a bit too slow and boring for those who crave constant action, the game is pretty strong when it comes to narrative and character development. The story has its fair share of flaws, but you can definitely have a lot of fun listening to it and choosing the desired course of action.