AIRIS

Even the strongest people can be brought down by their own bodies, especially when some kind of terrible sickness is involved. Thankfully, we have advanced a lot in terms of healthcare in the last few centuries, so at least most people are not at risk of dying due to a small infected wound. Fantasy stories usually replace diseases with curses, but even now and again they feature a more relatable affliction.

AIRIS is a visual novel game that throws you in the middle of a weird fantasy world where violence is common and necessary. However, you can also pursue love whenever you are not slicing up monsters or dealing with various other problems, which is a great way to diversify the experience. Since this is an interactive visual novel, there are multiple routes you can take and nine different endings.

Speaking of the story, it all revolves around a warrior girl by the name of Aliya, who starts to have nasty amnesia episodes that leave her waking up in strange place with no recollection of how she got there. Naturally, the goal is to find out what is happening to her during these blackouts, but there are other matters to worry about in the grand scheme of things as well.

There are a few possible partners for Aliya throughout the game, and you can pursue a romantic relationship with any of them, regardless of whether they are a boy, a girl or something in between. Your choices affect the plot, as you would imagine, but the most important thing is that you can re-play the experience and pick a different path every time, not to mention the fact that you can reach different endings too.

As for the artwork, the graphics are about as exciting as they can get in a visual novel, so don’t expect too much in this regard. The characters and the backgrounds are fairly detailed, but they still get pretty repetitive after a while. On the other hand, it’s worth mentioning that the game was designed in a rush for a game jam competition, so it obviously doesn’t feature as much content as you would expect.

AIRIS has what it takes to transport you to a different world for a while, but it’s not serious enough to really make you think. Hence, the game is mostly fun because you can choose from multiple partners and play again to see different routes.