Nusantara: Legend of The Winged Ones

For as long as humans developed the ability to imagine things outside the realm of possibility, there have been legends and myths about all sorts of fabulous creatures and gods. In the beginning, these creatures were invented to explain phenomena like rain and thunder, but as people continued to advance at an intellectual level, we started to come up with them purely for entertainment.

Nusantara: Legend of The Winged Ones is a visual novel game in which you get to experience a world populated by mystical creatures. It starts with a realistic setting and regular characters, but the story takes a sharp turn after a few minutes and you find yourself pretty far from what common sense dictates. As long as you are up for an exercise in imagination, this shouldn’t be a problem, however.

You play the role of a girl that’s transported back in time to a period when winged humans were ruling the world. Despite their wings and superior abilities, war is still the main activity on the agenda, and you are the one who must resolve this conflict. The game is not big on choice, but there are certain decisions that are left up to you in key points throughout the story.

As most visual novels tend to do lately, this one features a basic romance option as well. What this means is that you are allowed to pursue a romantic relationship with one of multiple characters, depending on the one you like the most. It’s not as complicated or as developed as an actual dating sim, but it’s nice to know that you are free to alter certain parts of the tale.

The artwork is very important in the genre as well, mainly because you have nothing else to do, other than read the text and look at the static imagery displayed on your screen. Thankfully, the visual quality is pretty good, although there is some room for improvement. The backgrounds appear to be less detailed than the characters, but that’s only true in a handful of cases and not a general rule.

When it’s all said and done, Nusantara: Legend of The Winged Ones is quite the accomplishment, especially since this is the work of a single developer. The story is intriguing, there is a bit of flexibility in regards to the plot, and the romance options are interesting enough to be worth pursuing.