Chaos;Child: It's all over but the headache

That picture suddenly makes sense.

Here it is, dear fellow gamers: the last VN I snatched during the January PSN sale, and the last one to face the Shall We Get Physical Test. And my, what a handful Chaos;Child was. It left me elated, thrilled, shaken and nauseous at once. I want to replay it over and over; yet at the same time, I don't want to hear about it ever again. Let's try to sort out that milling mass of contradictory feelings, shall we? (Giant SPOILERS ahead!)

The "Gimme More" side: The story and atmosphere are absolutely mesmerizing. This is hands down the best VN I've ever read, putting to shame Steins;Gate and even favourite otome VNs of mine such as Bad Apple Wars and Norn9. Not only did Chaos;Child regaled me with its mind-blowing story, its enthralling atmosphere and its charismatic characters, but it also treated me to a delicious millefeuille of plot twists, most of which I didn't anticipate at all. Now that's what I crave from a suspense story, be it a VN, a book or a film: developments that I don't see coming miles ahead and plot twists that make shivers run up and down my spine and leave me gaping.

The "I wanna puke" side: The art is disgusting. The colour palette is ugly, characters look like sh*t (even though I got used to their faces after a while) and the overall character design makes no sense. The weird hair colours, improbable hairdos, oversized bosoms and slutty female uniforms scream "harem anime" and clash vigorously with the tense and creepy atmosphere and the story's serious tone. I cannot help but think that C;C's story would have called for a much more realistic and sober art style — but hey, maybe that's just me being an old fart who lost touch with anime tropes years ago. However, the art style is but a detail compared to C;C's biggest problem: that game is TOO DARN LONG. It claimed more hours of my life that any VN should have the right to claim, and that's without even playing the Heroine Routes and the True Ending. The last chapter alone is four bloody hours long, and the ten chapters that preceed it are not much shorter. Do you know how many books I could have read during all the time I spent toiling on C;C's main route, 5pb? Heck, that story could have been told so much faster. Like, stop writing down every single sigh, gasp or gulp uttered by the characters, stop describing every minute detail and every petty musing, and get on with it already.

Cutest girl in the game. Too bad she's not real.

Because that game has no respect for my time and has stolen enough hours of my life already, I decided to skip the alternative routes and call it a day. And after running to a story summary and spoiling myself rotten, I'm immensely glad I didn't toil through those routes. Not only do they pack disappointing developments, but I had actually foreseen most of said developments:

• Nono's Route: My guess was that Nono had taken Senri's place at the AH hospital and endured the experiments in her stead; and let's be honest, I would have preferred that outcome to the real thing. The idea that Nono is actually a transformed Senri is deeply unsettling, and somehow destroyed all the love I had accumulated for the character. 
• Hinae's Route: It's all well and nice to get privy to Hinae's family history, but there's a small problem: those people were never mentioned at any point in the story before that, and I couldn't care less about their endeavours. Also, I would have been really salty if I had endured that route only to be slapped in the face with its nasty and depressing ending. 
• Hana's Route: As I guessed, Hana was a Gigalomaniac too, and her powers were tied to her voice. The developments in her route are so ridiculously overblown, improbable and anime that I uttered a big sigh of relief at the though of what I escaped by skipping her route. 
• Uki's Route: The classic 'Character thinks he's doing stuff while he's actually unconscious' setting. We've seen this a million times before, and I have no need for a nth retelling, especially one starring a transparent and servile character I never quite liked.

I also spoiled myself regarding the True Ending while I was at it, and I was not disappointed this time around: the Chaos Child Syndrome is a really neat plot twist that I would have loved to uncover with my own eyes. I had an inkling that there was actually a collective delusion going on in Shibuya; but my version was a tad more drastic, as it involved Shibuya being still in ruins and having become a ghetto full of Psychics maundering around trapped in their shiny delusion of Shibuya being rebuilt and good as new. However, the game's version pleases me just as much, if not more than my own: the idea of the heroes being physically altered and totally unaware of it is fascinating, in a slightly gross and unnerving way, and it's the perfect ultimate plot twist to crown that amazing gem of a story.

Having said that, I'm torn about what the writers did with Serika. On one hand, I totally dig the uncompromising and radical fact that she was basically born to be a slave and punching bag to Takuru's overinflated ego and fulfill all his desires, no matter how twisted they might be; but on the other hand, I regret that her mannerisms changed so much when her real nature was revealed. It would have been much more striking and disturbing to let her maintain her happy-go-lucky ditzy self — not to mention more darn logical. The way it was done looks more like your obligatory 'Chirpy character turns out to be a creepy plotting b*tch' trope, and I've long grown tired of that kind of contrived plot twist. Also, she's the only character that escaped completetly unscathed from that whole mess despite her involvement in the murders, and that outcome left a sour taste in my mouth. Was she actually the main character in disguise all along? On the other hand, it's only fair that she gets a modicum of happiness for herself after having been Takuru's DUFF for so long. Karmic reward, I guess.

So, I loved Chaos;Child; but as it is, that game failed the Shall We Get Physical Test nonetheless. I cannot see myself playing through the whole thing again, let alone endure the alternative endings. I may change my mind on the long run, or I may decide that the 30 hours I spent playing C;C are enough for a lifetime. Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!