Water, human rights, action, corruption, cyberpunk, vengeance, hearts that can't play Pac-Man, and more.
"Vengeful Heart" is a visual novel that was released in 2020 on Steam and Itch.io by indie developer Salmon Snake Games. Salmon Snake Games made two other games previously, "Fantasy Quest" and "The Great Voyage."
Synopsis
Josephine Lace is an engineer for a water supplying company named Nephthys in a cyberpunk city. Josephine loves her job, her boss, and is all around a happy gal. That is until she becomes a victim of her own company.
"Vengeful Heart" is mostly a kinetic visual, where the player just reads text without making any choices. The only exception is in the second last chapter, where the choice made sets Josephine on one of two branching paths.
It's an odd choice to have the only decision you make be close to the end of the game, but I don't mind it much. It's great to have regardless.
Like most visuals, Vengeful Heart has the basic save, load, automatic text progression, and more. Although, I couldn't adjust the auto text to go faster nor was there any way to go back to the default settings.
I had to resort to... Pressing space to advance dialogue. Is it possible to sue for spiritual damages?
Although, in all seriousness, it isn't a big deal, it's just odd. It might just be with the visual novel maker software; I don't know for sure.
One huge stand-out with the game, and the reason I bought it, are the visuals. The visuals take inspiration from PC-98 anime games, with the pixelated portraits and visuals and it looks incredible. The colours, detail, and portraits look so beautiful without being outdated. It honestly feels like a PC-98 game in the best way possible.
[Screenshot Credit for "EVE Burst Error:" Unicorn Lynx (fair warning, there are instances of nudity in the screenshot gallery of "EVE Burst Error")]
It makes me wish there were more Cinematic Graphics (CGs) in the game, as there are only two in the whole game. Still, for what they did well, they did extremely well.
Although, I did notice a glitch where Rani's sprite showed up behind another character, when she wasn't supposed to show up at all. I only noticed it when browsing my screenshots for this review, so isn't a big deal, just worth noting.
The music is also good, fitting the Cyberpunk theme, but it isn't something I'd listen to on its own. It's important to note the music isn't all originally made for "Vengeful Heart," some tracks come from OpenGameArt.org. Tracks built from the ground up for the game were provided by artists such as D. Ray.
Sound effects, which are not all originally made for "Vengeful Heart," are also good. They set the tone/atmosphere of some scenes. They also help audibly convey when a character is talking, which is nice.
With the gameplay and music out of the way, it's time to focus on the most crucial element of any visual novel: the story.
The Meat of "Vengeful Heart"
Writing
"Vengeful Heart" executes pacing beautifully by giving the story a moderate pace. It's neither too fast nor too slow, avoiding the agonizingly slow pacing that often plagues some visual novels. The story keeps moving without a dull moment.
This is helped by the concise but informative narration that gives descriptions of what's going on but never goes overboard to the point of feeling like an exposition dump.
The pacing and fantastic mix of dialogue & narration makes for amazing writing overall. From development of characters, describing characters' actions, giving an idea of what to visualize, to the moments that drop your jaw.
The story is also chalk full of social commentary that blends well into the story given a lot of it is a part of the company. Such as police brutality, debt, pipe politics, etc..
Whether you agree with the social commentary or not, it's still interesting for it to be brought up without it ever feeling forced. It might even make you think about things from a new perspective or that you didn't think about before. The social commentary also makes the world more interesting as the nuances are explored.
There are even a few nice touches, such as the name of the in-game company Nephthys being the name of the Egyptian Goddess of Death and Darkness. Which is extremely fitting the deeper you go into the story.
The final thing to mention is a few of the spelling mistakes. They're nothing serious, at worst, they just make me double-take with a line of text.
Despite a few stumbles, which I'll get into soon, the writing is engaging and entertaining.
Characters
The characters are likeable and interesting. Josephine is hard to not feel bad for given everything, and her character arc is fascinating. Rani, Dr. Norbert and so on are also entertaining with their own motives and ideals, effective backstories, and defining personalities.
My favourite character of the cast is Amy Sierra, to me she had the most intriguing and entertaining personality of the cast. It's also hard to not respect her given she has no stakes in anything, yet she still does what she does because she believes it's the right thing to do.
She also had glasses in her beta design, so bonus points. Glasses are awesome.
However, if there's one thing these characters aren't, it's comedians. Despite many attempts to be funny, the jokes didn't land for me. I don't think they're bad, the jokes just aren't my thing. Although, a few jokes did get me.
Another aspect lacking with the characters, or well, only Josephine, is that she doesn't tend to show guilt well. When she makes a mistake or feels guilty about something, it's often short-lived or never delved into.
If this was due to revenge getting the best of her, I'd understand, and she does mention this in the story. However, no one ever mentions lack of guilt-showing.
I think it just bothers me because other characters in the story do show genuine guilt for when they feel bad about something. Josephine's guilt just feels subdued in comparison.
Another aspect that feels lacking is the romance, easily being the worst part of the whole visual novel. The romance isn't built-up well and when the romantic moments do occur, they lack any real weight and just feel forced.
At one point, the two romantic interests end up fighting over Josephine and it's the only thing in the whole game I found aggravating. I can wave away the poorly done romance, but when it makes two of the characters annoying, even if temporary, it's frustrating.
I'm usually a sucker for romance, but "Vengeful Heart" handles it poorly. There needed to be better romantic chemistry with more natural romantic moments.
Josephine's Heart
Whenever the game follows Josephine's perspective after chapter two, in the top left, the player can click on a heart icon to view Josephine's cybernetic heart. This shows how long Josephine will live in minutes.
This timer is only ticking down in the story, reading speed doesn't affect the timer, only story events. For example, if Josephine's heart is at 360, and there’s a one-hour time-skip, her heart will be at 300.
With that said, keeping track of Josephine's heart timer can add some serious tension to some scenes. This function alone makes me kind of wish "Vengeful Heart" had more choices despite being more of a kinetic visual novel guy, the timer would've made for interesting decision-making if used. Still, it's a fantastic addition.
Well, for us. For Josephine, she hates it, but it does give us some particularly important exposition... That cybernetic hearts can play "Pac-Man."
Finally, the branching paths, without spoiling anything, provide two different endings. Each ending is good in their own way without devaluing the other. One ending is beyond morally satisfying but feels a bit hollow. The other ending is less morally satisfying but feels more satisfying as an ending.
Overall (A+)
"Vengeful Heart" is an excellent time. It has an engaging story with well-written characters, a fantastic art style, and fitting music. I think the game stumbles with its romance, but that's my only big criticism, the rest of the visual novel is incredibly done.
I'm compelled to do a Spoiler Review of "Vengeful Heart," however, I'm deciding against it. I might do one in the future, like, three to four years into the future, but due to the game coming out last year, it doesn't feel right to spoil it now.
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