"To Kill a Black Swan" is a visual novel-mystery mix which was heavily inspired/based on "This is where I want to Die", another visual novel made by the same author. Just with a different message. And that is the breaking point.

I will spoiler mercilessly as I can't properly review otherwise. "The is where I want to die" will be covered as well, so be warned.


In "This is where I want to die", you get in flashbacks (as the person is now close to dying) the story of a couple getting engaged and planning a holiday before being assaulted. You do not know the gender of the narrator until after he is attacked, because he is holding hands with a man. It is a shock-moment, giving a strong message: homosexuality is as normal as anyone else's orientation. It works the same as anyone else's, and deserves as much freedom (not hate) as anyone else's.

It had a huge emotional impact, and "To Kill a Black Swan" tried to do the same, just with transsexuality as its message. But it didn't do the trick at all.

Before we go into why it didn't, why did it work so well in the previous visual novel?
It's because the game created a strong emotional connection before you found out and you couldn't change anything of your involvement with the characters anymore. Furthermore, it followed the actions in a first-person perspective, enhancing the immmersion greatly.
It works well because you are forced to realize that it really is the same, and that attacking a couple because they're together is just cruel. Its reach is not limited to all those who already are of this opinion.
It is also so striking because we all know what being homosexual is. There needn't be anything explained.

In "To Kill a Black Swan" this message is to understand and respect transsexuality, a much more complex topic.
Transsexuality refers to identifying with the opposite or no gender, and while most have heard of it, only few have had near contact with any of their kind. Not to mention that many have all kinds of wrong understandings of the issue. If "what made you change?" is a common question, then no doubt there needs to be some education to be done. It is an issue since birth, not an acquired disorder, and nothing that "needs to be cured" (homosexualty has been perceived like that as well, of course).
Imagine being the exact same person as you are now. Likes, dislikes, feelings, all the same. But in a body of the opposite sex - what gender would you feel like?

Now that we have that out of our way, let's dig in.
You are a detective, remembering a mind-changing case called "The Black Swan".
When a wife, Aubery, returns she finds her husband dead, he had been thrown ouf ot the window. And the only real clue at the scene is that he had been drinking wine with a woman, apparantly, as there is lipstick on one glass.
As it turns out, he - rather she, to be precise - did have an affair, but with her "best friend" Roby. And because her wife is a homophob, transphob asshole, she killed her to punish this sin.

That she is transsexual is revealed only at the end, when you pick the right choices. There are the indications of her being shy (repeated in practically any sentence which deals with the victim), closed-up, but also partying. The mysteries that no regular visitor could produce this lip-stick stain and the fact that she practiced yoga (half-forced .. yeah.) are practically the only indicator to her being transsexual. Yes, you get the feeling of them being more than friends and Roby claims to be 100% heterosexual, but I really had no idea until it was revealed.
(not to mention that crossdressing needn't indicate a complete identification with the opposite sex).
Now, that by itself is okay, but there was no impact at all. None. Nothing. No feelings involved. And playing detective wasn't interesting either, as choosing the right places to go once (3 of 5) to and guessing the murderer is all you can do. Not to mention that the other places couldn't possibly have revealed any new information, so you needn't assume anything to get that right.

Now, why did it have so little impact?
The problem was that there was no emotional connection at all. You are a detective. What you're doing is the exact opposite! It's being objective, not subjective. It's finding out about the murderer, not the victim. You need information regarding the victim to do that, yes, but the focus lies completely elsewhere. You do not create a connection, and as such do not have any impact when the murder turns out to be rather tragic, as the victim was held down by her wife and had a lower life quality because of it.
The sudden revelation didn't change anything emotionally.
The art-style does not help either, the shadowing may be goodlooking and may add to the atmosphere (mystery, murder, death and all), but it isn't helping to connect, either.

Transsexuality was described from an outsider perspective without any insight, or details aside from "that's why she was so shy", on which was an abnormally large emphasis. It is quite unfortunate, given it such an interesting and often misunderstood topic.

More impact would've had choosing the perspective of a relative/friend of the victim rather than the detective, or describing the normal life of a woman/man, until the problems with being trans come into play.
The idea behind the mystery was well-thought, but not executed well. The wife turns into full asshole mode when you visit her (women need to be standing on top of men and all that), and that alone is the only real reason to accuse her, as everything seems pretty wishy-washy. Roby was very well-written, but not so Aubery. The others were okay.

The introduction could've been kept way shorter, talking longer about how significant it was for the character does not make it any more significant for us. Better keep it short - say it was something important and just start and let us see for ourself. Some formulations are very awkward "I cannot speak" is not the same as needing some more time to get yourself together. "What about his enemies?" isn't really professional, either. The usual is "Did he have any enemies, anyone who would want to harm him?"
I saw a couple of typos in the German version, but mostly just typos, missing last letters etc. which is due to the short time.
The symbolism of "the Black Swan" in itself is quite nice, but it changed little about the impact it had.

The layout and the artstyle of a successful visual novel were copied, but not the workings underneath. It will only remain as an attempt at something great.
All in all, it is an okay-ish game. It's written okay, it works, but it doesn't capture your interest nor your emotions. It aimed for something that it couldn't possibly do in this context.