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Destruction .. for what?

  • Kylaila
  • 12/03/2014 08:36 AM
  • 1142 views
"We are no Angels" is a visual novels about two beings/variables called X and Y who are about to destroy an earth-like planet.

So far, so good. It focuses on the variable X who lands seperately on the planet.
A war is raging between two nations and no end is in sight.
X is found unconscious and is taken in by a goodwilled guy falling in love with her at first sight, calling her "Ophelia".

The narrations alternates between previous musings in space and X interacting with the world, trying to get a grasp of what is going on before going to destroy it.

This strengthens the isolation of X as well as X's purpose - it is a rediscovery and also a reversion of what becomes her motivation for existing and continuing on.



The whole conflict is kept fairly general, but the game does set a nice stage for this.
The graphics are very clean and simple - no character portraits, just very simple scenery. While it certainly is not a feast for the eyes, it does suit the clean and simple writing well and does not distract or give a clear image for such an indistinct being (which is considered incredibly beautiful as well, better not spoil that image)
The music is quite nice to the ears, but really nothing special and nothing tying to the story.

The game started out slow and alienating, but it soon became fairly engaging, making X an interesting character. You also begin to question the relationship between X and Y as well as X and Hal (that lovestrucken fool)

But while the story was griping, the ending was quite disappoining, as I really expected a different development. The roles of the variables become reversed, but it is is not taken further.

There are many themes that could be expanded upon, but are not. The point of destruction and possibly creation, the point of humanities struggles, what freedom X could possibly make for herself and many more.

I expected a greater focus on this than on the character relationships, given the proportion spent with musings. Yet this is not the case.

A former pair of destruction and creation begs the question of how destruction and creation are related - what the criteria for forming such a pair are, and whether X, too, could be able to not only destroy, but also create

It also becomes obvious that living beings have more energy than simple matter, which could bring a whole new viewpoint to the game if wanted.


I think this is a very decent visual novel for what it is. But the "deep" themes are only superficially worked into the game - if these were explored it could easily become a great game.

Posts

Pages: 1
I appreciate that you took the time to review! Thank you ^^
Overall, I'm happy with the plot and think it developed well, but I like your critique. I might work it into a related story. I'll have to tell my friend that you like his music. You're welcome to visit our website to download some free tracks!

Curious, which "choice" did you pick at the end?
I chose "no", and tried the other ones.

And .. it destroyed my spoiler. Welp. Edited it in.

A former pair of destruction and creation begs the question of how destruction and creation are related - what the criteria for forming such a pair are, and whether X, too, could be able to not only destroy, but also create

It also becomes obvious that living beings have more energy than simple matter, which could bring a whole new viewpoint to the game if wanted.


Pages: 1