Violets in the Sunrise

Violets in the Sunrise - by kory_toombs



First Thoughts:
Violets in the Sunrise is a visual novel, with yourself as the main character. The game touches on many different topics including, but not limited to, same-sex marriage, drugs, promiscuity, domestic abuse, depression, suicide, and sexual awakening. The game itself is about 30-40 minutes long if you read the text on your first play-through. Otherwise you can skip the text and make different choices. Also there's three different endings so it's good to see them all.

Story and GamePlay:
You are an unseen adult female protagonist. You are suffering from nightmares and sleepwalking episodes, never knowing where you will wake up. You have been very depressed of late and decided to enroll in the Kiodora Technical Institute to try and do something worthwhile and get your GED. Kiodora is a female-only school for troubled adults who did not complete high school. You like this place, maybe the nightmares will stop.

Upon arriving at Kiodora, you are greeting by three girls with whom you'll be spending lots of time with. First up is Nina Kiodora herself, she's the daughter of the man who runs the university. She's very guarded, and likes to spend her time alone. Next up is Chloe, a tough girl who grew up in Chicago and works hard to earn tuition money. Lastly we have Selina, an althletic blond girl who seems overly cheerful.

All three girls are extremely curious about you, and you must be very approachable because all three start telling you their deepest, darkest secrets whenever they are alone with you. At times they will ask you questions about yourself, and so you must admit why you are here at this school. Not wanting to reveal anything about your nightmares and sleepwalking... you are left with these choices:



The whole point of the game, it seems, is that it's terrible to be alone and that it's good to share with others who care about you. Also, in speaking with these girls and getting to know them, it all comes down to a choice with who you want to be with in the end. Yes.. you are into the girls and they are all into you. The last choice in the game determines the ending you get. The other choices don't affect the game much except to change a couple of paragraphs in the conversation, the game goes back onto the main path very quickly after each choice.

So who's it going to be? Nina, Chloe, or Selina? Answer.. All three! If you play this game, I recommend you see all three endings.

Overall:
As this is a visual novel, the graphics only consist of backgrounds and character portraits (anime style). The music comes from Persona 4 and fits the scenes well, but I kinda wish there were more tunes. Kory_toombs is not done with visual novels, and I think the feedback he's received from this game has already made its way into his current project, Norilsk.

I look forward to see how that game will turn out as well!