SC2VN

A 2 hour visual novel about a youngster starting up in the starcraft 2 pro scene. Though im a terrible starcraft 2 player, its really interesting to see a peek behind the scenes of the pro gamer scene. It is moderatly well written as well, a couple of funny and emotional moments.

You kinda need to know the basics about starcraft to really enjoy this one, and the image quality isnt all that great.

All in all though, a good if yet a bit niche visual novel. It grabbed me all the way to the end.

Knowing nothing about Starcraft or eSports (in its current form, at least), getting into this was still really easy. There was a slight bit of novelty starting out, but from there, everything about it was really intriguing and built in a way to keep you reading.

The story is written by someone who definitely sounds like they know what they're talking about, in terms of culture and gaming. This can result in it being a bit hard to grasp at times, but there's still a lot of genuine writing and emotion, and not just someone writing about video games because they think it's "cool" or "hip". The characters as well are written in a sincere way, not coming off as caricatures or stereotypes, but as actual human beings. There's nuance and layering to them.

The way the story paces itself is also done in a smart manner. There's not too much dumping of exposition and action, yet you don't stall in the story for too long as well. It's a great way to get you accompanied with the setting, the characters, and the playing field as well. And, as an aside and small bonus, you can pick whether you play as a male or female protagonist, which doesn't change the story much (and if it does, it's not too noticeable).

Which is another good thing about this game! Occasionally, you get to play in some mock Starcraft 2 battles, Rather than actually controlling the battles yourself, you're given action trees to decide which way the story goes and how the characters react. What help is that these options are rarely designed to make you super awesome or unbeatable; they're how a player who's in a bit too over their heads would think and react. The game and story, then, doesn't require you to be a hardcore fan of SC2 or eSports to really get it. You can start right out of the gate and still feel connected with everything.

There are a couple drawbacks though. The first one only really applies if you don't know much about the subject matter going in beforehand like I did. The dialog and jargon around the game can be confusing, and you'll likely not know what's going on because of it. The game tries to combat this by giving you a glossary when opening the menu, and updating it with terms bolded in-game whenever you encounter them. It still doesn't help too much though, as I had to google some of it in order to really pick up on it. The game tries to combat this by giving you a tutorial video accessible when you first start the game, or on the extras menu. It's voice-acted which... which makes it really cringeworthy at times. It got annoying enough to where I quit out of it early because I didn't think I'd make it through. And finally, while the game has some nice music at times, at others... it sounds too stock music-esque and a touch unfitting to really sell itself.

Still, this doesn't detract from the game majorly. At heart, the story is a simple one; someone who wants to make the most of their talent and is willing to risk their finances and reputation to pursue it, even in a field where fame and longevity is uncertain. Make no mistake; though the game can be a bit silly at times, it doesn't treat its subject matter in a non-serious way, and that gives the game a much-needed breath of fresh air that most visual novels recently can't give you. Also, it's free and has low requirements, so any competent computer should be able to run it.