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akatsuki-shin · 4 months

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[REVIEW] スロウ・ダメージ Slow Damage

Just finished marathoning this game to get all the endings and that was a blast!

It's been a while since I last posted a review of anything, so here goes~ ^^

Note(s):

Long post ahead, may contain spoilers

This review is written by someone who is familiar with all of Nitro+Chiral's previously released BL Visual Novels (so I may make remarks on their comparison here and there)

This is my personal review; my opinion does not represent the entire audience and players of the game

SUMMARY:

In the Year 20XX, the nation of Japan has been rapidly declining to rock-bottom in the past decade, leading to a significant spike in poverty, unemployment, and crime rate.

Once known as a thriving Tokyo Waterfront City, the special administrative region of Shinkoumi fell into the hands of the yakuza Takasato Group, who ruled the city like a nation of their own.

Here lives Towa, an indolent, hedonistic young man with seemingly no goal or ambition in life. Day by day, he wastes himself away in smoke, alcohol, and — sometimes — violent sex with peers and strangers alike whenever he feels like it.

However, few knows of his true identity as "Euphoria," a genius artist known for his prominent paintings that perfectly captures a human's deepest, darkest desire.

STORY: 7/10

With 2 (two) default routes, 1 (one) locked route, and 1 (one) True Ending route, Slow Damage is different from the previous 4 (four) BL Visual Novels that has been released by Nitro+Chiral thus far, in which there is neither adventure or "greater plot" that needs to be resolved as the main body of the story.

In the previous games, we can say that the general plot overall does not change much regardless of which route we takes, save for a few in-depth details that can only be obtained in the True Ending route. For example, when playing DRAMAtical Murder, Toue will still be defeated and the Platinum Jail will still go down no matter which character's route you decide to take.

Slow Damage, however, is a game where you unravel a "puzzle" named Towa.

No route can stand on its own; you need to play all 4 (four) available routes in order to fully understand everything. There is no particular "grand goal." Maybe you'll solve someone's problem in one route, maybe you'll take down the yakuza in the other route.

The 2 (two) default routes will present you the Towa as "it is," according to your first impression on him, where he helps solve the respective Love Interest's problem by diving into their mind and unravel their inner "wounds." The locked route will dig halfway to Towa's past to show a little bit more about him prior to his current life.

But eventually, you will only be able to understand him, why he looks and acts like that, why he does the thing he does, after completing the True Ending route.

Depending on your expectation before playing the game, you may or may not be disappointed after discovering the full story. Personally speaking, I was a bit disappointed at first because I thought the plot is superficial and doesn't touch on any major subject regarding the universe where the story takes place. In the end, however, I think it's a quite solid and complete story, albeit taking a different spin from the previous games.

The plot is deep and detailed; it can really deliver some very heavy emotional issues, as well as presenting the fun and romantic sides. I personally feel the plot twists and revelations obtained in the True Ending is very cleverly wrapped. There are many small, miss-able things in the other routes that will only be explained in the True Ending.

Furthermore, if I have any complains about the previous games, it is that they tend to drop an "info dump" at some point in the story. Fortunately for me, Slow Damage is very good at distributing the information through dialogues, narration, and dividing them between scenes.

A few "minus" points from me, though...

There are some important things that do not have enough foreshadowing in the front, but suddenly becomes extremely significant in the latter part of the story. For example:

Towa and Fujieda's real names. There are no hint leading to this at all from the beginning and it doesn't really give any impact whatsoever to the whole story, either. But for some reason, the story-telling makes it look as if it is very important.

Although Fujieda himself as a character appear briefly in the other 3 (three) routes, there is next to no hints at all that connect him with Towa prior to the True Ending route. Sure, his little sister appeared in Towa's dream before, but the story-telling doesn't connect it with Fujieda before we unlock his route. Personally-speaking, while the True Ending route is overall very satisfying for me, I still feel some disconnection with Fujieda's background and motivation in the story.

Speaking of "disconnection," this is especially true for Madarame's route.

Before, when playing the default routes (Rei and Taku), we are already used to the indolent, lazy Towa and his occasional self-harming habits whenever he's craving stimulations. But in Madarame's route, you are suddenly being shoved in the face with stories about Towa's past with him out of the blue, forcing you to accept that Towa does not used to be like that.

While the latter part of Madarame's route until the ending is neatly put together, I cannot help but still feel that he is a stranger who suddenly barges into the main plot and forcefully diverts the direction of the story for no reason. It's like a skyscraper that looks majestic from the outside but actually has shallow foundation below.

I also feel that Taku's route has a massive plot hole because even though Taku is supposed to know Towa from when he was still a child, very little details are revealed in his route. Perhaps it's so that it won't clash with the secrets known only in the True Ending, but it makes Taku's route feel somewhat lackluster (especially since Towa isn't questioning about his past at all during this route).

And last but not least, I think this is the first time I'm playing a Visual Novel where you can't exactly call the endings as "Good" or "Bad."

Certainly, in the True Ending route, it's obvious to see whether the ending you get is "Good" or "Bad." But other than that, the term "Euphoria" and "Madness" ending just fit the theme so well because as f*cked up as the "Madness" ending is, Towa as the main character doesn't feel it's bad because he's simply that unhinged of a character.

CHARACTER: 10/10

Towa's character development until the very end is simply amazing. It is especially heartbreaking to see him crumble as he gradually draws closer and closer to the truth about his past. Likewise, it feels fulfilling to see him finally getting the true happy ending with a kindred soul who shares his pain.

Furthermore, as much as I'm glad that he finally finds the closure and salvation that he so deserves, I'm particularly happy that we are allowed to get a glimpse at how his sociopath mother truly felt back then. While it cannot, in any way, be used to condone what she had done to Towa and her other victims, it shows the ironic difference between her life and Towa:

Towa has friends that care about him, hence helping him to settle down and eventually come to terms with his issues. His mother, however, was a lonely soul with no one who could help her address her issues until the very end.

Putting aside my earlier "complains" about Madarame and Taku's routes, the dynamic between Towa and his Love Interests are interesting to follow because each has a unique and different approach to it. The way their romance blooms is like a refreshing breeze amidst the story full of heavy emotional and psychological traumas.

The side characters have very solid personalities and fit perfectly into the main plot with their respective roles. Truthfully, I can't really find anything to complain about regarding the characters.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10

Almost a decade after DRAMAtical Murder was released, Nitro+Chiral has really kicked up their game's quality by a whole notch.

The "Interrogation" and "Exploration" makes it super different from your traditional Visual Novel games where most of the time, the choices can be rather predictable.

Of course, I also love how the game's visual appearance change significantly before and after finishing the True Ending. The interface is pretty to look at and suits the story's theme perfectly.

ART/VISUAL: 9/10

This is probably the best-looking Visual Novel from Nitro+Chiral I've ever played.

Opinions on the art style may differ between each person, but I think we can all agree that they really pay attention to the details. Especially for major characters like Towa, even the location and degree of his injuries vary in his avatars following the situation currently taking place in the plot.

I also can't believe how detailed they draw the background, food, drinks, and objects that appear in the CGs.

That said, I feel like for a city that is described as "you can easily stumble on dead people on the street," the background art is way too pretty and clean, it doesn't really look like a declining city at all where people can die from cold and hunger.

MUSIC: 10/10

Likewise, I personally feel Slow Damage has the best music compared to the other 4 (four) games before.

The BGMs are not boring; it can really build up the atmosphere and makes you feel the tension presented on the screen.

I am especially fond of the music during romantic scene. If I have to put it into words, it gives the NSFW scenes a dash of fluff on top of the sexy that you can't help but melt with him.

SUMMARY: 9.2/10

As different as it is from the previous games released by Nitro+Chiral, Slow Damage certainly does not disappoint although there is quite a gap until this game was finally released. It's really worth the wait, and it can easily wrap you emotionally while you're playing through the story.

Furthermore, I think the current generation, especially the millennials, can really relate to the setting of which the game is taking place. Maybe not to that extreme, but the way the young generation in the game is described as overworked, exhausted, and depressed is truly a reflection of life nowadays for us. :')

I look forward to replaying this game again some other day, now that I already get all the secrets they have to offer. Perhaps it will give a different experience. <3

P.S. This isn't about the game but more about the translation/localization. I wish English publishers will pay more attention to the expressions and nuances in the original language when translating instead of just throwing whatever words that fit.

For example, in Rei's route, he says "抱きたい" which means "I want to embrace you," but they just translated it into "I want to f*ck you."

Sure, "embrace" and "f*ck" would lead to the same result, but that's not the way he was saying it. Those two words bear two completely different feelings, and this is just one among numerous other issues with the official translations.

#Slow Damage #SuroDame #スロウ・ダメージ #スロダメ #スロウダメージ #nitro+chiral #visual novel #Review

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