Game Cover

I see ... so that's the choice of Steins Gate. El Psy Kongroo.

Platform played on: PS Vita

# Review

Although I enjoy periodically reading manga, I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore anime or manga otaku, thus I'd never imagine myself being this absorbed in a visual novel.

Steins;Gate follows the story of Rintaro Okabe, a self-proclaimed "mad scientist", who, with his friends, accidentally stumble upon a device which allows them to send e-mails to the past. The plot centers around Okabe and friends using the device and setting off a series of unforeseen events.

Rintaro Okabe, the Protagonist of Steins;Gate

The plot is incredible; it's extremely intricate but well-planned. There are so many plot-twists but the pivots are thoughtful and contribute meaningfully to the story. The character development is equally amazing; almost all of the characters are likeable and have their own interesting backstories. I especially enjoyed the character development of Okabe who, at first, comes off as childish and obnoxious but as the story progresses, the reader/player learns more about his background and why he acts the way he does, and he becomes a much more relatable and likeable character.

Another aspect which I really enjoyed about the story is how thoroughly they explained the physical phenomenon of time travel. They used many concepts from theoretical physics, such as Kerr black holes and the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics. I think good science fiction always mixes a decent amount of science with fiction and I think Steins;Gate nailed the mix. While not super in-depth, these little nuggets of physics really appeal to me, as I encountered many of these concepts in high school and I even considered pursuing physics in university. The story also touches on aspects from natural philosophy, with themes such as determinism, fatalism, and free will, which I also appreciate.

Examples of physics in Steins;Gate

The artstyle looks gorgeous and the soundtrack is perhaps some of the best video game music I've ever heard. The result is that the game is able to precisely control the mood and atmosphere, such as quickly pivoting from lighthearted moments of bantering between friends to feelings of unease and anxiety.

The limited gameplay is also very elegant; the player can interact and make decisions with Okabe's cellphone, such as reading and responding to different emails. I thought it was really cool that the content on the phone changes depending on the decisions that the player makes and I found the idea of making decisions through interacting with the phone much more immersive than traditional video game decision-making mechanisms, such as on-screen prompts or dialogue decisions. The game also features a glossary of different references contained within the story, from references to anime/manga pop culture, to references to concepts from theoretical physics, making it very easy for players to understand the concepts brought up in the dialogues.

Interacting through Emails

There were some things that I felt could have been better, for instance, there are several endings, but the decisions leading up to each ending is more or less random (I guess it could also be intentional since unintented consequences is a major theme in the story). I actually followed a flowchart to see all of the endings because the story was so compelling.

100% Completion

# Conclusion

I was genuinely surprised at how good the story is; I will have to watch the anime now to fill the Steins;Gate-shaped hole in my life.

# Overall rating: 9.1

What does the rating mean?