真实幻象 / Behind The Truth

A Chinese-produced VN about a fledgeling journalist—a very determined and idealistic one. Now a question: do you like reading newspaper articles? You are put into the shoes of a freshly graduated intern reporter, Ji Zhe, who has dreamt of becoming a journalist since childhood. Honestly, this is the worst kind: frequently idealistic and naive, pushing themselves into dangerous situations eagerly. On the flip side, they're often inspiring and pushing boundaries. Such characteristics match Ji well, and if you applaud her attitude, you are very likely to enjoy her escapades.  The main story unfolds over ten chapters, during which you will conduct journalistic investigations, interview people involved, and 'write' articles relaying what occurred to the public. While you will encounter several choices, they're typically either fake or meaningless, bearing no impact on the story. You will reach the same finale, no matter what. Still, do keep in mind that some of those pointless decisions will yield achievements, so it's worth doing some clicking. The limitation of only six save slots is a bit unfortunate, though, so you can't make a save before every decision.  As you progress through the events, you will encounter several helpful characters who will tag along frequently. An oblivious but reliable policeman, Jing; a top rookie reporter and romantic pursuer, Xin; a well-intentioned but somewhat sexist newspaper director; and many more. The events you'll encounter are more often than not rather dramatic in nature, but some light-hearted and hopeful ones appear too, serving as a counterbalance. Quite a few times, the perspective will shift to another person, presenting you with a complementary narrative. Additionally, the occasional flashback and foreshadowing embellish the experience. There is also a supernatural element: Ji's ability to see the memories of the dead.  Altogether, these literary instruments form a relatively coherent and emotional story that I certainly enjoyed. While the experience was linear and the English translation was iffy, the positives outweighed the negatives easily.  Aside from the main story, there are also three shorter ones, tangentially related to the events Ji experienced. They can be accessed from the main menu. A nice extension, indeed. I can easily recommend this VN to all who enjoy real-life-inspired drama and/or crime and mystery stories. The art accompanying the story is pretty good, reminding me of the Korean webtoons. Most of the cast has several tachies displaying different poses and emotions. Moreover, in some scenes, character sprites were not placed above the textbox, adding more variety to the action. Not a common feature among low-cost VN. The number and quality of backgrounds are also above average. Every location has its own background, and some are big enough to allow the zooming or side-scrolling effects. You can also see location marks or indicators on several backgrounds or maps. Nice and simple interactive elements. Overall design and interactivity are way above average considering the price of this title. The effort put into audio quality does not disappoint either. There is a good variety of music tracks, and while none of them was particularly memorable, the enjoyment of events was amplified by them. There is also a decent opening song in the start menu. A fair number of sound effects add to the experience even further. I certainly have no complaints about the audio side. Well done. No bugs were encountered. Overall, this medium-length VN presents you with the growth story of an aspiring female journalist in China. The rendition of the real-life events was done tastefully and, in my opinion, with a tangible emotional impact. I certainly enjoyed the experience and feel confident the majority would as well, even though the English translation feels a bit off. Very good value for the price: 7.6/10

The game is a little buggy. The last 3 or 4 characters of the sentences in Chapter 6 were cut off, and at one point I had to reload because the whole dialogue box disappeared. Despite that, I think it's worth the price. It deals with serious subjects like predatory lending and other financial scams, but it has a lighthearted tone at other times. For example, your boss wears a sleeveless shirt to work, and probably sandals even though you can't see it. The story explores ways in which people become victims of crime. On the other hand, the criminals lack backstories and are portrayed as one-dimensional evil creatures. But I guess this is necessary to keep the story short and to the point. The pacing of the story is fast so that it never gets boring. Reading one chapter only takes about 20-30 min. (if you're fluent) and there are 10 chapters + 3 side stories. All of the characters are voiced, even the main character! The music is nice to listen to and adds to the story. I would definitely buy the soundtrack, if it were available for purchase.

Felt Like a Mumbo Jumbo Acid Trip with A Good Message As the most reviews mentioned this VN does have a lot of translation problems, but it tried delivering a good message to the society which includes: Illegal Nude Photography, Campus Loan Sharks, Financial Scams targered at students. (probably centered in Chinese society nevertheless worth to know if you are a foreigner like me) The protagonist is a journalist with a passion for justice and she solves cases which includes campus students and their problems. The problem with the VN is that its a messy soup with elements such as: Supernatural, Journalism, Criminology, Otome, Being a Foodie etc. At some point i cannot remember what happened in the story, the flow was so bad. If you are sensitive to themes such as suicide and depression then you might want to turn away from this game. The gameplay had some creative elements such as the map, access to phone, lucky bag, news case etc but too bad the game missed the mark. The art work was pretty great and the inside jokes are decent. The VN is not voice and the music is okay. The VN has an otome romance subplot if you are interested, well the guys are hot (Xin Wen!) that makes the VN less boring a bit but to be honest it is very boring. One moment you are chasing some criminal and the next moment you are solving boring financial math puzzles. It felt like a fruit salad and from somewhere the realistic heroine gets supernatural powers. The achievements are okay and easy to get but you don't know what you are getting since it's titled in chinese. But the guides are super helpful if you are stuck. But tbh you just finish everything and then get them? Idk I got it in one go. There are some extra storylines if you are interested and most of the choices in the game are easy and has no impact at all. It's all so confusing. I liked the main characters personality tho she seemed tough and independent. Well the conclusion is buy it on sale if you want and if you are heavily interested in journalism and illegal photography and criminology. Otherwise just don't save yo money and buy something else. You do learn something new from the game as in how to protect yourself more especially if you are a woman but I feel like the excellent idea is not executed properly.