I started Narcissu at around 9PM knowing nothing of the story other than the Steam description.
It's now 1:30 am and after numerous breaks to collect myself, I am finished.
Surrounding me are spent tissues and a plastic bag, my face is red and my eyes sting.
I've cried 6 times between the start and finish of this visual novel, and honestly, I couldn't be happier.

Narcissu really spoke to me on numerous levels, as someone who's lost ones they love, and as someone who is a former catholic. (Note: The religious themes in this game are not heavy handed, but actually enhance the story.) I would recommend this title to anyone, especially people who've lost loved ones and have ever felt the hopelessness involved.

Truly a beautiful heart wrenching story.

The reason this Anthology is cheap is because it's already available as free games on this Steam. If you don't feel like paying a few dollars (this is on Humble Bundle as well at the moment), then you can play the free version here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/264380/Narcissu_1st__2nd/

My old review which is still relevant is here: http://steamcommunity.com/id/zeroxxx/recommended/264380

And yes this version's still recommended. By purchasing this will allow you to purchase the season pass. Never purchase the DLC separately - it makes things more expensive - buy Season Pass on sale if you are frugal.

Guys, if you're not sure about buying this one, consider playing/reading/watching/listening it for free:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/264380/

I love this VN, bought it with Season Pass and now I hope to see Narcissu's sidestories on Steam.

Thank you, Sekai Project, thank you, stage-nana.

TL;DR: narcissu's a compilation of a few tearjerking stories grounded/based in reality, in a minimalistic visual novel style, of people awaiting their death. There's a free version for the first 2 games. 1st game's story happens after 2nd, but they can be played in any order. 2nd is better, tho. This anthology (paid) version contains the first 2 games plus the epilogue and a short story (1980). The anthology dlcs has 3 other stories. Of them, Zero is the better one, as it's related to the first 2 games. The last two stories, not so much. Little Iris is skippable... BUT it contains the followup to the previous short story (1993), which is amazing. Sumire is not as bad as Little Iris... but has fantasy elements, which it's bad for the series.

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No Spoilers Review:

narcissu's basically a collection of short (3 to 6 hours) tearjerking/thought-provoking stories of people with terminal illness dealing with the whys of where and how to die. Being residents of a hospice, it's no surprise they die... But the way they head towards their deaths, and past it, is where narcissu wants to sell you tissues. To make the feels hit harder, the first 2 games are based on the author's (Kataoka Tomo) own experiences...

You can play the series in any particular order. Personally, I'd recommend struggling through the sleep-inducing 1st game before starting the 2nd, because knowing the story of Setsumi's suicide in the 1st game makes her prequel story in the 2nd that much more suffering, and it's about only 3 hours short. But then, though the events in narcissu 2nd are chronologically set before the first, it was obviously released later and had a lot more work put into. So, if you happen to get sleepy while playing the 1st, try finishing the 2nd and then coming back to a much better view of the first. It's also my personal favorite.

Anyways, the first two games are available for free. This Anthology's base game only adds Himeko's epilogue and the even-shorter-short-story titled '1980', both are well worth the asking price. The Anthology's Season Pass adds 3 other stories and the soundtrack. I think that only Zero is worth it of them, having a stronger connection to the first two games (it's another prequel duh) and feeling more grounded in reality than the other DLCs. A Little Iris is set in an slightly romanticized medieval ages, barely feels like the other games and has no connection to them, but it does contain the followup to the previous short-short-story, '1993', which's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ amazing. Lastly, Sumire left me quite conflicted/confused... even though it hits home in some spots, Akari's story completely kills it with its fantasy elements. Besides barely having any connection to the 1st-2nd-0 trilogy (even though it's set between 2nd and 1st), Sumire also happens to be a spin-off of and unlocalized game called Sumire (...), in which it relies some of its plot points on...

Regarding the gameplay, narcissu is a kinetic novel (KN): a visual novel without branching paths; so no options, only clicks through the text. Playing KNs feel sorta like reading a book with a couple of images and audio. But Narcissu makes the experience a bit closer to that, as the "visual" part of this novel is quite minimalistic, it's mostly composed of static backgrounds cut into wide wide strips, with only a handful of images depicting its anime characters. It doesn't even show character portraits during dialogs, which's a plus for me because i don't have to see the same faces over and over again.

Funny thing is, it was done in this minimalistic way because it was originally a cheap experiment by the author, recycling some content from other games he's worked with. Even the recycled OST works surprisingly well in its favor to set up the mood, in most cases... because the audio can get cut short sometimes (cicadas cries) or might be way too loud overall (Yuka is a major offender).

As for other issues i found: some scene/screen transitions happen a bit too sudden (sometimes with the audio getting cut short as well) and texts are often presented with a couple of typos, so both can get in the way of them feels; the translation doesn't feel natural in some places, but not to the point of it being terribad; there's a couple of innacuracies regarding hospices, but they won't affect the experience unless you're a medical buff; and lastly, the client lacks window resizing (I've tried bordeless gaming to no avail).

Overall, even with some technical flaws, narcissu is quite a wonderful experience that's surely to live for years to come, as it already did for nearly 15 years. I've first played it around a decade ago and it's still one of my favorite stories in gaming. And if there's one VN/KN i'd recommend to even those who have never played one, it would be narcissu.

The stories are good but the translation and quality control are deplorable, you're better off learning and playing the games in Japanese than experiencing them in this state.

If you want to read Narcissu 1 and 2 in English I would recommend the bundle already present on Steam for free (Narcissu 1st & 2nd) over the one in this bundle because they somehow made it worse and riddled with errors despite being based on the same translation (Agilis's).

If you still want to buy and read the stories bundled in this release, be prepared to have some scenes absolutely ruined by the presence of missing words/typos/coding errors(?) which is simply unacceptable for a $100,000 Kickstarter project but sadly the only way to experience them in English.

Many years have passed since the first games of the renowned Narcissu series first became known among the fans of the visual novel, and within there the kinetic game genre, quickly establishing itself as one of the better known and well received doujin releases in Western communities. Shortly thereafter, the second one came out which was also freely available to those who were so inclined and wanted to read it, leaving many a fan waiting with bated breath if others will also be offered later on, as were its predecessors. As it turned out it wasn't the last, but sadly it came at a great price.

The first sign stems from the simple yet powerful fact that despite the title which is at least in name supposed to be the anthology of all Narcissu releases, its producer only included the already free first two games in its core edition, and a never before heard extra chapter. This is because unlike with a real collection of stories, the chapters are split up instead this time on the pretext that people interested in them can choose only which they want to read and pay for only that. It's a little difficult to accept however as it's little more than a thinly disguised attempt at milking a fairly famous game for all it's worth, asking significantly more money for the entire set than actually great visual novels like eden* or planetarian are being sold for. Which gets even more pronounced on the Kickstarter page where the publishers set tiers for those investing in their funding project, requesting insane amounts of money for anything more than a digital copy, which is like a store offering the covers of a book at a modest price then charging ten times more for the pages themselves. In that regard, its publisher is nothing like a proper company which handles visual novels, especially considering the fact that they mostly release already existing ones when they can like they did with Grisaia, and all the other games they have are abysmally low in quality, especially the Sakura series. This alone should be enough of a reason to steer clear of the game presented here.

Even if it wasn't though, there are still plenty not to support a nonexistant anthology, one of the biggest being that the third entry of the series, Die Dritte Welt is not mentioned anywhere on the store page and is only said to being translated. That leaves the direct sequel to the first games out, replacing it with completely unrelated chapters that try to extend the series in the wrong direction, but contrary to what was expected only destroy what made it so unusual at first by doing so. Not completely unlike how EA killed Westwood and with it ruined the Command and Conquer universe, and arguing that the new content isn't bad in itself unfortunately doesn't counterweigh the damage done to the original games. A shame since if it wasn't for present edition being a collection, there would be much less flaws to find.

Sekai Project also flagged this review for no reason but it being critical of the product they made, while I received several verbally abusing comments from Kickstarter supporters that could get one permabanned due to how disgusting they were. I care not for mindless fanboys however as I will ignore all downvotes from them if they can't even try or just don't want to make decent arguments about why there's a disagreement.

Therefore, if you truly appreciate visual novels, then look for quality games from good publishers while read the combined game of Narcissu 1 and 2 if you are still interested in reading them since it's free and has the soundtrack in store if you want to buy it. Avoid this release. Don't buy.

So far, I have only played through the First Visual Novel, and I will update this as needed

It has no replayability, no choices, and no nudity.

In fact, you rarely see the characters at all, and only once in full view.

But damn, this is art. The storyline is slow-paced, dramatic, and most importantly, emotional. It is a two-character play which tore my heart out and replaced it with a sullen husk of what it once was. I love this, and I feel that it is a masterpiece that is worth every penny.

Read the Free Narcissu 1-2 on steam for free around 2015 and gotten the achievement.
Around 2017 I got my hands on the 10th Anniversary version from a friend as a gift.

Since then I been off steam for about 2-3 years. Work, Moving Back to china, Work some more, Getting Married, Work some more. Life has been eventful yet uneventful and it's been losing flavor to me.

After long thought I decide to return back to steam and return back to gaming to keep my life more entertained.
I decided to choose a VN to be the first game I play since I come back to steam.

The randomization of all my VN return the answer as this 10th anniversary version of this game I already played.
This time with much more life experience gained. I slowly enjoyed this VN again.

Sure enough as I remembered from 5 years ago that box of napkin for tears was KIA once again.
15 days of 2 terminally ill kids to find their peace. To witness them making full use of their ever withering life give me more courage to live my own life.

We are all most fortunate to have what we have now. Life, Family and beyond... Make the most of it and prove that you lived.

10/10 for part 1.. 8/10 for part 2 and 7/10 for all the DLC sub stories. The DLCs are ok but nothing as emotional and touching as the original part 1.

Music is beautiful yet old. Graphic is basic. No choice route, no fan service, Only Superb Story with Emotion.
OST is very good If u got this might as well try it. You will enjoy the OST.

21 hours of concentrated feels and tears.
10/10 too dead inside to read again.

Review in one sentence : Himeko’s Epilogue is recommended for fans of Narcissu 1 and 2, and non-fans may feel unsatisfied with the content they get (about 1 hour of reading) for the price they pay.

As the title says, this is an epilogue for Himeko, who is a main character in Narcissu 2. As such, it is strongly recommended that you finish Narcissu 2 before starting Himeko’s Epilogue. The epilogue is short as you may expect, with about 1 hour of reading, and it takes Himeko’s story from Narcissu 2 to the very end. That’s not to say that the ending in Narcissu 2 is unfinished. The ending of Narcissu 2 satisfactorily closes the story of Himeko and Setsumi, so reading Himeko’s Epilogue is not strictly necessary to understanding the story.

Himeko’s Epilogue focuses on the friendship between Himeko and Yuka. Without spoiling any events, you could say that Himeko’s Epilogue is a story about two friends supporting each other to get through the difficulties they are facing. Yuka is a minor character in Narcissu 2, and her character develops a little in the short amount of time covered in Himeko’s Epilogue.

There are two options for going through Himeko’s Epilogue – Normal and Classic Mode. The only difference between the two modes is the artwork used for the background. The artwork in Normal will show character’s faces, whereas Classic will not, and the artwork in Normal is larger.


The chronological order of the stories is: Narcissu 2 -> Himeko’s Epilogue -> Narcissu 1

Setsumi is a main character in Narcissu 2, and Narcissu 2 is a prequel to her story in Narcissu 1. Narcissu 2 explains some of the actions that Setsumi takes in Narcissu 1, so if you can’t stand seeing characters doing things for seemingly unexplainable reasons then you may like to read Narcissu 1 last. Otherwise, you can read Narcissu 2 after Narcissu 1 and have several moments of “Ah, so that’s why!”