I originally played this a year ago, got like a couple hours into Episode 1, and then got bored and dropped it. It can be a rough opening if you're not used to visual novels. This year, I got back to it, because of some random conversation with a friend who liked it reminded me, 'oh, I should do this'.

About one hundred hours later - with a few pauses, not for boredom but because sometimes this gets intense to the point of exhaustion for me - and I sit staring into space listening to the seagulls on the title screen at the end of the Answer Arcs, trying to stop crying so I can be a functional person again.

Try going in blind if you can. What good is a mystery if you know the ending? But since that's not exactly much to actually recommend, I'll go into a little more detail.

Despite a lack of choices - this being a sound novel more than a visual novel-, I still consider this a game, and one that actively teaches you how to play. The game is in your mind - it's in how you engage with the text and the mystery, how you come up with theories. It's a game between you and the author. Even if you're unfamiliar with the mystery genre I genuinely encourage you to give solving it a go by the end - you don't need spreadsheets of who's where when (unless you are as insane as me) but you do need to think about what was presented and when.

The music is a core part of the experience, and absolutely great. There was a very specific moment I stopped being bored when I felt like episode 1 was dragging. A girl reading a letter aloud. A strange song unlike anything in the slow and moody soundtrack up to this point starts up. And suddenly I know I'm going for a ride.

I highly recommend finding the 07th Mod or similar porting-the-console-version mods if you can because the voice acting in my opinion offers a lot; they got an absolutely star studded cast.

Rosa: World's Best Mom.

Read or haven't seen nothing like it. Highly recommend.