Recent reviews by virtf

It's free real estate.

An incredible, beautiful, heart-wrenching depiction of a tragedy, while still keeping true to the series trend of answering questions but asking more. As a first-time reader of the series, I would've almost been happy with as an ending to the series simply out of how emotional and even touching it was; if all the hours put into the first four chapters of the series had to pay for something, I'm so, so glad it was for this. It's my favorite visual novel to date and might be the thing I regret never having a chance to experience for the first time again the most.

I really can't put into words how much I enjoyed Meakashi. It blew my prior favorite visual novel, fate/stay night, well and truly out of the water. I'm both very, very much looking forward to the future instalments and very, very much not emotionally prepared for them.

Thank you for sharing this story, Ryukishi07. An absolute steal for 8 dollars.

Brilliant game. Admittedly a little short and the script is just god awful, but if you don't revolve entirely around story and have even a vague appreciation of Metroidvania I can almost garuntee you'll have a great time.

So, you're considering picking up Higurashi?
(tl;dr at the end)

It's a commitment. I spent at least ten hours on all but one of the eight novels, often more. I'd be comfortable punting at around 100~ hours for completely reading all eight chapters. It suffers from your standard visual novel slow-start-syndrome for the first 4 or 5 chapters, and it can be hard to get traction on the story while you're feeling around in the dark for the first 3 chapters. On top of that, the UI still feels dated even in Hou, which is particulary jarring for the first one or two chapters.

So with all of that criticism in mind, is it worth picking up the series?

Throughout the series, the author - Ryukishi07 - plays with perspective and context, alongside a lack thereof, to create an amazing and enthralling mystery story. The world he built to set it is incredible in that it's simple yet has so much depth, from the residents of Hinamizawa to the locales to the mythos. I found that with each chapter I read, I was getting more and more impatient to read the next one as I rattled through what I had learnt to try and work on my theories, which kept getting shaken up by the exciting twists the author kept throwing at me. By the time I finished chapter 6, I couldn't bear to wait anymore and imported copies of the original novels; I read both of them in 4 days, while working full time.

It hurts to describe Higurashi as a horror mystery because, while it is, it's so much more than that, but I can't go into any more detail without spoiling the experience. I'd love to rant and rave about all the little things that had me so hooked on it, but it's a story that needs to be experienced blind so that you can get that context and perspective that I mentioned earlier, which does so much for the storytelling.

If you're not a novice to visual novels and are willing to commit to the 100 or so hour read, then I'd recommend Higurashi without taking the time to blink.
The long read, slow starts for the first few chapters, and the dated UI makes it hard for me to recommend it as a first time visual novel read, so I'd suggest starting with some easier reads to test the waters if you're considering picking up visual novels as a medium.
However if you are still keen despite all of that and do pick it up, you'll be rewarded with one of the most incredible stories on the market. The anime doesn't do the novels justice, although with the sheer time difference, it's only fair. just don't even look at the wiki, don't even look at it, that cursed place is spoiler hell

great if you want to overcome a heroin addiction, but equally if not more destructive to your lifestyle and health.