"It's me. An opportunity shows itself. I can reveal to the world my greatness through a Review! ...what? An Organization trap?! ...of course they would want me to spill the beans on my plans, crafty bast ards. HOWEVER! This Hououin Kyouma will not be so easily tempted and fooled! For I KNEW it was a trap, but I have the world in the palm of my hand! Fuahahahahahahahahaha!!"

Where do I even begin? Steins;Gate has to be one of the most captivating, tear-jerking, awe-inspiring stories of all time and the most amazing piece of media that exists today with one of the most interesting concepts of time-travel you've ever heard of. The best part? There's absolutely no plot-holes like in virtually every other time-travel story out there and everything wraps up neatly leaving you completely satisfied.

Steins;Gate is a time travel sci-fi set in the real world and uses real life laws of physics; meaning that science and scientific theories are used and explained for time travel: no magic or extraterrestrials present. Steins;Gate also uses real-life phenomena and conspiracies such as the forum posts from the time-traveling John Titor in the year 2000 and the CERN conspiracy surrounding their ability to create mini black holes and integrates these into it's plot to make it work seamlessly.

The story of Steins;Gate puts you in the mind of Hououin Kyouma, a self-proclaimed 'mad scientist' who develops future gadgets in his lab with the objective of bringing chaos to the world's ruling structure and to thwart "The Organization" who are behind major conspiracies. In reality, Okabe Rintarou (his real name) is just a college student who rents out an apartment and hangs out with his friends and constructs "future gadgets" with random items they can find (ex. a toy raygun that functions as a TV remote, or a landmine repurposed as a de-humidifier). His "Hououin Kyouma" persona is all in his head, and his friends just roll with his chuunibyou.

One day, the lab constructs a future gadget called the "PhoneWave (Name Subject to Change)" that combines a microwave and a cellphone. This device's unintended side-effect allows people to send messages into the past and change the future. Around the time of this device's creation, a supposed time traveler with the pseudonym 'John Titor' appears on internet forums talking about how the organization SERN (CERN) uses time machines in 2036 to create a dystopia, and he has been sent back to warn people. This prompts Okabe to look more into SERN, and after doing so he realizes there are sick, dangerous secrets hidden behind the research organization.

The writers of Steins;Gate had obviously put lots of research, thought, and planning when creating it, and that dedication and attention to detail really makes this story so... timeless. Meaning: the story doesn't just suddenly start with "one day the main character went on an adventure" and end with "he saved the day and this concludes his adventure" No, Okabe's life is thought and planned out from start to finish, even though this story only covers a small window (4 weeks) of his life. Everyone else's lives were also planned out. The writers even go so far as to explain (in depth) all of the scientific theories behind time travel, black holes, advanced technology, and so-on. This VN will give you a lot to think about and reflect on.

The gameplay is, well... it's a visual novel. However, Steins;Gate is different from conventional VNs, where you have many choice prompts throughout the story that branch into different paths. Instead, all gameplay comes from interactions with Okabe's phone. The 'branching paths' come from texting people back or calling a certain person when prompted to. The VN is more story oriented and focuses itself on that, while doing an excellent job of solidifying your role as Okabe Rintarou through the way you control his phone.

The music is great and immersive. Many of the game's soundtracks are remixes of Steins;Gate's central theme: Gate of Steiner, that are composed differently to set a certain mood. The music does a great job of making you anxious or ripping your heart apart.

There is an anime adaptation of Steins;Gate made, and I would highly reccomend watching Steins;Gate and then playing it through. The anime has a lot of the story cut out of it, but has more than enough to make it an amazing journey. After watching it, you'll want to come and play it because it turns a 10/10 anime into a 100/10 game. Also, it will give you extra motivation to grind your way through the first half of this game. I LOVE Steins;Gate, and even I admit this game is excruciatingly long at first. But make your way through it and mountains of gold await you.

I CANNOT reccomend this game enough. Steins;Gate is completely captivating and because it holds itself to real life physics and science (apart from the whole time travel thing) it really convinces you of "this makes a lot of sense and seems like it could've actually happened". The characters are all lovable, and the transformation that Okabe Rintarou goes through during the course of the game is absolutely phenomenal.

Stop what you are doing and go watch Steins;Gate, give yourself a week or two to reflect on what you watched and let it sink in, and then come back and get all the juicy details and amazing extra story in this game.

"El. Psy. Kongroo."