What is a Visual Novel? People like me see them as interactive books or something closer to interactive theater rather than a video game. This genre is popular in Japan and slowly getting popularity from western audience. What it might be surprising for some people is pricing of games like this. Pricing of top VN might be close to AAA titles what could surprise players unfamiliar with this genre. If you never played/read VN before I can assure you that this title is a good place to start. Just make sure that you start playing Root After first. Root Before answers some of the questions in Root After at the very beginning and you want to avoid that.

Root Double - Before Crime * After Days is the VN title that surprised me in the most positive way. In my humble opinion, this VN is underrated even among fans of this genre.

When you start the game you are waking up into world in year 2030 at LABO, a giant scientific research facility built by a lake on the outskirts of Rokumei City where an incident occurs. In result, you are trapped inside this facility and You will be facing lots of dangers. You will be playing as Watase Kasagi an amnesiac rescue captain and you have to survive during lockdown. After clearing this route you will play as Natsuhiko Tenkawa as he goes through incidents as well as his life the week before we get to know more about this future world and why certain things are happening inside the LABO.

The story itself is well-written, there are interesting twists, character development, lots of endings - 39 (bad, normal, good) with impressively executed final route. This VN could read even someone who is not interested in that kind of games. I think that RD makes a great first VN.

At the beginning I explained more or less how VN looks like and what is unique in Root Double that there is no “answers” which players select. Instead, you will be using Senses Sympathy System (SSS). During the gameplay you will have to make a choice how much you trust each character and this choice will affect the direction of the game.

The visual production value of Root Double is top-quality. Sprites, CGs and backgrounds, all look great and visual effects are put to good use frequently. Music is also good quality, but it lacks some memorable tracks.

Very few productions feature the number of intriguing mysteries and revelations hidden within its depths and it takes the time to get them all but I found that time definitely worth it

Pros:

• Great story for anybody,
  
• Interesting characters that develop during the game,
  
• Well-designed art (Sprites, CGs and background),
  
• Multiple endings with great executed final route,

Cons:

• SSS is unique but may confuse players.