Quantum Updates

This was a SG win from back when I joined pretty much every GA that had a game I might find interesting (shame on me, I know =P). I was a bit put off by the artstyle at first but the plot got me really hooked and finished it in one sit (btw, playing the game at night on a weekday wasn’t a bright idea xD). Some plot twists were fairly predictable but I have to admit I didn’t see the Shadow being a piece of software who looks like a genderswapped MC coming. It was completely unexpected yet it makes sense.

Also this VN was way different than your usual VN. Here you don’t have to pick choices, instead the outcome of your actions depends only on what did you read from other people’s mind and how frequently do you use your mind-reading powers. Also romance is completely secondary here. You can get in a romantic relationship (same-sex or not) with another character but it’ll have little impact in the overall story, unlike most VNs which make this a requirement.
The game had some flaws though. Questionable artstyle-aside I felt like they didn’t expand the world building a bit more to give some scenes more weight like when the Shadow asks you to use your powers to obtain the coordinates to the secret base in Vandorfin, as if that was a certain location the players were familiar with. I had a hard time caring about the consequences of whether I’d do that or not.
Also I feel the relationship meter was pure BS. I mean, I managed to romance Mierol just by meeting a few criteria despite the bar being only about half-full and not being the one with the best biggest. Also I feel like they could have added some achievements related to the partners you choose to romance or some plot events like managing to save Amalek’s life or romancing Mierol and getting the Viva Veramus ending in the same playthrough (it leads to an interesting “plot development” ;))

All in all it’s a pretty good VN which compensates its lackluster art with a good story and an interesting gameplay.

As a fan of the Bookworm games I couldn't let the chance to play this game pass and boy, it sure is a massive improvement of the concept behind the Bookworm games. The RPG elements add a myriad of different strategies to approach different foes (protip: max out "Plurality". It always comes handy). The game can get quite hard at times. Some foes can cause some really annoying status effect (like poisoned tiles that hurt you if you use them, or infected tiles that cause no damage and keep infecting adjacent tiles until the effect is gone) and the bosses can deal a good amount of damage if you're not prepared. In fact the third boss was so hard to me I ended up stalling the game for months, and I managed to beat it by pure chance after I decided to pick up the game again. The fourth game was even harder and I wouldn't have beaten if I didn't find a way to cheese the fight (getting a steal life buff will pretty much fully heal you if you exploit their weakness (using a word with an "E" and an "S" in it). Shuffle until you get both letters and a decent-sized word (5 letters or more) and BAM you're as good as new and the boss just lost a good chunk of HP)).
In short I'd recommend this game to anyone who likes puzzle games with some RPG elements thrown into the mix