no




There's a lot of ground to cover so it will probably be really long.

So the first time saw this game, I loved it; I thought it was the best game and that it was so deep and philosophical, and that the characters were amazing and the world was amazing; I used to listen to the soundtrack everyday. I could unironically say this game changed my life.

Okay it was more, it changed the way I thought about myself but you got the picture. A teenager, watching someone else play and suddenly, a thought that they never thought of.

Fast forward a few years and I've not read AWSW for ages; I wanted to buy it but didn't want to ask my parents. I had learned a lot about writing; I would binge watch movie reviews all the time.

Imagine my surprise when I find out it's not what everyone says it is. It's not deep, it's not interesting, and it's not good; and people say this is great.

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Actual review V

So this game has, "one dimensional" characters, boring dialogue, really lazy worldbuilding, a self insert MC, very direct meaning/themes, and what I call, "fake naturalism."

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Do I think these characters are one dimensional?

First we'd need to know what that means exactly. So three dimensional means dynamic and complex; one-dimensional means one-side and not complex. With 3D shapes, you can look all around it. With 1D shapes, it's just a line. So 1D characters are characters that are not deep, complex, or 3D. 1D Chars only have one trait.


Now I'd forgive you if you think the characters are deep; I'm here to give my review.

Fake naturalism is when dialogue sounds realistic but lacks subtext. Realistic art is meant to exaggerate reality, otherwise it'll be like the boring version of reality; this can apply to dialogue too. You want good thought-provoking dialogue; that way you're actively thinking about it, and if you're not even thinking about what you're reading, you're probably no engaged.

Note: This is very hard to spot sometimes. I'd say something like invincible has fake naturalism.

It doesn't matter if it makes sense; you have to be interested in what's happening. Stories are meant to be interesting so when it's not, you fail as a writer.

The way this applies to the characters is that their characterization is bad, basically that means it's boring. It's with the dialogue and the "dates" you go on with them. The one to one conversations are boring, and I understand it's like two people standing talking to each other, but the dialogue.

It's not thought-provoking and that makes it boring, and if you give full attention to the game, it punishes you, so you end up no listening properly. The messaging is really bad, it rarely does a message, but when it does, the characters become kid show characters while they're trying to talk about how someone was graped to death by three dudes with rabies. Of course there's always subtext, but it seems the author neglects it.

I'm writing a VN and I put notes next to lines because sometimes I don't full understand why they would say that. It's like if those notes were included in the line so you know exactly what they meant.

And people are either regarded or something but just because they talk about suicide, doesn't mean it's deep. The idea sounds deep, but when I show it and it's really surface-level, it's not deep anymore.

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Next is the world: the world on a surface level can spark a lot of curiosity. It does have some interesting lines about it, like where Bryce tells you about the underground lab. But everything outside of the sci-fi bits is underwhelming.

The world is a cliché sci-fi, "What if humans weren't evil?" type shi; I don't believe for a minute that a secular society with a bunch of wild animals would be this advanced. Muslim countries can't even give woman rights, and you're telling me they made a way to make power with NO CO2??? "Hey, David. I'm going to write a fantasy where there's no evil humans using power plants, and my poorly disguised zoophila is rewarded. Does that sound great???"

Also the religious aspect is very underutilized; it does have to be theologically sound but they just call him, "creator". And the human myths could be interesting, but I felt like the execution was telling me, "look, dragons have myths about homans as well. Isn't that crazy?" There are a lot of nice details and I like that character interact with you differently if they like you or not.

And due to the nature of this game, everything is explained, which also means, there are no theories about this game. You can come up with some interesting lore; I thought with the long lines that you'd know a lot about the world.

The Mc is self-insert. Since they got the visual novel trope of internal monologues, he becomes likeable but in the most non complex way. The author probably thought he was being really funny when he wrote those jokes; the physical humour's good but when he unironically say, "do you come here often" a tear dripped down my leg.

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Now the characters:

Bryce: Couldn't think of anything.

Adine: She does have some depth, if she's pretty surface-level. Her getting mad at you was probably the best of her character. I know what archetype they're going, and the way you should do it is by not making "being nice" their only trait; you should make it hard to describe someone with a single word, or maybe use "they're quiet but they're also loud" characterisation.

Anna: I told her I didn't want to sell my body and she left. probably the best written character but I can't say I've remembered everything.

Lorem: I hate Lorem, he's really simple.

Remy: I think he billed himself to get Mc's attention.

Reza: Easily the best character. The whole plot is based off a misunderstanding. I don't blame him for doing what he did; I'd do the same. (Note: the world was going to end.) He also made me think about something that he said, so that's nice.


There is stuff I can appreciate as a writer, I like that every character as a prop associated with them, and how the dates aren't you just standing in a room talking.

For reference: my favourite movie is Blade runner 2049, and I'd give it a 9/10; lots of re-watch value

My rating (of the writing) is

2.5

More actually, I think it's average.





and that's about it. I only care about the writing.

The music is very good, a part from some tracks.

The art is a lot worst than I thought. VN all use the same BGs and filters, and it looks really blury. The design is nice but I wish they had clothes; it feels like anna is naked all the time. Why did they make her so curvy? I still don't know what Remy's wearing. The art style's inconsistent. The lack of texture of the characters can begin show.

And for some reason there are some random characters who appear, and serve no purpose, they're like puppets to show that people live in this world. Give them a side story or something.

Also it's political at times, but again, the dialogue's too simple for political interest. The author made the old timers hate Anna, because she's is a liberal genius! Man, I hate when someone tries to find the cure for cancer; my dad did so we should too. Or maybe she was lying, that too.

The monologue with the MC going on and on about how sad his situation is, just for the girl to say no. What was the point?

Important to note that this is a review, not a critique. The overwhelming reviews are because you're judging as a visual novel, not a movie.

I LOVE YOU ANNA!!!