Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 22/Sep 00:01

Celestia: Chain of Fate – Review

The last time we took a look at a traditional visual novel, we found ourselves managing several J-pop idol groups in B-PROJECT RYUSEI*FANTASIA. Said visual novel made a point of steering clear of romance and focused on befriending them instead. As a result, we were left with a hot anime boy-shaped void in our heart, one that we can hopefully fill with the romance options in Celestia: Chain of Fate. It’s a story filled with angels and demons, but did it leave a heavenly impression or was it hell to read through? Story As usual, we’re refraining from posting spoilers when it comes to visual novels. However, given that Celestia’s plot was seemingly cobbled together from leftover plotlines from early 2000s fan fiction, you’d be hard-pressed to not see the twists coming from a mile away. We won’t be holding the weak plot and cookie-cutter cast against Celestia, as we’re clearly not the game’s target audience. This is a young adult romance novel, aimed at teenage girls and women in their early ‘20s. Celestia doesn’t exactly read like Shakespeare, and while there are plenty of visual novels that are a cut above what’s on offer here, there is also a sizable pool of bookworms that love light comfort reading. That’s exactly what is being offered here. So let’s dive into Celestia’s plot. Our protagonist is Aria Silverwings, the daughter of a duke. Or at least, she thinks she is, because she’s actually the offspring of an Angelus and a Daemon. On her eighteenth birthday, Aria receives an invitation letter from the Academy of Celestia, a magical school attended by other angels and demons. It’s at this place that Aria will uncover the secrets behind her true family history, as well as learn to control her magical powers. Not only that, but she’ll also have to make a choice between three potential love interests: Angelus Luke Alistair, Daemon Val de Lucifer, and half-blood Ash Winterlight. Of note here is that the overarching main plotline, which we won’t spoil here, doesn’t change depending on which suitor you pick. Said plotline shares more than a few similarities with the Harry Potter series. There are multiple endings too, including plenty of “bad” ones. Of note is that the “good” endings set up a sequel for the next academy year. Graphics The Harry Potter influence is even more noticeable in Celestia’s visuals. While the game utilizes a lovely anime art style for its character designs, the environments are dead ringers for locations from the Wizarding World. Take a look at the screenshot of the academy’s train above and tell us it’s not based on the Hogwarts Express. The in-game visuals are a bit of a mixed bag too: while the anime art is good, and the unlockable CGs are impressive, a lot of the less important NPCs and enemies are represented by silhouettes instead of actual character designs. Animations are also limited. A final thought on the visuals: while things can get somewhat spicy in the story, Celestia shies away from actually showing anything beyond a PG-13 rating. So, if you were hoping to get a glimpse at some of the cast’s naughtier bits, then you’re out of luck. Sound For better or worse, Celestia’s soundtrack doesn’t feature original music, but instead makes use of license-free stock tunes that we’ve previously heard elsewhere. This didn’t bother us because the tracks were well-chosen and blended in nicely with the overall atmosphere. Voice acting is notably absent, although Celestia makes liberal use of sound effects, including literal kissing sounds. We’d assume that like the music, these are stock sounds as well. Gameplay Being a straight-up visual novel, the gameplay is limited to simply making choices that influence the way Aria’s story unfolds. Now, we say limited but there are a lot of choices to make here, although many of them are seemingly implemented to give Celestia a semblance of interactivity. We found that the outcome of a good chunk of these wasn’t really affected by the choice we made. Of course, there are still choices that matter, and Celestia doesn’t skimp on having multiple endings. As such, there is definitely some replay value to be had here, although we did find it odd that making specific choices didn’t lock us out of certain other options. It’s possible to romance multiple boys in a single playthrough but neither character acknowledges that you’re essentially two-timing them. It all adds to the feeling that Celestia is just a series of inconsequential scenes cobbled together and that there isn’t a whole lot of gravity to the choices you make, despite there being multiple endings. Another area where Celestia doesn’t quite deliver is in the features it offers. We’re no strangers to visual novels, and as such, we’ve come to expect certain QoL elements as being standard inclusions. While most of these are present, such as the option to skip previously read text and a quick-save feature, others, like a ‘back’ button or a text log were sorely missing. There is only a limited number of save slots too, at least compared to the amount of choices that the game expects you to make, but as we mentioned, many of these choices turned out to be insignificant anyway. On the upside, there is quite a hefty amount of additional content in the form of side stories, as well as the expected CG gallery, and the option to relive specific chapters separately through the ‘memories’ tab. At an RRP of €29.99, Celestia is a good chunk more expensive than visual novels with a much higher production value, but with a story spanning 20+ chapters, it’s also a lot longer. Whether you’re getting bang for your buck here really depends on how much you like this kind of story. Conclusion It’s clear from the get-go that Agate Games knows its target audience, and Celestia was built to cater specifically to said audience. There isn’t any originality here, and the cast is as middle-of-the-road as it gets for this kind of story. That’s not meant to be dismissive: for that specific group, Celestia is the equivalent of a comforting cup of hot cocoa on a rainy day. There are certainly things that could have been improved here in terms of QoL, and making player choices feel like they matter would have bumped up Celestia’s score as well. Ultimately though, Celestia is fine for what it wants to be, and the inevitable sequel will be cut from the exact same cloth.