Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate is a visual novel adventure game. The game was developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus. Both developers are well known to fans of visual novels and pop culture in Japan, particularly that part of it which is associated with otaku (obsessive fans of manga, anime, military and sc-fi movies). The developers have made many console titles, of which only a small percentage was released in the West. Steins;Gate is the second installment of the sci-fi adventure game series (after Chaos;Head, released in 2008), whose trademark is the semicolon in the title. All the games in the series are loosely linked to each other and take place in modern Japan. Their plot focuses on themes related to technological progress and scientific experiments, as well as using ideas derived from urban legends and conspiracy theories.

Plot

The protagonist of Steins;Gate is Okabe Rintaro, a first-year student of the University of Tokyo who, together with his college friend and a childhood girlfriend, runs what he calls a "futuristic gadget lab". In a rented apartment, the protagonists unsuccessfully try to build functioning and profitable electronic devices. In order to feel like an inventor, Okabe wears a white lab coat all the time and uses an annoying nickname and manner of speaking. One day, the newly completed gadget begins to affect reality in a bizarre way, contrary to the expectations of its creators. What's more, Okabe is on the trail of a conspiracy connected with the invention, and witnesses a brutal murder and other unexplained phenomena that set off an upsurge of events that change his life and the lives of those closest to him.

Game mechanics

In the terms of the genre Steins;Gate is a typical Japanese visual novel, which means that for most of the game we read and listen to the dialogues of the characters, mostly having little influence on them. From time to time, we use the main character's phone and, for example, manually dial a number, call a character, or send a text message. In the most important moments we make decisions, resulting in one of many endings of the story. The game includes an extensive dictionary, containing descriptions of all terms, names and characters appearing in the game.

Technical aspects

The graphics quality in Steins;Gate is determined primarily by the 2D images and portraits of the characters, which we watch for dozens of hours of gameplay. The author of most of them is a well-known graphic artist, hiding under the pseudonym Huke. His characteristic style and the use of special graphic filters, make the game stands out from other titles on the market.