This week I will be reviewing the visual novel Chaos;Child. It is the 4th game in the Science Adventure series. It was released on the PS4 and PS Vita in the US on October 17th, 2017, and then later released on January 22nd, 2019 on Steam. Also, I want to warn those who cannot handle the sight of gore or anything similar that this game is not for them. Before I begin I will explain what visual novels are since this is my first time reviewing one.

A visual novel is a style of game where you read the game. Then you get to choose choices that affect the outcome of the stories. But there is a style of visual novel known as kinetic visual novels where your choices don’t affect the story or you don’t get choices. Usually, visual novels don’t have gameplay other than choices but there are some that do.

The story relies on the assumption that you have played the previous games in the series or at least Chaos;Head as they are more directly connected to each other. I didn’t play that game but I still managed to understand and enjoy the story. But I did get spoiled on actions that happened during Chaos;Head.

The story starts six years after an earthquake in Shibuya that leveled the entire city. Some of the citizens who were in the city at the time were affected by an illness called Chaos Child Syndrome, an illness similar to PTSD. 

Our main character’s name is Takuru Miyashiro. He is the president of the newspaper club that he and his friends hang out in. He was in Shibuya during the earthquake. He lost his parents and was sent to an orphanage. Right now he is interested in a string of deaths in which people die in strange ways. He is an odd person who has delusions.

There are 7 different endings and 7 bad endings, but during your first play-through, you will be locked into the common route no matter what. The way you enter the different endings is determined by what kind of delusions you choose for your main character. You have to choose from positive and negative delusions or none when prompted. Each delusion is unique, to say the least.

This story is very dark with unusual and violent deaths. The storytelling is excellent, and it had me deep in thought many times trying to solve the murders. The foreshadowing and red herrings had me taken aback. This is definitely one of my favorite mystery visual novels.

I recommend playing through until you get each ending. The reason is that each ending is important to the story because it gives you more information about each of the other characters. But there is a true ending to the game which unlocks after reaching a certain ending.

The music also provides a great atmosphere. Music in visual novels is really important. A scene could get ruined because the music isn’t fitting. Luckily, like the other games in this series, the music is well-produced and fits well.

Chaos;Child took me around 50 hours to get all the endings and to get all the achievements. I recommend Chaos;Child to those who enjoy reading, mysteries, and dark stories. I don’t recommend this for people who can’t handle gore or dislike reading. If you are trying to get into the Science Adventure series this would not be a good place to start due to requiring knowledge of the previous games. 

Thank you for reading my review on Chaos;Child. I hope you enjoyed this. So please keep reading the MTS Times where I will be posting more reviews.