7\10.

Well... mc was fun and I like his stoic character, Neneko and her hikikomori-chan type(like Watamote mc) is also fun, but overall this title is one of the "I'll forget it the next day after reading" vns. Poor presentation, nothing deep, nothing extraordinary, just fine detective with a touch of mystic and horror, but at least not boring to read cuz pacing is good: "straight to business" with rare pauses for little breaks(just like normal detective should be).

I was going to give 6\10, but extra was kinda fun and changed my mind a little, so I recommend to check it after main story.

(By more Game than Novel it has a Point & Click element that becomes annoying after a while.)


Repetitive Choices
- There are times in the VNs where you have a timed event or have to interrogate other characters, and during interrogations you cannot ask questions(choices) out of order, otherwise the characters will refuse to answer(which defeats the Player Aspect of how you want to interrogate them) until you ask them in the correct order. Or timed-events like the Mamba incident, where time is of the essence & you have to spam the same three choices over & over again until something(maybe) happens.

(Famous Quote: "There is an Order to things")

Point & Click: L
- The point and click aspect should have been the best part of the novel since it actually makes this VN alot more interactive than most VNs by default & bolster the Detective Aspect. Yet much like the repetitive choices, it falls short as you cannot discover a new perspective, you'll have to repeatedly click the same objects or all objects more than once to move the story along.

There are Bad Ends

- Because of the way the game forces you to play & not being able to use the backlog to reverse any scene, if you are on the path to a Bad End you're essentially locked in, unless you save every choice & make the right repetitive judgements.

The first two major faults are a genuinely real reasons to not experience this novel at all. As it makes you feel like you're playing incorrectly or lacking of basic intelligence when really the game is trying to force you to play a specific way & you'll likely fail because of it.

Presentation

Soundtrack

- Very appropriate for the game's mystery, it's very hard for an OST to really hurt the game; Here's it's not Aokana Level, but it's quite serviceable.

Keybindings

- Severe lack of them[Bindings]

- Keys may require multiple inputs to work as intended

- Auto Mode(A) might disable itself mid-read

- Arrow Key: [⬆️/⬇️/⬅️/➡️] | Controls On-Screen: Save / Load, this is a problem because more often than not if you accidentally hit those keys if you ever hit "Enter" you'll go into that profile. This is bad UX.

Backlog

You cannot go back and restart at an earlier point, this is bad because you might just have to save constantly or at every choice which for a short novel like this shouldn't be needed or is genuinely annoying or if it's a timed event, you're just.....


There are alot of positives I can think about when it comes to Shironagasu Island.

• Character Sprites - Mouth Movements
  
• Unique CGs
  
• The Plot is intriguing & had me hooked all the way(until my first bad end)
  
• Characters have the Unique Motivations that drive their purpose
  
• Fitting Soundtrack

Ultimately I don't think I'll be finishing this journey to solve all of the mysteries of Shironigasu Island. My review is not representative of the True End, but sharing my grievances w/ how this Visual Novel chooses to engage the readers & truly turn them into players of a true video game.

I can be honest, I spent $2 on the game, so I believe I really did get what I paid for. The story's initial hook is great, yet the Gameplay aspect is what soils the overall experience for me & even breaks immersion for me at times.