Tester’s Corner: eden* Ed. Vol 5

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Have you ever eaten a large meal and then had a satisfying dessert afterwards? Something light and fluffy that takes the edge off the large meal that is currently digesting well within the confines of your daily life? That is how I would describe my experience with the eden* beta test.

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After a long day of work and dealing with the toils of my job, family, ect., eden was a great story I could curl up with and just relax. This by no means to imply the content itself was light. In fact, the story of eden is the exact opposite. The themes are heavy, the emotional strain a must at times, and you will find yourself reaching for a box of tissues multiple times throughout the experience, I know I did. However, it just makes you feel so complete. The story, although very bittersweet, will have your lips tugging at a smile and your heart swollen with joy when characters find their motivations and reasons for existing. Much like swallowing down some mint chocolate chip ice cream, a player of this game (myself included) will feel like they are experiencing a well-rounded treat that they will definitely want to recommend to friends.

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The characters are nearly all likeable and shine brightly in a cast that is dealing with the end of the world. Elica in particular made me want to jump into the screen and become best friends with her. She was charming, witty, bad ass, and sweet all at the same time. Not a common character to encounter in the visual novel industry, and I found that to be a breath of fresh air. I always felt myself get excited whenever she stepped on screen and the communication with her never seemed forced or boring. Or maybe I just have a thing for maids. Elica aside, there was no character I could bring myself to hate, making the story even more enjoyable than it already was. There is no point in getting invested in a story if the characters make you feel like you are watching Saturday night re-runs of paper cut out people walking across the screen. Needless to say, that was not the case with eden, not by a long shot, and that was a wonderful beta test to be a part of.

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The last thing I want to mention is the beauty of the artwork in the eden visual novel. It was absolutely gorgeous. Character designs, backgrounds, everything was dripping with serenity and beauty. The way the characters moved and reacted was also a new experience for me. With all previous visual novels I played the mouths and eyes were stationary. Not that this is a bad thing, but it was a nice new experience to see Sion blinking when she talked, or Elica’s lips curling up into a smirk when she made a quirky joke.

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All in all, I cannot really say a bad thing about this game. I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed. Everything fell into place and at no time could I say that the story, characters, or any other fundamental building block of this game lulled for me. 10/10. I will be recommending this game to friends.

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