While Videoverse might not hit as hard for you if you weren’t around back then, it absolutely delivered in making me think fondly of the past, and delivered a heartfelt story with the closest time capsule experience to the early 2000s internet there has ever been. I can’t wait to see what developer Kinmoku does next. This one is special. The only game to get me nostalgic like this before was Gone Home, and I think Videoverse ended up excelling over that in just about every way. If the premise sounds interesting, just grab it. You won’t regret it.
This new visual novel from the creator of One Night Stand is an engrossing, emotional study of digital relationships that will hit a raw nerve with gamers.
Wow, I loved this game! I really enjoyed seeing a video game era I was too young for. VideoVerse is both cosy and comforting, while also being a raw, cringe online simulation. I don't think I've played anything like it. I fell in love with the characters and their struggles and just want to protect them all! The soundtrack is amazing too. I want to replay VideoVerse again and get another ending since I heard there are a few.
Really lovely and touching game, felt really authentic in its world and narrative to that early internet/2000s experience (visuals are obviously stylised in different way to lean into retro feel but felt they fitted in with overall vibe). Surprisingly touching in places as well and some interesting bits of branching in narrative as well - definitely diving back in to see how choices affect overall story. Impressive effort as well for such a small team working on it - in presentation and also in going beyond usual limitations of its engine.
Videoverse has to be one of the most authentic time travel pieces of media I’ve ever experienced. I’ve played countless games that lean heavily on nostalgia—oftentimes cheaply—to try to make me feel like a kid again or at least like I was immersed in something similar to those RPGs of yore. Videoverse might be the only title to truly accomplish that.
Videoverse is game that managed to hit me with the force of a truck in various ways, from the more subtle things like the in-game community’s reaction to a collapsing world around them to the parts that were more upfront, like Emmett and Vivi’s budding relationship. But even if you don’t have any emotional connections to similar online groups, what’s here is still an engrossing visual novel, one with a great story and a clever retro gaming world to explore. Videoverse is a definite highlight for the genre and one not to be missed out on.
Videoverse involves and upsets, moves and enhances the feelings of the player, but more than anything it makes us reflect, with a hint of nostalgia, on what it means to grow and confront ourselves with the infinite diversity of the others' lives. With a never pedantic and always natural writing, Lucy Blundell gives life to characters that we will remember for years: Emmett, a teenager who will learn to recognize his privilege, Vivi, a young man struggling with events that she had never expected, along with the rest of the cast, can create a fresco so full of life to seem real. Not to be underestimated, for this effect, the painstaking construction of the interface, incredibly immersive in its simplicity. We are sure that Videoverse will be talked about for years to come, and we recommend it without any reservation.
Videoverse joins an immensely charming, detailed snapshot of early 2000s online fandom with an intermeshed web of heartfelt and incredibly human (sub)plots.
Taken together, Videoverse is strong, powerful stuff that leaves a deep and tender impression, building on the same fascination with the perils of human intimacy as developer Kinmoku's previous game, One Night Stand, but on a much more impressive scale and accomplished canvas. Part of its appeal may well play on that nostalgia for a bygone era of social networks, but its beautifully observed cast of characters and interpersonal dramas make this a much more universal and compelling take on early interneting than Hypnospace Outlaw could ever dream of. There's a lot more to latch onto here, and so let it be known: the campaign for Videoverse to be the one true Twitter replacement starts here. [RPS Bestest Bests]
Come for the nostalgic 2000s vibes, stay for the heartfelt story and memorable characters. Essential for anyone who grew up with MSN messenger or spent their teens investing in online forums.
Very good quality game makes you want to play, I like the friendship mixed with romance, perfect game, very good. Moreover, there are plenty of choices to play in incredible different ways. The only problem is that it's like something is missing, we don't know what happens when she gets off the bus at the end.
SummaryRelive the days of past social gaming networks in VIDEOVERSE, a decision-based narrative adventure focusing on character development, friendship and love, from the developer behind One Night Stand.
As Emmett, a young video game fan and aspiring artist, dive into this fictional video game era, where the Kinmoku Shark gaming system and it...