A simple yet powerful story of the need for hope in an ironically hopeless world
It's hard to recommend visual novels because of the negative stigma they receive. I wish it wasn't the case, but most visual novels deserve the harsh treatment. Too often visual novels are comprised of the usual formula of dating sim, underage looking girls and nudity. I’m not discounting the fact that there IS an audience for these kinds of games, but their overwhelming presence clouds the genre with the aforementioned stereotype. Fortunately there are a few outstanding gems in the genre and planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~ by VisualArts/Key is one of them (I will note the game as Planetarian for brevity’s sake).
The amazing thing about Planentarian is that it tells a simple beautiful story through and through. There is no dating sim, no waifus, no fan service moments. Planetarian is a kinetic visual novel. It is a type of visual novel that has no branching paths, requires very little user input and has one ending. In other words, it is a glorified PowerPoint presentation with music. If it sounds like I’m harshly criticizing Planetarian, I’m not. I’m merely stating the facts about the medium and how my review strictly deals with what is present in the game instead of what is not.
The story of Planetarian takes place in a post apocalypse future. Most of the world's population perished due to biological agents released by nuclear warheads from constant warfare. The remaining survivors deal with nonstop poisonous rain caused by the nuclear fallout as well as automated military robots built to protect cities from warring factions.
You play a nameless “junker”, one who finds ends meet by pillaging goods in these barren cities. After being chased by automated drones, our protagonist slips into a tall building in the city. To his surprise he meets a functioning robot named Yumemi. Instead of threatening to kill him, she hands him a bouquet of “flowers” and asks him if he would like to see the planetarium show.
Thus begins the main thrust of the story. We have a protagonist knowing that the world has gone to hell. Everyday is hopeless. All he can wish for is some fine scotch and a cigarette to relieve his pain and survive another day. Then we have Yumemi, a robot who miraculously survived and is blissfully unaware of what happened to the world. She is full of optimism and hopes only that people will come and visit the planetarium. By coincidence each person needs one another. The junker is intrigued by the robot’s seemingly endless hope and optimism, while Yumemi is excited to have her first customer in over 30 years. To go on would spoil the experience, but suffice to say Planetarian completely nails the one and only thing it has the story.
Planetarian has a great story because of its’ simplicity. There are only two characters, the junker and Yumemi. There is mainly one location being the planetarium. And the game clocks around 2-4 hours depending on your reading speed. Planetarian wastes no time with meaningless exposition and character dialog. The game never tries to attempt to weave an epic tale. The game tells a simple yet powerful story of the need for hope in an ironically hopeless world.
Planetarian is one of the few visual novels that I can wholeheartedly recommend to everyone.
If you are interested in the game I would also recommend that you watch the anime adaptation. The anime nails the same major beats and is a fantastic representation of the original material.
If you do play the game, my recommended settings are the following:
- Right click to open the menu
- Use the Courier New Font
- Enable Shadows, bold text and AA