When it comes to randomly encountering video games, one can say that “I heard about that game” and mean it quite literally. God knows how many games yours truly picked up, and mostly dropped, after hearing someone mentioned playing them on podcasts. My encounter of Parquet did start with my ears though it was not through podcasts. For A I dropped all podcasts covering new video game since July, 2022. And B even if I haven’t dropped those, this is a visual novel that those shows would not likely cover.

Instead, yours truly first heard of Parquet through its end theme, sung by Nao Toyama. I’m fan of Ms. Toyama’s endeavor in both Japanese voice acting and J-pop. The track titled Fureru-furueru had her singing a duet with herself and it says “ending song of video game Parquet”. Yours truly then found it on Steam. Purchased at once and played through in the week after. The conventions of late teens or early twenties visual novels certainly make one feel like they have not lived stranger days.

Maybe I just got Type-Moon brained by playing through the 2 Fate visual novels or maybe it’s just how visual novels tell their thriller stories, Parquet as whole feels like a faster version of those Type-Moon games. For starter there is also a mandatory prologue with a different point of view character in Parquet.

The main pov character is a man named Kanato Ibuki, an AI uploaded into a flesh clone body, I think. After the brief compared to Kinoko Nasu story prologue, he left the corporation that made him and a woman named Miyoshi who took care of him. Kanato met two young ladies sharing one body and got himself into some crime intrigues like it’s Strange Days.

Mechanically speaking, Parquet is a Kinetic Novel with only one choice branch after the credits roll. Calling this game Dating Sim would be to spread the concept of dating too thin. The main storyline is a near future crime mystery with the perpetrator being someone supposed to help people, another similarity to Fate/Stay Night. Nothing too heavy like homicide here though, this game is marketed as the first fun-for-the-whole-family title Yuzu Soft Sour put and delivers on that front.

The game would occasionally jump out of the main pov character’s head with the not subtle framing of “Another View” like this.

The more mechanic focus interaction one has with this game is about customizing a “hot key bar”. Since I played this game mainly on the Surface Pro I use as a working computer with only touch screen, it’s useful to customize said bar with buttons for “Save” and “Auto” on the left side so they can pushed whenever necessary without them obscuring the view too much.

Also I think you really need to be a fan of Nao Toyama to play this game. There is recent trend in visual novels, namely they would have the voice actor narrate everything in option menu for the player. It can get old soon for a lot of people, yours truly not included though. The saving grace of Parquet being that Ms. Toyama did play two separate characters and the game would switched the characters’ voices around so it can get old a little later.

The icons Yuzu Soft chose for the game can sometimes be baffling to someone who did grow up with VHS and think icons on machines are universal. “>” is for auto, instead of usual play button, while “<” is for back log instead of going back to the last scene/sentence. “<<” and “>>” are for fast backwards or forwards, so I guess these are at least recognizable.

The game’s interface has both a smaller character portrait in the down left corner and a larger character sprite taking more of the real estate on screen can seem baffling at first sight.

Then it makes sense when CG is present.

Last there is the Yuzu Soft special: SD, super deform shenanigans. Got to love it when a game going full funnybook.

Also, there is this image that reminds me of Fate/Stay Night.

Everyone who read the Type-Moon epic would remember that in the third and final route, some Interlude would have them look at a similarly image of grey sky and read about the backstory of “final boss” starting with their childhood. Parquet also tells the story of its villain then it’s bit cliched. Compared to Fate villain’s frustration about their total lack of empathy, Parquet thug’s childhood trauma is just too pedestrian.

Still Parquet is not a bad way to spend a dozen of hours if you like visual novel. This game does not go too grossly anime in its vibe. The usual After Story here to yours truly is not about which girl you want to get er, close to. Instead of it’s more about check up on the victim or run into the cops on the case. As far as impulse purchase goes, this is not one yours truly regret.