Info about NOeSIS02_羽化:

Official game description:
To recover his normal life, the main character will go back to the past.  
He deserves a good life in a restructed world but the reality is too cruel to be true.  
A spirit trapped in the mirror, a girl restrained by her elder sister, a younger sister suffering from serious illness.  
The second wave of NOeSIS and a story of troubled girls and boys.  
An horror AVG game in which players can explore the storyline from the main character's perspective and unveil the truth.  
PS:All of characters are more that 18 years old.  
**TAKASHIRO CHIYA**  
Owns the ability to look into others' memory and see people's death.  
Able to destroy others' body.  
Enjoy people's misfortune.  
**TAKASHIRO KAYA/MAYA**  
A grade-three student, gentle but hasty.  
Used to be the chairman of the student union and highly trusted by junior students and teachers.  
Looks like CHIYA but maybe not a twin of him.  
**CHIYODA KOYOMI**  
A grade-two student, neighbor and friend of the main character in her childhood.  
Live with a red puppet.  
Good at housekeeping and of great strength.  
**SHISHIKURA YUKI**  
Younger sister of the main character, a quiet grade-one student.  
Likes philosophy and loves hot chocolate.  
Too weak to go out a lot.  
**AMADORI NAYUTA**  
A grade-two student and member of the drama club.  
A real mistery whose origin is unkown to all.  
The device on top of her head can edit others' memory and operates in a limited time.

Release date: Nov 8, 2021

Categories: Visual Novel, Mystery, Psychological Horror, Romance, Multiple Routes, Horror and Suspense Elements

Feature scans:
- Steam Deck: score 50; verdict: Playable with significant tinkering; summary: The game requires navigating two distinct launch modes, each with missing functionality: one allows saving but not screenshots, the other allows screenshots but crashes on saving. Additionally, the default launcher blocks Steam overlay and screenshot shortcuts, and save files are not shared between modes. While the game is playable, users must make undesirable trade-offs and the saving crash poses stability risks.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 13.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The reviews provide explicit playtime claims for the target game. One reviewer estimates the full completion takes 10-13 hours, another reports spending nearly 17 hours to finish both the original and remake versions, and a third mentions 20 hours without completing everything. These support a game completion time in the 10-17 hour range, and the most direct estimate is 10-13 hours, so I set gameCompletion to 13 hours as a representative figure. No specific evidence supports story-only completion, typical session length, or endgame content time, so those metrics remain null.
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes:
  - Series Loyalist (buy)
    - Motivation: Continuing the emotional and narrative journey of a beloved series they grew up with
    - Playstyle: Plays every entry in order, follows translations, and appreciates callbacks and foreshadowing
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: noe粉; 老玩家
    - Reference games: NOeSIS-诉说谎言的记忆; NOeSIS 01
  - Plot Detective (buy)
    - Motivation: Unraveling the mystery and experiencing the emotional payoff of well-crafted storytelling
    - Playstyle: Focuses on story choices, replays for different endings, and engages in character analysis
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: 悬疑类爱好者
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Political Content Critic (no buy)
    - Motivation: Expects a pure experience free from unrelated political commentary
    - Playstyle: Scans for ideological messages and judges the game's integrity based on its narrative relevance
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Excellent story and plot (weight 0.44): Reviewers across multiple clusters praise the story as excellent, solid, and powerful, with a strong plot and engaging setting. The narrative is considered perfect and well-executed.
- Beautiful background music (weight 0.33): The BGM is consistently praised for being well done, beautiful, and warm, enhancing the art style and character presentation. Compared to the first game, the soundtrack is considered an improvement.
- Large content volume (weight 0.21): The game contains a large amount of content, including a very large text volume with deep and rich material. This provides substantial gameplay and reading time.
- True ending resolves plot holes (weight 0.15): The true ending and final ending effectively resolve questions and fill in plot holes, providing a satisfying conclusion.
- Well-written characters (weight 0.15): Key characters like Kaye/Yoru, Ichiyo, Senya, and Shigure are praised for their well-developed and compelling writing.
- Masterpiece among free VNs (weight 0.14): The game is hailed as a masterpiece among free visual novels, standing out from ordinary titles in the genre.

Common complaints:
- Pacing is too slow (weight 0.84): Pacing is consistently criticized as slow, painful, and drawn-out, especially in early and mid-game sections, leading to boredom and fatigue.
- Excessive cryptic and confusing dialogue (weight 0.78): The narrative is often described as overly cryptic, abstract, and confusing, requiring notes and replay to understand. This hampers player comprehension and enjoyment.
- Protagonist poorly written and inconsistent (weight 0.56): Reviewers find the protagonist's behavior inconsistent, sometimes stupid, masochistic, or saintly, which reduces believability and engagement.
- Story worse than first game (weight 0.56): Multiple reviewers agree the sequel's story falls short of the original, lacking tighter narrative and overall fun. This is a frequent and significant complaint.
- Character routes missing or short (weight 0.44): Several characters, like Sayo Mi and Koyomi, lack personal routes or have minimal screen time, disappointing fans expecting more development.
- Endings lack emotional payoff (weight 0.37): True and bad endings are abrupt, unclear, or emotionally unsatisfying, with weak motivations and forced plot points.
- Visuals and art style dated (weight 0.31): Art style and CG quality are criticized as dated or less appealing than the first game, with high CG reuse.
- Author flaunts knowledge (weight 0.3): The writing excessively shows off physics, chemistry, and textbook knowledge, which feels tiring and distracting from the story.
- Plot logic and motivation weak (weight 0.27): Certain logic is unpersuasive, like inconsistent physical abilities and unclear character motivations.
- Villain redemption not convincing (weight 0.25): Redemption arcs for villains are seen as unpersuasive, with justification attempts falling flat and diminishing moral weight.
- Loud sound effects jarring (weight 0.15): Sound effects are too loud and jarring, potentially causing discomfort or annoyance, and require manual adjustment in settings.

Gameplay feedback:
- Visual novel with multiple routes (weight 0.94): The game is heavily a visual novel with branching storylines and multiple character routes. It features choice-based endings and narrative-heavy gameplay rather than traditional mechanics.
- Horror and suspense elements (weight 0.3): The story includes horror elements such as zombies, ghosts, and kills, alongside suspense and mystery themes. It is often tagged as horror, though some players note it is not purely suspenseful.
- Mystery and detective aspects (weight 0.2): The story requires the player to deduce information like a detective, blending mystery and daily life elements. It presents the narrative through characters' perspectives and versions of the truth.
- RPG elements are minimal (weight 0.18): Battle scenes and RPG elements are minimal, with the game playing primarily as a reading experience. It includes some dialogue choices but lacks significant combat or gameplay mechanics.
- Character identity surprises (weight 0.18): The game contains dramatic twists involving character identities, including yandere tropes and extreme killing behaviors. Players might encounter unexpected revelations about the cast.

Performance notes:
- Startup error workaround exists (weight 0.08): A startup error can be resolved by renaming the executable file, providing a simple fix for players encountering this issue.
- Low frame rate affects performance (weight 0.08): Very low frame rates in static scenes cause poor performance in Lossless Scaling and mouse lag, indicating optimization issues.

Recommendations:
- Highly worth playing (weight 0.64): Multiple reviewers strongly recommend the game, calling it a masterpiece and giving it a 10/10. The positive sentiment is consistent across several clusters.
- Recommended for certain audiences (weight 0.36): The game is recommended for fans of dark fantasy, deep psychological visual novels, and mystery. Specific audiences include those who enjoy thinking and otaku players.
- Play first game first (weight 0.27): Several reviews emphasize that playing the first NOeSIS game is essential to understand the story and foreshadowing. This is crucial for new players.
- Story over romance (weight 0.14): Recommended for those who want to experience the story rather than romance, especially for otaku who appreciate the narrative depth.

Other player notes:
- Game is free with long playtime (weight 0.72): Multiple reviews highlight that the game is free to play and offers around 10 or more hours of content, with some noting it exceeds the first game's length. This makes it a high-value experience for players.
- Sequel continues previous story (weight 0.64): The game is the second installment in the NOeSIS series, continuing the story from the first game and resolving its themes. It connects to the first and third titles, providing a cohesive narrative arc.
- Translation praised for effort (weight 0.58): The fan translation is highly praised for its detailed annotations, colloquial style, and love for the characters, with the community putting significant effort into localization. Some minor errors exist, but the overall quality is refined.
- Third installment anticipated but unavailable (weight 0.56): Reviewers mention that a third game is anticipated but not available on Steam, as it is a commercial product. A side story and prequel are also mentioned, but not on the platform.
- Story themes and philosophical depth (weight 0.41): The narrative explores themes of trust, growth, soul, society, and life, with philosophical depth compared to the first game's focus on philosophy and chemistry. It is more complex and twisted, appealing to a thoughtful audience.
- Improved art and CG content (weight 0.39): The sequel features improved art over the first game, and includes new CG content for characters. The game is described as a narrative-driven work with plentiful CG.
- Gameport to Steam via community (weight 0.31): The game was brought to Steam through the efforts of translators, with the Chinese community translating it and making it available. Fans also built a new website after the original became inactive.
- Original and remastered versions (weight 0.31): The game includes both the original and remastered versions, with the remaster adding or rewriting content such as Sayame's route. The remaster's music atmosphere is considered inferior to the original.
- Yoru's central role and fate (weight 0.15): Yoru had little screen time in the first game but becomes central in the sequel, with an afterstory stating they disappear completely. This character arc is significant to the narrative.
- Compared to Steins;Gate and Resident Evil (weight 0.14): The game is compared to Steins;Gate for its intellectual depth and to Resident Evil for survival horror aspects. These comparisons highlight its narrative complexity and atmospheric tension.
- Hidden development room removed (weight 0.14): The original version had a secret development room with unlockable content, but this feature was removed in later games and remakes. Some reviewers note its absence.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.1): Players frequently cite the game's slow pacing, cryptic riddle-like dialogue, and convoluted plot as major obstacles to engagement. Technical issues like save file crashes and an awkward Android version, along with missing features and routes, further compound the frustration.
- Admiration (weight 0.1): Admiration stems from the game's masterful writing, exceptional character development (especially Yoru), and the impressive depth of its philosophical and scientific content. Many consider it a masterpiece, praising the intricate plot and skilled narrative structure.
- Appreciation (weight 0.09): Players appreciate the high-quality free experience, excellent localization, memorable music, and engaging art. The emotional storytelling, complete narrative, and well-crafted characters contribute to a standout gal game experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.08): Disappointment arises from perceived inferiority to the first game, including weaker story and character development, a lengthy prologue, and the absence of favored routes. Technical and narrative issues, such as forced plot points and abrupt reveals, further dampen the experience.
- Gratitude (weight 0.05): Gratitude is expressed towards the developers for offering the game for free and to the community for providing high-quality translations and rebuilding the website. Players thank the localizers for making the long-awaited Chinese version accessible.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.04): Satisfaction comes from the game's well-structured plot, clever protagonist, and rewarding conclusions, particularly the true ending that resolves long-standing questions. The overall narrative quality and engaging twists lead to a fulfilling experience.
- Sadness (weight 0.04): Sadness is predominantly triggered by the emotional endings and tragic fates of beloved characters, especially Yoru and 一夜, whose sacrifices and departures resonate deeply. Players are moved to tears by the heart-wrenching storylines and poignant conclusions.
- Excitement (weight 0.03): Excitement is driven by the thrilling plot with numerous twists, the long-awaited release of the Chinese localization, and finally being able to play the anticipated sequel. The satisfying conclusion and availability on Steam add to the enthusiasm.
- Confusion (weight 0.03): Confusion arises from unclear character motivations, convoluted plot details, and cryptic behavior, making it difficult to understand the story's direction. The initial flood of mysteries and odd narrative elements contribute to the confusion.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.02): Nostalgia stems from revisiting a game first played a decade ago, evoking childhood memories and philosophical reflections. The music and emotional connections formed during youth contribute to a deep sense of nostalgia.
- Anticipation (weight 0.02): Players eagerly anticipate the third installment and side stories, expressing a strong desire to continue the narrative. The prospect of seeing characters like 千夜 in future parts fuels this anticipation.
- Surprise (weight 0.02): Surprise is elicited by unexpected plot twists, such as 一夜 being the true heroine and sudden character appearances like Nayuta. The high quality of a free game also pleasantly surprises many players.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Amusement comes from the game's over-the-top twists, eccentric characters, and the author's playful use of scientific knowledge. Interactions, such as Ichiya tricking Tokiwa, add a sense of fun and entertainment.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom is caused by the story's padding, slow pacing, and excessive preaching and internal monologue, making the journey to the ending feel tedious and unengaging.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Annoyance stems from poorly developed side characters who mistreat the protagonist, an overabundance of riddle-speakers and scientific references, and unbalanced sound effects that detract from the experience.
- Approval (weight 0.01): Approval is given for the game's generosity as a free, plot-heavy title that maintains high quality, matching the first game's narrative strength and overall positive experience.
- Attachment (weight 0.01): Players feel a strong emotional bond to characters like Yoru and the relationships between Shigure and Chiya, as well as to 一夜, leading to a sense of withdrawal after finishing the games.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.01): Enjoyment is derived from the good experience carried over from the first game, including the engaging story, plot twists, and character development, making the game suspenseful and addictive.
- Love (weight 0.01): For many, this game is their first visual novel love, with deep appreciation for characters like 一夜, 千夜, 忧姬, and 小夜美, fostering a lasting affection for both parts and their cast.
- Impression (weight 0.01): The game leaves a strong impression through its realistic portrayal of real-world pressures, the protagonist's intelligence, and the intricate story design, all of which combine to make it memorable.}