The Way We All Go (2015) Review Summary

Twenty-one endings and meaningful choices offer high replayability with a strong narrative and deep characters, though pacing issues, repetitive arbitrary endings, a weak protagonist, and inconsistent art drag it down.

21 endings offer huge replayability: The game contains 21 distinct endings, each with unique backstories and outcomes that range from happy to tragic. This branching structure encourages multiple playthroughs and provides a lot of replay value.

Strong and engaging narrative: The story is praised as rich, substantial, and enjoyable, with memorable characters and emotional impact. Although it may start slowly, it improves and becomes engaging, with descriptive writing that immerses players.

Characters deep and memorable: Characters are deeper than their initial stereotypes, with many facets and interesting personalities, including minor ones. Noelle's personality and dynamic are especially loved, and characters overall become lovable and engaging.

Good value for price: The game offers a lot of content for its price, with long playtime and good value for money. Players feel the game is a worthwhile buy and a delightful experience.

Choices meaningfully affect outcomes: The choices players make have strong and significant effects on the direction of the story and which of the 21 endings they receive. This makes decision-making a core and impactful gameplay element.

Story suffers from pacing issues: Many users find the story boring, slow, and padded with excessive dialogue and inner monologues that stretch scenes unnecessarily. The pacing is described as off-putting, with many filler events and long-winded sections that make the experience feel pointlessly long.

Endings are repetitive and arbitrary: Multiple endings are criticized for being too similar, arbitrary, confusing, and disappointing, with many feeling forced or random, especially those that involve dark events. The branching structure is overwhelming and often requires guides or extensive skipping to access.

Protagonist is weak and passive: The main character is frequently described as weak-willed, passive, spineless, and lacking personality, which makes the story less engaging. Multiple reviewers note the protagonist is not sympathetic, is annoying, or fails to act with agency.

Writing is wordy and meandering: The writing style is universally criticized for being extremely wordy, with lengthy inner monologues and long conversations that fail to advance the plot. Dialogue is often described as padded, repetitive, and boring, prompting players to speedread or skip.

Art is low quality and amateurish: The visual presentation, including sprites, backgrounds, and CGs, is frequently described as amateurish, with noted inconsistencies, poor shading, and stiff lines. Some reviewers mention that sounds and filters are missing and visuals lack vibrancy.

Visual novel with choices: The game combines visual novel elements with choice-driven storytelling, offering many paths and endings. Users note that choices meaningfully impact narrative outcomes, reinforcing the genre's conventions of high branching and replay value.

Multiple endings with branches: The game features a high number of endings, with 21 total, influenced by player choices. Branching paths allow for extensive replayability, but some reviewers noted that many endings require multiple playthroughs to discover.

Requires multiple playthroughs: To unlock all endings, incrementally different branches and reveal story backstories, the player must replay the game multiple times. This encourages full exploration, but some might find the repetition tedious.

Visual novel with romance routes: The visual novel includes distinctive romantic routes and endings, focusing on developing relationships with multiple characters, each with their own scenic connections. This would appeal to fans of dating sims and narrative branching.

Choices determine endings: Player choices are central to the experience, directly determining which of the multiple endings are unlocked. Branches and consequential outcomes allow for varied replayability, with some choices having visible impacts on the story.

Forward skip malfunction: The forward skip action sometimes fails to execute correctly, which can disrupt the gameplay flow. This issue appears to be a functional bug rather than a design preference.

Recommended for visual novel fans: A large cluster of reviewers strongly recommend this game specifically to fans of visual novels, especially those who enjoy romance, dark twists, and emotionally impactful stories. It is noted that the game may be heavy for newcomers or casual readers of the genre.

Reviews are positive overall: Despite a few negative viewpoints, the overall sentiment is positive, with many reviews recommending the game for its narrative and emotional depth. Some say it is a worthwhile read for romance and dark storyline fans.

Dark themes with emotional impact: The game is recommended for those seeking dark, emotionally impactful visual novels with horror elements and intense themes. Some mentions that the main feeling is sadness, and it is not exactly a horror game.

Not for newcomers to genre: Some reviews indicate the game may be too heavy or complex for newcomers to visual novels, recommending it strongly for established genre fans. It may not be the best introduction for new or casual readers.

Good value for price: Reviewers indicate the game is well worth its price given the content offered, with some suggesting it is a worthwhile buy even at full price. Others recommend purchasing it on sale or in a bundle for better value.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00.

Game completion: 21.0h.

Story completion: 8.0h.

Endgame: 13.0h.

The game has a slow, boring start with tedious dialogues and mundane banter, but becomes rewarding once players work through the early game and access the endings.

Friction: boring start; tedious dialogues; mundane banter; repetitive playthroughs; slow pacing.

Unlock drivers: progressing to the endings; reaching well-written conclusion; becoming familiar with characters.

VN Veteran (Twisted Romance Seeker): Analytical, goal-oriented, compares character tropes and narrative twists to other VNs. Motivation: Seeks dark romance and twisted storylines with multiple choices. Stance: buy.

First-Time VN Explorer: Slow, thorough reading with multiple playthroughs; open to discovering the genre. Motivation: Curiosity about visual novels and a desire to explore the genre through a first experience. Stance: buy.

Higurashi Fan (Atmospheric Horror Lover): Compares narrative and aesthetic elements to Higurashi; focuses on atmosphere and horror. Motivation: Wants an experience similar to Higurashi, enjoying deep psychological horror and small-town settings. Stance: buy.

Game features 21 endings: The game offers a total of 21 distinct endings, as noted by multiple reviewers. Some endings are difficult to reach without external guidance, and completing all routes requires substantial playtime.

Comparisons to Higurashi: Many reviewers compared the game to Higurashi, citing shared themes like rural settings, psychological elements, and a returning protagonist. However, they noted the game is more of a drama than a mystery, with a focus on relationships and emotional impact.

Substantial content and replay value: The game is praised for its large amount of content, including multiple branching paths and many endings that extend playtime significantly. This makes it a good value for the price, despite being an indie production.

Length estimates vary widely: Players report completion times ranging from about 3.5 hours for a single ending to over 20 hours for all endings. Non-native readers may take longer, and the playtime depends heavily on reading speed and completion goals.

Requires external guide for endings: Several reviewers note that some of the 21 endings are hard to reach without following a guide, which may decrease the convenience for players aiming for complete completion.