Sakura Nova Review

Introduction

Sakura Nova is a Visual Novel adventure, developed by Winged Cloud for PC in 2016. It was then ported to consoles by Gamuzumi in October 2021!

*Disclaimer: A code was provided to me by the publisher for the purposes of this review. That does not affect my opinions. As my thoughts are mine and mine alone.

Review

When Mikage wants to be a Knight, to defend the people, just like his father, he’s paired up with two ladies and his adventures begin! He meets his teammates, Arisa and Kaguya, in the most awkward way only to not have the chance to explain himself before they want to cut him in half!

The story itself is very fun, with a few areas that get a bit serious. At one point you learn why everyone wants to be a Knight, and Mikage’s reasoning was a touch cliché. But the silliness is that he wants to bring an end to how cliché it is. Which was just odd. Though the story did feel a tiny bit rushed. The game takes place in a very futuristic/fantasy setting. But at the same time, I got .hack// vibes from it. Or Sword Art Online. If you don’t know those manga or anime, then I’m sorry. This made it feel even more fun for myself.

But as for the story being rushed, one second the team is training in a dungeon, then next thing you know, they’re at home eating dinner. There’s a few sections where they are walking around town for example, but it doesn’t happen often. The game also has multiple endings. There’s three different routes. The first one I got where I made everyone love me, just sort of ended abruptly. Then as I unlocked the other two, they both went on for another 20-30 minutes each. So it felt like I only got about 2/3rds of the game’s length on one route. Though if you’ve ever played a VN, I’m sure you can figure out what the endings entailed.

As for how sexy the game is, yes we’re talking about it. It’s not very lewd. On consoles at least. The worst you see is maybe the side of a breast. So compared to some other lewd adventures from Winged Cloud and Gamuzumi, this adventure is very tame. If there is a specific CG you like though, you can always view it in the gallery! It is nice to play a VN where your choices actually matter though for the ending you want to get. But there is really no ending chart. But with the three endings, it’s easy to figure out what ones you have and have not got just by looking at your achievements, then going from there!

Rating

Pros:

Fun Story
Futuristic/Fantasy Setting

Cons:

One Abrupt Ending
Not Very Lewd

Summary

I really enjoyed the story for this game. Whether it’s because I love the accompanying setting so much, or because it was well written, even if sometimes it jumps around a lot. It was weird that one ending just cuts off about 30 minutes of read time and ends abruptly, but the other two routes were exactly what I wanted. I love the characters, I love their stories, even if the main characters’ story is cliché. I really hope we one day see a Sakura Nova 2!

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Game & Developer Information

Developer Website: Winged Cloud
Developer Socials: Twitter
Publisher Website: Gamuzumi
Publisher Socials: Twitter
PSN Store Links: £9.49/€11.99 Europe / $11.99 North America
Trophy Information: 12. 1 / 11 / 0 / 0