I can recommend Steins;Gate Elite to anyone who wants to experience a fantastic visual novel with multiple endings. I cannot, however recommend this if you are hoping for full interaction or solid gameplay because there really isn’t anything like that here. Outside of a few button presses here and there, there is no game to be played. I am not usually a fan of visual novels, but I didn’t feel bored with this one. Check this one out if you love science fiction stories that captivate.
This may not be the definitive way to experience the series, but it's damn sure the most accessible, and it beats the hell out of the neutered anime adaptation. For new fans, this is a fantastic entry point. For returning fans, Steins;Gate Elite is a solid reason to revisit a beloved series with a fresh set of eyes. I adored every second of it.
A game so excellent, I bought it twice. Actually, I only bought it for the download code for Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram since I don't have a PC. But I still loved it & got that plat, here's my 10 to combat the negative reviews all the nostalgia-blind fanboys that didn't even play this gave. It's still a great story, even if some of the original lines aren't in this one.
¡Excelente remake! ¡Captura la esencia de la novela visual original y el anime de forma magistral! ¡¡La dirección de las nueva escenas animadas es simplemente sublime!! ¡Si has visto el anime, puedes profundizar mucho más gracias a este juego.
It’s surprising just what an impact the new animations have in Steins;Gate Elite -- the additions take an already excellent visual novel and makes it feel much more dynamic and intense. What's more, being able to finally play Linear Bounded Phenogram in English is just the icing on an already very scrumptious cake. Elite is the complete visual novel package, and pretty much the best that the genre has to offer.
Despite some small annoyances that are either confusing or intrusive to the overall immersion that Steins;Gate Elite provides, this was a genuinely fun and engaging experience. In fact, because of how graphically close it is to the anime and how intense and complex the narrative is, Steins;Gate Elite is smooth as butter from start to finish and captures the true meaning of a graphic novel come to life.
Whether it’s your first time playing a game in the genre or not, Steins;Gate Elite is definitely one of the best visual novels available today. Just keep in mind that, while it may have taken a bit for the Phonewave (name subject to change) to heat the story up, the payoff is worth the wait.
One of the best in the Visual Novel genre.
I think the most important question is how you look at this genre as a whole. If you absolutely detest reading or simply do not recognize the genre as "video game" then this is obviously not the game for you.
This is a replay for me, because I've played the original on Vita a few years back. While knowing the plot this time around did put a damper on some of the surprises and twists, it was still very enjoyable. I have watched the anime as well but it felt like they added more original animated scenes? Maybe it's just been too long.
If you like Time Traveling stories, especially ones that seems to be a bit more grounded in reality (as real as a time travel story goes), give this one a try.
I was looking into narrative novel games and came across Steins;Gate and saw hundreds of positive reviews raving about the amazing story and characters. I have now come away from finishing this game and have to wonder what everyone else played. First, this is not a narrative novel game. You don’t get to make choices (no the emails don’t count, or whether or not to send D-mail) and will spend most of the game, around 35 hours, clicking the ‘X’ button to go to the next line of dialogue. That’s all you do, is sit there and read it. (There are so many text screens that are just ‘…’) Why was this made as a video game? Indeed the first three chapters alone took 11 hours, without trying to rush through it, as I did with the rest of the game.
This game screams that it had no idea what it wanted to be. We have science fiction with the ideas of time travel and all the science-y talk, a relationship thrown in at the last possible moment, and then all this Otaku-info dump (have you ever wanted to know the deepest levels of Japanese culture thrown up so that they needed to add an entire dictionary so you could kind of understand?). If it could have chosen one genre, the story could have been far stronger because the two halves of the game don’t really connect with each other. Much of the info dump at the beginning in regards to time travel and SERN don’t come up again once their device is operational. They also try to act like they’re butterfly effect without ever using the concept correctly, and often mock it and Groundhog Day when they decide to throw that in too.
I got so frustrated by this drawn out process that I paused after chapter three and ended up getting ahold of the anime just to see if that was any better. The fact that they were able to cut out a lot of the endless prattle to make the story tighter, only showed how many useless hours were in this ‘game’. Not only that but I had absolutely nothing but disdain for the main character Okabe in the game. He doesn’t have any cares about what he’s doing and indeed actively tells complete strangers, just try our time machine, we don’t know what will happen! For most of the events, he doesn’t even know what the others are setting out to change! The anime made the characters more bearable and likeable as well. I didn’t want to completely strangle everyone.
Technically, there are multiple endings here. I say this because most of them are based on not fixing the timeline and just allowing a certain character to die. Faris’s ending was probably the best as it made the most sense. Okabe was always the problem and this ending illustrated what taking him out of the equation would be like. The other two are letting one character live or the other, and then the final ending is saving them both. You will never be able to get two of the endings without a walkthrough because it involves choosing the correct email replies and collecting the correct amount of relationship flags for these. All of these endings were just whatever, because it just required you to suspend all intellectual thought as the writers continuously contradict themselves, sometimes in the same character conversation! Once you try to get these other endings are just fast-forwarding (beware when the D-mails options pop up because it will blast through those and not send the mail) the game is a whole 2 hours long!
The best part about this 'game' was the soundtrack. They were such beautiful tracks that as I listen to them I'm immediately transported to moments that they took place during.
Steins;Gate is not what the creators advertise and indeed, not what all the positive reviews make it out to be. If you must try this story, you should stick with the anime. That is the form this story was meant to take. I’m just so happy to finally be done.
Good story, but written more for young or novice readers.
I won't go into the story details, as much of that would be considered spoilers. Though generally, it's a relatively unique conspiracy-themed time travel story with some basic romantic tangents.
Several moments in the story are quite good or shocking. It's the plot that ties those moments together that's lacking. Yes, plenty of plot holes, unbelievable science, and a few unbelievable character actions make this a sloppy story.
I say the story is for young or novice readers because everything is explained to you. The characters' inner thoughts and science are all written out to you in excruciating detail, so there's very little room for interpretation. Interpretation and vagueness are required for intelligent fiction; In addition to just being more real, it gives the reader the opportunity to analyze actions and characters based on what others see, giving them a sort of intellectual puzzle to piece together as more things are revealed. That doesn't happen here, but that alone doesn't make it bad.
The plot holes, science issues, and dumb character actions are what bring the story down. I'd say about 80% of the science in the game is accurate, but the other 20% is so dumb that they should have just kept it hidden. You'll definitely have issues with some of the dumb science on display here if you're into physics or software coding at all.
And the plot holes, while not huge, are distracting, especially when the game tries to explain them away. I imagine the writers thought that certain plot holes were so big that they had to have characters try to explain them away, on the fly. This was done poorly though, and again, these explanations should have been left unsaid.
Dumb character actions are fortunately rare, and normally revolve around suicide or killing someone else. But at least due to the time travel mechanics, most of those are undone and it helps more intelligent readers forget that happened.
Besides the game's storytelling, it has a few technical issues, such as videos cutting/jumping quickly, 2:3 video judder, and typos (a few repeated lines of text). They were annoying at first, but I got used to them eventually.
Also, the game has a whole chapter and ending that is only shown if you send the right emails to certain people during your playthough. There's no indication given that this will happen, and I found out after the game was over that I had missed those (due to not getting to the last chapter). So you'll need a guide if you want to see the whole game as it gives you no clues on what to choose.
So an interesting and decent enough story if you're into sci-fi time travel, but isn't intelligently written at all.
SummarySTEINS;GATE ELITE is a remastered title with animated scenes from the anime, creating a brand-new, immersive experience. Follow a group of young, tech-savvy Lab Members who discover the means of changing the past by using e-mail and a modified microwave. Their experiment to push the boundaries of time spirals out of control as they becom...