CyberRebeat -The Fifth Domain of Warfare-

While the game system is poor and off-putting, CyberRebeat provides a wonderful story and an interesting concept worth reading till the end.

7.5/10. Barebones presentation and a couple of story weaknesses hinder, but are ultimately outshone by a story about an interesting topic with morally grey protagonists and antagonists that left me genuinely thoughtful about the future of the internet and how we interact with it. CyberRebeat is, as the store page says, a VN about hacking. UX is quite frankly poor. Things like full-screen or auto-play or skip mode don't have any buttons in-game, just a list of hotkeys in the "config" menu. If somehow the developer sees this review, I recommend using Fungus in the future if you're going to stick with Unity. The music isn't bad but most loops are short, so they get repetitive quickly. The art is also...not great. Most of the backgrounds are real pictures which are grainy and covered with some random overlay that makes them look odd. None of the characters truly look bad, but they don't look good at all, and those ears... Like other relatively short, low budget VNs I've played recently,...

This was a special gem. I was pretty much hooked after the first part. The characters are all uniquely charming and the CGs look great. Soundtrack is on point too when the action ramps up. It gets a tad confusing at times, but generally gets resolved quickly enough. The only negative I had story-wise was how the aftermath of several incidents was not explained or just glossed over contrary to initial impressions of events. There is also a lack of using Spacebar or Enter to advance text (only left click works) which is just mind-boggling. A bit of a niche topic, but well recommended for anyone interested in this realm. Actual read time: 11 hours, 30 minutes (I spent way too much time with this running while doing other things).

Kinetic novel. Set in the near future, deals with how technology could react in the future. Decent, though might suggest waiting for a sale.

I'm a huge enthusiast for the cyperpunk genre, and a premise this unique at $5 was hard to pass up. I definitely enjoyed my time with CyberRebeat and would recommend it to anyone who find its premise or subject matter interesting, especially if you find it on sale like I did. However, it's also important to note that, as a VN itself, its production quality is considerably underwhelming (though it thankfully did not deter my enjoyment as much as it may others). Let's start with the good though: The story is lengthy and very engaging. I found myself hooked from beginning to end and wanting more after the credits rolled. The characters and their designs are also a plus: I felt the characters were very well-rounded, not pulling too much (or too little) from their personality traits or backstories to leave a lasting impression on the reader. Background art doesn't wow much but gets the job done and, similarly, the BGM is also enjoyable despite a relatively short track list (an OST release ...

love story wish you good luck on more