Summary
Tsukihime - A piece of blue glass moon - has brought a beloved classic visual novel to a new generation of gamers. It has made significant strides in presentation and content, despite only being a partial remake. Type-Moon’s ability to craft engaging and immersive narratives continues to show with this piece of work.
Developer – Type-Moon
Publisher – Type-Moon
Platforms – Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (reviewed)
Review copy given by publisher
The original Tsukihime was created by Type-Moon, known for their Fate series, all the way back in the year 2000. It was a groundbreaking visual novel that introduced players to the complex and dark world of Shiki Tohno and the supernatural conflicts he becomes embroiled in. Its intricate story and deep character development set a high standard for the genre. Fast forward to 2024 and the remake titled Tsukihime – A piece of blue glass moon – is about to be released in the west. As a disclaimer, I never read through the original, but you don’t really need to before jumping into the remake. That’s what a remake is for right?
The novel begins in the town of Souya, with protagonist Tohno living away from his family after being involved in a life threatening accident many years ago. This accident granted him an ability known as the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, which allows him to see the lines of death. If he traces these lines, then the person or object being traced will be killed or destroyed. Fortunately, he received a pair of glasses that suppresses this power, and he is able to live a fairly normal life, until his father passes away and he is called back to his family’s estate. It is then that he meets a beautiful vampire named Arcueid, and is drawn into a world of supernatural horrors.
If you couldn’t already tell, Tsukihime dives into some pretty dark and grim themes, and the overarching story contains plenty of gore and violence, so be prepared before you dive in. In fact, the original was actually categorized as an eroge, or erotic game, and contained many explicitly sexual scenes per route. The remake, however, omits this, but is much more gory when it comes to other scenes. Regardless, this game offers meaningful choices throughout that have a significant impact to which ending you achieve.
It is important to note that – A piece of blue glass moon – is the first part of the remake, and contains a subset of the original game’s routes. Specifically, it includes the Near Side routes, with three separate endings, and focuses on the two main characters Arcueid and Ciel’s stories. Even so, you can easily get over 50 hours of story content here if you’re going for all the routes and endings. The rest of the remake, which contains the Far Side routes, contains endings for Akiha, Hisui, and Kohaku, and will be dubbed – The other side of red garden -. There is currently no release date for this yet.
– A piece of blue glass moon – has stunning visuals and voice acting, which bring the story to life in a way that was not possible in the original due to technological limitations. This is not to mention the beautiful and immersive music and sound effects such as the leaves rustling in the distance or the wind blowing to the melancholic piano tunes. The updated writing and nuances are difficult to translate but are executed brilliantly, adding depth to the narrative. Localization overall is excellent. New characters and scenes are also introduced, all of which integrate seamlessly into the existing storyline.
This remake has some great new additions, including a gallery that showcases images, soundtracks, a flowchart, and different endings. The flowchart availability is a fantastic quality of life feature that makes it so much easier to follow what’s going on in the narrative. Furthermore, you can toggle text display speed, auto advance page speed, skip cleared scenes, and voice volumes in the game’s main menu. There’s even a controller scheme, but no remappings, not that you need one. Tsukihime – A piece of blue glass moon – takes up a hefty 37.04 GB on the PlayStation, which is huge considering this is just a visual novel. Load times are instant due to the nature of the game, so no complaints there.
Tsukihime – A piece of blue glass moon – has brought a beloved classic visual novel to a new generation of gamers. It has made significant strides in presentation and content, despite only being a partial remake. Type-Moon’s ability to craft engaging and immersive narratives continues to show with this piece of work. Ultimately, the game is a significant contribution to the visual novel space, offering a unique experience that honors its legacy while charting a new course for future titles. Now when will – The other side of red garden – release?
