Here we are trying out a new thing like I mentioned in My Weekly Adventures. I usually review books and novels and by accident, thinking it was something different, I landed on this visual novel. It turns out that visual novels are quite popular in the app world and I will check these out as I find them. The first to start is this one called Ambre. I guess a good start for those who don’t know is that visual novels are packed with illustrations and scrolling words and music. It can be more interactive as well.
Let us check this out!
Ambre
by Träumendes Mädchen
Tristan Malory is an ordinary salary-man, caught into the same routine of “commute, work, sleep” since the departure of his wife. That is until he meets Ambre, a sweet and naïve little girl who happens to be homeless. Touched, he decides to shelter her for the moment. Their cohabitation quickly becomes very strange, if not creepy, until the story breaks apart to reveal a terrible secret. – Gamejolt
Being the first visual novel that I have downloaded from Google Play, Ambre is a nice experience. Right off the bat, the animations are done really well. The characters are drawn nice and the backdrops have beautiful colors. The music is pretty nice complement as well. The only thing I didn’t think was as necessary was the scrolling words that covered up the entire screen by the end. It was pretty much like reading a novel and covered up the characters and backdrop they had put together. However, reading a visual novel definitely has that potential to build more of an atmosphere where its like reading a picture book as we see the characters and even music to give it a little more mood.
Ambre’s story actually is rather easy to head into spoiler territory if I start going deeper. I’ll try to steer away from it. Ambre’s story is easy to see where it goes awry and you can actually start suspecting that the situation is a little complicated and messed up. It also blurs in the part where it feels like maybe there was a timeline issue that went on but as the finale reveals itself, it is quite an effective surprise. My only issue with Ambre is that it is actually a simple and short story with a decent message behind it. However, once the secret is revealed, the story continues and drags out an extra section that felt unnecessary. Yes, it does change the pace near the end to give it a little more emotional value but it started to feel more dragged out than necessary.
However, Ambre is a quick read. I probably finished it over the course of an hour. It has a good story and I realized while writing this up that they have some other visual novels out, so I’ll probably go and give those a go.
Do you read visual novels? Have you read Ambre?
Tranquil Dreams 