Dyschronia: Chrono Alternative is the latest addition to the Chronos Series. The demo of the non-VR port on Switch was a gripping experience that shows the promise that the next generation of visual novels has. Read on to find out why.
Dyschronia: Chrono Alternative
The Next Step To Visual Novels
Following the design philosophy of the previous Chronos games, such as Tokyo Chronos, Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate is an interactive VR novel and puzzle game. As a big fan of visual novels, the Chronos series has always been on my radar, albeit for shallow reasons (the character designer is LAM, and Dyschronia's theme song is sung by Hoshimachi Suisei). However, since I didn't have a VR setup in 2019, I could only play Tokyo Chronos a year later at my friend's house. It was great.
Years later, Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate was released in 2022 as a VR-exclusive title for Meta Quest. Still being a VR-less spectator, I could only lament that I couldn't play the game myself. It's been stuck in Wishlist Hell for me for the past year without a good chance to see the light of day. But when I heard it would have a non-VR port for the Nintendo Switch, I was delighted.
You see, although VR novels aren't quite prolific yet, Tokyo Chronos has shown what the genre is capable of. It's basically the story visual novels have been providing for many decades, but with the interactivity that only VR games can provide. It's the next level of video game novels that the future will likely embrace.
Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate Release Details
Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate is a multi-part VR novel developed by MyDearest Inc. and published by IzanagiGames. The Definitive Edition of the game's first episode is a non-VR port of the game to Nintendo Switch. It's a single-player, narrative-driven cinematic adventure game with heavy mystery elements.
The Nintendo Switch release will support Japanese, English, French, Spanish, Chinese (Traditional, Simplified), and Korean text, with Japanese or English voice acting options.
There are pre-order bonuses. However, they are limited to Japan only, which is a shame because I would have tried to get my hands on them even if I had to forgo meals for a week. These include clear bookmarks, a tote bag, stickers, a vanity box, etc.
A 10% discount for the game will be active from 8:00 AM PST on October 18, 2023, until just before its release date on 6:59 AM PST, November 21, 2023.
Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate Switch Demo Review
Right from the get-go, you are thrown into a significant event in the story involving the destruction of your home. Interestingly, the game uses this section as a hook to pull your interest and provides a non-intrusive tutorial section for the game's basic movement control scheme.
Immediately, blatant remnants of its original VR gameplay can be noticed. This is because the game's control scheme depends on the individual use of your left and right hands. Of course, the developers have managed to comfortably redesign the camerawork and effects to be optimized for a non-VR experience. However, it seems it's basically impossible to completely snuff out its roots. Really, my only complaint about it is that the camerawork does have quite a bit of heft. Despite years of experience playing console FPS games such as Call of Duty, there were still times when I felt that the joystick aiming was like trying to maneuver an overpacked suitcase - heavy, awkward, and cumbersome.
Considering the delivery of its narrative, MyDearest Inc.'s attempt to add more gameplay to its VR novels has unfortunately acted as a double-edged sword. Although there's far more "gameplay" to this installment of the Chrono series compared to its predecessors, it does sacrifice the narrative's pacing quite significantly. To be fair, it does seem like the developers are aware of this problem. Bite-sized narratives meant to progress the plot are scattered throughout its mystery-solving gameplay. However, due to the nature of these games, attentive players (or those who are afraid of making mistakes) will usually take their time to talk to every available NPC and read every accessible piece of lore around them, further slowing down their progress. This attention to detail ironically shackles the story's pace, making it feel rather sluggish.
Make no mistake, though, the mysteries in this game do seem quite intriguing. The opening sequence presents us with the next logical step after locked-room murders: disappearing bodies. Details of the crime are delivered via the protagonist, Hal, and his ability to read the past of particular objects. However, this is not an omnipotent power, as non-living items hold less memory than we do, if at all. Otherwise, those items simply act as world-building tools. In addition, he can only access a few minutes or so of its memories, which necessitates inspecting everything around you.
Hal's ability may also be the reason for the game's choice of title. Dyschronia is a term used to describe the inability to determine the boundaries of the present and the past. This concept manifests in the game as the second layer of Hal's power: the ability to influence the present by interacting with the past. The demo gives us a taste of this power's influence, by allowing us to access an encrypted computer by having its owner simply leave it unlocked before Hal arrived. While this all seems like one giant red flag if you've read enough novels, it does well gameplay-wise due to there being an additional incentive to be thorough in your investigations.
As you should. This is a mystery game, after all.
In terms of its visuals, it's so-so. While it has incredible character models and graphical quality, the level design leaves much room to be admired. Honestly, besides a few exceptions, none of the locations look lived-in at all. Even if the game's setting requires a bleak environment, it shouldn't completely eliminate the need to at least give a bit of personality to certain locations.
On the other hand, it does have fantastic audio. Not only is its voicework excellent, the music is very immersive, and the sound effects feel pretty close to reality.
The demo is overall an amazing, albeit extremely short, experience. There's not enough content there to properly gauge the quality of its overarching plot, nor is it long enough to give us an idea of how its gameplay develops after gaining access to all of your tools. However, it's just enough to say that Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate is a game worth keeping your eye on as it releases on the Nintendo Switch.
Especially since you get... let's say a load off your mind at the end of the demo.
If you're interested, the demo is available for download on their Nintendo Store page. It runs for about two and a half hours, depending on how much of the game's passive world-building you are willing to read. The saved data is transferable to the full game, so you don't need to worry about having to start everything over from scratch.
More About Dyschronia: Chronos Alternated
Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate was developed by MyDearest Inc., an entertainment start-up focused on creating original VR IPs. They are the developers of the Chronos series, including Tokyo Chronos and ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos. These games are arguably some of the best VR novels out there, as seen from their numerous awards, such as a bronze for The Steam Awards 2019 Best VR game.
Do check their games out if you have VR. Otherwise, you can experience their latest work Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate on Switch as it releases November 21, 2023.
