ONE. is a remaster of one of the nakige (crying game) pioneers One ~Kagayaku Kisetsu e~. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
ONE. Review Overview
ONE. Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Immaculate Audio Experience Beautiful Artwork Excellent Stories |
Main Character Can Be Divisive Controller Support Is… There, I Guess |
ONE. Overall Score - 88/100
Reading ONE. is a magical experience. Though it's not as good as those that have perfected the genre later on, it certainly deserves its position as one of the pioneers of nakiges (crying games). The remake brings an entirely fresh look to a beloved classic, offering a veritable sea of new and beautiful illustrations, impeccable tunes, and exceptional voice acting to go with its wonderful stories. It’s a game you don’t want to miss out on, especially at its price.
ONE. Story - 8/10
ONE.’s routes offer a gripping narrative demanding heavy emotional investment from its readers. Some are even genuinely heart-breaking. While the initial experience may turn some off due to the main character’s almost inexplicable character, and a route or two could even elicit some genuine disgust, the conclusion for each story makes the experience worth it.
ONE. Gameplay - 6/10
Like any typical visual novel, ONE.’s gameplay consists almost entirely of reading dialogue and choosing between pre-prepared options that will influence its story's direction. While some options only change the following flavor text and do nothing to change your standing in the game, your choices matter quite a lot.
ONE. Visuals - 10/10
The remake brings the original, beloved visual novel into the modern age by giving its audiovisuals a fresh coat of paint. ONE.’s illustrations, in particular, are exceedingly beautiful - and there are many of them. Even the backgrounds used for its traditional scenes are very well made, though some may not entirely fit the narrative’s descriptions.
ONE. Audio - 10/10
In a word, the game’s soundtrack is extraordinary. Immaculate, even. It’s a remaster of the original set of tunes used in the original game, and it exceeds all expectations of eliciting the proper responses from its players regardless of whether they’re returning or new.
ONE. Value for Money - 10/10
This game is being sold for just a cent short of $20.00 on Steam. There is literally no excuse to not get it if you’re a fan of a great read.
ONE. Review: Deserving of Applause and Tears
During my early college days, a few titles often came up whenever my small community of visual novel enthusiasts talked about nakiges (basically visual novels with emotional stories): CLANNAD and ONE ~Kagayaku Kisetsu e~, among others.
However, for the most part, more people tend to recall CLANNAD with much more fondness than the latter, if at all. CLANNAD was simply, by all accounts, better. Reading that was a genuinely life-changing experience for me back then. But that doesn’t mean that ONE wasn’t good by any measure. Many of us loved it, and for good reason. Its stories, though some may raise eyebrows, are all great reads. And now that it has joined CLANNAD on Steam, everybody can enjoy this excellent visual novel at an equally fantastic price.
The remake perfectly captures the magic of the original visual novel despite the modifications to allow the general public to read it without guilt. In addition, it was given a fresh coat of paint, treating its readers to a sea of beautiful CGs (computer graphics. Basically full illustrations of scenes) to admire. More importantly, the original visual novel's awesome soundtrack was remastered and used in the remake, and it’s nothing short of a spectacular feat of love.
Of course, it does have its own share of problems. The major one would definitely be the divisiveness of some of the content in specific routes (which I won’t spoil). It also fails to really delve into some of the game's mysteries, such as what the Eternal World, which the main character would find himself lost in, really is.
There are also certain points where the localization seems to deliver a different line than what the characters actually said. While this is mostly minor since the meaning and context are retained, it’s still somewhat jarring when you read something different from what you hear.
Its gamepad support is also somewhat janky, specifically for those who play using a multi-monitor setup.
Regardless of those issues, however, ONE. is still a visual novel worth every penny and one that deserves your attention.
Pros of ONE.
| Things ONE. Got Right |
|---|
|
Immaculate Audio Experience Beautiful Artwork Excellent Stories |
Immaculate Audio Experience
As someone who doesn’t get too involved in music, the tracks that ONE. let loose all throughout my playthrough elicited a rare response. It captivated me. And it was easy to see, or rather hear, why. The game takes advantage of the nostalgia that those who have played the original game would have. In that sense, the music might not affect new players as much. What I consider a melodic work of art may just be a solid soundtrack for others. Either way, it’s exceptionally good. I, for one, look forward to purchasing the soundtrack if it ever becomes available.
The developers even took the time and money to ensure that there’s background noise in certain scenes, raising the immersion to new heights.
Of course, as with most modern visual novels, the dubbing is also impeccable. The voice actors are able to communicate the characters’ emotions very well and consistently throughout the game. They’ve breathed life into the people around the main character, turning them into something far more than just moving images on your screen.
Beautiful Artwork
From vintage to modern, ONE.’s artworks received more than a quick touch-up to fit the screens of modern-day gaming monitors. It also got a slew of original CGs, drastically reducing the time you’ll spend looking at the same traditional template of a dialogue box underneath mostly static character images.
The amount honestly isn’t a joking matter. Just a couple of hours is enough for you to collect a dozen CGs or more, depending on how fast you can go through its content.
With character artwork by Hinoue Itaru, an artist who previously worked on Key for titles such as CLANNAD, you can rest assured that all of the characters are well-drawn and appealing not only to its target audience but to other demographics as well.
Excellent Stories
In my opinion, the quality of a nakige depends a lot on the amount of humanity its writing can impart to its characters. After that, it’s a matter of ensuring that the scenarios can make its characters worthy of your empathy.
ONE. achieves this. For the most part, at least. There is one route where Kouhei does something that shakes even me, a self-aware, dirty isekai enthusiast, and one where he just spends almost the entire route being a degenerate (relatable, though the route is kinda cute overall). But for everything else, the writers did well to flex their abilities as authors, weaving emotional tales of uncertainty, anxiety, loneliness, and many other heart-breaking tales under the sun and the eventual redemption afterward. Even their normal conversations are extremely entertaining, regardless of your preferences.
How these routes end shouldn’t be spoiled. I mean, the story’s the only reason why people would play visual novels in the first place. But suffice it to say that you’ll at least sigh deeply in great satisfaction with at least a few of them.
Cons of ONE.
| Things That ONE. Can Improve |
|---|
|
Main Character Can Be Divisive Controller Support Is… There, I Guess |
Main Character Can Be Divisive
One of my main complaints, even past my days as a disillusioned little kid, regarding the original visual novel was that Kouhei Orihara, the main character, is quite the mean bastard. In a way, it’s a wonder how others could tolerate him, particularly those who have never known him until they met in the game. This is especially true for Rumi Nanase, who was introduced to Kouhei with a headbutt and left to fend for herself to be late for school. After that, she had to suffer getting her hair pulled and cut and losing her choice of after-school clubs, no thanks to the protagonist’s mischievousness and delinquent insensitivity. Later on, she even gets an elbow-drop.
While this may be entertaining for some, a more egregious case for this is that he seemingly has no remorse for doing practically the same thing to his childhood friend Mizuka Nagamori, minus the physicality.
Kouhei is definitely not a bad guy, though. In a way, it’s just his style of humor. Over the course of the game, you’ll find that he has a genuinely affectionate and caring personality hidden behind all the chaotic mess that acts as his facade. This is the key to his eventual redemption at the end of the story. For most of the game’s routes, this happens through a glorious arc of development between Kouhei and the heroine as they solve each others’ troubles, confide in each other, and all that classic, heartwarming routine.
The problem is, there are a couple of routes where Kouhei either does something incredibly appalling even to a mostly desensitized viewer or just spends the majority of the route being a questionably degenerate character (which is apt, considering that this route may also be the shortest and most unsatisfying one).
But even with those issues, the game as a whole is still way too good to dismiss. Just tread carefully with the knowledge that, while ONE. doesn’t have multiple endings per route, most of them are worth all the trouble and more.
Controller Support Is… There, I Guess
Visual novels have been available for consoles for a long time. Accordingly, they could be played using nothing but the buttons on their respective controllers without many issues. ONE.’s original version, which had already been released for the PlayStation over two decades ago, isn’t an exception.
The remake is similarly designed to be playable with controllers. However, the experience is far from the cozy one you’d expect, especially if you’re using a dual or triple monitor setup. The issue stems from the fact that your controller actually controls your mouse instead of the game directly. That’s why if you’re momentarily distracted by, say, a Discord message on another monitor and you went ahead and replied to it, you’ll learn that tabbing back into the game won’t actually allow you to do anything until you return the mouse back into the window.
You can't even rebind any keys.
Players who don’t use multiple monitors or play the game without doing anything else won’t experience this. And even those who do will likely dismiss this as a trivial inconvenience. However, those who fall under the latter category who are marathoning the game (understandable, considering how great it is) will inevitably encounter this problem more than a few times during their playthrough.
It will still be a minor inconvenience at most, though.
Is ONE. Worth It?
It’s more than worth it.
The game can take up to a hundred hours to finish, depending on how fast you read and how much time you spend admiring its wonderful tunes and beautiful artwork. Depending on the route you’re on, you’ll also likely shed a tear or two by the end of it. A $19.99 price tag (on the PC) is, quite frankly, a steal if you consider those.
By the way, Mizuka is the best girl even though her route was... not the best.
| Platform | Price |
|---|---|
 Steam |
$19.99 |
 Nintendo Store |
$69.99 |
ONE. Overview & Premise
ONE. follows Orihara Kouhei’s life as he spends high school with his friends. However, behind the slice-of-life-like facade, Kouhei deals with his troubles as he gradually secludes himself within the Eternal World.
As there is no way to stop the process, Kouhei’s interactions with those around him will be pivotal in influencing the game’s ending.
ONE. Product Information
 |
|
| Title | ONE. |
|---|---|
| Release Date | December 22, 2023 |
| Developer | Novamicus |
| Publisher | Shiravune |
| Supported Platforms | PC, Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Romance Visual Novel |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | Teen |
| Official Website | ONE. Website |
