Chaos;Child Reviews
Featuring a dark atmosphere with some moving moments (and a few touches of immaturity here and there), it’s been a long time since a visual novel has grabbed me as much as this one did. Even with the weaker final quarter, this is a story that comes highly recommended.
While it doesn’t quite reach the heights of its predecessor, Chaos;Child is a strong visual novel in its own right–one that builds on and evolves what came before in interesting ways. It’s a shame this release is so lacking in polish, but Chaos;Child’s poignant thematic heart still shines through.
And interesting adventure with lots of hours to think about its deep plot, unstable characters and a great environment.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Chaos;Child is, for better or worse, a 5pb visual novel.
Chaos;Child is a grim, gory murder mystery that could have been brilliant with some judicious edits to its content and pacing.
Chaos;Child delivers a disturbing and engaging story that not only stands on it's own, but helps to expand the worlds of other parts of the Science Adventure Series. It's just a shame that it takes so long to experience that story, and that the choices you make to find every piece of info and characterization are weirdly designed. Chaos;Child isn't as good as Steins;Gate at the end of the day, but a more memorable cast of characters and a more distinctive art style would help future entries stand alongside Steins;Gate instead than behind it.
Chaos;Child is a deviously clever visual novel from start to finish. It plays the reader like a fiddle by presenting all the ingredients for a mystery novel, but without some of the necessary tools to solve it. A megalomaniac mystery fan will look for a logical solution finding none as the important pieces are hidden away from the protagonist, and by extension, the reader. It might seem insane and risky, but it works extremely well and creates a memorable read that, while perhaps annoying for some due to certain choices made during the prose, will impress many others. Like most visual novels, it is not a crowd-pleaser, but for the intended audience it is a must read, and one that will not easily be forgotten.
Chaos;Child was a bit of a disappointment for me. I enjoyed its improvements, but the previous game did things in a more interesting way, as it was all new to me. So having problems reappear while new ones came to light didn't convince me that this was a worthwhile sequel.
CHAOS;CHILD is an exciting visual novel about a group of high school kids who are investigating a series of murders. Although the beginning is a little slow and the translation could use a little polishing, it delivers on a great story with many twists that fans of the genre will really enjoy
While Chaos;Child may suffer a bit from some poor localization and text formatting decisions, the story is rather unique and engaging, leading to a fascinating murder mystery full of twists and turns. While I would suggest going through Chaos;Head Noah (or the non remastered version even) before going through Chaos;Child for a little more backstory and context, Chaos; Child still largely works as a standalone title, and will be a good choice for anyone looking for a grittier visual novel experience.
Overall the Chaos;Head NoAH / Chaos;Child Double Pack is a mixed bag of a bundle. While both games have a great narrative, aesthetic, and soundtrack, the Nintendo Switch versions are unfortunately ridden with odd issues and executions. It's also worth noting that this version of Chaos;Head NoAH also cut some content from the original for censorship reasons. That said, if you'd like to play a genuinely interesting set of visual novels and don't care about the issues highlighted, there is still some enjoyment to be had with this port. Otherwise, I advise playing them on a different platform.
As it is currently, Chaos;Child did not make me feel under either a positive nor a negative delusion.
Ultimately, if you're already a fan of lengthy visual novels then Chaos;Child is worth investigating but if not, this isn't the game to introduce you to the genre.
If there's a patch to fix the text bugs - as of the review time, the game was still on 1.0.0 - then I might endeavor to dive back into Chaos;Child. But for now, there's still plenty of other things for me to read that I'm not worried about bouncing out of the game early.