World End Syndrome - Finished and Thoughts

So I bought this game when I saw it discounted. I've always had some interest in it though, because I liked the art style of the characters, but I never got around to buying it. So I took the opportunity to buy it when I saw a good discount on it.

I do want to say a few things about the story too, so I will start with some thoughts of the game in general and then proceed to spoiler-type stuff.

Also, it is localized
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/worldend-syndrome-switch/

First, in conclusion, I think it is worth buying, but I would suggest buying it when there is a discount. I think this mainly because I think the game might not be long enough to dish out $40+ for?
In a way, this game is pretty much a mystery novel with voices and visuals. This is because while you do have multiple routes, there are routes only unlockable after completing other routes. And in the end, all of the routes kinda come together to create one whole story.
While there are 5 girls to "pick" from, do not come in to the game expecting a lot of romance, since the mystery portion is far more prominent. Also, I doubt you will really be satisfied with the romance of this game outside of the "main heroine"

The playtime is from 20~30 hours, depending on if you use a guide or not.
The thing is that outside of the prologue and epilogue, the game progresses day by day, morning to noon to night. You get to choose a location and depending on the day and time, you may encounter any of the characters. When you encounter one of the girls, their affection is raised. So if you don't use a guide, you will probably have to save-load a whole bunch of times to figure out who is where.

Also, the affection thing works kinda weird in this game, as the affection you build up is saved across routes. You actually can't even go to a certain girl's route unless she has enough affection already, which means you have to build up her affection while doing another girl's route. I think it is due to this system that despite completing Saya's route, I actually missed one of her CG events.
Anyways, you might be wondering how you can even go to other routes if they save the affection from previous playthroughs, but your route is generally determined by your decisions on the first couple of days or so (or maybe just the first choice...)

Continuing on with the system, another weird part about this game compared to other visual novels is that you cannot save whenever you want. You can only save at select moments, like the end of each day. Furthermore, you cannot skip scenes completely, only speed through them.
Another weird UI-related thing is that while you have many save slots, the load screen does not display empty save slots. For instance,
Save1
Empty
Save2
Save3
Empty
Empty
Save4
is displayed on the load screen as
Save1
Save2
Save3
Save4
Due to this as well as the fact you cannot write comments about your save files, this kinda feels... hard to navigate. Outside of just making sure your latest file is the most bottom one.

That said, I think they did a good job presenting the story, with characters facing sideways or away from the screen, as well as moving.

And as far as the mystery part of the game goes, I think it did a good enough job.
After completing the game, I think I was able to reason with the events that happened throughout the game, in each route. However, it was never completely predictable and despite getting ideas on what is going on, it still managed to surprise me in one way or another, but not in an unbelievable manner.

So yeah, I had a good time.

And now for the spoilers...


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So I preferred Miu over the others from the start, so I'm glad that the "true end" is with her. I guess I just think these types are cute. Also, on a rather random point, she is also the "kneesocks" character of the girls.
It is unfortunate that other than Yukino's route, it is hinted that everyone gets killed. Frankly, even in Yukino's route, everyone is probably killed anyways, since Yamashiro is still existing and that means she will go berserk at the end of the month.

Also, there was no real explanation of why the protagonist has memories of the other routes or has the items he gets from other routes, but I guess you might say that he was actually involved in all routes at the same time... kinda? Or I guess you can say that is just how the game wanted to tell the story, so don't think too hard on it? I mean, he can still spend time with the other characters without going to their route as well as get the various items, if you ignore route-bound events.

I kinda figured that at least either the protagonist or Yukino was a revived person, but I didn't expect that they were related. I didn't expect the possibility of more than one revived either, so I was guessing Yamashiro, the protagonist, or Yukino.
If it was the protagonist, that would mean Miu ending up alone, so I'm glad that wasn't the case.
It was also interesting to see there was a reason the protagonist had no voice... until he revealed his identity.

I also figured it out pretty early that Yamato was hiding something... but not a bad person. Though I did not expect that Mibu was just crazy instead of being a Revived.
So it turns out the story was a combination of the Revived as well as a serial killer. Interesting twist enough.

Also, I think there were enough hints to figure it out earlier, but until the epilogue, I did not realize that Saya and Rei had the same mother. I was like, wow. The game never flat-out even tells you this. But it is clearly hinted to be so.