Period Cube

I wasn’t very interested in Period cube when it was released, that’s why I haven’t bought it immediately. But I found a cheap copy in Japan (tbh it was cheap in almost every store, none sold it at full price), so I decided to give it a try anyway.

The first thing I noticed, it’s the shortness: it took me so little time to complete my first route, I think a fast player could easily complete the whole game in a week.

I usually appreciate when a game it’s not too long, but this was too much for me!

Hiroya’s route was nice, but I think I liked it mostly because he was the first character I’ve played: thinking about it now that I’m done with everything, I don’t actually remember that much, because nothing interesting really happened.

Some scenes were cute, childhood friends are usually fun to play, but that’s it.

Zain’s route was weird, and not in a good way.

The fast pacing made everything awkward from the beginning, and it got weirder as the route progressed; at least, some yandere scenes were memorable.

I think he had potential as a character, he could have been interesting, but everything was wasted by a bad writing which made everything happen too fast.

Radius’ route was way better: I finally hadn’t problems with the pacing, nothing happened too fast and his behavior actually made sense.

There’s only one thing that bothered me a bit: why is he an idol? I know idols are popular in Japan and they help to sell more games, but that’s totally useless here!

Anyway, the plot was good and I loved him, he was such a tsundere… he got amazing CGs too!

I’m not a Maeno fan usually, but he did a good job.

Libera didn’t interest me at first, I saw it as a “friend route” and I couldn’t see him as a true love interest even in the end.

His route had a shocking revelation tho, I wasn’t expecting it at all… it made me really sad.

Anyway, even if some parts were interesting and made me emotional, it felt way too long; probably because the last fight scene was longer than usual, or maybe just because I was a bit tired of seeing similar scenes in every route.

What I appreciated the most, is the ending: he grew up, and they became a wonderful couple!

That was a nice scene and CG, it was a good choice to make him look finally like a man.

Astrum was so good, really!

His route is worth the whole game for me, I fell in love immediately with his reliable and caring personality; it was very prince-like, I felt protected and loved.

He was really into his role in the Arcadia world, you could tell by the way he talked; I loved his interactions with Hiroya, who was jealous all the time, and tried to keep him distant from the heroine.

His attitude in the real world was so different tho, I was surprised because he looked like a completely different person… it’s obvious why he’s so strong in Arcadia, he probably prefers playing instead of living real life, where the other students just make fun of him.

I think he also got the best CGs, I liked them all!

Demento’s route was……. weird and short.

It could have been interesting, because he’s obviously a psycho who loves to kill people just to feel some excitement; in this situation, I could understand if the heroine would develop some kind of Stockholm syndrome, after being kidnapped.

Unfortunately, this route was too short and I couldn’t see any kind of development: simply, the heroine was too nice with him since the beginning and she forgave everything.

“Who cares if you killed so many people? You are actually a nice guy, I know. Save him, niisan!”

ok, it wasn’t exactly like this, but the meaning was the same.

Such a waste of character, there was a true potential in him!

My last route was obviously Poyopoyo!

Let’s call him niisan, his true identity was so obvious from the start that I don’t even think it’s a spoiler.

All my friends (and people who read my reviews) already know about my undying love towards yandere and brothers, I was looking forward to this route the most!

He’s also voiced by Toriumi and that’s a huge plus for me, since he’s one of my favorite seiyuu.

Some scenes were quite creepy, and I absolutely loved them!

His confession was the best, and the ending shocked me: the final revelation was completely unexpected; many players will probably dislike this choice, but I really appreciated it.

I won’t forget this route easily, it was really a plot twist!

Do I recommend this game?

Since it’s going to be localized soon, I want to be completely honest: they could have chosen something better.

It’s not a bad game, I actually enjoyed most of it, but there are so many better otoge which deserve to be translated for those who can’t play the japanese version!

Probably, this theme is considered interesting for a western audience, since it reminds of Sword Art Online, that’s why they invested in it.

But unfortunately, it’s not perfect at all: the gap between the main characters (Radius, Astrum and Shiki) ad the others was really huge, all the other routes feel incomplete, lazy or just plain boring.

Anyway, it’s obvious that all the writer’s effort was put to the leaders of the parties, and I really loved them.

My favorite boy is Astrum, but niisan is really close; these routes are worth the whole game.

If you can’t play japanese games, I think you should give a chance to the localization, you shouldn’t be disappointed.

If you’ve already played too many games, like me, there’s no need to buy this at full price: just wait when you find a good price!