Coexistence & cultivation.
Void Terrarium 2
Nippon Ichi Software
Void Terrarium 2 serves as a sequel to it's predecessor, Void Terrarium, it's a roguelite Pokémon Mystery Dungeon-esque game that is console-exclusive, and went under absolutely everyone's radars, while a lot of Nippon Ichi games can fly under people's radars, this is quite surprising for this one, was it deserved, perhaps is it worthy for more recognition? Was the reception far too silent for it?
I had exceedingly high expectations when going in this game, which is probably the part which made me delusional with what I should expect out of this game- Merely because of the art, the narrative, and style intertwining itself very well into something I fell in love first sight, and thus had ridiculous expectations of this game to be life-changing, after all, Labyrinth of Galleria is an incredibly important game to me and so which are alot of the Nippon Ichi's games.
Void Terrarium 2 is a story that tells itself through glimpses and through which you have to complete Toriko's wish list of things she wants to do, as she is the only "human" left on this plane of existence. A world enmassed and overtaken by AI Robots and wildlife vegetation filling every brim and crack of the atmosphere, and most importantly ; fungi.
I - The Potential Beauty of Void Terrarium 2's Art.
I've already stated this before but, the art and how the game overall looked was fascinating to me, and I still absoluetly adore it's direction, although while I think the dungeons could've improved in terms of stylisation, feeling far too repetitive, this game is on a fine balance of a very cozy, moe videogame. I absolutely adore how the Terrarium feels, and I wish it had expanded itself more on 2D side scroller exploration, as the artists are insanely talented, and I am confident that this experience could've been far more beautiful if only it expanded more into demonstrating it's world.
Void Terrarium 2, environnement-wise feels enclosed, the dungeons could've used far more in stylisation, and showcase more of this world that is rotting and overtaken by vegetation, like they did with the Terrarium.
The VR World I do not have far too much to state about it, however I am not displeased, but I'm not wowed by it's choices, leaning towards itself into a more "simplistic" pixel artstyle to describe the events before the world we know today, it is not bad however, I'm just not impressed by that design choice as it does NOT take more usage out of this choice, unfortunately, a shame.
II - The Paper, The Ink Pen and the Characters in which it adds life and vivacity.
While I do believe that separating characters and the story itself may be something that could get some strange guesses, as they're braided together like hair, I do wish to give it more of a section, and which I'll go over again in the next segment.
The characters are coated in a lot of simplicity, as it uses more of the world around them to have depth rather than the characters (Aside from the human girl, Toriko.)
There are only 3 characters to really note here which you'll be with, including the main character of this work, being a mute robot named Robbie.
They're not characters that have depths as deep as the inside of a well, yet there isn't really much to state about why they are bad, either (Aside from factoryAI's electronic jokes able to get on some people's nerves, but I do think that the characters are just merely adorable and lovable, (I love you Toriko...)
Otherwise though, the NPCs in the VR World (Before humanity went extinct.) serve more as just building the world, it's dire situations before the sorrow extinction of humanity.
III - The Sand in the Hourglass, as time withers away; its tale unfolds.
I'll start right away, as my knees are on the ground, my head hitting against a concrete floor ;
This story had so much potential, as it was THIS close to grasping a style of storytelling that could've been an extremely welcome addition to some of my most beloved games of all time, yet it only hit itself as it just got overshadowed by its gameplay flaws.
This story tells itself through glimpses, and unlike Void Terrarium 1- is FAR more focused on what it wants to tell, not going around the corner to try and overall troubles itself to find any words to express itself, shivering and cold, it was a story that lacked weight, as for what you may ask? That's right. The gameplay. I can't stress this enough, and this is going back a bit on what I was stating earlier, but this game could've seriously used far more environmental storytelling, because a game, about the extinction of humanity as mycelium takes over its roots generations later, is far too repetitive.
But yet it wanted to hurt you, and it wanted to make you see it's glimpses into the past, which is sadly most of where the storytelling is. The gameplay lacked so much, and I think the fact that the AI bots that you fight and kill, as they distort and leave a flashback of that seemingly "hatred" was so cool, distortion and warping it's areas, so why couldn't it have been more? It just wanted more. It needed more. When I finished the true ending, I just felt flabbergasted on how this is where it ends. It makes me so sad, as the way this game could've felt is something that has an far-too alluring aura.
It wants to try to stab you slowly, leaving you to bleed out as mycelium spores fills your nostrils, it wants to get you entranced in this curious world, but it's scent loses it's weight after a while, and while it does bring up this alluring fungi scent once in a while, it just lacks. It's lacking strength.
I'm disappointed.
I'm quite sad as this didn't turn out how this meant to be in my mind, but maybe I was foolish for having ridiculous expectations.
Nonetheless, it is a good game at the end of the day, it just unfortunately lacks a lot of spice, and I am however still grateful that I have gotten to experience this from beginning to end.