Wide Ocean Big Jacket rules. I expected to love it based on what I’d heard from people and, like all great games, it hit what I expected and surpassed it in interesting ways.
This is another short story type visual novel. It has, at its core, the basics for what make a great VN — fantastic writing/dialogue and very few barriers to play. What I wasn’t expecting from the game was clever graphical choices and game direction and absolutely beautiful art. The dialogue is very quick and clever, and the way it is displayed is similar — big letters show who you are talking to, and clicking on them immediately cuts to a separate narration screen and cuts back when done. The speed of these shifting narrative visuals matches the tone of humor of the game and melds well with the quick nature of the individual scenes. The whole package feels like one of those great indie movies of the 90s/00s.
The characters are great and feel very real, the conversations in the game and the themes they explore — relationships, family and love — are deep but also keep that quirky vibe that makes it hit in a different kind of dramatic way.
If you like visual novels Wide Ocean Big Jacket is another must play. It’s also short (about an hour) and cheap and on every platform. Check it outtttt!