Chaos;Child Review

Released as the fourth major entry in the Science Adventure series—which includes titles such as Steins;Gate—Chaos;Child is a game I've really struggled with over the years. The first time I attempted to play it was back in 2017 when it finally arrived in the West, shortly after I had finished playing Steins;Gate. Having loved its predecessor so much, I was interested in continuing the series, with our site's very own Ben also singing its high praises. However the major problem for me was quite simple: I have a really hard time with horror.

Although Ben assured me the game wasn't "that bad," after playing the very first scene using my PlayStation Vita, I instantly closed the game. It was simply way too much for me, and I assumed this would be the end of the line of my short journey through the series. That is, until nine years later.

This year I was convinced once again by Ben to give Chaos;Child one more try. I hadn't fully given up on the series, and thanks to my interest to dive deeper, I bit the bullet and repurchased the entire series on Steam, with the exception of Chaos;Head NoAH. Though that one was also clearly more than I could stomach, I did my research and read summaries of the title—something Western fans also had to do back in 2017 anyway—and then dove right into the game that had terrified me all those years ago.

The Usual Visual Novel Stuff

Anyone who has ever seen or played any visual novel will pretty much already know what to expect, as the vast majority of them follow the same template. Characters appear on screen with a text box at the bottom, and you simply proceed through the dialogue to continue the story. Rather than being a linear tale like a standard novel, they often include branching story paths as well, which is also the case for Chaos;Child.

Like practically every other Science Adventure game, however, the method for making route choices is quite convoluted: Steins;Gate used text messages, Robotics;Notes had its own version of Twitter, and Chaos;Child uses random, weird hallucinations. At certain points in the story, the main character gets a chance to experience one of two hallucinations: a positive one or a negative one. These can range from bizarre to completely ridiculous, and specific choices award points toward a particular route. After finishing the Common Route—which is mandatory for your first playthrough—if you reach specific points in the story with enough specific hallucination triggers to enter another route, you will then branch onto that path instead of reaching the normal end. Those hoping to reach the end should make sure to keep a guide handy, as you are definitely going to need it. 

Thankfully while progressing through the game, you can save at any point—like a bookmark—and easily reload whenever needed. Although keeping saves at the start of each chapter can help you initially, the very specified requirements for each route will render some useless later on. Thankfully a skip function is available to speed things along, but there's no denying that a little bit of replaying is required. Additionally sometimes during the game characters will use internet slang, scientific jargon, or other specialized terminology, which is explained in a library-like TIPS menu. Although it isn't required, players can open these terms at any time to learn more about them, providing additional context to the overall story.

That is about the long and short of the entire gameplay loop for Chaos;Child. The real meat and potatoes of the game—seeing as this is a visual novel—lies in its story.

Who, Why, and Howdunnit?

Chaos;Child is, at its core, a sci-fi murder mystery. The opening two scenes depict two very gruesome murders before finally homing in on our protagonist: a teenage boy living in a trailer on his own named Miyashiro Takuru—or Taku, for short. Taku is not really what you'd call an average, normal kid. He's obsessed with knowing things and seems to have extreme social anxiety. Unless he already knows someone well, his voice goes dry as he panics, making it hard for him to think of what to say. Ironically enough, despite his quest for knowledge, he barely even knows the names of the people in his own class. He is also an orphan, as both his parents were killed during an earthquake that struck Shibuya six years prior (more regarding the earthquake in the previous game, Chaos;Head). Although he was brought into a home for other survivors, he has since moved out and now lives alone.

Thanks to his obsession with information and being a "right-sider"—one who is on the "right side" of information—he founded his school's newspaper club. Due to his after-school activities, Taku becomes involved with the murders when he decides to begin his own investigation, treating it all as nothing more than a game. Of course, this angers his club's vice president, Nono, but that doesn't stop him.

Meanwhile, as Taku looks into the murders, another strange phenomenon takes shape as Shibuya becomes filled with weird, sumo-face-shaped stickers. No one knows where they have come from, who is placing them around the city, or what they could even mean, but they too will go on to play a larger role in a much larger mystery.

Unlike Steins;Gate, which had a multiple hour-long introduction, Chaos;Child hits the ground running. There's no meandering buildup, and you get to know the characters and begin to care for them rather quickly, as you make your way through the emotional rollercoaster that comes from investigating the weird murders. That said, the entire visual novel is roughly fifty hours long, but because the story had me so hooked, I finished the entire game in a matter of days.

When it comes to the mysteries themselves, the game did a great job spreading clues throughout, which provided hints to the solutions and built up the final answers incredibly well. Rather than simply throwing in random plot twists, the game is designed to make you actually consider the current events, and arrive at your own conclusions. That said, although I'm not a genius or anything, I did manage to solve most of them on my own before their big reveals, but I really had to think and work for it—which made the revelations so much more satisfying. That said, there is one twist that seemingly comes out of nowhere, but it recontextualizes things quite well, and I actually found that it added to the realism more than anything.

I simply adore the characters as well. Taku at the start of the game and Taku at the end of the game are two completely different people thanks to his character growth. The supporting cast is also a joy to follow, and even characters I thought were going to be annoying made me love them by the end. I will say, however, that I didn't like how they handled Kunosato Mio. She's a very fun character to follow, but while her backstory is discussed quite a bit, you have to read a spin-off manga to actually know its details.

The delusion mechanic is also surprisingly fun. You can completely ignore the choices, as the game will proceed without them, but both the positive and negative options frequently had me bursting out laughing, helping to ease the game's tension. I can still chuckle to myself when I think about some of them.

So where does that leave us with Chaos;Child?

Should you play it?

Chaos;Child is, as I've already stated above, a game I didn't see myself ever managing to get through or actually liking. While it isn't the primary focus of the game, it is still very much a horror title, featuring scenes that are definitely not for the faint of heart. It also requires knowledge of what happened in the first game of the series, which leaned into the horror aspect far more than this entry does. However, because it is a major entry in the same series as Steins;Gate—a visual novel I still can't help thinking about almost a decade after beating it—along with Ben's constant nagging and being bedridden for pretty much the past five months, I decided to push past the first scene that made me nope out of the game all those years ago. My reward was far greater than I could have ever expected.

If you asked me which game I prefer out of the two I've read in the series so far—Steins;Gate or Chaos;Child—or which one hit harder, I honestly wouldn't know how to answer. That is a compliment of the highest degree coming from me. I adored Steins;Gate once I managed to get past the slow start, and I fell in love with Chaos;Child just as much. The characters, setting, mysteries, dialogue, and twists all come together into a wonderful package that I simply couldn't put down once I truly got into it.

Honestly, if this game doesn't deserve a perfect rating, I don't know what does. I feel confident calling it a masterpiece. If you haven't played it yet, do yourself a favor and give it a try. You definitely won't regret it.

VERDICT: Essential
Reviewed on PC

Available On: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and PC