Sakura Spirit is a mature, entertaining visual novel that is available on the Steam Network. Just in case you are not familiar with visual novels: they can be very similar to a Choose Your Own Adventure, allowing the player to make decisions that will affect the story. Not all visual novels carry a mature rating, but Sakura Spirit is the exception. Even though it has a mature rating, it’s mostly due to the explicit sexual dialog and nothing to do with full frontal nudity.
The story is about Gushiken Takahiro, an upcoming Judo star that is terrified of losing the upcoming tournament. Being distraught and even nervous about possibly losing the championship, he sets out to look for ways to increase his chance of winning. After hearing rumors about a secret shrine that grants wishes, Gushiken seeks it out and eventually stumbles upon it. Little does he know that his wish will turn out to be more of a problem than he realized.
Once Gushiken finally asks to be the best Judo competitor in the championship, he eventually gets sucked into a parallel world where things are run by foxy females, and where things are not as they seem. Sakura Spirit is a rather linear story that only offers a couple story-driven choices along the way. This is not necessarily a bad thing; it just means that Sakura Spirit reads more like a story rather than a Choose Your Own Adventure.
But at the same time, Sakura Spirit could have borrowed some elements from other visual novels to provide a more compelling experience. Visual novels such as Bionic hearts, Bionic Hearts 2, and Roommates give the player countless possibilities during their stories. Bionic Hearts even has boss battles, which really add to the experience. And since Sakura Spirit’s story contains a lot of combat scenarios, the developer could have easily expanded on those.
The only downside to Sakura Spirit is its lack of narration, and this is due to the length of the story and the lack of in-game interaction. There are times when you feel like more could have been done to the story as a whole.
With that said, Sakura Spirit is a great read and a must-have for anyone that enjoys visual novels. Here’s hoping the developer will consider narration and more interaction for the sequel, if one is ever released.
James ‘Daripp3r’ Pittaro
Platform: PC (Available on Steam / Also Available on Mac)
System Requirements (Minimum):
OS: Windows XP
Processor: 1.2 GHz Pentium 4
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: 1280 x 720
DirectX: Version 10
Hard Drive: 200 MB available space
Developer: Winged Cloud
Publisher: Sekai Project
ESRB: N/A
Price: $9.99
Sakura Spirit Official Website
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |  |
| Gorgeous Manga-style character art and backgrounds. | |
| Sound |  |
| A compelling soundtrack compliments the story. | |
| Gameplay | |
| The lack of interaction can cause boredom for some players. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| With the lack of interaction aside, Sakura Spirit is a wonderful story that will captivate anyone that reads it. | |
