Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog is a new indie visual novel that launched recently on Steam. This new game attempts to recapture the feeling of those older visual novels that were popular in 90s Japan. The PC-98 was a famous system and Japan’s equivalent to our MS-DOS era of gaming. While the system was used primarily as a work machine, there was a plethora of titles, even indie games too. This new game happens in a science fiction setting quite similar to those you often see in the mecha genre of anime. We at Infinite Start will cover this new game with what we know.
Some retro goodness
Attention to detail was put into this new game, at least at first glance. Of course, it has been updated to accommodate the fact that we don’t have to deal with system limitations anymore. Yet, the soundtrack from the trailers is quite reminiscent in style to those of many PC-98 games, perhaps because its made with FM Synthesis limitations in mind. The advantage with not having to deal with system limitations is that games can get even more expressive. Yet, one can’t help but feel that older games tried to do their best to bring more with less.
Stories From Sol: The Gun-Dog, being a visual novel, is primarily text driven, and might not be the cup of tea of many gamers. However, if you have never tried the genre before, perhaps this game can be a good place to do so. Games after all exist as a way to express things a developer wishes to convey, along with of course, being entertaining too.
While you can’t please everyone and often many miss the point of visual novels, I believe that choice is one important factor you have in this genre. If you are interested in trying the game out, you can acquire it on the Steam store to show support to the developers.
