Game Description:
Planetarian is a so called "Kinetic Novel". It's an experimental series of visual novels published by Key which contain no form of interaction at all. As such this is in fact not a game. It's a written story supported by illustrations and sound.
The story takes place in a distant future, after mankind almost destroyed itself in a gigantic war. The remaining survivors are living in camps and struggling to survive. The dangerous ruins of dead cities are the hunting grounds for the so called 'junkers', people who scour the ruins to find valuable remains of the old civilization. One of these junkers eventually ends up in an abandoned planetarium. To his surprise he finds a still functional robot of old times there. The robot looks like a beautiful young girl and introduces herself as Reverie Planetarian. She was abandoned at the planetarium when the war broke out, and did not know about the events of the world outside her little realm. Once a year when her batteries are recharged she operates for one week, standing in the endless acid rain outside the planetarium, trying to attract customers. Is it fate that the junker entered the place exactly at the time of her activation?
The story is much more captivating than it may seem at first glance. As much as the junker, the reader can't really escape Reverie's charming invitations. She is so obsessed by the will to present the stars that one quickly wants to see them too, so Reverie is finally happy. The story does not end with the presentation but instead takes a dramatic turn which leads to a very moving ending.
The artwork of this game is beautiful. Reverie looks as innocent and charming as she is described in the novel. The backgrounds look quite sterile and dead which depicts the solitude of the fallen world quite well. The music is very good and creates the perfect atmosphere for the plot.
If you like reading and sad stories this "game" is highly recommended.
Note: Refer to insani's homepage for information on how to buy the game.
Translation Description:
This patch is absolute high quality work. The whole game has been translated and is very well done. The mood of the story is presented very well and the two protagonists have a lot of personality. If you have trouble running the game, try to set your Window's system language to Japanese. If the game freezes after 3 lines of text you have to install a font manually. You can get it from the author's page.
This was insani's last translation of a commercial game. The release of this patch brought about a lot of piracy, so buy the game if you want to play it.
A translation of the free demo version is available at insani's homepage as well.
Screenshots:
