Buried Stars

Buried Stars is an intricately woven visual novel with a lot of cool concepts. An interesting and varied cast keep you on your toes, while a plot filled with twists and mystery makes Buried Stars a must for fans of the genre.

Buried Stars is a high quality representative of mystery visual novels. With solid gameplay systems and an extraordinary art direction, even its text issues aren't enough reason to ignore this work.

One of the strongest parts of Buried Stars is in its layered characters, who have enough depth to feel human, with their many flaws and strengths combined. Additionally, their responses to both the dire situation around them and the truths of their own traumas are penetratingly realistic and raw, with the majority of impact coming from the impressive voice actors. The same can be said for the game’s clever use of social media, both useful as a gameplay mechanic, and its relevance to the narrative.

Buried Stars will challenge you to solve mysteries while trapped in a collapsing studio with a few survivors as you struggle to build rapport and maintain your own sanity. Overall, it's a gripping story that will have you replaying until you reach its ultimate conclusion.

Buried Stars is such a fantastic addition to the murder mystery genre. Said to be inspired by Danganronpa, it shows. While the story here is much more serious, I pushed me forward as it did. Despite the tedious nature of reading all keywords, I couldn’t quit.

Buried Stars could have been a 5/5 game, easily. Unfortunately, the narrative thought behind the game really relied on me having a personal interest in the characters and their plight, and thanks to the inelegant and overly literal localisation, it became impossible to see them as anything but constructs and narrative tools.

The Korean developers of Buried Stars intended to show the reality of struggles that Korea is currently facing the ‘popularity culture’. The current status of anonymous acts over the internet culture as well as the shades over the popularity contest (such as being a celebrity) is the main focus of the game’s story plot. The game shows some of the best illustrations and visuals and the contents are well designed to cover up some of the little nitpicks here and there.

This visual novel survival was the surprise of the year in the genre, it's has good characters, better story and the mecanics are very addictive. I recommend the game to fans and not fans for the visuals, because it's a game that you don't want to miss.

Buried Stars delivers an interesting and current premise, although with an execution that could be refined in order to make the player's journey less tiresome.

Buried Stars will slip under the radar for most people; I implore you to check this wonderful visual novel out, as it's perhaps one of the best narrative experiences this year. With a relatable and fleshed out cast of characters mixed with simple yet engrossing mystery mechanics, this one deserves your time and attention.