Root Letter (PS Vita) Review

The nameless protagonist arrives in Aya's town of Matsue, a picturesque and charming place, with just the letters from Aya and a photo of her in her school uniform. It's not a lot to begin an investigation with, so he figures he should track down the people mentioned in the letters and hope they can shed some light on what really happened and help him find where Aya is now. The only problem is none of the people are named… just mentioned by their nicknames: "Fatty," "Snappy," "Bitch," and so on. Not only that, but her address is now just a vacant lot; her house being lost to a fire back when the letters stopped.

With this being a mystery, it's difficult to touch on the story without spoiling major plot points. The game is split up into seven chapters, each dedicated to a different letter from Aya and one of her friends from school. Suffice it to say, none of the classmates are particularly forthcoming about their past, each telling a different story and none wanting the truth to be uncovered. Aya's classmates are fantastic - each is individual and memorable, with some great lines and character quirks that really make up for what turns out to be a thoroughly disappointing story.

A visual novel thrives on the strength of its story and while the premise here is certainly an intriguing one, the story is… mediocre. As the chapters go on and the story develops, it feels like it loses its way. Plenty of different possible explanations are teased for this mystery - perhaps the whole town was in on it? Was it a curse? Ghosts? UFOs? There are five endings to collect and none deliver a conclusion that is particularly satisfying. It's not just how the story progresses, either, as it's also the mechanics and fundamentals. One of the most glaring is the writing. This is appallingly bad at times, with the protagonist delivering insipid lines of exposition like "This is the used book store. They sell used books." The best visual novels make it feel like progression through the story is somewhat natural, yet Root Letter instead pokes and prods the user into the responses it wants, even going so far as to lock down menu options.

The gameplay also seems to involve some extra aspects than just those of a visual novel, with some adventure style elements and some Danganronpa or Phoenix Wright-style verbal showdowns. Each chapter has investigations where items and clues discovered over the course of the chapter have to be used in a familiar fashion, throwing the past into the face of those trying to forget it or using proof to catch them out in lies. These investigations are sadly pale imitations of what has come before, with very simple and obvious solutions. It is fun, at least, and generates some of the best moments, whereas the adventure aspects feel almost completely pointless. They consist of a "Check" ability, which can be used to investigate environments and their contents, but very rarely will this have any sort of an impact on the adventure itself, instead it just giving yet more badly written commentary on the environment.

Everything looks gorgeous, at least, with a beautiful town and characters filled with charm, all from the mind of Love+ artist, Minoboshi Taro. The audio work, however, leaves a lot to be desired, with only a handful or annoying tunes on constant repeat. These aren't annoying at first, but after hours and hours…