Ratalaika Games is steadily building a solid library of fun visual novels alongside other genres such as platformers and adventure games. Teaming up with developer Cross Game Studio, Ratalaika has added 7 Days of Rose to its VN collection. The cover artwork alone looks utterly gorgeous, but does the story match up to the visual delight?
Going on holiday with parents can seem boring, but 17-year-old Michael hopes to find some excitement on a tropical island resort in 7 Days of Rose. He spots Rose early in the vacation and is intrigued by her. Their paths later cross and he spends the rest of the week getting to know her. Rose is not just an ordinary girl. She has family issues that she is reluctant to let anyone find out about, yet she slowly lets Michael into her life, even when it reveals too much about how her family mistreats her. Michael initially has fun as Rose is from an affluent family, so she has access to areas some guests would never see. She revels in doing ordinary activities, too.
7 Days of Rose starts with a relaxed holiday feel. As a visual novel, there are some choices to be made that affect which of the three endings will occur. These are not constant unlike other VNs, and there is the occasional point where having a choice in what happens could have been included. Due to the mental health intensity of a few scenes, some players may wish to make sure they are in a good headspace to read it; again, initial impressions due to the graphic style is the expectation of a light-hearted story. The topics touched upon are surprising, but they are sensitively and realistically portrayed; money absolutely does not buy happiness, kindness or human decency.
It is not just graphics and a strong narrative that make visual novels immersive. The soundtrack can be crucial to building up tension, and it is yet another area that 7 Days of Rose excels in. The instrumental tracks fit the mood, but what brings the whole story together are the smaller noises of waves and seabirds that bind parts of the tale in particular moments. Most VNs add sound at the right places, but 7 Days of Rose does it seamlessly in a way that the excellence of the sound effects is noticeable.
Post-game play entails going through and making different choices to get a different ending. Multiple ends are common and welcome in visual novels, and 7 Days of Rose is no different. It is easy to skip previously read text by going into the option menu and selecting the appropriate setting. Other options include looking at a few key images of the tale, and an extra fun one is being able to play any track from the game in a basic music player. The option to put tracks on a loop would have been nice, but it is easy enough to click on the next track. The additional feature of being able to choose a dyslexic friendly font is a positive accessibility feature.
