Developer: Tall Tail Studios
Publisher: Tall Tail Studios
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Tested on: PC
Winds of Change – Review
It’s time to look at another visual novel! You know, one of those interactive stories that fall somewhere between a book and a game? This time, it’s about the game Winds of Change, a game by Tall Tail Studios which is a company little known by most. Winds of Change is their second game, and like their first game which was called Major\Minor, a game where furry characters take the leads.
Story
As a visual novel, you expect that Winds of Change, like any regular paper story, is all about the story. However, as you start, the story seems to be rather chaotic and maybe even a bit immature in the sense that the writer probably doesn’t have much writing experience. There’s so much going on and some of it contradicts itself instantly. As an example, the world around you is portrayed as a world in turmoil with a good and an evil side. Though the main characters, who are on the good side, seem quite unaware of the bad side being bad. You don’t remember anything while waking up in a burning village, yet quite quickly determine you are a seer who must be having a vision, affirmed by a girl inside your vision who apparently knows you, even though she’s part of your vision. Then it doesn’t seem so sure it’s a vision at all, and so on. It seems to be set up as an epic story but fails to deliver in a gripping manner because it confuses mystery with the lack of choices made in the narrative. At first.
A bit further on, you do get a clearer image of what’s going on with the characters you meet and the world you find yourself in. The story gets a chance to grow on you and there are more interesting branches to follow after the first one and a half hour have been played. It almost feels like the game has a ”tutorial” prologue that just doesn’t really fit the rest of the game, which is a shame! So don’t judge the story too fast on the first few impressions.
Graphics
In most visual novels, the graphics are often a still image or painted background with either only text, or a combination of text and character images appearing as they speak. In Winds of Change, this is the same. The backdrops of every scene are painted (digitally) and are slightly abstract. Each character has multiple images of them representing their emotions when they are talking, and they are all represented as (sorry if there is a better, more politically correct word) furries. Humanoid fox-like creatures who have their own look and range of emotions. It’s a shame that the backgrounds aren’t a little bit more detailed, especially during parts of the gameplay where you will try to click things on them, but overall it’s your average-looking visual novel with some production quality.
Sound
The sound in Winds of Change might flat out be the best the game has to offer. Not because the rest is terrible, but because it just has some really good aspects to it. The menu music alone is enough to keep you occupied and wondering for a little bit, and most music and background sound you come across comes in many layers. Most tracks sound like they have been orchestrated as if it would be an actual orchestra but from a home studio. So expect complex, sometimes beautiful, but also somewhat synthesized music. To add up on this, each character (except you) has a nice voice-over going on. Basically every text that you don’t think or say is accompanied by its own voice which sounds like it has been done by a high-quality actor as well, so props for that!
Gameplay
Being a visual novel, you can mostly expect yourself to read and listen a lot while playing. You follow the story as it develops, you look at what information is offered to you, and sometimes you will be offered some choices. These choices can be all parts of information that belong to the main story, or an actual choice that changes the narrative at crucial points. Winds of Change doesn’t have much of those crucial points. It does, however, more than often give you the option on how to approach a situation with the person you are talking to. Would you rather like to use bashful words, or decide you want to try and be romantic with them? There are multiple options and there’s always a neutral option that simply allows the main story to continue.
The game also has moments of ”investigation” where you simply hover over a background and try to find spots that you can interact with. Those spots sometimes contain even more information in the form of collectible ”books” that hand you some type of written narrative from a character, either known or unknown. These moments of investigation feel a bit boring, mainly because they are about as simple as an old game built with flash that you could play in your browser. It doesn’t really add much and maybe even slows the pace the story continues in.
It’s clear though that every aspect seems to be calculated in, including the ability to sometimes change to a bit of story from the perspective of one of the other characters you get to know. The game gives you some freedom in options such as letting the story automatically continue, rewind choices you are not content with, and skip other parts. Besides that, you can save the game at all times. In the end, it’s all up to how amused you are by the story and such, but at least it’s a solid visual novel as far as those games go.
Conclusion
Winds of Change is a solid visual novel that has alright graphics and very good musical qualities. While the story starts out as somewhat annoying, it has the ability to grip you later on and with a few variations in gameplay, it’s at the very least worth being checked out if you are up for a visual novel that knows what it’s doing.
Winds of Change - Review,
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