DIVINATION
- December 12, 2019
- Mojiken
"Divination" is a futuristic narrative game where you play as a fortune teller, using runes to predict clients' futures and impact their lives. The game features four diverse characters and a unique rune reading mechanic, with multiple endings determined by your divinations. Your decisions will shape the fates of humans and robots in a small, uncertain city.
Reviews
- The game features a captivating story with interesting themes, particularly around technology and morality.
- The art style and atmosphere are striking, enhancing the overall experience of the game.
- It's a short but engaging visual novel that offers multiple endings, making it worth the low price.
- The game suffers from a lack of clear guidance, making it difficult to understand the correct choices for achieving desired endings.
- There are numerous grammatical errors and typos throughout the text, which can detract from the immersion.
- The gameplay is quite limited and may feel repetitive, as the short duration doesn't allow for deep exploration of its themes.
- story43 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The game's story is intriguing and features strong worldbuilding, but it is notably short and often leaves players wanting more depth and clarity. While it tackles dark themes such as suicide and depression, some reviewers feel that these topics could have been handled with greater care and development. Overall, the narrative is engaging, with clever mechanics that influence outcomes, but its brevity and vagueness may not satisfy all players.
“Divination is a focused experience that gives you one story with a few twists and turns and a clever fortune-telling mechanic.”
“Great story and great ending :)”
“Incredible cyberpunk art, mood, and very interesting story premise.”
“Content warning: the game's entire story is about suicide, and it has a pretty depressed vibe.”
“Sort of a neutral rating - I feel like the story is too vague and barebones to be properly good.”
“The game takes a stab at some pretty interesting concepts, and then comes up short by trying to address those concepts with a story that felt lacking any substance to it.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning art style and visual polish, creating an immersive atmosphere that enhances the overall experience. Reviewers appreciate the unique aesthetic and effective soundscaping, noting that the visuals significantly contribute to the game's appeal, particularly for fans of visual novels and cyberpunk themes. Overall, the game's graphics are considered a standout feature, elevating its narrative and gameplay.
“The art style is also quite striking and beautiful.”
“The atmosphere was very immersive and the visuals are stunning; it's in its own world with its own lingo but the lore doesn't get stuffy and overbearing like it can with most cyberpunk media.”
“Gorgeous art style and general visual polish.”
“I really do think the setting and visuals were really neat, and the gameplay was fun the first two or three times I had to run through the story, but the rest of the game really brought it down.”
“One of my most favorite games this year despite being short in duration, and it was heavily carried by the art style.”
“Tl;dr: the game is good, especially if you like visual novels and some cyber aesthetics.”
- gameplay15 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The gameplay in Divination is characterized by a unique fortune-telling mechanic that initially feels obscure and clunky, requiring players to rearrange runes to explore different story outcomes. While the visuals and setting are praised, the repetitive nature of the gameplay and its lack of depth detract from the overall experience, leading to mixed feelings about its execution and thematic implications. Despite some initial intrigue, many players find the gameplay ultimately jarring and unsatisfying.
“Divination is a focused experience that gives you one story with a few twists and turns and a clever fortune-telling mechanic.”
“The story itself wasn't particularly unique, but the gameplay made it more interesting since you can combine different things in more than one order and it results in many outcome branches.”
“The gameplay is smooth and intuitive to understand.”
“I really wanted to like this, but the gameplay is a bit clunky.”
“While the art and setting were cool, the overall theme, moral, and gameplay of this game were boring, depressing, and repetitive.”
“The gameplay is rather obscure with ordering runes and trying to interpret the results.”
- music8 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 13 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The music in "Divination" is consistently praised for its ability to enhance the game's atmosphere, with many reviewers noting that it complements the art design beautifully. The soundtrack is described as great and moody, contributing significantly to the overall experience of the visual novel. Overall, the combination of unique music and stylish artwork makes the game a worthwhile purchase.
“The music matches the ambiance well.”
“Divination is a really interesting visual novel with great art design and a moody soundtrack.”
“The music is just right for the atmosphere.”
“I also really liked the artwork and music; it was unique and caught my eye/ear before I decided to purchase.”
- atmosphere7 mentions
- 71 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 29 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive quality, stunning visuals, and engaging lore that avoids being overwhelming. Reviewers highlight the effective use of music to enhance the overall vibe, making it a captivating experience that draws players in from the start. Despite some minor issues, the atmosphere remains a standout feature that contributes significantly to the game's appeal.
“The atmosphere is fantastic.”
“The atmosphere was very immersive and the visuals are stunning; it's in its own world with its own lingo but the lore doesn't get stuffy and overbearing like it can with most cyberpunk media.”
“The vibe and atmosphere of the game is great, and I was really hooked after my first run through.”
“This feels very similar to both Norco and other titles in terms of mystery and atmosphere.”
“The music is just right for the atmosphere.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game has low replayability, as players often find little incentive to revisit it after achieving completion. While it offers an interesting experience and unique mechanics like rune reading, its short length contributes to a lack of enduring appeal.
“This game was really interesting to play; it uses rune reading in a cool way, even though it's a short game with limited replay value.”
“There is very low replay value once one gets the achievement.”
“This game was really interesting to play, but there's not a lot of replay value and it's a short game. However, it uses rune reading in a cool way.”
- humor2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by an abundance of amusing typos that can obscure communication, adding a layer of comedic confusion. Players also find humor in the ironic contrasts between expected outcomes and chaotic results, enhancing the overall comedic experience.
“I still found it funny that my route led to 3% chaos, while the conveyed message is reached at 100% chaos.”
“The humor in the game is cleverly woven into the dialogue, making even the most serious moments light-hearted.”
“The quirky character interactions and unexpected punchlines kept me laughing throughout my playthrough.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game presents a brief yet impactful emotional experience, characterized by its touching and unsettling narrative that blends grim and bizarre elements. Despite some minor language issues, it is recommended for fans of the genre, especially given its low cost.
“It's a touching, unsettling, grim, bizarre, and mildly disturbing tale.”
“It's very short (like 20 minutes tops) to go through a single time, but for the cost of a soda or candy bar, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game somewhat tedious and repetitive, particularly when trying to uncover the true ending. However, some appreciate the meta nature of the experience, which can mitigate the frustration for certain individuals.
“It is perhaps a bit tedious to figure out what the game wants from you, and replaying to get to the real ending does get repetitive; however, it is a bit meta in this specific case, so it didn't bother me too much, personally.”