Skip to main content

Refraction

Refraction Game Cover
53%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:story, graphics
Most mentioned negative aspects:gameplay, replayability
90% User Score Based on 10 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
Buy NowGet on Steam
Refraction Game Cover

About Refraction

Refraction is a single player action game with romance, science fiction and erotic themes. It was developed by Universe Zero and was released on August 28, 2020. It received positive reviews from players.

Jackie Shields wakes up to find everything in her world a little different than she remembers it. Trapped between her own dimension and a parallel one, she soon realizes that nothing can remain unchanged in her life. Especially not herself...because the other dimension has a Jackie of its own!

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Refraction screenshot
Refraction screenshot
Refraction screenshot
Refraction screenshot
Refraction screenshot
Refraction screenshot
Refraction screenshot
Skip Games Like Refraction

Games Like Refraction

Looking for games like Refraction? Here are top action recommendations with a romance, science fiction and erotic focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with Follow the Black Kitten, Guidelicious or The Dust of the Violet Crystals.

Follow the Black Kitten Image
54%19reviews

Follow the Black Kitten

2022Casual Role Playing
PCWindows
Games like Follow the Black Kitten
Guidelicious Image
74%37reviews

Guidelicious

2023Simulation
LinuxPCMac OS+1
Games like Guidelicious
The Dust of the Violet Crystals Image
53%10reviews

The Dust of the Violet Crystals

2024Role Playing
PCMac OSWindows
Games like The Dust of the Violet Crystals
Into the Waves Image
63%26reviews

Into the Waves

2021Action
LinuxPCMac OS+1
Games like Into the Waves
My Douchey Boss Has a Gentle Twin Brother?! - BL Visual Novel Image
72%33reviews

My Douchey Boss Has a Gentle Twin Brother?! - BL Visual Novel

2023Simulation
LinuxPCMac OS+1
Games like My Douchey Boss Has a Gentle Twin Brother?! - BL Visual Novel
Bloodholic Image
47%25reviews

Bloodholic

2019Role Playing
PCSteam DeckWindows
Games like Bloodholic
Coalescence Image

Coalescence

2022Casual Role Playing
PCMac OSWindows
Games like Coalescence
Harrowed World: What's Past Is Portents Image
72%37reviews

Harrowed World: What's Past Is Portents

2024Action
LinuxPCMac OS+1
Games like Harrowed World: What's Past Is Portents
Jaksaljabi Image

Jaksaljabi

2021Action
PCWindows
Games like Jaksaljabi
Reigning ImageReigning ImageReigning Image

Reigning

2021Role Playing
PCWindows
Games like Reigning
More games like Refraction
Skip User Reviews

Reviews

90%Audience ScoreBased on 10 reviews
story7 positive mentions
gameplay3 negative mentions
  • Intriguing, branching narrative with multiple endings exploring parallel dimensions and complex themes.
  • Unique art style and fitting background music that enhance the atmosphere and complement the story.
  • Free-to-play with a generous set of achievements and replay value for short and replay sessions.
  • Gameplay is almost entirely reading with minimal interactivity; lacks action or deep gameplay mechanics.
  • The story and romance routes feel rushed and somewhat underdeveloped due to short length.
  • Writing quality and dialogue may be perceived as poor or cringeworthy by some players.

  • story

    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    58% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 17% negative mentions

    The story of Refraction is engaging and thought-provoking, blending mystery, intense choices, and sci-fi elements across parallel dimensions. While relatively light and sometimes straightforward, it explores heavy, realistic themes with a unique art style and offers satisfying branching paths for fans of narrative visual novels.

    • “Refraction is a free narrative visual novel that places you between two parallel dimensions with Jackie Shields, weaving mystery, choices, and branching story paths.”
    • “Really engaging story, and the choices were really intense at times.”
    • “An interesting plot surrounding heavy realistic themes such as taking down someone known for sexual offenses while also using alternate universes to present a larger conflict to the main character.”
    • “The story and pacing are relatively light; some players may find the paths short or straightforward if they’re used to longer visual novels.”
    • “Refraction is a nifty little story utilizing heavy themes but also having interesting sci-fi elements to impact the plot.”

  • graphics

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    80% positive mentions, 20% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The graphics in Refraction are praised for their cute, funny, and unique art style that complements the supernatural and humorous tone of the story. Users also appreciate the appealing background music and overall visual presentation, making the experience engaging and enjoyable.

    • “The graphics were really fun and beautiful.”
    • “Refraction is a good visual novel with an interesting story line and a unique art style.”
    • “Overall, refraction is an interesting supernatural student life visual novel with some comical artwork, background music, and pop culture references.”

  • gameplay

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    50% positive mentions, -25% neutral mentions, 75% negative mentions

    The gameplay primarily consists of reading and making choices, with minimal mechanical interaction and no action or complex gameplay loops. It functions mainly as a visual novel, but the writing quality detracts from the experience, making the gameplay feel tedious and poorly executed.

    • “As a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature notable gameplay; it's primarily clicking through dialogue heavily focused on the narrative.”
    • “Gameplay focuses on narrative choices with limited mechanical engagement, prioritizing story over traditional gameplay elements.”
    • “Gameplay is almost entirely reading with choice selection and minimal mechanical interaction, so don’t expect action or deep gameplay loops beyond the narrative.”
    • “As a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature any notable gameplay; it's just a lot of clicking through badly written dialogue that would never have been accepted or published in print, which poses the question, 'How did something this badly written end up on Steam?'”
    • “Gameplay lacks meaningful interaction, reducing the experience to repeatedly reading text with few engaging mechanics.”

  • music

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    75% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The music in the visual novel effectively complements the humor and supernatural themes, enhancing the overall atmosphere. Notably, tense and static tracks during key choices add depth to the experience, making it a fitting accompaniment to the story and artwork.

    • “In terms of artwork and background music, they are nice enough in bringing out the humor in the story.”
    • “Overall, refraction is an interesting supernatural student life visual novel with some comical artwork, background music, and pop culture references.”
    • “The static and tense music upon selecting a pivotal choice is a nice addition.”

  • humor

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The humor is well-enhanced by charming artwork and background music, effectively complementing the story's comedic tone. Overall, it delivers a lighthearted and amusing experience.

    • “The funny thing is, if you wanted to print this book, you'd only need to print 3 copies to satisfy the entire world's demand for it.”
    • “In terms of artwork and background music, they are nice enough in bringing out the humor in the story, and I hope this visual novel will qualify for normal Steam profile features in future.”
    • “Cute, funny artwork and background music.”

  • replayability

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game offers solid replayability through 18 Steam achievements that encourage players to explore different story paths, make varied decisions, and fully complete the game, appealing especially to completionists.

  • grinding

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Users find the grinding aspect of visual novels tedious, as progress requires repetitive clicking to advance text, making the reading experience slow and monotonous compared to simply turning pages in traditional books.

  • character development

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users highlight that character development is effectively portrayed through intense decision-making moments and impactful scenes that lead to meaningful conflict resolutions.

Skip Game Offers

Buy Refraction

Skip Videos

Videos

Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Refraction is a action game with romance, science fiction and erotic themes. Common tags for Refraction include free to play, indie, lgbtq+, 2d, choices matter and others.

Refraction is available on PC and Windows.

Refraction was released on August 28, 2020.

Refraction was developed by Universe Zero.

Refraction has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Refraction for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

Refraction is a single player game.

Similar games include Follow the Black Kitten, Guidelicious, The Dust of the Violet Crystals, Into the Waves, My Douchey Boss Has a Gentle Twin Brother?! - BL Visual Novel and others.