Here at the XPN Network we have covered ALOT of visual novels over the last couple of years, and we are back again with a review of Ratalaika Games newest offering - Kuroi Tsubasa. Developed by Blackwing Gaming, the game was originally released on Steam in 2022 but has now been ported to consoles.
When Blackwing the devil left the world of fire and brimstone behind for the sunny human world, his evil shadow side also accidentally escaped with him. Soon chaos ensued! Blackwing must team up with a local office lady Kureha Kurono and her friends to defeat the evil shadow. The story is pretty decent and there are plenty of interesting and funny moments to experience through it. The story progresses day by day and there is plenty to read as the characters interact with each other. Whilst playing through it you will also unlock a selection of Anime inspired art CGs that can be viewed from the menu, one negative is that there is only the single ending, so the choices you make will only affect the journey and not the final destination.
Let's get into the facts of the game. There are over 120,000 words of dialogue in the game, and there are also different paths to take and choices to make as the story progresses. The game features an original soundtrack made up of over 50 songs as ell as lots of original high quality artwork. Apparently all the main characters are also based on real Vtubers (let us know in the comments if you know which they are!) which is a nice tidbit. The music stands out in the game, its very professionally done, and there are also a few sections during the game where you are basically watching a music video in between the visual novel story elements. The art itself however varies in quality, sometimes looking great, then other times looking a little rough around the edges.
Achievement hunters rejoice! Kuroi Tsubasa is a very straightforward and quick 1000g completion. If you are not bothered about experiencing the story and just want to rush to the end, you can get the full completion in around 30 - 45 minutes, however it will require you to play through the game at least twice, but like many visual novels on Xbox there are many settings you can choose to speed up the process (skips, auto play etc). Overall Kuroi Tsubasa is an interesting visual novel with plenty of original artwork and music which was the highlight. Whilst I couldn't tell you who the Vtubers are the characters are based on, the story is pretty decent and there are multiple choices to be made at various points in the game. Also it's another easy completion to add to the belt!
I also saw this very helpful review on the steam version of the game. So you don't just have to take my word about the game!
TOTAL SCORE: 6.5/10
Kuroi Tsubasa was released onto the Xbox store on the 2nd June 2023. The game is playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles. Priced at £4.99 the game can be purchased HERE.
A copy of the game was provided for this review. A big thanks for that.
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