Aoi Shiro HD Remaster Review – Supernatural Yuri Goodness

The visual novel genre has grown in popularity, especially in the West. It seems developers are catching onto this and diving into their back catalog to bring classic releases to modern platforms. Developer Success is no different with the release of Aoi Shiro HD Remaster, an updated version of their 2008 adventure visual novel that is highly regarded among fans. A modern release means new players get to play this supernatural adventure. However, the state of the localization shows this team’s inexperience with releasing a game globally.

Aoi Shiro HD Remaster introduces Syouko Osanai, the head of the kendo club and overall hardworking student at Seijo Gakuin. One night, she and her friend, Yasumi Aizawa, were walking on the beach when they discovered a girl lying in the sand. This led to the duo rescuing the girl named Nami. However, following these events would be what would change Syouko’s fate.

Strangely, Nami is unable to speak, but the three become friends. Following their meeting are a string of supernatural events that touch on Japanese lore and the occult. Through dialog choices, players will meet many bad endings…which there are a lot of. That said, the narrative is rich with well-paced scenarios and memorable characters.

While playing, it’s easy to see why this game is thought of so highly within the visual novel community. The character relationships take off at a natural pace. The story gives you time to care about the characters and their various trials, making some of the emotional scenes much more impactful.

I’d say the tone of many character relationships makes this pretty much a yuri game. Across each of the six routes, you’ll get close to some of the leads. Still, there’s a slow build-up to some high-action scenarios featuring encounters with powerful demonic enemies. As the antagonist is revealed, the relationships begin to make more sense, but they aren’t explicitly used as a way to progress the narrative. Instead, the relationships exist alongside the storyline, so you won’t miss any of the important story moments.

That said, seeing everything this game has to offer isn’t easy. There are many branching paths and bad ends that require correct dialog choices to get through. A guide may be necessary if you don’t want to spend too much time shifting through text, but thankfully, there’s a decent flow chart that organizes the events. After completing routes, the game also allows you to quickly enter areas of the story and try for one of the six true endings. Each conclusion is relatively strong and caps off a standout-out visual novel that may have never officially come west.

From a presentation standpoint, the remastered effort is quite gorgeous. The team didn’t change that art direction or even the aspect ratio but instead focused on updating the assets to their highest quality. It’s a more classic character design, but I enjoyed each character’s many expressions.

This is complemented by the insane amount of CGs. During scenarios, CGs act as an additional way to make the narrative appear a bit more animated to highlight the scene better. Further, character illustrations have their own animations, which do a lot to convey the tone of the scene and their emotions.

Sadly, this remastered release isn’t without its issues. The localization is of relatively poor quality, especially when it comes to adequately explaining some of the deep mythological themes. Additionally, some of the conversations come off as lifeless and robotic, which does affect some of the more impactful romance scenes. This disconnection can also be found in the text, which sometimes has strange line breaks or punctuation.

I can usually look past a few typos, but sometimes I had no idea what the characters were talking about. There are also some low moments found throughout the narrative, but that’s to be expected in a game with 36-hour playtime. Thankfully, you’ll hardly ever get bored, as the bad endings will always be there to keep you on your toes.

Aoi Shiro HD Remaster is a gorgeous adventure visual novel that has finally seen an official English release. Sadly, that comes at the cost of a poor localization effort that holds back some much-needed lore and emotional context to enjoy. Regardless, the yuri romance and supernatural elements will surely keep you engaged as you try to avoid the heartbreaking bad endings.