As I sit here pondering about what I should write about this allure of a game, a warm ray beams down from above, tender against my skin and filling me up with a cozy feeling of happiness.
Chemically Bonded is a romance visual novel developed by ds-sans. At the time of its release, it was published by DEVGRU-P, but ds-sans has since taken it over. The visual novel was released on Steam on the 30. of November 2019
Story
You are a freshman at this school and thus got no one to talk to. Your school day ends with you being assigned to the cleaning duties. Wondering how your life at this new school will be, you start to search for a mop and bucket since your class apparently doesn’t take cleaning all too seriously. But you are determined to finish this job properly. On your way to finding those cleaning supplies, you meet a strange girl in the science lab doing experiments on her own. While she gives you the cleaning supplies you needed she asked if you are here to join her science club. Intrigued by the thought of being in a club with such a cute girl you don’t immediately say no, but you don’t agree yet either. She introduces herself as Kiyoko Ishikawa and insists on helping you with your cleaning duties. On your way to the classroom, you two meet a rude girl in the hallway. While speaking to her Kiyoko seems to hide behind your back.
The day ends with you two finishing up your cleaning duties and you decide to show up for the science club the next day after school.
The next day on your way to the science club you are stopped by the same girl as yesterday, pinning you down with your tie and telling you to stay away from Kiyoko. She is the idol of the school and the captain of the athletics team Naomi Sato. As the days go by you are wondering what the relationship between those two is and how you want to approach this delicate situation in order to understand it.
Impression and Experiences
The first thing you will notice about this visual novel is its use of pictorial metaphors. The monologues are written in such an elegant and fancy way it pulls you into the story. It makes the settings feel alive and dreamlike at the same time. This makes it stand out from other Visual Novels and makes reading it feel like looking at a painting. The story does a good job of really drawing you in, with every day that passes with you being the one to decide on how you want to resolve this mess of a relationship. Do you wanna call Kiyoko and ask her or do you decide to call Naomi and get more information about the past of her friendship with Kiyoko that way. Those decisions decide which route you will go later in the game.
The game is fully voice acted, with Kiyoko having got her voice from “Little N i i”, VTuber and Singer on Youtube, while Naomi got hers from Amber Barile. The visuals of this game are pleasant and give the game its own vibe. The GUI is surprisingly well done and it does add a lot of flavor to the game with the interactive phone being the highlight here.
Judgement
I have to admit I had to let this game rest on my mind for a while to really get a judgment out of it. While those long-drawn-out pictorial paragraphs felt exhausting to read and in some way repetitive, looking back on it now I felt those passages gave the visual novel its own style and pacing and it makes a reread feel a lot more refined. For the second route, I read it at a way slower pace and really let myself draw in by those passages. But if you look behind those passages, to the actual story and how the characters are displayed it all kinda falls apart. The actual “rift” between those two is at its core just a misunderstanding that can be cleared up with like 2 sentences. But it gets drawn out so much, beating around the bush most of the time. The longer this goes on the more you realized that the MC appears to just be an empty shell who simply exists to be a middleman for those two girls. The personality of the girls was well thought out and I did feel as if I wanted to know more about them. Having them both voiced was a big plus, at least that’s what I first thought. I had to mute the voice of Kiyoko since I felt that it absolutely didn’t fit her character. Naomi’s voice was a lot more felicitous than Kiyoko’s and it felt as if her voice was underlining her character prefectly.
One thing i quite liked was the mobile phone! You could look up the encyclopaedia on it while also acting as a credits roll. Calling via the mobile phone and texting added a nice touch that rounded off the complete package in a positive way.
Conclusion
I don’t think it’s a game that will stay on my mind for long. I wouldn’t call it mediocre but it’s not a masterpiece as well. I wouldn’t recommend buying it at full price, rather wait for a sale or a price reduction. But overall it was a pleasant experience. If you want to play a Visual Novel that is on the lighter side of the heart this is the game for you.
