Planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~ (Steam)


Planetarian is a short visual novel about an unnamed Junker living in a post-apocolyptic world after a great war. Toxic Rain continues to fall without end, and all that awaits the few human survivors is struggle against the elements, lack of resources, and the dangerous mechs that lay in wait for anyone who crosses their path. But our protagonist soon finds companionship at the Planetarian in a destroyed city.



The Planetarian is where he meets Hoshino Yumemi, a robot whose job it is to serve the guest at the stargazing establishment. She takes great joy and pleasure in introducing everyone to the starry sky via a projection machine named Miss Jena. As it turns out, Yumemi activates for one week every year, and has been doing so for the past 30 years despite everything that's happened in the outside world. Seemingly oblivious to the real reason why she isn't getting any customers, she and the Junker begin to bond as he helps her fix Miss Jena so she can show him the starry sky that he's never seen.



This is a short visual novel with no choices. You will simply be reading what is presented on the screen and scrolling at your leisure. You can also change the font for better reading, and of course save and load when you want to. The game also gives you a chapter index on the save/load screen so you can quickly return to the beginning of any previously read section. Upon completing the VN, you can also view the CG and music galleries from the title screen menu.



Overall I enjoyed this little VN. It was very short, but I enjoyed the quirkiness of it and I think they told the story of Yumemi the robot in a somewhat fresh way. Instead of making her entirely human as we see in many stories, you are still made aware of the fact that she is a robot and only capable of so much. This doesn't take away from her character at all, but I feel it rather adds to it as you begin to care for her for exactly who she is. The music, while nothing to write home about, did fit the setting a lot. It wasn't the prettiest visually, although that's kind of the point, and certain moments were certainly impactful because of it when they introduced more colour in to the world. It managed to be very touching for such a short story and if you like VN's and have a few hours, I would very much recommend it.

Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT