I think it was the art style that initially won me over. The romance in Hoshimemo was my favorite part, but half of its appeal comes from the well-crafted mystery happening in the background. In Asuho's route, you learn about the mysterious "Lookout Girl" at the center of the plot. In Komomo and Kosame's routes, you learn about the supernatural background of the story. In Chinami and Aoi's routes, you learn a lot about the MC's family.
It's because the locked route structure feeds you clues at the perfect pace, so that in the moment, you don't even relate what you're hearing to the central mystery. It is a multi-route mystery of sorts, but not in the straightforward way that VNs like Higurashi or 9-nine- are. It has some routes locked behind others for a reason, and if locked routes put you off, don't let it faze you with this one. I also want to highlight how well-put-together the overarching plot of this story is. They do what they came to do, and they do it well-so well that I find myself unconsciously comparing each heroine I see in other VNs to the heroines in Hoshimemo. Hoshimemo doesn't overplay the tropes for laughs (except sometimes with Chinami, the imouto heroine), nor does it generally try to subvert the tropes in unexpected ways. Now that I've played a number of moege titles I know just how frequently authors rely on recognizable tropes to carry their characters, but I had no experience with this back then (unless you count Muv Luv Extra, which is arguably the tropiest of all). If you're already a fan of the romance genre, I would pick this one up ASAP.įurthermore, it did moe tropes well.
I never became frustrated with the MC in any route, nor did pointless drama ever prevent the romance from reaching its natural conclusion. Hoshimemo's pacing, both for the romance and the underlying supernatural plot elements, is phenomenal even among VNs. Being a fan of romcom anime, I'm generally used to a terribly dense MC and a romance that drags on for seasons at a time, sometimes never resolving. "Pleasantly surprised" is an understatement. Nonetheless, I decided to try Hoshimemo just to see what a slice of life/romcom VN could be like.
I was wary of what I then called "dating simulator" type games and considered them below the ones I'd already read. I don't know if it went on sale, or if it showed up under popular Steam reviews, or what, but somehow Hoshizora no Memoria was placed in front of me. Right as I was winding down, about to get back to my preferred medium of anime, something just grabbed me. I bought F/SN, the two Muv Luv games on Steam, and Higurashi I played through them like a machine, and they were life changing! Those three still sit at the top of my list, but then something changed. In December of 2019, I decided I was going to read what I considered then to be "the big three:" Fate, Muv Luv, and When They Cry. To be blunt, I'm recommending Hoshimemo because I wouldn't be reading VNs today without it. Keep in mind that I've really only been into VNs for about a year, so my knowledge of the genre is less than encyclopedic, but I'm getting there! I figured I would make a post about why I'm recommending Hoshimemo and not one of my other favorite VNs. Hey everyone, I'm relatively new here, but the new sidebar recommendation came from me, so I must be doing something right.
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