Amarantus review - a superb visual novel that gives you revolutions within revolutions

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Amarantus is a visual novel about young people trying to start a revolution, in which every line and every choice feels moving and meaningful. Our review:

Amarantus is a tale of political revolution, but revolution can also mean repetition, and repetition is crucial here, not just in terms of learning and"mastering" this glorious visual novel's small, rewarding assortment of choices so as to reach the Best Ending, but also in the growing resonance of recurring scenes that explore"recurrence" as a theme. Starting again isn't simply about learning what you missed, and making less-terrible decisions.

It's just as well, then, that he has some really supportive and forgiving friends - or at least, driven and tenacious allies - who hail from all levels of the game's understated fantasy society, and who bring their own moral codes, experiences and communication styles together with heaps of baggage and yearnings you can satisfy or frustrate or talk your way around - achieving a different, but complementary understanding of that person every time.

Play consists of conversations with some or all of these characters, set against superbly sketched and embroidered backdrops that, together with a magical guitar soundtrack and some lovely ambient audio, immerse you in forbidden woodlands, echoing stone halls and the creaking chambers of a ship. Within these florid, breathing spaces, the cast move and act with an expressivity you rarely see in photorealistic blockbuster games.

The small number of decisions available to you also allows Amarantus to exist easily, comfortably in your head as a piece of stage machinery. I can remember every step I took along the way in each playthrough, pretty much, and make immediate connections between choices and outcomes, even when they're squirrelled away in the detail of conversations.

 

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