STEINS;GATE 0 is a story rich visual novel that focuses on time travel. The game is a sequel to the original STEINS;GATE, but acts under the pretenses that the player received the one true ending to the original story, making for darker progression along the way. Previously available on PS3, PS4, and PS Vita, this visual novel was released on Steam on the 8th May 2018 and was developed by MAGES. INC., the same team behind the original STEINS;GATE and Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds, a fun action beat’em up back in 2015.
How to Download STEINS;GATE 0
To download the game hit the Download button which you will find at the end of the review. The game is available on Steam. You will be able to also download the original STEINS;GATE and a bundle with the sequel which will save you money. We highly recommend both titles.
The Game Review
STEINS;GATE 0 is just like any good visual novel, where it focuses on a strong, in-depth story that has multiple endings depending on the player’s choices throughout the story. The story revolves around a man known as Okabe, who simply wants to protect the love of his life from her disastrous fate: death. At the start of the game, Okabe’s love (Kurisu) is murdered, which completely tears Okabe up inside. Using the power of time travel, he has tried and failed multiple times to save Kurisu and each time must witness the horrific scene once again. Knowing that he can’t go through with this anymore, he refuses to try any longer and gives up on his attempt to save her life once more.
Shortly after deciding that, he received a video message from his future self, explaining that he had to witness her death in order to become the future Okabe that he needs to be to save her. After this very message, Okabe then decides to spend the rest of his life trying to save Kurisu through the use of the perfect timeline, which is named the STEINS;GATE.
With any visual novel, there is very little player interaction, as it is effectively an interactive novel that has some small decisions here and there for the player to make. The way the player makes decisions in this game is through the use of their in-game phone. At different intervals, the player will receive messages from characters they’ve encountered throughout the story and they can react to them in one of two ways. The first way is through completely ignoring the message and doing nothing with it. The second way is, obviously, responding to it. Depending on the player’s decision, the story will branch off in one way or another and the outcome won’t become ultimately clear until the very end of the game.
With the visuals this anime title portrays, it’s an interesting take on the typical anime style. Instead of the bright and more vibrant anime that people have come to be used to it, here the graphics are both darker and sharper, somewhat as a reflection of the dark source material the game portrays.
For any fans of the original game, then STEINS;GATE 0 is a sequel that carries on the story that they would have been so engrossed in for the first time. While the visual novel is a much darker one in comparison to some other visual novels out there, the more adult-topics makes for a shocking and engaging story from start to finish.
