The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass is a sci-fi mystery visual novel programmed in Ren'Py developed by studio Trinitite Team that features animated backgrounds with multiple choices and endings. Currently, there is no voice acting. The game provides a medium gameplay length of 40 hours but can be stretched to more if you are willing to use all the tools the game provides to uncover the mystery embodied in the story.
Story
Today is the day when the Ashiya family, one of the wealthiest families in Yushibana, will finally reveal to the public one of the most precious and rarest jewels in their collection.
Atsuki Hakutoki and Shiroya Mirana are waiting patiently at the entrance with neither of them knowing, what to expect from this experience, although they would never imagine that a simple exposition will turn into a very dangerous and unique life-changing experience.
The story develops around a group of characters, which are Atsuki, Shiroya, Sai, Akaro, Katei, Erina and Isla, as they try to escape what seems to be a trap of destiny and uncover the mystery behind the unique artifact Sekimeiya.
This is a very complex story full of questions without an apparent answer. As mentioned in the introduction, the game provides you with many tools to help you understand and make your deductions about what's happening in each situation that will be covered later.
Characters
All the characters have well-developed personalities. During the game, you'll be able to play from different character perspectives, which will help you fill the missing pieces of the "puzzle".
On a side note, I love how the developers worked to ensure that you would understand their complex feelings and their decisions and reasoning while progressing in the game without feeling too boring. Sadly, not all of them have had the same treatment. I would have loved to understand every character's backstory, not just some of them.
I can say that you can easily relate to them since they are more complex than they look as they play with your mind in inducing you to think if you can trust a certain character or not.
If I have to choose my favorite character, my choice will surely fall on Shiroya. Despite the heavy situation she finds herself in, she never loses hope and shares a deep bond of friendship with Atsuki, which I find heartwarming.
Soundtrack
The Soundtrack is composed of 63 tracks, all of which are EDM based which are all very pleasant and awesome to listen to! I really hope the developers will release a Soundtrack DLC, which I would buy in a heartbeat.
Every track fits well within each situation. The developers really nailed this!
Here's one of my favorites:
Graphic Style & Animations
The sprites of the characters are well-made, and they also change based on the situation, which allows a very dynamic feel to each scene.
What captivated me the most is the style they used for specific scenes, reminding me faintly of watercolors, which I love so much, and you can see real hard work and high quality on them!
Bonus Content
The game presents a gallery section, a music room with all the soundtracks to listen to, and you can buy the development book at a low price. This is pretty interesting and is filled with all kinds of information, from the developer thoughts to the ideas that brought this project to life! I would recommend checking the development book after completing the game since it has some spoilers.
Now, I would like to talk about the in-game tools.
All of them are pretty important and will help you understand and enjoy the game.
You have a search section, which will refer you to the specific word you searched for.
The flow chart will help you understand what happened during specific situations and chapters.
The map provides you with a complete view of the rooms in each floor. If a specific character is present in any of the locations, it will also be shown accordingly.
The note section will actually allow you to write down your own notes, which will greatly help you in your reasoning.
The tips section will collect every tip in the game you can refer to if you need a certain piece of information to help you.
I had to use most of the tools and also re-read parts of the story because it's pretty easy to lose track and ruin the rest of the gameplay experience if you don't pay attention to the characters and all the other information that may come your way.
Final Thoughts
The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass sure has been a very complex and interesting experience. If you love mysteries and sci-fi, I highly recommend this visual novel, although you should also be prepared to exercise your brain and use all the tools at your disposal since the truth won't be so easy to reach!
