Back in August, I had the opportunity of trying out STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT, back when it had just released for the PC. And being my first ever proper contact with such a famous visual novel is an experience I won’t forget. However, during that review, I did mention that it had a few blemishes that I hope were going to be fixed by the time the console versions were released.
And well, that time is now, because thanks to Spike Chunsoft, I had the chance to check out the game’s Nintendo Switch 2 version, before its official release on October 28th. I’m the type that always says that visual novels and the Switch platform are a match made in heaven, and while I want to say this is no different, there are still a few wrinkles that just make me disappointed that they weren’t addressed yet.
Spoiler Alert: This article will feature some light spoilers of the beginning of the STEINS;GATE story. Reader discretion is advised if you wish to experience this title completely blind.
The Mad Scientist
STEINS;GATE‘s story begins with Rintaro Okabe, A.K.A. Hououin Kyouma, a self-proclaimed “mad scientist” who claims to have the budding ideas for over a hundred inventions, even though all he has are some proof of concepts and a dream. Together with his two friends, the cosplay lover Shiina Mayuri and the “genius hacker” Hashida Itaru, he founds the Future Gadget Laboratory, or just “The Lab” for short. And well, Rintaro is a total “chuunibyou”, which makes him have these over-the-top monologues, that some people who come across him just think he’s delusional.
One day, as he attends a press conference by Dr. Nakabachi, who claims to have found the key to one of humanity’s most sought-after achievements: time travel. Rintaro skeptically challenges the doctor’s claims before being pulled over to the side by Makise Kurisu, a genius young girl who has achieved a lot, despite her age. And even though she thinks he’s got a few screws loose, she does eventually join Rintaro’s… rather crazy-sounding experiments that would make any person with common sense just write it off as him being delusional.
Honestly, my thoughts have not changed much since I played through the PC version. This is the type of story that I have to be careful not to completely go on a tangent, dissecting every single part of it. STEINS;GATE, and many of the Science Adventure titles before it, are better experienced completely blind. In particular, you’ll have a lot of those “Eureka” moments together alongside Rintaro, and as much as he might sound over the top, it’s a trait of his that makes it fun for me.
The Most Important Component of Visual Novels
Initially, I was really excited that STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT was now on a portable console, because visual novels and the Switch platform are, as I’ve said many times, a match made in heaven. But unfortunately, there is one issue that the game has, which has been carried over from the PC release. I had mentioned how there was a sort of “text crunch” issue, where any dialogue that went over three lines would simply cause the text to squish vertically, much like in the image above. And it greatly disappointed me that even on Switch 2, this issue has still not been fixed yet.
Throughout the time I spent with it, the game received some update patches. But even after applying those, the text crunch issue just never went away. This is going to sound too technical, but bear with me for a moment. On the game’s Steam page, there is a video that shows an in-development screen. This preview shows a slightly different font, and in that video, one of Rintaro’s lines to Mayuri is as follows: “Sirens in the distance. I guess an ambulance will be here soon.” This is a line where the issue appears, but it is completely absent in that video. And I have a hypothesis as to why.
At some point, perhaps late into development, MAGES. must’ve changed the English font. This isn’t unusual. Lots of games sometimes feel like the font they had previously chosen just doesn’t mesh well. But I hypothesize that the change wasn’t re-tested to ensure this new font would be able to render the English dialogue properly, or if a change to how the text is rendered was needed. The translation itself is fine, and as someone who has been under the hood for some games, this issue just bothers me a lot. In fact, let’s take ANONYMOUS;CODE, the latest title in the Science Adventure franchise. I asked our Managing Editor, Soul Kiwami, if he experienced any text issues at the time, and there were none that were quite as prominent as this one on STEINS;GATE.
And here’s another issue, though this one isn’t as bad as the text crunch issue. I mentioned how STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT doesn’t feature subtitles for any of the Japanese that gets shown on the screen, like CHAOS;HEAD did. This sadly also happens on Switch 2. During some of Makise Kurisu’s explanation scenes, you’ll have various instances where she’ll point to a whiteboard that’s full of complicated Japanese. While I can understand some of it, the nitty-gritty of physics theories has some truly complicated kanji, dare I say, C1 to C2 level. So the vast majority of fans might not even understand the full picture, since the English dialogue can only tell so much.
Still a Good Game That Needs Some Fixes
After playing through the Nintendo Switch 2 version of STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT, I am equal parts impressed and equal parts disappointed. On one hand, it is genuinely great that the game is now available on a platform that you can take with you on the go, especially one that contains a lot of content. At the same time, it is deeply disappointing that, to this day, the issues present on PC are still lingering in the Switch 2 port.
It should not come as a surprise that I want more people to play this game, but also that the developer can fix these blemishes on what is quite possibly a cult classic and an important pillar in the Science Adventure franchise. With all that said, though, I hope to see the franchise continue doing what it does best: to present a story you can get absolutely hooked on, especially on the go, with the Nintendo Switch.
Disclaimer: Spike Chunsoft provided a Nintendo Switch 2 copy of STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT for coverage.
