We Know the Devil (2015)

I'm not totally sure how to review a visual novel, at least compared to a typical game, since while some do have minigames or other gameplay, entries like this one don't. It's a very short story, easily finished in about 45 minutes and only having 7 choices that affect the narrative in minor ways. I won't spoil the method for it, but getting the true ending will take a bit longer, but it doesn't totally subvert the mechanics of going through it significantly.

I found the story itself a bit bland for most of it. I got the impression the writing was targeting a younger audience who might've found the banter between the three main characters more amusing, but it never was particularly grating or cringey at least. The premise is that these three teenagers, at some kind of summer camp, are assigned to stand watch overnight in a creepy cabin in the woods and survive when the devil comes in the night. The premise actually sounds more interesting than it really is as most of the game is just the three leads chatting about this or that. There's some minor horror, but for most of the story, it's pretty light. The endings are pretty interesting and striking, but up to that point, it can be a bit dull.

Presentation-wise, We Know the Devil is fairly basic. It has a fairly simple art style featuring some full-screen stock images and simplistic drawn art for the characters against a few backgrounds, though I thought the art manages to mostly look good for the style it's aiming at. There are a few tracks to the score that the game alternates between, often quite abruptly, but they're hit or miss, some evoking just the right atmosphere, others feeling a little annoying and jarring. The presentation does feel a little low-budget, but it doesn't feel like it's trying to be anything else, so it didn't really bother me as much as it might've in other contexts.

All that said, it is cool to see a story about queer characters that explores those identities through metaphor, sometimes subtle, sometime not, and I think that's important and valuable. And I ultimately really like the themes and messages the game ends up getting to. I simply didn't find most of the experience all that enjoyable so I wish I could rate it more highly, but it really was more of a 3-star experience. I will also qualify that in case it's not apparent, I'm not really big on visual novels normally, I only picked this one up on recommendation, so I'm probably not the best judge of how it measures up to the rest of the genre.