If there’s one genre that has hardly captivated me, it’s Visual Novels. They’re usually clichéd stories, generic characters and romance stories that border on the absurd, so naive they are. Maybe it’s because of my age, where I’ve seen enough content to get bored with stories that are too similar. But to my surprise, I came across S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH. A huge title, but one with a relatively short but condensed experience of creativity, charm and charisma.

Castor Yard Is a Dystopian Future Setting for Lo-Fi Lovers

In S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH, you play as Miki, you’re saying goodbye to the city but you can’t remember the password to your compressed photo archive. To find out, you need to go through your entire experience, which will be retold by software on your computer. And Miki seems to be anxious to collect a sum of money that he thinks will change his life.

Castor Yard looks like a typical futuristic city in the 2010s, where those computers with giant CRT monitors are everywhere. MiniDiscs also make an appearance, which you can buy to listen to music in your downtime. There’s a very well-constructed aesthetic here, and although you don’t visit other places, the game encourages the player to imagine what those places mentioned by the characters would be like.

Make Your Choices Wisely in S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH

But back to the subject of you controlling Miki, someone who is doing a secondary job like a MouthPiece. Mouthpiece would be like that part of the mouthpiece of a wind instrument, such as a trumpet. Here your job is to receive a request from a client who needs you to do something for them, such as speaking some truths to a boss who is being extremely inconvenient.

This idea is very effective, as you put yourself in Miki’s shoes and end up seeing stories that are absurd, but which, if you reflect on, you’ll understand could have happened in the real world. The immersion is also due to the fact that the buttons you type appear as keys pressed in the game, but the lines of dialog don’t have to be typed exactly as the game shows, in which case you just have to press the letter, enter or backspace keys if you need to change the dialog. You may find this frustrating, but I think it helps to keep the pace of the game going without it becoming monotonous.

Of course, you’ll have to make decisions that may or may not bring Miki closer to his goal. And here it’s important to say that I recommend using the save feature if you don’t have much time to replay the whole experience and you didn’t like the way your decision turned out.

A Visual Treat in Every Scene

Graphically, the game is entirely pixel art, but very detailed. I mentioned that there are few scenes to visit, but with the quality of the art it would be impossible to make other scenes in a short time with this level of detail. There are even moments when the characters are animated. It’s incredible.

The game also has very charismatic characters, some of whom talk longer than others, but all of whom lend a level of credibility and immersion to the conversation. It’s actually what’s most captivating about the game, as you begin to care and understand the problems or hate of other characters.

S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH Has Music That Evolves With Each Day

The music when Miki is working is also very pleasant, varying in rhythm with each day and each event. As I said before, once you’ve finished the day’s activities, you can control the character to interact with others or with the vending machine. You can also observe the cityscape and listen to music (which you can buy from the machine) and contemplate the game’s pixel art once again.

Multiple Endings and Hidden Secrets Boost Replayability

Despite being a relatively short experience, S4U has many stories that require the right decisions, and some even at the right time, in order to progress through the story lines. This is excellent, as the player can see the results of certain lines of dialog and even have a few laughs.

On the downside, what may prevent other players from enjoying the game more may be the limited languages available in the game. The subtitles and interface are only localized to English, Japanese and Chinese (in their simplified, traditional form) and it would be great to see the game localized to other languages so that more people can enjoy the game.

The game also doesn’t officially support the use of gamepads, which may limit those who are playing on a portable device. Although the game simulates the keyboard, the player only needs to press a few buttons for the text to be displayed on the screen, I believe there are ways to adapt this without the player having to resort to customization through software or Steam’s own API.

But if these details aren’t a problem for you, S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH could be an excellent game to pass on for its length, fun and charisma. Just as much to enjoy alone in the comfort of your own home.

STREAMER SCORE

S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH (PC) - 2024

Overall

4.3

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Summary

S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH is a must-have title for Visual Novel players and gamers who want an immersive experience with a lo-fi aesthetic. It has charisma, a captivating story and dialog options so that the player can make the choice that best suits them. Unfortunately it’s not available for other platforms, but it may only be a matter of time. Recommended!