Sound of Drop - fall into poison -

Sound of Drop - fall into poison -
N/A
Metacritic
87
Steam
76.125
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$5.19
Release date
30 October 2015
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
87 (338 votes)

Nestled in the heart of Tokyo, the quaint little aquarium, Manten Aquarium. Numerous urban legends have arisen from here. On the night of the full moon the waters turn to blood and man faced fish lurk within.

Show detailed description

Sound of Drop - fall into poison - system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Win XP+
  • Processor: Pentium3 1.0GHz
  • Memory: 512 MB RAM
  • Graphics: DirectX® 9 Compatible Graphics Card
  • DirectX: Version 9.0c
  • Storage: 500 MB available space

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
Similar games
Tiny Bunny
Tiny Bunny

Adventure, Indie, Early Access

$7.99 xDr: 90.10
Popularity
Reviews
Write a new review
SapphicSpider
SapphicSpider

Pros:
The art is very pretty, and I do enjoy the character designs.

I love the little touches of character interactions - like the back and forth fawning over all the cute fishies.

Cons:
The "Ugh I'm so boring and normal" character archetype that gets applied to every single VN protagonist because creators across the genre think that's a personality that everyone (or even most people) relate to is not very immersing, relateable, or fun. I would much rather be Himeno who is both excited and motivated to engage, incite, and participate in the plot.

Hiyoshi is a convenient character for exposition but the whole 'hang out with me' flirty pedophile thing shouldn't be swept under the rug. Either have him be someone their age with knowledge if he's gonna be flirty, or have him serve as an expsotional character without flirting as an adult. I don't want the game to forgive a creep and try to invite him into more than 1 second of the plot (that 1 second consists of 'ew go away').

Lyskal
Lyskal

Worth buying just so you can hear the soundtrack in context.

10/10 now I distrust any form of coloured light and moist noises.

SecretSarah
SecretSarah

Solid VN. The music was good, though I wish there had been a bit more. The art ranged between good and great; it makes me think that the artists really liked fish and aquariums. Not all of the four "True Ends" were entirely satisfying but there was one that stood out to me as being the "Truest End" and I think it hit the mark. The translation was clear, though there was a bit of awkward phrasing from time to time. It isn't difficult to find all of the endings without a walkthrough. The story isn't incredible but it's worth the read.

8/10, would die again.

garglemonger
garglemonger

Game is good. 9/10

This is a mysteryish/horrorish VN with several endings.
Similar games in theme : Ever17, Saya no Uta.

Small gripes with minor spoilers : Choices can feel arbitrary. The game does not follow logical 'This choice is most logical, therefore the best choice to make' path, nor does it follow any kind of path for that matter. You'll get bad-ends by doing what seems like perfectly rational choices.

Some bad ends just don't make sense. A lot of things don't make sense.

If you try and play the game following Vandine's 20 rules, you might be dissapointed.
Still a really nice game, there are not enough horror-ish vns.

Rustfeather
Rustfeather

It's like Corpse Party and SeaLife had a twisted love child with some really pretty art and feels.

Communist Daughter
Communist Daughter

It's corpse party in an aquarium. A++++ would die/cry again

Effing
Effing

Japanese middle schoolers star in Jaws Ju-On: the Game!

I wound up really liking this story, particularly how various of the bad endings tied into both each other and the broader story. There were a couple of WTF moments (still not sure about those orcas...) but otherwise everything was put together well and I don't regret plowing through it in a week at all.

Even if it is making me a little uncertain about that can of tuna in my kitchen cabinet...

bullno1
bullno1

It starts with a very good premise but slowly declines with bad writing, bad pacing and bad translation.

Sorriow
Sorriow

Nice art, lovely presentation. If you have some spare cash, I recommend buying the OST too.
Definitely not one of "these" trashy VN's on steam.

Only con: Exposure varies from very little to very much, resulting in a sometimes very tedious chunks or rapid flow in the story. Sometimes, you itch that extra information. And sometimes, you get overwhelmed with boring chatter. Might be a bonus if you're into SoL.

Yrea
Yrea

So emotional I was so close to crying at times and other times overflowed with joy the story is great the characters are great and by looking at the credits it was a 3 person game and thats amazing Ive seen many visual novels with only 5 or 6 unique set pieces but this games give you a whole lot to look at while your on its emotional rollar coster if i could make a single change tho Mayumi would resond "i love you" at least once she was too closed off but it was amazing id reccomend this to anyone who wasnts some real suspense and a satisfying story

*^SaoSin^*
*^SaoSin^*

"I feel salt ocean water in my mouth. I am slowly drowning in my sorrow."

Seems like after incredible opening and unique aqua-horror setting similar to "Ever17". My expectations became deathsentence for my joy. As a result this is the first VN I cant recommend (and I tend to recommend even cheap not good ones). Why is that soo you may ask?

Because of the game design. I cant say good word about it 30 endings with 4 true endings? That sounds better than it looks. Game is linear and your choices doesn't really matter in the end everything goes the same way. Also you will be blocked (dont ask me why) from achieving all stories in first playthrough. Your decisions will either let you progress through Manten Aquarium or you will be dead instantly. Soo forget about any mysteries hiding behind the corner. They doesn't exist. Everything is served straight on a plate. If you want to see what I expect from horror routes for lower price I recommend playing "Notch - The Innocent LunA".

Its really a shame for "Sound of Drop" since I liked the characters and endings. Especially Mayu and Himeno had really beautiful friendship. I generally didnt dislike anyone but things lacked depth. Everyone has a motive and story is slowly revealing with second playthrough. Aqua scenes are great with deep depressing ambients and horror is settled up with inteligence and logic it is believable! But that's simply not enough for lost potential, and few weak dialogue lines. All can be done in 100% within 12 hours.

Zany
Zany

A perfect blend of strange and creepy, this is a visual novel that you'll probably find pretty hard to put down once you pick it up. It's not too long, but has a lot of atmosphere and genuine creepiness to it that makes it really enjoyable to play. I'd easily recommend this game to anyone who's a fan of creepy visual novels. It's got plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes, and a lot of choices to explore!

Also, this title seriously needs more love!

BabyDaddy Cool
BabyDaddy Cool

I cant recommend this. Both story and character development is slim to none. I feel there is only endless wandering inside this aquarium, randomly choosing options that dont lead to death and bad end.

Kingslayer Khaos
Kingslayer Khaos

Can't honestly recommend this, not for full price anyways. Story is all over the place and struggles to keep you interested. The choices that guide you to the 31 'endings' (if you'd like to call them that) all seem to happen within a few minutes of each other and don't seem to have any rhyme or reason to them. Also there are -4- good endings which are all marked as 'true endings' which I find a little strange. Just playing through the game once doesn't even give you the entire story or all of the options so if you are going through just for the achievements you still have to play it multiple times. The characters themselves are paper thin. They have little to no build up on the characters and just drop them where it seems convenient, only giving them as much 'development' as they need to half ass make the story coherent. One of the only decent things that this game has in my opinion is the soundtrack. The soundtrack definitley fits the atmosphere of the story and isn't too noticable when it loops.

TL;DR - If you don't have high expectations of this game, it's not terrible. Still not worth the full price.

SA3ERSHIKI
SA3ERSHIKI

As a huge visual novel fan, I looked forward to playing sound of drops from it's description in the store. And boy, did the store page not do it jutice. This is easily one of my new favorite visual novel games, with an incredibe soundtrack, beautiful (and a huge variety of) artwork, a gripping storyline, and likeable charactes.

I was mostly blown away by the fact that this story has over 30 endings. 30!!! Additionaly, there was time spent in the shoes of multiple characters, so we got to see a fresh perspective on situations we had already seen. I would highly recommend checking out this game, for anyone who is a fan of anime, japanese novel games, or simply a compelling, emotional storyline.

If I had to compare it to other visual novel games, I'd say there are strong similarities to Steins;Gate, Higurashi When They Cry, and Voices from the Sea.

seeker_moc
seeker_moc

Save your time and skip this one. I'm a huge fan of VNs, but this one is just silly. First off, the translation is horrible. Secondly, the "twist" that supposedly explains the sitiuation is just ridiculous.

Seriously, unless you want to read a story about the ghosts of dead fish attacking people because they're mad someone turned off their tank, please look elsewhere.

TMoney
TMoney

Check out My review here.
https://youtu.be/nTGODeMljMY

snna
snna

I definitely enjoyed it. I thought the art and music were prettygood/10, and it's cool that three of the "true endings" feel alright, like they aren't a bad resolution for everything, but in only one of them do you actually discover the full truth about what happened. My only real complaint with this game was that two of the endings are distinguished by one seemingly insignificant choice. I had to look up how to get the last ending. So after getting 100%, I don't plan on playing it again but I would still call it 17.4 hours well spent, especially considering it was only $5 (summer sale).

mayumi best gril

yuro
yuro

Ever since I beat this game, I've started seeing fish swimming in the air around me. I've also had a bit of difficulty breathing. Sometimes, I swear I even float for a few moments. My friends tell me that's not normal, but I'm sure I'll be fine.

... right?

ThreeLeggedFeline
ThreeLeggedFeline

I was initially intrigued by the setting (I haven't encountered many horror stories set in an aquarium), and after an hour I was hooked. I love how the creators made an aquarium creepy - so many fishy ways to die. Makes a very welcome change from all the mental hospitals and schools.

The artwork and soundtrack are both phenomenal. It's the first time I've bothered buying the soundtrack for a game on Steam. Together they really build the atmosphere.

The story is pretty damn good for the most part, but it has its weak points. As a horror game, there were some eerie moments early on, but once things begin to be explained in detail the horror lapses. The music and art kept up the atmosphere though.
The translation isn't perfect - it's rather clunky in places, but otherwise it reads well. The characters are rather rounded for a visual novel of this length, and I found myself caring for them.
Some of the secondary routes are very exposition heavy though, with the protagonist just standing there being talked at for large periods of time.
Despite this, or maybe because of it, the world felt fleshed out and almost real. I felt like I really got to know Manten Aquarium during my 9+ hours of playtime. I was almost sad to leave it.

In short, an atmospheric and aesthetically pleasing game with a strong story and characters.

Namikohoshi
Namikohoshi

I made so many horrible choices in this game. It's literally a game of life or death xD I did enjoy the ending with Himeno

Irisviel
Irisviel

Beat one True Ending so far. My heart can't take much more of this.

10/10 would replay for more "I love you" endings.

Old Timer
Old Timer

Corpse Party: Limited Seaworld edition

Terox3
Terox3

i like the OST but story isn't that good, 4/10.

Materia User
Materia User

Worst aquarium ever!!

If you have played 9 hours 9 persons 9 doors, this is a lot like that. A lot of bad endings even when your trying to not get them. A game you will beat on your first try, this is not.

On the technical side of things I look for a couple of key things that most visual novels have, but annoy me when they don't:

A log of what was previously said, even better if it serves as a psuedo rewind complete with recurring cgs if there are any, but not allowing you to change a choice you made.
This game has a log, but it's a simple text one. Acceptable for me. You will undoubtedly save scum for this, and the game even knows this, by having an autosave option during any choice.

A way to hide the text box. Sometimes I want to see the pretty characters, or background or simply appreciate a good moment. It has this, I'm happy with it.

A way to customize the textbox. Sadly other than your basic speed of text options it does not contain any recolors or font options.

There are no voiceovers. Sometimes these are terrible so I don't really mind. My imagination is usually better anyway.

To the game itself: Very pretty opening and it takes place in an aquarium so it's fitting that there are some pretty scenes. It also makes the disturbing scenes that much more disturbing.

Although the plot is unrealistic, it's not ridiculous. About the same level of realism as Corpse Party (not quite that dark though)

celandyne
celandyne

I highly recommend this one. Good visual novels are very immersive and this one was no exception. I like how it isn't romance based. The only complaint I have is that it's too short, so I would wait until it goes on sale.

DaveyDafydd
DaveyDafydd

This is one of the only graphic novels I have paid for, having tried out a couple of free ones before, and I have had no regrets. The sheer amount of endings, only four of them being good, gives it a lot of replay value and there enough save slots to ensure you will be able to see everything. The more you play it the more you learn about the world and the characters within them. The choices you have to make do actually have an impact and if you manage to choose the one that doesn't kill you, your choice can still have an impacts on others.

It might be my bias towards loving marine life and aquariams as a whole but the visuals are brilliant as well and keeps you really involved in the story. It took me three pretty solid days to get the story finished entirely and each of the good enedings had their own emotional impacts. It's hard to mention anything about the story without giving anything away, but there is defiently a two part ending to this, as in you need to play a second time to unlock more story.

While the overall style and a couple of the tropes and jokes are an anime style, you don't need to be an anime fan to enjoy this. Ofcourse if you enjoy anime these are just more positives towards this!!

I managed to get this for half price on sale, but would still say it is worth it's full value! So if you need some time to kill and want to really enjoy said time then buy this, buy it now!

Asadekai
Asadekai

Even though it's a visual novel, it's legitimately scary, and on top of that, there's a lot of mystery as you try to figure out what's going on, all while trying to *not* die

Tiger Witch
Tiger Witch

Sound of Drop - fall into poison, a VN that punishes you for every wrong choice you picked. For every choice you make, it will either lead you further into a gruesome story or slowly lurks you to your final breath. I won't comment much about the music and the CG, but considering the price of the game, it feels worth it to experience some horror and chills.

The first person perspective of this game even makes death interesting. Each death is not immediate, it keeps you guessing about your survival. Fret not of dying however, even dying can still tell you something related to the story. Therefore if you are not dying, you are not trying.

Kanransha_Senpai
Kanransha_Senpai

Played through all the endings, overall opinion is it's a well written horror story, but feels really trial and error-y. Some of the "Correct" choices make no sense upon first encountering them, so if you're any sort of logical person you're bound to bad end a couple of times naturally, otherwise it was fun uncovering the whole story and figuring things out.

A note: achievements are bugged (as of time of writing, 15/12/2016). I have completed every ending, including bad ones, and the ones for 25, 50, and 75% completion of CG's and bad endings haven't popped.

rymaju
rymaju

This is a solid visual novel that manages to be horrifying ang enthralling. Playinga visual novel like this is an amazing and refeshing break from the endless barrage of empty and unfuffiling VN's whose only positives are the chest sizes of its characters. This creepy and engaging VN is easily one of the best VN's on steam.

KireusG
KireusG

Beautiful game.

It took all my expectations, You won't regret buying this game

The variety of endings and the plot behind our principal character will make you love this Game.

11/10 I'm in love with the principal story

I do not regret anything

krispy
krispy

This is one of my favorite horror visual novels and I don't understand how this game doesn't have more of a following.

Nhadalie
Nhadalie

Solid and gripping plot, with just enough mystery left unsolved to draw you in. Have been playing this game for a few weeks, and it's really good aside from a few immersion breaking grammar and spelling errors. Beautiful graphics in many scenes, and terrifying scenarios.

Darbee
Darbee

Length: Short (2-10 hrs)
Avg Read: 1st playthru: ~3 hrs. 2nd playthru: 2-3 hrs Total: 6 - 8.5 hrs
Type: Horror/Mystery

Description: Manten Aquarium---a secret place nestled in the city.
Mayumi Nakanobe and Himeno Tamagawa investigate the urban legend whispered about back in middle school.

How much of the urban legend was based in truth?
Where water turns to blood, where the ghost of the dead curator swims---.
Where Mayu may reunite with her missing young sister---.
Where a trivial incident leads to strife between best friends---.
Where a choice may choice is made to part ways---.
Mayu and Hime confront the aquarium's many tragedies.
This summer, will you visit the aquarium too?

Overall: The first playthru is the original game before it was on steam. Both endings about the same in my eyes in the original game, one is just more romance focused.
When Sound of Drop was added to steam they added to new routes to the game. Wasn't sure if they would add much time or written material to the game but I was surprised to learn that the added routes make the game seem complete and has what I would see as the True End (the limited ocean of the life).

Big number of bad ends in the game which some that don't make sense sometimes. Enjoyed my second playthru more than the first.
7/10

rubysbooby
rubysbooby

I really enjoyed this game and there are some twists in the story plot that I wasn't expecting! Many different bad ends and also some true ends make it worth it to buy this game. The game reminds me of Corpse Party because of its descriptive bad ends and gore (although not as over the top as Corpse Party). It was also a lot longer than I expected which makes it even more worth it to buy this game. The characters were also very cute and designed well. If you like horror visual novels, this is definitely a good one to buy.

AJ
AJ

This is honestly the best VN I have played so far (around 15) and I really want more of it

Coffee Bean
Coffee Bean

!!!!!!!!!!!Spoiler Alert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHATEVER YOU DO. DON'T FUCKING STARE AT THE JELLYFISH

GOD DAMNIT HOLY SHIT BARBEQUE

10/10
Himeno is my new waifu

Creep
Creep

Absolutely wonderful, I love this visual novel. The art and sound track is beautiful. The oceanic tones create an atmosphere that truly can creep, at times. Quite a few plot points surprised me. The characters are great; some you’ll love, some you’ll hate. The horror won’t scare a horror junkie, but it’s not bad. I’ll be replaying it.

will14lee
will14lee

Beautiful Soundtrack. Gripping Narrative.
Also, got melted by frogs.
10/10 would get melted by frogs again

Ceaseless Duality
Ceaseless Duality

While I'm not a fan of the horror genre, I did enjoy this VN. The mystery aspect was enough to keep me interested despite the creepiness and gore. The story was a tad convoluted, but still good. Once all four true endings have been seen, the story's pieces all come together. Do take the warning at the beginning of the game seriously though, because there are a lot of disturbing scenes throughout the story. If you're not okay with psychological horror or disturbing images involving either creepy stuff or gore, you probably shouldn't play this game.

Spoiler stuff:
- Because the story is a tad convoluted, I still don't really get why Kenji originally killed Rieko, but I guess I could've overlooked something in the story.
- I still don't really understand Kenji's character overall, to be honest. I get that he was secretly a psycho/sadist, but like, why did he help Mayu save Sayo? Later, he confesses that he only kept Mayu alive because of the connection with her sister, but what the hell did that have to do with saving Sayo? He could've still carried out his plans if he'd let Sayo get murdered.
- My favorite ending is probably "the limited ocean of the life," as Sayo gets to live, Mayu gets to see her sister the most, and it's overall the happiest.

Anyway, overall, I do recommend the game. Just be aware that it can be quite disturbing.

Teram
Teram

Cool horror story, highly suggested to those who have never read a visual novel before but that would like to start one. I found this to be a short but still well made one, with nice musics and good drawings. There are also choices, mostly of them leading you to a bad ending, so the most common kind of decision.
Be aware that there are some crude drawings with blood scenes and such, not that much, but that can still not be appreciated by some (I did like them though). Also description of violence.

In short, I suggest this to new to the genre and for those who want to read a VN but don't want to put too much time on it

Carwash
Carwash

It starts off really great, very Lovecraftian and subtle, but then becomes a convoluted mess about yr typical J-Horror curses and such Q_Q S A D Q_Q

Chiller Killer
Chiller Killer

I got scared, cried, laughed, relieved. Great VN.
Great sound Track. Memorable Characters.
Remember to Play NewGame+ and call out the name right.
Was def better than going to the movies for the steam sale 2017 $4.54

I would love more novels like this and support full price

cherryjam
cherryjam

Rating: 8/10 ("Very good")

Recommended for: People who enjoy VNs, people who enjoy psychological thrillers. I would recommend this for a first-time VN-reader.

My route order: Princess of drops > Himeno > Fall into poison > The limited ocean of life."Princess of drops" and "The limited ocean of life" were my favourite endings.

Sound of Drop - fall into poison - is a psychogical thriller with horror elements. Its main theme is, arguably, moving on from the death of a loved one. Choices matter in this visual novel -- there are a whopping 27 bad endings and only 4 good endings (though one is rather bittersweet). Two of the good endings are only available after initially completing the game and then starting a new game. The save files in this VN don't have time played, so I can't say how long it took me to complete the first route. However, it took me just over 9 hours to complete all the endings, skipping content I had already read, which is a pretty good length for the price.

The plot is good. It doesn't take too long to start off and pick up the pace. Lengthwise, I never felt that the novel was boring or stagnant; it made good use of all dialogue and action to push the plot along. The story itself is quite interesting and the characters were written well enough that I felt invested in them. I laughed and cried while reading Sound of Drop, which I think is a sign it did a pretty good job of sending across its message and themes. While the characters didn't necessarily have depth, they were interesting, and some were quite surprising later on in the novel.

The artwork for Sound of Drop is of very high quality. The character sprites are all very bright and nicely drawn, and backgrounds are pleasant as well. The CGs are all very good though a few are a bit wonky-looking. Nonetheless they are both lighthearted and creepy when the context calls for it.

Sound of Drop's soundtrack is also very good. It was extremely effective at evoking the mood and atmosphere it wanted to, whether that was wariness, anxiety, or hope. It never felt repetitive. I also enjoyed both the opening and ending themes. I'll be purchasing the soundtrack when it's on sale.

Overall, Sound of Drop - fall into poison - is a solid visual novel title that I'd recommend to anyone looking for something new and interesting to read.

Maverynthia
Maverynthia

I recommend the first half of this game, it's good although the writing suffer from "written by a man".
The second half, the new endings are something else. I literally mean they are something else. It's like the took the simple idea of a haunted aquarium that kills people because of a grudge and tried to do some kind of science with it. The new endings feel really tacked on and just outright strange. I guess people complained that Kenji didn't get enough backstory/screentime even though he's kind of secondary to the plot.
Some of the stuff in the new endings contradicts what's in the first endings. I like that they tried to make Reiko sympathetic in the new endings, buuuut then it just goes all off the rails.

I really wish that time spent on the random endings would have been spent on adding a NVL option to play the game was it was originally released.

I really would like to see more NVL format novels out there as sometimes it can build up the tension better. It also sometimes gets silly when the characters in an ADV just aren't matching what the text is saying.

Agarica
Agarica

One of the best VNs I've played

puppyfurlove
puppyfurlove

I played this on Halloween on 2016, because it looked like it could give a bit of a scare despite it's beautiful artwork. While it didn't really scare me(though there was surprisingly more gore than I thought there'd be) it does have a fascinating story, the supsence and mystery was very entertaining, I stayed up all night playing it and keep at it until I got all of the endings because I wanted to know every bit of the story it was just that good. Truthfully it was the artwork made me want to buy this game but the story kept me playing it, because of that I plan to buy any games they make in the future because who doesn't love a compelling story!?

mudpuppy510
mudpuppy510

Sound of drop is an intriguing visual novel about a killer aquarium, alternate dimension(s) and spirits because Japan. I enjoyed the story a great deal and it had some surprising twists and turns I was not expecting. There are some localization issues with honorifics (I know they don't translate well) that I think may have caused me to miss some of the things the author was trying to convey and also some unusual dialog but as a whole the story is well made. I wish there were more interesting visual novels like this one!

Minimo
Minimo

I played through this game in only 3 hours, and got one of the true endings, a really good one at that, and many bad endings. When I went to look at what I missed, there are 4 true endings in total, as well as many other bad ones that I didn't get.

The ammount of content aside, the music and atmosphere of this VN are really well-done, with some of the songs sticking to my head all the time. It also manages to be mildly eerie, but isn't scary, really, which could be either a good or bad thing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I should also mention that there is no voice acting, but the dialogue is well written and translated.

As for the price, I think it's fair for what it is, and surely was better than I had expected. If you like VN's and want one with a unique theme and a nice story, this one is worth the purchase.

Terallis
Terallis

Fantastic horror-based visual novel. Don't let my lack of play time fool you, as I did play most of the original, off Steam. Best comparison I can make (minus the actual direct control of a character) is Corpse Party. While it doesn't carry the level of extreme graphic violent detail as Corpse Party, it's still something a fan can appreciate. Carries a similar sort of atmosphere to it.

zombie-flesheater
zombie-flesheater

"Sound of Drop - fall into poison -" starts off lighthearted with the two friends Mayumi and Himeno visiting Manten Aquarium - a place surrounded by rumors and urban legends. Things are starting to get strange when Mayumi sees a little girl - who looks exactly like her younger sister Mari. But Mari went missing at the aquarium five years ago...
What follows is a psychological horror trip that gets worse by the minute, full of creepy things, curses and even a couple of jumpscares.

The characters are likeable and you don't want anything bad to happen to them, but oh boy, bad things WILL happen... There are lots of choices and some of them will send Mayu or other characters to their agonizing deaths, resulting in one of the game's numerous "bad endings". Depending on your reading speed, you'll spend about four hours to reach one of two possible "good endings". But the story is far from over afterwords, as reaching one of those endings will unlock a New Game+ route, along with a new introduction and a certain new path you can take at a certain point, giving an even deeper insight into the story and changing the fate of some of the characters, leading to two new "good endings" and a couple of more "bad endings".
It will easily take you about 10+ hours to see all paths and endings and with the loveable and interesting characters, absolutely beautiful art and soundtrack, and an engaging story, you definitely won't mind visiting the aquarium a second (or third, or fourth...) time again. Luckily, there's an auto skip function, so you won't have to read through parts you already know again and again.

It should probably be mentioned that this VGN includes a couple of violent and disturbing scenes. There are some gory images as well as some rather graphic and unsettling text descriptions, especially for some of the bad endings, so it certainly isn't for the faint of heart. Sound of Drop never had any sex / hentai scenes, so you don't have have to worry about that either.
Also, the steam version isn't only completely uncensored compared to the original release, but also offers even a few new good and bad endings, which is quite a refreshing change compared to some other VGN releases on steam which might be missing some content instead.

I really liked the characters, the refreshing location, the story, as well as the art and sound (luckily, the soundtrack is also available as a DLC on steam) and it's definitely worth picking up if you like VGNs and / or Japanese horror.
The only thing I could complain about is the lack of voiceovers for the characters, which would easily have made the reading even more engaging and entertaining. Also there are a few minor translation / spelling errors in the English version (like "dyeing" instead of "dying" at one instance). But this can easily be overlooked considering the relatively cheap price tag and replayability.

Fwivo
Fwivo

Lots of the deaths were repetitive but it had a really cool story line that went a decent amount in depth.

Eggnog Samurai
Eggnog Samurai

Good game. New Game+ route is amazing and should be the "true" ending although it's merely one of four true endings. Great music, creepy, and interesting. Full playthrough (with a guide) will be 8 hours or so. More if you play by guessing the choices. I've thorougly enjoyed this VN thanks to the new (Steam version exclusive) ending "-the limited ocean of the life-". Only problem is that this game was hyped to be much scarier/gory than it actually is. Didn't see much in the way of actual gore or anything horrific like it said.

Mordefire
Mordefire

This game is far from perfect, nevertheless it was still enjoyable.

Miya
Miya

Pretty good, great new game plus content. I expected more creepiness though.
The soundtrack is quite enjoyable, great opening. Creepy sound effects (god, that fly sound >__>).
Art wasn't that astonishing but it's great to see them having improved over the years.

Gotta support the guys behind Fatal Twelve and Sound of Drop. 8/10

EmiliaEMT
EmiliaEMT

OSTs and BGMs are awesome,Storyline is awesome as well.I don't have much to say.But this game truly touched my heart.Truly,it is a very awesome Visual Novel.Everyone that have a liking on visual novel should try this visual novel.

Although i only completed the first true ending,i have already take a liking on this visual novel,it is yet the best visual novel i ever tried.Truly,truly a masterpiece.

Now for the OSTs and BGMs in this game,so far it is top 2 in the best OSTs and BGMs list after Nier Automata for me.Rating for this ost:(9.5/10)The BGMs are very touching and really suits every scene.Now that i bought the OST pack,i got to listen to all the BGMs,opening music and more.

Rating for the game:10/10.Illustrations are great,storyline and characters are perfect.So far top 2 on the games i had played.But the best visual novel i played so far.

AngelPhoenix919
AngelPhoenix919

Friend recommended this game to me and I bought it on a wim but im really glad I did.

Absolutely amazing visual novel with a great cast of characters and BEAUTIFUL soundtrack to go along with it.

100% the game in 2 days and will happily replay over it again.

10/10.

Frost
Frost

I'm not normally one for horror media. It's incredibly rare that I end up liking one, much less be intimidated. I decided to give Sound of Drop - fall into poison - a shot, as I love visual novels and thought it would be a unique experience. In short - it delivered.

The game follows one of the best protagonists in a visual novel, and her journey into finding out the truth behind her sister's fate. A relatively simple, yet still deep storyline that manages to excel in a lot of areas. There are 31 endings in total, 4 of which are considered "true" or good endings. Of these, I recommend doing them in the following order: -Princess of drops- > -the limited ocean of life- > -Himeno- > -fall into poison-. Really, it doesn't matter which order you do them in (except you have to do either Himeno or Princess of Drops before unlocking access to the other two.), but this way all the questions about the game are answered much sooner so you're not as confused. Personally, my favourite ending was -the limited ocean of the life-.

On a purely aesthetic level, the game is gorgeous. Each character and scene feels alive, and the artist(s) did absolutely incredibly jobs with their work. Whoever made the soundtrack needs a pay rise. Honestly, it's perfection. Every track is perfect for each scene, and helps bring out the best of the art and the writing. Together, the game has a fantastic atmosphere to it.

The game is right on in the length department. Whilst I finished the first route in 5 hours, I finished the remaining 3 routes and bad ends (skipping all duplicate text) in a total of 13.7 hours. It's shortish, but well worth putting the time into.

As I said earlier, it's rare for me to get intimidated by horror material, but there was one scene that did it for me, and I feel it deserves recognition. The Orca scene. It's incredibly well done. Both Sayo's emotion and terror come across in the music and the art flawlessly.

With all this being said, it isn't without its problems. It is VERY obvious where they added the content for the steam version. The NewGame+ endings both feel vastly different to the original two endings. Speaking of endings, Himeno and Princess of drops have no difference until after the credits. They're basically the same ending. Some of the exposition was long and arduous, and definitely hurt the game's pacing a lot.

Overall, it isn't perfect. But it is still an incredible VN.

My breakdown:

PROS:
+ Music. The soundtrack in this game is gold. It highlights just how important a strong score to a game can be. Every song was perfect for each scene, delivering the exact emotion needed to make the scenes memorable and impactful. The opening theme is fantastic, and quite possibly the best from a VN I've heard. It's stellar.
+ Characters. Personally, I'd say only one character in the entire game is done poorly (Kenji). Sayo, Mayumi, Mari, and Reiko are handled really well. Particularly Sayo and Mayumi, who both are exceptionally well developed characters for such a short story.
+ Art. Art in this game is really well done. Each character is unique in both appearance, height and demeanor. Each CG is expertly made, and they look gorgeous. My only complaint is the occassional black screen, and the lack of variation in some of the sprites (particularly Sayo).
+ Story. The story was solid. Although, I feel as though it could have been done slightly better (in particular the early parts of the aquarium), it still delivered. It makes sense within the universe, and draws on some really nice ideas to accomplish this.
+ Setting. An aquarium for a horror game is pretty unique. Works really well. (I'm never entering an aquarium ever again).
+ Themes. Some really deep themes were tackled both naturally and tactfully.

CONS:
- Long winded at times. In particular this is more about the -the limited ocean of the life- ending. Way too much exposition that was not necessary.
- Some of the choices. For the most part, the bad ends are fine. But some of the ways you get a bad end is not. For example, there's a bad end in the -the limited ocean of the life- route where you fail if you are decisive. You have to choose both to succeed, which is just plain dumb.
- No voice acting. I didn't feel like this took away from the game, but it certainly would have added to the experience if it was there.

-Scores-
Story: 7
Characters: 9
Art: 8
Music: 10
Enjoyment: 7

Overall: 8/10

tl;dr, if horror is your thing, you'll like this.

_____
Frost | Steam Profile
Follow our Curator Page
Join our Curator Discord

FiveLikesNekos
FiveLikesNekos

At first you may mistake this game to be your run-of-the-mill horror visual novel, but there is so much depth to the game. Replaying the game causes you to get new endings and learn more about the story. The fact that you don't learn everything in one run is very appealing to me and unlocking new details through replaying is something I find very enjoyable. The characters are all very interesting and the game is pretty as all hell. Some of the CGs are simply stunning. The story seems dumb at first, but as everything comes together you realize just how detailed the plot really is. The attention to detail, stunning graphics, interesting characters and high replay value makes this one of my favorite games ever. It is very unique and atmospheric experience.

JuneFish
JuneFish

If you like this visual novel I highly!!!! reccomend giving Ever17 a try. It's less gore, more slice of life, but also mysterious. It takes place in an underwater theme park. I really love both of these games. They both give me chills :)

Kinghunter74
Kinghunter74

I came to fear not to feel...
Overall, my time spent on this game was well worth it =D

Lady_Hiroko
Lady_Hiroko

I watched an LP of this and fell in love with it. And it inspired me to go to an actual aquarium.

The Good: Beautiful graphics and soundtrack. Detailed and complex story if you stick around long enough.

The Bad: Some of the bad ends are wonderfully detailed. Others are...rather uninspired. It could also benefit with some voice acting.

The Ugly: Minimal cast. The choices you make could be more meaningful.

All in all, it's still a wonderful game and it's not your run-of-the-mill VHN. It's great for those who are just dipping their toes into the realm of VNs as a whole. If you're looking for non-stop action and gore compare Corpse Party or Higurashi: WTC, then this is not for you.

Maah
Maah

I am a big fan of visual novels, and I have played many of them. Unfortunately, Sound of Drop wasn't one of the good ones.

This game is about a girl, Mayumi, who has a tragic past regarding an aquarium, and whose is brought to the very same aquarium by her best (and only) friend Himeno to investigate some strange rumors regarding it. After that, horror goes wild, and you can die in 27 possible bad endings (Or achieve the other 4 true endings. There shouldn't be four TRUE endings in anything, but this game does it).

The story, although interesting, isn't executed very well. The characters are plain boring, the guy Kenji kind of seems to be a pedophile (some remarks like "7 year difference huh" just made me... ugh) and I couldn't get invested in Mayumi's tragic past. Some things are repetitive, although they are in an aquarium there aren't any deaths by shark (this kind of made me angry, but it kind of didn't because sharks are such incomprehended creatures - I fear them very much though) and the 27 bad endings get in your way EVERY SINGLE TIME. Some choices are mostly obvious (which isn't cool) and you know exactly your way to go, but the choices that aren't, that should be cool, end up being annoying, because you can fall on another freaking bad end again. I said TWENTY SEVEN BAD ENDINGS.

It would be cool to explore every single one of them if the story wasn't so terrible, but it was. All characters sprites are okay, except for Himeno's, that looks awful. She's so much prettier in the CG art. Poor thing. The CG arts are pretty, btw. But I think that's the only good part of the game.

The OST is repetitive and not very nice, also. There is one that actually made me scared - I think the only scary one - but that's it. Also reading gore descriptions of how the main character die doesn't make me like the game any more. Plain boring. I wish she would just die quickly so the bad end would come faster, but she HAD to describe her manner of death and afterwards. Just die, you imbecile.

Anyway, CG cool, everything else terrible. The achievements are easy to get if you disconsider that the game is horrible, and the badge is cute. Not a good visual novel for starters nor anyone. I'm glad they had the option "skip dialogue you didn't read" as well. I think deep down the developers knew how bad their game was.

ヌエ .。.:*☆
ヌエ .。.:*☆

Sound of Drop -fall into poison- was great, had an interesting story and a wonderful soundtrack.
I have never played the original so I can't speak for the changes but I enjoyed this version very much.
It was a fun experience, even though I dislike fish and, seeing as this takes place in an aquarium, some scenes made me quite squirmish, I still had a good time, getting to know the ~truth~ behind the initial mystery.

The only thing that really made me mad in the end, was the time it took to reload every single save for the massive amounts of bad endings, lol!

Anyway, I can wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone, who's intrigued by the mystery and charming artstyle! I know I was and it didn't disappoint in the slightest.

Princess Tiffany
Princess Tiffany

Pros:
~HD, polished, sleek, easy to use interface
~Art is pretty good
~30% of the music is fantastic, the other 70% is kinda average atmospheric music, but overall quite good
~Pretty straightforward to get all endings without using any guide. I got them all and 90% achievements without needing to look up anything.

Cons:
~It tries to get philosophical sometimes, but it didn't really grab me.
~It's not particularly immersive.

Overall: Get it on a sale if you're into VN's. It's a nice story, but it's not really leaving a lasting impact on me.

Mass
Mass

I am quite shocked to see 90% positive reviews. The only way I could recommend this game is for being "so bad, it's good!"

(Note: I haven't finished the game, no idea whether I'm even close to finishing but I think I've seen enough and had enough to give an opinion!)

The main saving grace of this game is the art: beautiful, atmospheric - cannot be faulted. Even more variety on the bad endings would be appreciated.

Choices: Illogical for the most part, e.g. something evil is about to attack you and is moving towards you. Correct answer - run towards it. Incorrect answer - back away. Why would running towards an enemy unarmed be the right thing to do?! Well, that was just an example, but I feel like most of the choices are just trial and error and things get pretty frustrating with having to save and reload all the time.

Translation is really bad, which is surprising since another game from the developer - The Fatal Twelve doesn't suffer from this problem.

Story is vague, which is not a bad thing per se as a good mystery is nice to have, but having everything and anything blamed on "the strangeness" (of the aquarium??) without further explanation gets a bit much at times.

Overall, the pretty art didn't sway me enough to be able to recommend this :(

Quett
Quett

An enjoyable visual novel. More surreal and horror-flavored than genuinely terrifying. Spends a lot of time pondering the friendships between the characters. Lots of animu metaphysical musings. Get it if you want something that's kinda weird but not too disturbing.

n/a
n/a

I'm hooked, there are a lot of endings, many of them obviously bad. A good portion of them are pretty interesting too, one ending I had gotten I had thought was going to be a good one only to be duped at the very end. I'm looking forward to keep playing the game.
On the gore level it wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be so far, it's more the descriptions that are gruesome. Overall interesting story.

yuzu
yuzu

Good art, Concept can be a bit goofy but overall it's a beautiful game and the story is excellent, though a bit confusing.

Waurf
Waurf

becomes harder to close my eyes in the shower
and to not cry

Tearmisu
Tearmisu

The writing and premise are really interesting, the game is not too long and the charm doesn't wear off. Some moments really shook me which is really good.

Make sure to play all the bad ends. The best writing is in the bad ends.

The big reveal is pretty meh but the overall experience is worth it.

DesignerMoodSwings
DesignerMoodSwings

It was pretty decent. I loved the concept, the setting of an aquarium was very unique and lent itself to some amazing aesthetic choices. I found the characters to be fine, but not anything particularly special. There were a large variety of bad endings, some gorier than others. The true endings were mostly good with one that was very satisfying. The music was hit-or-miss. Some of it was fitting, but i found some pieces a bit irritating after a while, since they loop fairly often. I'd say if you're looking for a fairly short, somewhat spooky VN with a lot of choices to make, this isn't a bad choice.

54147
54147

Sound of Drop - Fall into Poison is a visual novel set in a horror scenario. The story centers around two school girls that visit an aquarium to investigate on the urban legends that revolve around it.
It starts off quite slow but gets more and more convoluted over time. You have to make decisions regularly that will often end in the death of one or more characters; in total, there are almost 30 bad endings to this game.
It will be required to save a lot and reload those savegames in order to go the opposite path of the one that got you killed. So, if you are not into that, you should probably avoid this game. This is not a game, that you play through once. If you want to see the entire story - including the four positive endings (and if you want to unlock all of the achievements) - you will have to go through it several times and try to make different decisions.
Overall, this is an okay game. The story is not as simple as it seems in the beginning and the horror setting is quite enjoyable. This is no horrifying horror, though, but rather decent and not too brutal or scary. Basically a game that you forget relatively quickly after you have finished it. This is mainly due to the fact, that the solution to the story is disappointing in my opinion. All the good basics and the suspense that is built over the course, is destroyed during the climax which is not very original or even plausible and somewhat ruined the experience for me.

milkpudding
milkpudding

If you like grotesque descriptions, this game rocks. I'm also a sucker for underwater-related horror and aquatic life in general so that was a huge plus for me. Definitely recommended.
Edit: Just 100%'d the game, and wow. That had me crying. This is an awesome game, and the story gets genuinely scary AF. 11/10 tbh.

Capt. Pottypie
Capt. Pottypie

It's not really horror and most of the mystery is fairly obvious (at least I found it so, but I do play a lot of mystery games and the like). There are some good twists, and the storytelling itself is very good, however, so I still heartily recommend it.

Xaelath
Xaelath

An Aquarium Date went Wrong.

Is a decent VN for Horror genre in an Aquarium, Taking a 2 Junior High Student on a trip to Aquarium for a date and to uncover mystery and rumour of the Manten Aquarium.

The VN was not good but not bad either. Short, roughly 10 hours long for every routes and bad ending.
The bad ending was unnecessarily ALOT and felt rather like "Game Over" than bad ending.
Considering it was the first work of the dev's I wouldn't surprise the lacking aspect of Artstyle and Writings compared their recent works which is Fatal Twelve.
They even had to remaster it with the new Ending (You need to replay it once) for it to show somehow much legit sense of conclusion.
Not much memorable character aside from the MC (No Voice acting in this game),
Same goes with the Soundtrack aspect.

Get it on sale if you're interested. Otherwise get Fatal Twelve, You wont regret it.

RinShin
RinShin

I just started a new game, and this review might change later on, but I just want get this out there.

I feel like a setting for message box transparency is needed, considering since it can be hard to read during bright scenes.

EDIT : Finished the whole game.

It was one heck of a story, and can feel confusing at times. As the story progresses, it starts to feel less of a horror and more of a mystery/SF. One CG in particular still strikes horror to me no matter how many times I see it though,

Great experience.

ColdRa1n
ColdRa1n

Okay, let's see

Advantages

    • Hmm maybe music. From time to time it's pumping thriller atmosphere
    • Don't know...maybe number of endings. Intresting distinguishing feature of this novel.
    • Okay first ending I was intrested a little
    • Easy achievements

Disadvantages

    • Some behavior of main character, Mayumi, is very naive. Yes I know she is 14, but I don't intresting in reading about 14-years old schoolgirls, I don't know at all what made me buy this novel in past...maybe "horror" tag
    • "Horror" tag, "Meat" tag - very exaggerated for this to my mind
    • As I understand, this novel is pretend to explain all story in several walkthroughs. But some facts are not applicable to all routes. And because of it I can't understand what really happen and who is who (for example in one route Kenji is Rieko's assistant, but in other route Kenji is under director's control)
    • The difference between two original true endings is ONE choice in the middle of the novel. Before this choice and after - the lines are similar except FIN
    • Started to read in English, because in my native language novel is so boring and naive I couldn't stand.
    • Only one (and not so good) ass in whole novel. Very poorly

HoiC
HoiC

Extremely boring and stupid writing. Helped me fall asleep at night though, only good thing about this visual novel.

WetPizza
WetPizza

I bought this game on Steam Summer sale, where should I start? Plenty of choices with MANY endings and "branches" off the main story. I was only expecting the main story line, until I noticed they had a new extended route with the game. OMG it is amazing. The graphics are beautiful, translation is perfect (english), and the story is written expectionally well.
Theres 4 true endings. I believe somewhere around 30+ bad endings, and explores allot more into the lore of Manten Aquarium (which for myself, I LOVED).

I would say definitely a top tier visual novel game (my personal opinion). It was worth the money for me. :)

Vamir
Vamir

I died way more than I care to admit

Visuals:
The art's pretty good, considering this is aiueo konpany's first work. Only two of the CGs strike my as a bit awkward, but I can live with them just fine.

Characters:
Most of the characters are developed enough to care about, though the antagonist(s) change SIGNIFICANTLY depending on which of the major routes you take, and I don't think the version added in the steam release is very good.

Story:
There are two major routes with two versions each (and a LOT of opportunities to die). There's the Himeno/Princess of Drop endings, and there's the fall into poison/The limited ocean of the life endings. Personally, I think the former two make MUCH more sense, and leave everything with fewer plot holes, though it's also satisfying to save Sayo in the later two, and I wish you could save her in the former as well.

Translations:
I'm bad at kanji, so this was tough for me without voice acting, but from was I COULD read, they're fairly accurate, and mostly read naturally.

Music:
The music is excellent, and I plan on buying a copy of the soundtrack to listen to. On a vaguely related note, you could do a great mv using the song Deep Sea Girl having Sayo at the center of it. I'd do it myself, but I can neither draw nor animate so.

Conclusion:
I highly recommend this game. Even if you've played aiueo konpany's second game "Fatal Twelve" first (like me), this VN holds up very well and is enjoyable.

Hurley
Hurley

Its scary, gory, gross. Also amazing. Yes!

ThrillsChillsKills
ThrillsChillsKills

There's nothing wrong with it, there just isn't really anything right with it either. It's mostly just weird and creepy for the sake of being weird and creepy. Never scary mind you, just creepy. If you like VNs I'm sure you'll think it's fine, but that's all. It's not great, or even good, just fine.

TinyBirbs
TinyBirbs

beautiful art, the ending song is wonderful, the story is interesting, lots of ways to die (which means lots of endings), and there is some very wholesome moments mixed in with the disturbing ones.
the music choices sometimes are a bit odd for the scenes but thats a minor thing.

Drugoja
Drugoja

Sound of Drowning - in boredom -

This was very disappointing. I won't say that "I wanted to love it, I really did", but I kind of expected to enjoy it as a small, simple horror story and get a few scares and chills down my spine, maybe even a couple of raised hairs. Not only did it fail to induce any kind of fear in me, it also bit more than it could chew and in the process choked on its own over-explained plot.

It's a shame really as the potential is there. I see that my review will go quite against the popular consensus as Sound of Drop seems to have generally worked for people for whatever reason. I will try to explain what I think it did right and where it failed spectacularly.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2151515840

Let's start with the good stuff. The aquarium setting is really unique and interesting for a horror story. While imo, the game didn't use its full potential for building eeriness and creepiness (more on that later), it did make the VN quite pretty to look at. There are a lot of beautiful backgrounds and CGs, especially ones featuring aquatic life. The information about various fish and other sea creatures was something I really enjoyed and even learned new things. There's a neat feature when you exit to the save/load menu - one part of the screen will show your current location with some interesting trivia about the display.

The other good thing is the music. No, it's not merely good, it's excellent, the best thing about Sound of Drop. The music is the main driving current behind the atmosphere, but it can only do so much without the good writing to back up. Lacking that grounding it's just a weightless floating (heh). I'd say it can even fool and deceive you by creating a false sense of depth and an illusion of rich emotional and atmospheric tapestry. Yet it still wasn't enough to make those beats convincing. Why?

Because the bad stuff are all the things that are crucial for a visual novel. Audio-visual part will only get you so far as they're are generally not used as narrative means, but a dressing, leaving the writing the only carrier of storytelling. Simply put, the plot, narrative structure, set up, suspense building, character work, it's all just...very lacking.

The story starts with two schoolgirls, best friends Mayumi and Himeno, going to the Manten Aquarium to check if some urban legends and ghost phenomena are true...And what do you know, strange things really start happening. The problem I had with this was that everything came too fast without a proper build up, without spending more time with characters, without slowly and carefully weaving that suspense and tension; all things that are needed to achieve a truly creepy and scary effect. And not only that, it's also needed for convincing character dynamics and motivations, which would make some emotional outbursts and drama actually feel earned and not artificial like they're here.

Anyway, it obviously looked like a ghost story at first, but then some sci-fi concepts were introduced like: parallel worlds, alternate dimensions, phases, law of fixed coordinates mumbo jumbo. Normally this would intrigue me as I like when a story has enough ambiguity that it can go either way, when things can be seen from different perspectives. But here, these new 'concepts' are introduced abruptly, almost randomly, in a passing dialogue with newly met characters (How do they know this?) So instead of tickling my imagination and inspiring me to figure out a new aspect of the mystery, the writing is so unappealing that I just check out and don't care. In the end it didn't matter, it's still a ghost story and all this faux sci-fi technobabble was mixed in with ghosts, grudges and curses just cause.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2151524870

Same thing happens with 'scary' phenomena. The narration and description is too dry during those moments, too matter-of-fact and detached with no sense of fear and urgency, while the narrator should be a frightened-out-of-her-mind schoolgirl. That completely took me out of it. The only scene that managed to give me goosebumps was an almost jump scare, and that's more because of the 'grotesque scary face' horror phenomenon.

But the absolute worst thing about the writing is a blatant and omnipresent exposition. I can't remember when was the last time I've encountered one so bad. Basically, every character is turned into exposition device at any chance, characters that know things and characters that shouldn't know things alike. It feels like they constantly trade places to explain things to confused Mayumi or just to spout exposition monologues in a never-ending finale. I heard the same explanation form different characters in 4 main routes. And really, the 2 new routes that were added to the steam release are just long exposition sessions trying to fix/explain the story of the original route that is lacking on many levels. It's like there's a very elaborate finish, a crescendo that drags beyond any sense (just when I think the end is nigh, there's another farewell and..."let me explain one more thing"). The start and middle are in comparison truncated and poorly developed which makes the finish feel unearned and unconvincing (so roughly 2/3 of the VN).

You'd think with all this info dump the plot would be crystal clear. Welp! What's funny is that the more they explain things, the more convoluted it becomes. The story is full of ghostly technobabble (ghostbabble?), empty or superficial symbolism (drops), repetition, inconsistencies, deus ex machina (Mari). I tried to read between the lines and unearth some deeper meaning, find some themes (I can't help it). Slightly promising were metaphysical concepts like losing individuality, the desire/instinct/directive of all living beings to become one whole, to melt into some higher concept, to become idea (or more like Borg); and I kind of liked how that was embodied in ocean imagery, currents, a devouring whale. Even the repeated image of a single drop could actually mean something in this sense, like an individual, and not feel like cool sounding, but hollow metaphor...But the writing man, the writing buried all that potential in so much crap on top of other crap.

Translation doesn't really help and possibly further hinders the narrative. Sometimes it's quite good (Sayo's POV), but other times (especially in crucial moments) it's clunky, full of unnatural sounding sentences, repetition, wrong verb tenses, lots of "even thoughs" etc. Just really disrupts the flow.

There are 4 true endings and even 27 bad endings. Basically, every wrong choice leads to a bad end. But don't mistake this for some brutality. The bad endings are just very boring and repetitive after the first two times. The only interest in collecting them is for achievements.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2408355967

I'm running out of space so I'll just quickly mention that this is basically an all-girl cast (+ Kenji, the exposition device). But not surprisingly, they're all rather one dimensional. Mayumi gets a bit of backbone by the end with a big help (read manipulation) of uplifting music. And don't get me started on the villain(s), but I'll leave the rant for the comments.

By this point it's obvious I was literally suffocating and drowning through all this, but mostly of boredom. It took every last drop of energy to finish all endings leaving me drained...outside of that solitary red, red drop...

Follow Otome Sekai for more Visual Novel and JRPG Reviews and Drugoja In The Dreaming for Narrative Games

𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓹𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓭
𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓹𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓭

I didn't fall into poison while playing this game, but it's good regardless.

Habefiet
Habefiet

I am surprised at how few reviews seem to reference the quality of the translation--specifically, how poor it is. The dialogue and exposition are just... awkward. Everything is written in a weird, unnatural, clunky sort of way, with intermittent grammatical errors and nearly every text box containing something that is just plain written poorly and not how people really talk or narrate. It feels like it was passed through an online translator and then proofread rather than actually properly translated. Maybe other VNs with excellent translations have set my standards too high, but I'm refunding this because the writing was so stilted that I just couldn't get into it at all. If you can read Japanese maybe try the Japanese version, because I have to think the writing is better than the translation is letting on.

Worekjarzyn
Worekjarzyn

If you want to write a complicated plot then at least make it interesting.

Sapphire Phoenix
Sapphire Phoenix

While I appreciate the art, the soundtrack, and the attempt at some pretty unconventional horror, I could not get into this game, even after a few hours. Whether it was due to translation or not, the dialogue felt clunky at times, unnatural, and there were several instances where a scene felt so drawn out and unnecessarily long. I didn't really connect with the characters, aside from wanting Mayumi to find Mari and perhaps establish some closure with her past. The other characters were easily forgettable and often introduced so suddenly, as if to just explain things to Mayumi. The writing was often vague even with supposed insight and twists, with the mystery not feeling as urgent as it could have, and the suspense and intensity lacking, like an author not doing enough "showing" in words. The choices also threw me off, as some didn't seem to make sense to the story or be a logical option to proceed. I give the developers credit for the sheer number of routes (despite the amount of bad endings which I felt were kind of overwhelming to have that many bad endings versus good ones), and while it's a unique attempt at a seemingly normal yet beautiful atmosphere in the aquarium with odd and uncomfortable aspects to it that range from sci-fi to possible paranormal, I just could not get invested in the characters enough to continue.

Sphere Red King
Sphere Red King

One of the first games I got on steam, Sound of Drop is a visual novel. The only action you take is your choices during the course of the story. There are no mini-games, which are a component of some visual novels and to be honest I've never been a fan of such things. I'd much rather be engaged with the story.

Being a choice-affect story, Sound of Drop has multiple endings and multiple game overs. The story is very engaging and I found myself sucked very quickly. I have only played it though once but that was in no way the games fault.

Due to the increase of more "adult" themed games of this kind being more common on steam these days, I want to point out for all parties that the game is a horror but dose not possess any visual scenes of gore. It doe however possess them in text form and some are a bit graphic in nature. There are, to my knowledge, no adult scenes in either format.

code
code

Mildly not recommended. It's not really bad, but be sure to try out the demo first if you're interested. Beside the overly-philosophical aspect, it's a nice short heartwarming thriller. I like the story. It's just that the text color and weird English translation make it quite hard to read.

It's way more philosophical than I originally expected. Maybe not in a good way. The story pacing is chaotic. The high amount of bad endings probably didn't help either. Many of the bad ending choices don't really make a consistent sense. I got through mostly by trial-and-error.

The music is kind of nice though. If hate is returned with hate, the cycle will never end.

VN Princess
VN Princess

I found this vn to be really, really lame. Like... *spoilers* but literally one of the bad ends is bleeding out through your butt cheek.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Tentatively recommend this - it's good, but not great.

Also:
- two of the main endings are behind a new game plus, after getting at-least one good ending
- I found the new-game-plus route more interesting

Futsure from Another Planet
Futsure from A…

It's a good story, the translation is a bit weird, though. It feels like a machine translator or someone using a dictionary translated it. It's a unique enough story for me to ignore that, but I'd advise people to get it on sale.

MStapler
MStapler

It's ok.
Didn't like it much but nevertheless deprived myself from sleep just to see how it ends

EclecticTallman
EclecticTallman

If you want a well written and gripping story this is for you 10/10

afton
afton

this is one of my favourite visual novels, the art and story are so good!