Crimson High is excellent. Good soundtrack, good writing for an indie Visual Novel (not the best I've seen, but it's up there). It helps that the author knows how to write a mystery novel - there's enough that you can easily piece together and figure it out yourself, but there's also quite a bit that is a mystery even with the outsider knowledge being a reader allots us, and that you can't reasonably guess. The character cast is nice and diverse, with a nice dash of personal mysteries to each of the girls.
The MC is surprisingly decently written - he can come off as a bit of an idiot at times, perhaps too slow for a mystery VN main character, but that is understandable and the writing helps put you into the mindset that the only reason you as the reader can piece some mysteries together or find things out this quickly is mostly because you've the privilege of reading this knowing it's a sci-fi, imaginary work. If these things happened in real life anyone would be hard pressed to actually believe the existence of these things even when they're plastered on our faces, which makes the MC feel a bit less stupid. His willingness to accept it is perhaps a bit too fast though.
Good soundtracks to set the mood, and decent to good artwork (dude has a head that is too small for his frame in most of the shots though). The choices and flags feel nice to play around with and tend to become relevant in weird ways later on, which I particularly liked.
The VN loses points on one particular issue which I found a bit jarring and it's small pieces of the author trying to be quirky or funny or breaking the fourth wall that just don't sit right with me. Suzu doesn't need to say "At first I was afraid; I was petrified" while both she and the MC stare at the screen for exactly one line of dialogue right after telling me about her long and traumatic backstory that involves at least 3 different murders + homelessness. Come on, man. Other weird points like these were also sprinkled around, but this one particularly stuck out to me as being the most jarring; perhaps it's the author's way of trying to put some humor into the scene, but for me, it just falls flat and brings the quality of the whole scene and dialogue down.
Other than these points though, the VN is a very good read throughout, and definitely recommended.
The MC is surprisingly decently written - he can come off as a bit of an idiot at times, perhaps too slow for a mystery VN main character, but that is understandable and the writing helps put you into the mindset that the only reason you as the reader can piece some mysteries together or find things out this quickly is mostly because you've the privilege of reading this knowing it's a sci-fi, imaginary work. If these things happened in real life anyone would be hard pressed to actually believe the existence of these things even when they're plastered on our faces, which makes the MC feel a bit less stupid. His willingness to accept it is perhaps a bit too fast though.
Good soundtracks to set the mood, and decent to good artwork (dude has a head that is too small for his frame in most of the shots though). The choices and flags feel nice to play around with and tend to become relevant in weird ways later on, which I particularly liked.
The VN loses points on one particular issue which I found a bit jarring and it's small pieces of the author trying to be quirky or funny or breaking the fourth wall that just don't sit right with me. Suzu doesn't need to say "At first I was afraid; I was petrified" while both she and the MC stare at the screen for exactly one line of dialogue right after telling me about her long and traumatic backstory that involves at least 3 different murders + homelessness. Come on, man. Other weird points like these were also sprinkled around, but this one particularly stuck out to me as being the most jarring; perhaps it's the author's way of trying to put some humor into the scene, but for me, it just falls flat and brings the quality of the whole scene and dialogue down.
Other than these points though, the VN is a very good read throughout, and definitely recommended.