VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Katawa Shoujo [Final] [Four Leaf Studios]

Definitely worthy of the 5 star rating. This game is really fantastic and down to Earth. It's emotional, funny, and wholesome. It's everything I could want in a visual novel and I honestly feel like I grew as a person after playing it. It's very different from the raunchy VNs of today; for the best imo.

The short version is: “Katawa Shoujo” is an interesting and very unique game in many aspects, while the narrative isn’t always perfect, the characters are incredibly well designed, making it a worthy time investment.

As a side note – this review will have no story spoilers.

“Katawa Shoujo” is somewhat different in nature to most other games you’d find on this website, it has no intention at all to be a “sex” game, and, while that is present on the story, it serves a narrative purpose, demonstrating, in a way, the advancement of a relationship. With that being said, both the story and it’s characters are very well designed.


STORY:

This game has a “generic” first act that serves the purpose of, via your choices, decide which of the more “specialized” following acts you will get to play, in total there are 5 “main” paths, one for each of the women, said paths can once again branch into good, neutral or bad endings.

With that being said, most choices do not appear to matter all that much, the exception being on act 1 since they serve the purpose of deciding your following acts. On the following paths this is not necessarily a bad thing, because the story is interesting, but it does mean that it is very much railroaded, and there’s a very low number of decisions to be made that make a big difference, mainly the ones that dictate your ending, most of them just cause minor dialogue changes.

As for each of the 5 main paths themselves, I should also mention that they’re not all on the same quality level, they’re all enjoyable and should be a fun time, but a few of them definitely stand above the others. Opinions on which of them are better do seem to vary though, which in a way is a good thing, because people with different tastes than me are also likely to find something they enjoy.

The general nature of the narrative is very much that of a drama, it has some light hearted funny moments, it also has some conflict and some sad moments, it doesn’t touch anything all that heavy, so don’t feel alarmed by those, it does, after all, concern the school and love life of 18 and 19 year-olds, so there’s nothing all that complex.


CHARACTERS:

The characters are by far “Katawa Shoujo”’s biggest stars, they are where the game shines its brightest and every single one of them is interesting in one way or another, even the side characters are interesting.

If I were to make one “bad” criticism to any character in this game it’d be to the main character, but even that is rather light as my main problem with him regards his inability to actually comprehend how other people feel, which, in a way, is justified, since 18 year-olds rarely manage to do that well, but from a different perspective also means that a very good chunk of the “issues” that the narrative deals with stem from him. Even then, it works for the narrative, since the idea is that he is as “new” to this world as the player is likely to be.

Each of the game’s characters is very unique, with a particular set of abilities and quirks, learning more about them is always interesting and is probably one of the main draws of the game, so much that I’ll probably miss reading about them now that I’m done with the game..

You might have noticed that, so far, despite the game’s description, I haven’t mentioned any of the characters’ disabilities, and, the game kind of does that to you, this is its true master class, it teaches the player to look at its characters for what they CAN do rather than for what they cannot, this serves a narrative purpose as much as it serves an educational one, both of which are done very well.

If nothing else I’d say that the game’s ability to make the player at least a little bit a better person is already an astounding success, very few games manage to do that, and the ones that do deserve all the praise they can get.


SEX SCENES:

To be perfectly frank I don’t really care about the sex scenes on this type of game, they’re not really why I’m playing and most of the time I just find them boring, there are very few that I find graphically enjoyable.

With that being said it’d be unfair for me to be harsh to games on this specific point – I’ll not kink shame though, go nuts people – that’s why I’ll write about them either way.

For “Katawa Shoujo” specifically, they’re not it’s thing, if anything they’re as awkward as you’d expect a first time to be, they’re in the story for narrative purposes and they do fill that role well, they’re also normally on the final stretch of each characters’ route, meaning there aren’t any on the early acts of the game.


CONCLUSION:

If reading through a somewhat long story with incredibly well designed and unique characters sounds interesting to you – give “Katawa Shoujo” a try.

It is worth how much time it requires to be finished, while it does have some “low” points where the story does drag a bit, they’re few in number, in a way that doesn’t really tarnish the whole product.

With all that being said – “Katawa Shoujo” is deserving of a very solid 5/5 as both a visual novel and an educational narrative, in a way that very few other materials achieve.


CREDITS:

I normally use this last part to credit the authors but this game has a longer than normal list, so I’ll drop a link serving that purpose.

Most people that worked on it are nowadays working on other unrelated stuff, but I’m certain they’d appreciate anyone clicking their links and checking them out, so feel free to do just that at:

www.katawa-shoujo.com/staff.php

I've never missed a game as much as this one.
Each girl's story is engaging and compelling. I played through 4 different story lines (didn't really care about Shizune's character). This VN is the best I've ever played and I miss the quality of the story and how invested I am when playing through the different characters. Anything lewd (which isn't much) seems like a natural part of the story line. I wish the author/developer had continued on with other games. I can't recommend this VN highly enough, if you haven't tried it.

all i can say is wow, i cannot begin to explain how this story made me feel, its very personal but i had to come and recommend it. this is an absolute gem that i am so glad i found. At the same time in a way i wish i never found it because of how it made me feel and how i want more. Play it if you're ready for a emotional adventure.

I've never cried from a porn game before. I've actually never cried THIS MUCH over any piece of fiction. Excelent story. Excelent characters. Decent Porn but if you come here for the porn you're gonna stay for the story, trust me.

If my heart could tell you how much love I have for these characters, It'd weep itself out.

I'm a tough guy to please when it comes to stories. I drop stuff easily as there are hundreds of porn games and only so much time to play them. But this one was able to hold me for weeks as I cleared each and every route.

You owe it to yourself to finish at least 1 route. It will open your eyes to something you might not even know you have inside you. There is lust without love. There is love without lust. This one is both, but in its cleanest, purest form. You can tell people you've read this VN, and you can do it with pride. Because while there is porn moments in this game, it is so much more than that.

Play it at least once. Its a once in a lifetime VN.

One of them VN that's great and this game is started from someone scratch character and many people join in and BOOM, you got this game, each girl has different personality, different backstory, which many of them is not common for typical VN these days. The girls are handicapped but still, love is love and nothing can stop it.

This game is incredible in my opinion. The characters all have an incredible story and behaviour dealing with their own handicap. While there is not that many H-scene, the script give the impression that this sort of story could probably happen irl. There is not any princess or student that have the power of god, this is just some highschool romance. I mean this actually changed my point of view about interraction with other people.

I've been frequently stumbling upon this game's title while searching for good VN's and after finally playing It I can see now why.

The game is very well written and has all the good elements from a well-made Japanese romance VN. The visuals for the most part are pretty basic but have a charm to them with good character design that compliments the writing well which is the main focus of this game anyway. The characters are lively and well written and while all five love interest, that have their own unique storylines, have some kind form of a disability, it is surprisingly not used as a crutch or exploitation but instead to enrich the characters personalities and motivations which I found to be a very clever use of it. And the music is good and very traditional as far as romance VN's go.

Overall if you're interested in a well written and emotionally touching romance visual novel in a traditional Japanese VN style, this is one of the best ones I came across. Additional credit to the dev team for making this game completely free to download considering the high quality of it.

A Masterpiece and a flurry of emotions. The romance flick was great makes you invested with each character/route. The environment, soundtrack and story was to behold, it was a great experience for me. To feel happy and sad at the same time was quite the feeling.

I can't believe my crispy bacon can be this cute!

If you want to try this game, get some free days in advance because you're going to feel weird after you finish it for like another week, since after you play the game, the game will play with your feels.

Absolute classic and maybe the best western visual novel, all the girls having physical disability is a daring choice but while it is a porn game it had lots of heart and doesn't treat the subject like a joke.

This really has it all, great chara design, writing, the girls are all really likeable and some good music.

Small gripe would be some of the background being real picture with some filter over it, i'm sure some people like it but not really my thing, and maybe some more diversity in the music would have been nice.

But yeah would recomnand this to everyone, a must play !

This is not exactly porn game but excellent life learning game
It subtly shows that "such things happen", and nothing can be done about it except to acknowledge them. The story is so addictive that despite the small number of choices I couldn't tear myself away from it.

On the surface this game just seems like an inappropriate setting for an eroge. ESPECIALLY an eroge, but this is quickly proven to be a wrong way of viewing this game. It takes its time to tell the story and really makes sure to not just tell a story about disabled girls, but their life with said disabilities and how they overcome the obvious obstacles they are burdened with. The devs managed to tell a heart warming and at times very sad story, well five stories depending on who you spend your time with.

It is a VN about a boy who after suffering a severe cardiac arrhythmia is transferred to a center for students with disabilities, where perhaps he will find love.

It is not a fetichistic game. Surprisingly respectful, insightful, and well written. It is a game written with a lot of heart and respect for its characters and their situations that will hit you were it hurts.

It might have sexual content but overall the best appeal about it is the story and the routes. They are bitter sweet and just make you feel happy inside when you dedicate yourself to one of the girls. Cause even if most the girls in the game have a disability, they all have beautiful personalities. This game makes you see the beauty hidden behind any disability and that even those with one have souls of gold that just need a little love and support. In the end, it was not the sexual content that made me love this but the story and characters in it..

This is the Visual Novel that entered me into the world of Visual Novels. I still remember starting it on a whim on an aeroplane in 2012, saving after 68 minutes, and being like "This is awesome! I want more of this!". a truly great story that still stands as the greatest western made Visual Novel of all time. a true classic. needless to say, pretty much every one should play it

this is my go to dating sim. i usually end up on Hanakos route but i dont care because she is my fave. and before someone goes and tries to help me, yes i have completed every route in the game, got all cgs and every piece of music i could. i havce been playing this lovely game since the demo was released

It didn't just service my crank, but also my heart. Ton's of fine broads. If you're a person of taste you'll give this game a try. It is best enjoyed if you don't skip the dialogue and enjoy it in multiple sittings.

The characters are flushed out well, they act appropriately to changes in relationship dynamics through a character point system that is invisible. The development of the protagonist through their relationship development is quite dynamic and helpful for giving the player the developing mindset of the play character as they pursue certain avenues of dialogue. The artwork is pretty good, the animations are superb, the extras menu certainly sheds a light on things you missed. It really is a heartwarming romantic novel told through imagery and dialogue, not as bad as some visual novels that don't have a means to determine what scenes you missed, unless someone like Lain's Mods makes a mod providing info and a scene count.