[Visual Novel] Planetarian by Key
I’ve been playing this visual novel for a few hours and I must say it is very well done.
The beautiful twinkling of eternity that will never fade, no matter when.
All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.10,000 days later. You are a Junker, a trash collector, who comes upon a small city. The city has been destroyed by a chemical attack that happened years ago. In this abandoned city, you find a broken robot. You develop a bond with her, and soon, you get a little attached to her.
Planetarian is a sweet little “kinetic novel” (or visual novel, but with no choices) by Key. Unlike Key’s other games (with the exception of Clannad), this game contains no adult content (or even any ecchi content for that matter). The game focus around you and Yumemi Hoshino (Reverie Planetarian by insani’s translation), the broken robot. There are no other characters, besides a big projector named Jena. Reverie is obviously not human. Her character is very well defined. She is a naive and cute little robot who is just a little broken. She is operational for about a week only, and you happen to be there the week that she is operational. After that, she will not be able to work for another 30 years (I think that’s what it was). Because she is a robot, she runs by a command, so throughout the story, it seems like she’s talking to a lot of people when you’re the only one there. You can’t help but feel sorry for little Reverie.
Of course, at first, you (or rather, your character) doesn’t feel sorry for the little robot. Your character is defined as well as Reverie’s. You are a junker who came to the city to scavenge what you can, and are focused on your mission and your mission only. You do not care for a beautiful bouquet that Reverie specially prepared for the 2,500,000th customer to come to the Planetarium. But in a few days, you soften up, and give her help with repairing the Planetarium. You get used to talking to her, even though you well know she is a robot. You give her your friendship, for it is the only thing you can give her after what she has done for you. And you wonder what will happen to her at the and of her seven days.
Without any static characters, the story can really focus on the developing relationship between “Mr. Customer” and Reverie Planetarian. And because you never learn your own name, and Reverie keeps calling you Mr. Customer, it really feels like she is talking to you. The story is written very well, I’d say it is one of Key’s best works (regardless on whether I’ve played and of their other games or not). – source
You can get it via hongfire
