Code:Realize - Future Blessings Initial Review
Code:Realize - Future Blessings is the sequel to Code:Realize - Guardians of Rebirth. Future Blessings was just released less than a week ago in America, so I thought I would give some quick initial impressions of this game.
Future Blessings seems like it is going to explore the story presented in the original game in a few different ways.
Continuing the Romantic Storylines
In the first Code:Realize, a core component of the gameplay was to choose a particular gentleman to romance. Lupin, Van Helsing, Victor, Saint Germain, and Impey are the eligible bachelors to pursue. As a note, Lupin could not be romanced until the player explored the stories of the other four gentlemen first.
So far, it seems the method to continue the romantic storylines here is straightforward. Just choose After Story ~White Rose~ and then select the gentleman to view.
Select this option first when starting a New Game.
Once chosen, players can scroll between all of the gentlemen of the first game. Just choose which one to dive right in to the plot. No "paths" or correct answers needed.
Alternative Stories Available
Players are not limited to exploring the gentlemen, however. By selecting Another Story ~Lupin's Gang~, Extra Story ~Herlock Sholmes~, or Extra Story ~Finis~ players are able to see additional stories.
So far, I decided to see what Herlock Sholmes has to offer. But it will be interesting to see how these alternative stories work. I highly doubt these lines will offer additional romantic options (Finis is Cardia's brother after all) but I will report results as I find them.
Initial Impression; Weird Font Choice
One thing of note is that for some reason this game decided to use italics as a standard for all text on screen.
This is the text type used throughout the game. Even when characters are speaking with one another.
This personally bothers me, since it is known italics slow reading. The general rule for typography is to use italics to slow readers when important information is being presented, and to use bold to draw attention to specific important words and/or phrases. The fact that the default text is italicized is bizarre. Yes, it looks pretty. But generally this is not a very functional design choice for readability.
The only good change with the font is that it is larger in general. I like that they decided to bump up the size a bit. Larger text makes for better readability overall. I am not sure this choice will mitigate the readability damage the italicized text does, but it was a nice consideration none the less.
Final Thoughts
All in all, I look forward to exploring this game. The Code:Realize series had a fantastic story on its own (even without the romance) so I am not surprised the game designers decided to expand on that by adding additional non-romantic storylines. I feel this is a fantastic choice, and it may even bring in new readers/gamers to this franchise.
I personally hope they give an update to fix the text issues (specifically removing the italics) but for now it is bearable. I hope this series does well, and that gamers and visual novel enthusiasts give it a try.
Thanks to the creators of this game. Code:Realize - Future Blessings belongs to Aksys Games, Idea Factory, Design Factory, Otomate, and Criware. I make no profit off of this website or from writing this, and hope this article was informative. Please support the new release!
