It’s definitely not for the faint of heart.
Truly a testament to just how well Alternative develops its plot and vast cast of characters - both new and old - throughout its thirty to fifty odd hour campaign, the peaks and valleys I went through as I resolved each character’s story was emotionally taxing to an unprecedented degree. Takeru’s despair as these traumatic events take place is intensely tangible, so much so that I had to stop playing for the day several times just to recover and remind myself that this is a work of fiction. While this makes for a much more visceral and compelling experience, several moments are more soul crushing than I can possibly put into words.
The kiddie gloves are off, and the plot armor that many stories of this nature tend to have is nonexistent. When I mentioned that there are no holds barred with Alternative’s presentation of the horrors of war and despair in the face of total annihilation, I seriously meant it. Fortunately, Takeru does an excellent job simplifying all the confusion that might come from these larger-than-life moments, putting even the most obscure political motivations and ideals into layman’s terms, making sure that your focus is always on the story at hand. Intricate political conspiracies, high stakes covert operations, and epic battles are just a few of the events that you will encounter during your playthrough, with each subsequent event dwarfing the previous one in terms of gravitas. Unlike Unlimited, where politics and war served more as backdrops to what was ultimately a romance visual novel, Alternative plunges into these themes with no holds barred. Admittedly, the start is somewhat slow, especially for people coming straight from Unlimited, but once the ball gets rolling it doesn’t stop until you’re watching the credits. While certain aspects of Takeru’s mysterious leap through time are significant to the story, the core of Alternative’s plot is an excellently paced down-to-earth tale about personal growth and redemption. This isn’t to say that Alternative is a story about time travel in the slightest. Of course, fate wasn’t so kind as to bring him back into his original universe where the invasion of Earth didn’t take place, but he finds solace in the fact that he can use his knowledge of this universe’s events to rectify the mistakes that led to the bitter ending of Muv-Luv Unlimited. Yet by some inexplicable twist of fate, Takeru finds himself back in his room again, with slight amnesia, but alive.
We watched him find happiness in this new life. We’ve experienced his struggle for survival in this barren world before. This is the unfortunate reality that protagonist Shirogane Takeru was spirited away to in the previous game. Welcome to the universe of Muv-Luv Alternative. Unstoppable and brutally efficient at razing everything in their way, humanity stands on its last legs in a handful of safe havens scattered across the globe, praying for an answer to their doomed future. In another universe, worlds apart from home.ĭecades have passed since the extraterrestrial invaders known as the BETA ravaged the Earth.
#Muv luv alternative series#
The wait for this series conclusion was long, and at times hopeless with the numerous delays and sporadic developer updates, but I can safely say now that it was worth it.
I didn’t think any game could evoke such genuine emotions out of me since I played through Bioshock, but it appears I can add another entry to that rather tiny list. I’ve had tears well up countless times throughout my time with video games and other media in general, but this was the first time that I had to reach for the tissues to clean up my face. Editor’s note: This review contains spoilers for Muv-Luv Unlimited.Īs the ending credits for Muv-Luv Alternative began to roll, tears began to trickle down my ugly mug for the first time in years.
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