Visual Novel Review: Ex Astris

8/17/2014

I so love this visual novel. Just sayin'. Hahaha.



Ex Astris, or formerly known as LINEAR - Divine Seer, is a Sci-Fi visual novel by Cera L. Hendry. It's also a GxB, supernatural drama that's so totally adorable. Haha.

I actually played this way back in December, during my break while making my VN project, Mistletoes. So, I'm sorry if this post is not a very accurate description of what I was actually feeling back then, because, believe me, it's way, way, better than this. Hahahaha. I really loved this story.

Set in a 'near-future' on a fictional world, Ex Astris follows the story of Lanis Rosenberg, a newly graduated medical practitioner working in the Loennian military. Doubtful of her abilities to cope in the army, and lost with her direction in life, Lanis' world is suddenly turned upside-down when she is transferred to the secretive, militaristic nation of Xian. There she is assigned to a subject named A-28 'Ash'. An emotionless, unstable, biologically engineered soldier and her opposite in every way… 

The surprises in this visual novel are definitely unexpected. Plot twists and revelations of secrets are a total mind... twist. Haha. Still, I loved it. Yeah, that's the most of what I could say, I loved it.


Art-wise, it's good. The characters are visually pleasing to the eye, and that Ash character is quite a looker, if not a cliche one. I like the different looks for the characters that match their personalities. There are some visual novels with very similar-looking characters, as in with similar hair and eyes and other facial features. It's as if only the color scheme was changed! But in Ex Astris, you can see the uniqueness in every persona you come across, so that's definitely a good thing for me.

Plus, the backgrounds are quite cool! The CGs were also lovely and a really welcome addition to this wonderful game.

Story-wise, it's really, really hooking. At first, I was platonic about the whole thing. "Oh-kaaay... uh-huh... oh, I see... riiiiiight...." But despite the pretty slow start, it managed to become an interesting, and fascinating story. Besides, even though it felt slow, it wasn't boring at all. I was still fairly curious about everything that was happening since the setting is pretty much new, so, I guess the slow start is justified. Hahaha.

Lanis is not your average protagonist too, and she definitely doesn't feel like a flat character to me. I just... honestly like her personality, even though she may seem to be a bit OA with her emotions at times. Oh well. We are all victims to that, I guess.

The most interesting character for me is definitely Ash, and it's not just because he's handsome or anything like that! I like his background as a non-human, and the CG event is leaving me wanting for more.

Anyway, for all it's worth, I give Ex Astris 9/10. The execution of the setting was really well done, and now I'm so excited for next part! Only gripe I have is the pretty slow start that could be off-putting for some.

For more information and download links, please go to this page.
[This is a scheduled post.]

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2 berries

  1. But what about episode 3? Episode 1 was a bit weird,2 made things interesting,and the lack of 3 keeps me hanging :| I mean,I know it's just one person doing everything,but It's been half a year since episode 2 was released!

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  2. Hi Komachi!


    Oh! Don't tell me anything about 2. Haha. I still haven't played it. :) I liked how ep. 1 ended, though.

    And yep, sometimes life does get in the way, so I kinda understand her. I guess we just have to keep waiting then~

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