終のステラ
Developer: Key
VNDB Play Time: 12h.
VNDB Link: Tsui no Stella
Character count: 165k.
Number of weeks to finish: 8.
Summary
If I make it to the other side of the sky, I can become human…
Earth has been taken over by a group of machines that created a “singularity.”
Humanity is forced to live hidden in the shadows.
One day a transporter receives an odd request.
Their cargo this time will be a girl android developed as a family member substitute.
She is unaffected by the Singularity Machines.
Despite being put off by the girl’s naive behavior, the transporter sets out on the journey.
Sometimes it’s human bandits they must evade, other times it’s the machines they run from.
Undeterred by such dangerous situations, they press on to make the delivery.
The girl often talks about wanting to become human.
Their destination is a space elevator, so tall it appears to pierce the sky.
The rumor is that androids who make it to the top can be made human, but is it true?
Availability
Personal Opinion
Recently released, I discovered it by chance when aimlessly browsing DLsite. I liked the setting, tried the demo for a few minutes and I actually liked it quite a bit. The text goes from top to bottom instead of text windows, and it seemed like a description-heavy game so there’s probably a fair amount of language processing to do overall. I think the Sci-Fi themes could generate a lot of theories and discussion, hopefully it maintains the mystery until the end. It’s still quite early and there aren’t enough votes yet, but from the ~100 votes in VNDB it seemed very nicely rated so that also makes me curious. Nice music, sfx and art.
I’ve purposefully included a couple screenshots that I found more challenging from the demo so they hopefully give an idea of the difficulty when it gets harder, and the ones from VNDB. From what I could experience it’s not constantly like that and it often has easier vocabulary. However I wholeheartedly recommend using Textractor.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Works with Textractor with no issues.
- Divided into 16 chapters, allows easier weekly organisation.
- Reasonably priced (1980 円).
- Voice acting including protagonist.
Cons
- No other versions available outside of PC.
- Because of the theme of the VN, there’s a chance the vocabulary and understanding of the story could potentially get challenging.
Pictures
Screenshots
The text is fully expanded in the pictures but it starts from top, line by line, until it reaches about half of the screen and it clears to start again, often with a picture change.
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this VN?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Moderate effort
- Significant effort
- So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters