Sickness

Great game. Gives that 'Breaking Bad' vibe. Very similar to the VN 'A Warmer Shade of Summer', which also gets pretty dark. But 'Sickness' is much more intense, more complex characters and storyline. 10/10

“Get Down With the Sickness: A Game So Dark, Even Bane Needs Therapy. Morality? Never Heard Of Her."

"Whispers of the Sickness"

⠀

Sickness is an interesting visual novel with disturbing scenes, images and themes.
Everything about this visual novel is phenomenal
Good art, cool characters and rich story.
6/10

The story is a good read and differs from what I usually see on Steam. The story is at some point funny or sad, heart warming or heart breaking, interesting or boring, exciting or disturbing. Some of your choices actually change the story, or lead to your premature death.

However, there are downsides. For one, I have no idea why this is called "sickness" when it barely matters and when it matters could easily be explained differently. Further, there are quite some logical inconsistancies (like never wondering why a co-worker just disappears, or Suoh's character being completely different in Lucia's story. And lastly, although this seems to be about a criminal career, it is mostly about love and relationship so it's not half as different as some make it seem.

Nonetheless, the story has some nice twists and new ideas. Definitely a thumbs up from me.

I really enjoyed the plot and characters of this VN, but the art lets it down.
With the subject matter (teenage contract killers and psychosis) this could easily have been an over-the-top, edgy juvenile mess, but it's not. There are no good people in this story, but that doesn't mean the characters aren't interesting or sympathetic. There aren't huge info-dumps about characters' backstories, and there's a decent amount of depth. There's some humour as well, which somehow doesn't feel out of place. Overall, from a writing perspective it's pretty good.

The art is another matter. It's simplistic, and the different styles between CGs and sprites are jarring. The CG art in particular is quite disappointing. It looks more like storyboards rather than a finished product.

This is a good visual novel, but with higher quality art it could have been great.

Sickness is a very refreshing game for anyone familiar with the medium of visual novels. Gone is the boring protagonist surrounded by a variety of highschool classmates waiting to be swept off their feet, and in its place we have a gritty story about a teenager forced into the criminal underworld to support his sister after the death of their parents. Don't get me wrong, there totally is still romance options and character specific endings but the primary focus is still the story which while not totally original is still executed very well. The art and OST are both excellent and most of the main cast is fairly interesting, and there are several different endings to pursue, with 6 bad, 1 neutral, 3 good, and a secret route from another characters perspective however some of these are hidden and locked behind routes only available on fresh saves after completing one of the good endings. I would highly recommend pursing all of the endings as a lot of interesting details and backstory can be found on each of them Even the sister route, yuck .

Really good dark VN. If you have faint of hearth don't buy it. Some parts are brutal. It has many funny and adorable moments. Sadly Lucy can't get a happy ending. Misa is the best girl, but incest route has the happiest ending. I'm still trying to figure out how to get 7 CG. Misa Extra chapters were interesting. Especially, when Misa tried to have a friend. Worth buying even without sale

Edit: Cecilia route gives you more information about Suoh's past. Also, it is fun to tease her

Sickness was released long time ago, one of so many visual novels in my steam library I still need find time to play. This story deserves all those numerous positive reviews and mine will also be a praising one. Though it took me so much time to finish it with lots of recent real life distractions.

Judging by the title I thought I'd experience something scary, gory, truly sickening and thus highly emotional but frankly speaking my expectations were deceived xD That was astonishing! My MC is a despicable criminal, not bound with any moral principles accepted in modern society. But the story is so immersive that I totally share what he feels. At some point (and quite soon) I stop judging, I believe he acts natural in those circumstances. And that WAS kinda scary. When similar shift in reality perception happens, when you start sympathizing criminals, villains, mentally sick people... that makes me feel as if my very core is shaken, as if I'm a bit losing myself in someone else's (absolutely different to my) personality. And that's what I find exciting in well-written stories forcing me to experience something new, smth I'll never experience in real life. So, once again, I totally disapprove MC's actions, I don't support violence in real life but disappearing in his personalty I'm totally into everything he does in virtual world. I hope I don't sound insane the way he was XD
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2725138947
The story has quite a number of disturbing topics, a player should be warned: mental illnesses, violence, rape attempts, incest, distressing images of death, possible suicide, bloody images of killing... Incest is especially sickening for me. I thought I'll avoid it. You still can reach all the endings and achievements without taking those nasty choices but... some CGS will be blocked in this case. At the beginning of the game feeling sick with that abnormal sister's behavior I thought for the first time ever the completionist in me will have to bear with the unfinished game but you know, again, by the end of the story I felt so entranced by it that I played through all possible choices and even felt it was natural. I felt no one should be judged if their actions don't harm others and it was totally consensual. Again the moralist in me is disgusted that I felt that way while playing XD
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2752587367
There are several routes, some of them were absolutely unexpected for me. Seriously, after some obvious love interests, suddenly more candidates appeared, that was great fun. Love in this dark story is not the main focus, there's just the right amount of it among all the crimes. I'm not a fan of stories with male MC romancing cute girls. But here I enjoyed every love/friendship scene available.

+despite general dark motives the story was often funny and relatable;
+great art, lots of CGs that are btw named in the gallery;
+achievements, cards, plus one 'perfect' game in steam statistics;
+enough save slots;
+some nice features, for example, the gallery is accessible without leaving the story. No need to save, leave, load again to check the progress of CGs.

--some typos;
--I still miss one CG and some variations of another CG, and the available guide isn't helpful, dunno maybe it's a bit outdated as there're some inconsistencies with the sory in the guide;
--replaying the story through the eyes of another, female char would be less boring if the repeated part was skippable, or CGs were changed as they were still presented via Suoh's eyes. There was not enough new content for me to enjoy that.

So, if you've read through quite a long warning list on the game's store page and you are still not afraid to give it a try XD, I highly recommend to do that!


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i remember playing this vn around the time it came out and it was one of my most fav vns and it still is even now buying the game again and replaying it
but this time going with cecilia and lucia route made this a new experience to me and made me excited about the story like it did the first time

- the music that sets in the mood for each scenario perfectly like the late night assassinations

- very lovable characters (like misa the best girl)

- very funny humor which of course wouldnt be for everyone but i loved it

- and the story of the main character for once being not morally good and being a murderer with voices in his head that always made me excited whenever he was going for a kill and root for him (which probably isnt a good thing but eh lel)

this vn dragged me in so much every day after work to come back to it and read more that i completely went through every choice and unlocked every picture in the gallery and i still wish there was more of sickness, a sequel or a visual novel similar to this
this shows that even a simple vn without voice acting or any more special effects that most vns have can be really good and catching interest of the reader to read and want more

I found this to be a fairly mediocre visual novel that was neither as unconventional nor as frightening as I expected it to be.

Purportedly this is about the inexplicably named Suoh Tesla's titular 'Sickness', which manifests as nausea and intrusive thoughts, such as "I want to kill this person" or "My sister is hot." After killing his boss at work he gets drafted in to working as a collector for mob boss Karasu. From then on the game settles into a routine where the player can make choices about how to approach various hits, and about who to spend Suoh's free time with. Suoh's 'Sickness' pops up now and then, but doesn't make as much of an impact as one would expect. In short there is never any tension in regards to it - the player is never faced with any difficult decisions when it comes to managing his 'Sickness', thus rendering it little more than text displayed as BG instead of within the textbox. There is also little tension outside of choices, as Suoh more or less accepts his 'Sickness', reasoning that with the help of either Sara or Misa, he would keep it at bay.

Which brings me to the two heroines in question. Sara is a common anime trope, immediately recognizable after her first few lines of dialogue. Namely - a possessive sister who cares about nothing, except for the harem lead her twin brother. In weebspeak, her character would be summed up as the 'yandere imouto'. Misa would be more interesting as a reluctant assassin knowing little other than a life of killing. However she is also unable to speak. This effectively defangs her character, as she is unable to put to voice any of her thoughts and opinions. She lacks menace and essentially becomes nothing more than a blob of cute affectations.

Because its heroines are so rote, the game struggles to get the player to invest emotionally. Suoh could have been a good link for the player to invest intellectually - after all, amoral protagonists are interesting. However, Suoh oscillates between amorality and morality, never fully committing to either. Another point that saps interest in the novel is this: the player is constantly being told that Suoh is very good at what he does because he is preternaturally adaptable. There are multiple scenes of mob boss Karasu praising Suoh and how he could do anything he puts his mind to. However, since that is his key strength as an assassin, the reader knows that Suoh will succeed in whatever he does.

I had high hopes for 'Sickness', as I was expecting a fresh, unconventional visual novel that was disturbing and truly not for the faint of heart. Unfortunately, due to its lack of narrative tension and cookie-cutter characters, it can't measure up to other visual novels competing in that space.

Sickness is a very interesting visual novel, its dark and focuses on being on the other side of the law for the sake of surviving and providing for your one and only family member. But lets be 100% clear here, in Sickness, the MC Suoh is not well mentally and the game straight up tells you this mere minutes in, he does the things he does purely for his benefit, and has zero remorse for what he does, often telling himself how he "enjoys it". Basically what we get to see is someone who no longer has mental barriers holding him back. The story had me hooked from start to finish, there are a total of 4 paths to follow(albeit they all lead to the same conclusion with only slight variations), and after you beat the game while following a certain path, you can play as a different character and get their perspective on things. You really need to seek out all 4 endings to get a true sense of how things became the way they did since the game doesn't explain how Suohs parents died unless you follow a specific, and easily missable route the first time, and even then, things are only HEAVILY implied, which makes it all the more eerie in my opinion.

If I had one complaint, it would be the character models for 2 fairly prominent characters in the story, Karusu and Sai. They both had me thinking they were actually females until its mentioned otherwise, although Karusu could pass as a girly looking dude, I fully thought Sai was female until the game mentioned "He/Him".

Overall if your wanting to read something abit different, for $11 it aint half bad.

Hmm... honestly I don't like this one. It's got fast story pacing and action elements, but the gal-game side doesn't get along too well with these action elements (except one route, obviously). This gives us a story of a lot of action elements and slice-of-life gal-game elements mixing together, making the story a little bit weird.

Also, as the title suggests, the story is about the protagonist's "Sickness", but it didn't actually touch the dark side of that part, instead it slided behind the romance elements later and just disappeared...

Nevertheless, I do think the atmosphere of this VN isn't bad, and the stories and dialogues are sort of well-written....

As a veteran of countless visual novels from many different nations I can say that this visual novel is a masterpiece.There are not that many visual novels that can get me all that emotional but this one managed to do it.I wish (even though I know that my wish wont come true) this game gets a sequel.
My score:
9.5/10

Sickness is an interesting visual novel with disturbing scenes, images and themes. The main character Suoh is mentally ill, violent and probably a sexual deviant. Someone buying this game expecting sunshine and rainbows is going to be disappointed. All of that aside, the game tells a compelling story with a ton of content that has four different paths to take - two good, two bad. The game even has a secret unlockable character that allows the reader to see the same story from another point of view. I enjoyed this game.

Welp, 16 hours on record and I've already seen the most recent (and final) update by the dev. Gonna play probably a bit more to get those missing CGs. Bought this game on a pretty much day one last year (26 January, I just checked) and I waited this long to play it. Is it worth it? I believe so.

I don't know what is it about this VN that it completely managed captured my full attention from the get-go. Usually when I read VN in general, I easily got distracted by literally just anything and I found myself either alt-tabbing a lot or put it on windowed mode and check Reddit or something real quick before got back to it. Maybe because it's quite different than the stuff I've usually read, and looking back at it, the last time I read something similar to this was only with Kara no Shoujo and Sound of Drop -fall into poison-. There's the most recent case with The Letter but I really have no idea what it's all about (it's still on my wishlist) and I want to keep it that way so that I won't spoil myself. Excluding Higurashi since I've already seen the anime and not planning to read it until they release all the part here on Steam, there's Umineko on my library which holds some potential, that and The House in Fata Morgana too (again, I didn't read the synopsis or anything. Going blind is always the best).

Anyway enough about that, let's talk about the game itself. Just a fair warning that there is some incest in this game so if that is not your cup of tea, well, might want to just skip this game. With that said, I really appreciated the fact that the developer kept adding new content with each update, and with the most recent update they added one last route to the game. As the other reviewer said, there's obviously some inspiration taken from Dexter (leading double life, sister plays important role in the story, story hinting toward his own "dark passenger" or sickness as the MC called it) and since Dexter is one of my favorite show, I just smiled when I noticed it the first time around during my read.

Now despite being called Sickness, the VN itself isn't about explaining the sickness itself, but rather how the MC deal with it and how it affect his judgement and the people around him. And I keep expecting his sickness to take over (kinda like a momentary lapse or blackout, losing track of time etc) but thankfully that never happen. Another thing I almost forgot to mention is that you get to play a certain's character route after beating the story and boy this was my favorite part right here. It's just so... different that I was like "what, really? That's what she thought at that time?"

And now onto the bad part. I feel like the second half of the VN is a bit... rushed out? As there's quite a bit of inconsistency with some characters and there's a lot of time skip too. And this resulted in the conclusion that may be a bit underwhelming at times. Kinda hard to explain it without spoiling the story, really. But even with all of that I can safely say that I enjoyed it and I ended up buying some trading cards just to get it to lvl 4 hehe.

Funny story, I got so heavily invested on one route (you can check the Steam discussion for this) that I was shocked to find a bug at the ending of that route. It spoils another character that I have never seen nor mentioned up until that point. And I believed I spent quite some time on google on how to fix this bug and all that search led me to just rollback to the previous version of the game. So I did all that and voila! I can get pass the bug and finally see the ending. Being the nice guy that I am, I thought it would be a good idea to share the temporary fix to this problem so that people won't get stuck at the same place, and I did just that and post my the fix on the discussion. The next morning, I woke up and to my amazement I saw some people reply back! Only to find out that the dev posted the fix to this bug just a couple hours after my attempt at fixing it. I'd be lying if I say I didn't cry a little there.

Sick and bored of normal story VNs about everyday life, a hero on a journey, a guy surrounded by beautiful girls, solving murders and mysteries? Looking for something unusual, dark and filled with bloodshed? Then Sickness is the VN for you!

It's not exactly a groundbreaking story or anything but it's not often you get to play the bad guy. A lot of small details are overlooked and despite being titled "Sickness" we never get an explanation about it nor did it have a huge impact in the story, they mentioned that the MC got a head injury and stayed at the hospital but never explained what exactly happened :P

So, just stroll in the life of Suoh Tesla a 17 year old dropout doing all he can to get money in this horrible town.

Quite fun story despite trying too hard to be dark and twisted and falling flat with too lighthearted scenes and silly dialogues. The entire plot is also very hard to take seriously. But there aren't enough VNs about incestuous murderous sociopaths so it gets a pass.

This game was really enjoyable and I like it a lot.
The art is nice, its smooth to look at, while the CGs goes in contrast with a more rough lines. That actually fits when its time to kill.
The music is good, fits the atmosphere and add to the mood. Escpacially when it starts to stress up, it really plays with the emotions, and you start to worry as the main character does.
The story is intressting, and the choices matters, and alter the the way it goes, which makes it a reason to try other alternativs and play it more than once. Also its fun to make choices when the kills are about to be executed. You are a part of how well it goes to an extent.
The text is well written, and the language is easy to read, good gramma, and does not repeat itself very often, variety in word choices. Which prevent you to get tired of it and keep reading.
Also the balance between his job and family is very good, and never gets boring.
The characters are likeable, funny, and alive. No one has a flat personality. And I really like Karasu .. lol, its a shame that there is no CG of him .. and his pretty hair. Haha.
Sai on other hand, he is more smooth, but in the CG:s, he looks older and the cheek bones are well defined and he looks more dangerous. When its just the model, then he does not have those features. :S The artists should have drawn that similar at least.

Other things that could be improved, is the muder scenes, they are well drawn, but many of them are from the same angle, with Souh ( The main character ) having his knife at someones throat or back and has the some zoom close up. ( Although Souh is very good looking in those pictures, heee.)
Even if the story is very well writtien, still sometimes can there be a little holes between the events. Not that it disturbs that much, since it mostly whole and captivating. And perhaps normal that there is no need to think about the past, when it wont haunt you to the present, move on; and focus.
But the first victim by his hands, disappears entirely, no news, nor cops. The boss of a company vanish as do two of his employeese. If that does not sounds suspicious to the cops, then what the hell are they doing!? There is no description of how it was burid over, and that gnawed at me through out the game..

While I really like brutal scenes and violence, that was really an attractive aspect of this game. But its fictional deaths and blood. I do not like this sort of things when it happens in reality. And that is the creepy part, while its not nessecary to reflect upon on a philosophical degree, as you can enjoy it as just a story as it is.
Still, this game made me think of how the socity can shape murders. The failure in grasping the ones that fall, instead ignoring them. The fallen ones may comeback in brute force in ''revenge'', due to negelect, desperation, and the suffering are those, like us, sitting at the computer and thinking. Only because the socity is damn flawed ... The law that prohibited muder, shaped a killer. Then who is the real crimminal? The one who did not care or the desperat? This does not apply to all crimminals etc etc, still ... its a food for thought. ( At least for me )
Also that this game makes me sympthies a little for Souh, even if he is a assassin, this game made me more angry at the idiots from his old school, and as he thinks, they beg for to be sliced open. Shaping a killer as I mentioned, still their deeds, as much as I hate them, they are particular harmless compared to Souh's. Or maybe a part of Souh's crimes ... indirect. The author did put in this very well, to give it such an effect.
The creators or their creation, which holds the true responsibility? Still, no matter, there is no good excuse to commit crime! NEVER! Whether the reason, and whos fault ... Its horrible that this is happening in real life .... And its a pity that no matter what I say, it does not change a thing ...

I recommend this game, for the story, that made me sit up late at night. If you like brutal storys and VN:s, since that was that what caught me. If you are paranoid, then ... maybe not, since its kind of creepy to think that someone might break in to ones house .. due whatever reason. Or that a knife might greet one through the heart. Haha.
Since sadly it does happen.........................................................

10/10, there is no need to think, just read and enjoy. Or both, since that was I did. Since its a fictional story after all. So please reality, keep it fictional.:)

This is the VN I’ve been waiting for: it’s disturbing, violent, bloody… God, I simply LOVED this story. It’s full of surprises, and your choices actually matter while playing. The art is okay (regarding characters and CGs), backgrounds were nicely done, background songs are also nice and they catch the spirit of the story.

If you like cute and happy VNs, this one ISN’T for you. But if you are looking for a more mature experience without the exaggerated fanservice which 98% of VNs have, please try this game. I hope to see more works like this one!

10/10. Oh, it would be awesome if developers could release DLC content like an art book or soundtrack!

When I first looked at this my initial impression was the overall look was pretty lackluster even for Visual novels. That said The premise was interesting enough for me to instabuy it when I saw it.

Was it worth it? Hell yeah.

The Characters all have faults, motivations, and believable backstories. Evil people aren't evil just for the sake of being evil - though sometimes thier motivations make you cringe, they are still believable.

And that's actually the one thing I could mention as a con for some people. This game has some dark elements to it which is to be expected if you read the description but many characters in here including the main character have traits you will not like. I think it makes the story better, but you may feel it is simply too dark.

There is some good replayiblity here. I think I got the best ending but there are plenty of scenes I have yet to unlock, so I know there is a lot I am missing.

This isn't a scary game - it's a psychologically dark one.

Love dark stories?
Love death in general?
Love humour in general?
Love murder and violence?

Then this is the VN for you.

The MC of this VN is Suoh. He used to be normal, but all that changed after his parents were killed in a freak accident and he was hospitalized - losing memories whilst at it. His insanity (hearing voices to be more precise) is what he calls his Sickness. Because his parents' accounts were frozen, he needed money to support both him and his sister. What better way for a teenager to get cash then to work in the underground? Especially if said teenager has no guilty conciousness to speak off one bit.

The story mainly told throughout this Visual novel is dark, disgusting, and vile. To me, the macabre events put this on par with popular horror VNs like Saya no Uta. I haven't completed the game yet, but I think I have a pretty firm grasp of the storyline so far. The grim tale told throughout involves despicable, inhumane acts that made even me feel a bit shocked.The game throws all of these things at you without any warning or mercy. It all holds a touch of realism, however, which makes it all the scarier. Many of the characters are immoral, none more so than the protagonist himself.

None of the characters are infallible, and that is shown quite early on. Death is often meaningless and quick as a flash, often without warning. This all adds to the grim reality that the story paints. Crime often goes on without any repercussions, and the rich can get away with just about anything they want. Meanwhile, the protagonist and his sister go through a series of life changing events and by the time the story starts, the protag is desperate to keep his sister from living a life of poverty and cruelty. The stress eventually gets to him and his boss is the one to finally drive him off the deep end. As the story unfolds, it follows the MC's descent into madness and a life of inescapable crime.

The art is alright, but the character designs leave something to be desired, considering many of the men look like girls, one of whom is the crime lord the protag works under. Other than that, its passable and does not take away from the story. The writing is pretty good so far, and I have not experienced any typos whatsoever. Sometimes the writing seems a bit amateurish though. Some of the sentences suffer from awkward wording, but its probably just a nitpick.

The game does have one problem that I just can't get around, even if it is just my personal opinion. At first, the protagonist seems to have some moral values, but he eventually just throws that out the window, completely contradicting most of his earlier actions. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but for me it was a major dealbreaker. It made me hate the protagonist beyond belief because his actions seem nonsensical and ridiculous. I could attribute it to his loss of sanity, but as far as I know, its completely unavoidable. To me, it seems out of character and made me lose any type of sympathy for him.

Either way I say pick this one up. The writing and story definitely make up for the unlikeable protagonist. The story is very gripping and holds quite a bit of tension at some points. I can say with absolute certainty that this visual novel is worth the price for me and makes for a nice break from all the Slice Of Life visual novels that have been coming out lately.