Malus Code

Kinda boring.

An interesting and unusual Visual novel to watch and read and is developed by the same people who made Tokyo School life.

✓ Played on Steam Deck, it works fine (10/12/2022)

It has great graphics and presentation but the story is all over the place: nothing makes sense, lots of plot holes and abrupt endings that leave you with even more questions than at the beginning. No clear direction in any of the routes.

From a Normal VN, to a Thriller, to Suddenly everything got Fixed?
Never expected something similar to DDLC when I started, but once I was done, it felt like that exactly.

One thing, Don't but it at full price, as it is very short.

7.5 out of 10 Water-bears
Another good visual novel from M2 combining a bit of slice-of-life humor, cuteness, and a big dose of mystery. The story is kinetic, but interesting, and told in 3 acts. The only negative is that Malus Code could have been so much more--and in fact it seems like it was supposed to have been so. Because there are 100 save slots (more than one would ever need for a kinetic VN); also, the UI changes, but repeat plays offer no additional story. Overall a good VN, but buy it on sale.

Will the Person who Just Moved From his Former place wanted to Visit Japan And Study The infected Bacteria That was Causing the outbreak of the Virus Malus. With the Help of Yae the Boy And Yuri the Girl and the Teacher They all try to Figure out Plan to Find A Cure for it or least Thats what They think. Once the Virus finds The Host it Infects them Causing Severe Confusion And The said Users wants to Attack other people Blindly Until that Virus goes away. The source of the Breakout welll......I cant say your gonna have to play and find out haha But im gonna give HUGE warning to All who play this be very careful........IT WILL CRASH alot Happened to me when either End of Ep1 Or Either Saving pics Or just Simply Reading it Its Buggy Kinda I Hope The Devs can Fix That. But Other than that Not bad VN Kinda creepy but Kinda not oh well Get it if you Like too Its Worth the read.

I don't understand what I just read. It seems that none of the plot lines were finished or plot holes filled and the story left many things unexplained. The art is nice but the story needs to be fleshed out to make sense and be enjoyable.

If you like looking at cute girls, yeah go for it buy the game.

If you are interested in a story of some sort, be it romance or mystery, not worth the time wasted. After the first episode/code, the story just becomes extremely disjointed, with so much happening and nothing explained. You finish the first episode wondering what's the deal with Yuri, why Will is dead, and why does Yae seem to have almost expected this, and mentions wanting to "start again"? I went into episode 2 expecting some sort of partial answer at least to these questions, and got absolutely nothing. Episode 2 has you questioning Suzukake, and the mysteries behind her. The game finally mentioned the Malus Virus, and I pieced together it was some sort of deadly virus predating humanity, and that Yuri was infected with it. Episode 2 ends similarly to 1 with Yuri killing Will, but then Yuri and Suzukake die in a fire, and Yae mentions again about how it "wasn't supposed to turn out like this." Finally I reached the final episode, and was ready to learn some truths. Instead, all I got was more mystery bullshit, and was even more confused. It's explained that Yae's father has the Malus Virus, and it turns out Will does too. Alright, so then what's up with Yuri? The game never tells you. Weird stuff happens outside Yae's mansion, but the game never explains what. I thought that maybe Yae's father had escaped and that was the weird monster, but then Yuri mentions the scientists tried to attack her too. Then something about the Malus Virus being just a small part of a greater lifeform that then worms its way into Will's concious. Oh, and then it cuts to one year later and everyone is enjoying a picnic.

All in all, the game explains absolutely none of the inner plot points, and it leaves it up to the player to figure out the true plot. However, the game gives so little and tosses in so many mini points that it's near impossible to figure out.

Anyways, maybe I'm just a monkey and if someone wants to explain in the comments for me. Long story short, if you're looking for a satisfying story or a mystery to enjoy and think about, look somewhere else.

Other reviews intrigued me about this game, and I'm glad that I listened to them and got it. At first I was off-put because the character sprites in the screenshots looked very generic, but in-game they are animated and work really well. While the gameplay is entirely kinetic visual novel (no choices), there is a lot more to the game than what you see at first glance, with multiple routes and endings. While each route is fairly brief, finishing them all is very rewarding.

The game also has the bonus of multiple simultaneous subtitle tracks including kanji with furigana. Combine this with full voicing and the game is also a pretty fun way to learn new words.

Malus Code had potential, but it just kinda falls to pieces under the weight of the complex plot it tries to setup.

Pros:
- Nice artwork and animations
- Nice voice acting
- Music is nice
- There are some funny parts
- The characters were interesting

Cons:
- There are too many plot holes and things that make no sense.
- The "routes" feel disjointed and pointless because there are no choices to be made; in other words, somehow there are alternate endings even though all of the choices made by your protagonist are exactly the same. This alone is just befuddling.
- The protagonist, Will, is all over the map in terms of personality.
- The plot is also all over the place so much so that it's almost like there were different people writing different portions of the game's story. None of it feels tied together. This results in a game that feels like it can't decide what it wants to be.
- They like throwing around science jargon, but it serves no real purpose and never has any bearing on the story
- Cringey forced romance portions
- The cheesy ending left me confused and without any satisfaction

In short, the worst part of the VN was the story. Despite the potential it shows early on I couldn't recommend anyone else spending time on it only to watch it fizzle out into nothing like I did.

This is a nice kinetic novel. You play as a scientist who has come to Japan to study themophiles and meets three labmates... and a lot of strange adventures.

Would suggest getting it in the VN bundle and/or on discount.

This is another time that I wished that Steam had a neutral option. I myself kinda liked the game, but I honestly don’t see many other people enjoying it. I might be wrong, tho. But well, let me talk about my experience with this visual novel.

It’s a kinetic novel, you don’t make any choices and you only read about the MCs fate, Will. He goes to Japan to work as a researcher at a Japanese university, and there he meets his three coworkers: Yuri, a girl that loves water bears with a burning passion and talks about herself in third person; Suzukake, the main researcher and which also is very connected to Yuri; And there’s Yae. Right in the beginning of the game it’s stated that he is a boy. He likes girly stuff a lot, and tries to make moves on Will. I liked because it was something different from the characters that I’m used to see in the visual novels that I play.

The art style is gorgeous, I really have no complains. BGM was okay too, and the VA was awesome. The story starts very light and suddenly things change faster than you can say f*ck. The thing is, Malus Code makes no sense. Its contents are divided between three episodes (which covers Will’s coworkers routes), and none of them are connected. So it’s basically three different stories about the Malus Virus. By the end of episode three, it gave me a feeling that all of the episodes were clues for the player to try to solve the big mystery of this VN. But I don’t know, it lacked something. Not that everything needs a clear answer (at least to me, a lot of readers like to have answers and that’s totally fine), but this title made me feel like I was reading a cheap rip off of Higurashi. The concept of Malus Code was somewhat intriguing to be honest, but in my opinion the writing was the biggest problem here. Things are so mysterious that it just ends up being like a total f*cking secret and you barely have hints of what’s happening. At some point it made me not care anymore about the mystery.

4/10. I only recommend this game when it’s on a big sale, if you like random creepy stories, AND if you don’t mind unanswered questions. Also, I only gave a thumbs up because of Yuri’s story (the first episode). Will thought he was going to see some beewbs but he ended up being a nice meal to her. Sometimes turning the lights off is not a good idea, I guess… Anyway, that made me surprised and amused at the same time.

I just finished this game and I feel... a lot of mixed feelings right now honestly. First off the pros, it has beautiful art, engaging characters even if theirs only three I still enjoyed my time with all of them. It's also a decent sized visual novel in my opinion and left a impression on me. THE CONS HOWEVER, the story has so many unexplained holes, each heroine gets their own episode and they all end up with you wanting answers and left with even more questions. I'm severely sad right now because I really enjoyed this visual novel since it had a plot twist and kept it interesting and different from the generic visual novel. I can't recommend this game for people who don't enjoy cliffhangers, it's a real bummer since it has a lot of potential, but it never follows up on it and just opens more doors that didn't need to be there in the first place...

Okay. I finished it. I think, anyways. This damn thing was confusing as all Hell.

Overall, I'm on the fence about this little VN. Unfortunately, I feel that the negatives outweigh the positives, so I'm saying "steer clear"; unless you get it in some form of a bundle or *HEAVY* discount.

First, on the plus side, the graphics are top notch. Yuri is cute, Suzukake is naughty-librarian hot, and Yae makes me feel funny and then I feel funny for feeling funny. (Because she's actually a he). The VN utilizes the Emote system - which I'm definitely a fan of. It helps bring the characters to life. Going hand-in-hand is the fact that the 3 main characters (besides you) are also voice acted (in Japanese, as per usual). Production-wise, Malus Code is great. But that's about where the positives end.

The VN is kinetic, but also has 3 routes. Yeah, I know it doesn't make sense. Trust me, nothing in this makes any sense at all. In order to access the 2nd and 3rd routes, you play through the first story (Yuri's). It ends . . . abruptly/poorly/badly/stupidly/WTF-ly. Then you get a new title image and start route 2. I still don't get how these routes fit chronoligically. I'm going to assume they're more "alternate" endings and plots than anything else. The problem is the game attempts to be very X-Files with it's "more-questions-than-answers" formula, but falls flat by basically just giving questions. Mostly, the question is simply "huh?" and then it ends. I imagine it's intended to be creepy and mysterious, but it's really not. It's bland and befuddling and nothing seems to have anything to do with anything else.

The characters themselves are odd at best. There's not really much depth or even consistency to their personalities. Well, that's not true. Yuri always seems like a mental child, Suzukake is always kind of the hot-but-smart bitch, and Yae is . . . whatever the Hell Yae is. The mian problem seems to be with your character, Will. He's a student, or a researcher, or an agent of something or another. I'm not sure really. Truthfully, I just didn't care. The "romance" is horribly forced and makes little sense. One minute, Suzukake is scolding you and the next she's dressed as a succubus at a theme park on a date with you. The Hell? And that's saying something because this game is chock full of "What the shit did I just read and why?" moments.

There are other issues as well (like the total lack of a coherent plot to individual routes, let alone a larger story arc), but I'll leave this there. At this point, I think you get the picture that while pretty to look at, the game is a mess of randomness that is just plain bewildering.

TL;DR - Huh? What? No. Just . . . what? No.

Foreword: Ignore my play time, it really only took me 3~ hours to beat straight through, the other 2.7 come from the first time I played through the first route several months ago but gave up as well as just idling in menus.

Where to begin, where to begin...

I was really ready to give this game a "mixed" score after I completed the second route, but after completing the whole story I seriously cannot recommend this game whatsoever. The story is split into 3 routes which each focus on a single character, there are no choices in this game (which I am fine with) but there is also a disproportionate amount of filler / story in each route (which I am not that ok with). The relationships that the game builds are vapid and just really uninteresting in general, there are obvious arcs to these relationships but they’re all really predictable with little to no conclusion. I am fine with a story being told in little chunks to make it more impactful, but the story segments that actually matter in this game (not the random chatter between our characters that does nothing but waste time) are seriously lacking in content. The game builds up this idea that there is something bigger going on beneath the surface of this supposedly cutesy charage game but it really just stops before anything that you may be questioning is explained. If you are confused and you expect something to be explained later you are going to be seriously disappointed because you will get no context or reasoning behind scenes that you see in the early game. Even the point where the genre shifts into horror it really didn’t feel that impactful and it just left me feeling confused, which is a feeling that persisted all throughout this game.

Positives:
+ E-mote engine looks fantastic; I really hope more companies start to use this system in the future.
+ Really solid voice acting and sound design, background noise didn't irritate me like it has in some other VNs
+ Characters are kinda cute
+ Isn’t 15+ hours long so it didn’t waste too much of my time

Negatives:
- Bad story
- Spelling mistakes in some areas (forgivable in most cases)
- Repetitive music
- No resolution / ending
- Way too much filler dialogue and not enough story progression

Seriously, just go play Saya no Uta or SubaHibi if you’re looking for something nerve wracking to read, only read this if you get it in a bundle with TSL or something but even then be prepared to be disappointed.

I went into this visual not expecting much, but it well surpassed my expectations. You can see how much work the developers put into this :

Characters - 8/10
Animation - 9/10
Storyline - 6/10
Soundtrack - 5/10

Overall very good especially the steam profile background artwork. Rare!

This is a visual novel in the purest sense of just being text with character's shown on screen. There are no choices or routes, you read what happens in the story and that's it. Their are a total of 3 chapters and by the end there will still be many questions left un answered, so don't expect to leave feeling 'complete'.

The story takes a lot of basic slice of life elements and mixes them with very brief mystery and horror sub plots. The mysteries never get fully resolved and the horror ends almost as quickly as it begins. Though these portions are highly interesting, they don't happen or last long enough to really leave a lasting impact other then more questions that won't be answered.

A very quick and slightly entertaining read, I can't recommend it at this price. For those curious to give it a try it is best to wait for it to be on sale.

A VN with nice artwork and the animation is made using the Emote engine (which was also used in the Nekopara series). The characters are cute and have some decent development, although I thought the story was rather convoluted at times. In some ways, its very similar to Tokyo School Life, in terms of plot (a foreigner coming to Japan, etc).
Too bad it is rather short (about 5-10 hours or so), but I guess I'm just saying that because I am used to long VN's. :-)
Anyway, if you liked TSL or Nekopara, then you will like this.

While I'm left pondering many things afterwards I will say Malus Code was a nice experience. The slice of life parts are enjoyable and the small doses of horror definetly make you tense, in a good way. As far as romance, while there is some, it's best to not get too invested in it as it isn't really the main point.

Lastly just wanna say that I'd be really interested if a part two or alternate story was released.

: There be minor spoilers ahead! :

Malus Code is a heavily flawed horror visual novel about a poorly described viral infection.

The characters are all good, yet incredibly stupid, twisting themselves around the labrynthian plot. You won't find an easy to consume or understand story in Malus Code. It seems to take twists randomly, which are great for humorous effect but don't make the game very compelling .

There are multiple times in the story where the plot sets itself up to study petri dishes, investigate odd medication, or check out strange ramen produced by a pharmaceutical company, but it never happens. It feels like this game was written quickly and haphazardly, and I urge you to pay attention and take note of everytime this game throws pointless red herrings in your face.

Just like Malus Code, this review has a twist in it. I highly recomend you buy this game and read it through. IT'S AMAZING. CHRIST. So funny. Be warned that there is no romance or the like, just unbridled so bad it's good.

Came to romance a trap, stayed for the horror mystery.

As a little warning, though, I felt like some things were left a bit too open by not mentioning them in later episodes, along with the overall confusing continuity between the episodes. All of this left me to walk away with questions unanswered. It could be just me being too dumb to understand things like the continuity, but I do believe some parts should have been returned to, like a certain flashback and its significance. However, I would still recommend this to any mystery lovers out there. Or trap lovers for that matter.

P.S. I just have to love the title screen. You'll understand.

I have only played the very first chapter of the story and i can tell it is well structured, it begins with a mysterious backstory that slowly becomes closer to the spotlight. Three characters each with their own personality and various quirks. Most visual novels I own aren't the best on the store, but this definitely is worth the money and I will definitely strive to finish it when I get the oppurtunity.

This visual novel covers all it's bases. It has a Yuri route, a yaoi route, and a vanilla route.