STEINS;GATE 0

Sad scientist Okabe is better than mad scientist Kyouma.

I love it when stories have prequels that enhance and recontextualize the original in meaningful and creative ways. Fate does this with Fate/Zero, Breaking Bad with Better Call Saul, and Steins Gate tries to do it with Steins;Gate 0. In ways it is similar to the pieces of fiction I listed. The concept behind it and its core themes are incredible. But it struggles to ever really land any of the things it tries to do. I feel about Steins;Gate 0 in the same way as Chaos;Head. Incredible concepts that just don't reach their full potential due to not so great execution.

Steins;Gate 0 is a prequel to Steins;Gate. Not a sequel. It leads into the true ending of Steins;Gate, without it, the true ending is impossible. And I adore this. It's such a cool way to get weird and crazy with some of the writing, and they definitely did that, just not to the level I hoped. I actually like the concept and ideas behind this VN more than Steins;Gate. It's a lot more serious in tone and really takes notes from Chaos;Child in terms of the darker moments. So, what's my problem with Steins;Gate 0? Consistency, flow, and structure are my main issues.

Steins;Gate 0 suffers from consistency issues, similar to Steins;Gate but to an even greater degree. It jarringly moves from serious and interesting dialogue to unnecessary and fanservice stuff. Sometimes the fanservice moments are good, mainly because they fit with the tone of the game, these moments tend to relate to Daru. But mostly they feel boring to read and disrupt the immersion I have in the story.

When I say this story has flow and structural issues I mainly point towards the route system in this story and its intended or recommended route order. This was the first VN in the series I had to use a guide from the very beginning. And I understand why that's necessary. I doubt anyone would find the best way to experience this story without one, the route changes feel the most random in this story, we get explanations for why they happen, but they gloss over the details which felt very lazy.

It's even more confusing when you find out the anime it shares a name with is more of a sequel/companion piece to the VN rather than an adaptation. When I originally watched the Steins;Gate 0 anime when it was airing, I did not know this. So, many of the things in it felt confusing or felt like it just worked out in favour of the characters. And that's only because of the effort of all the Okabes in the VN. The anime shows the journey of the final Okabe from the Beta worldline that leads to the Operation Skuld video in Steins;Gate. It takes a ridiculous amount of work and time for Okabe to reach that point, the VN makes sure we understand that. But it never shows us the journey of the final Okabe in the VN. There are many important scenes in this final loop that are shown in the anime that are just missing from the VN. And I really wish they were included.

I get that it'd be difficult to do because of how messy the structure of Steins;Gate 0 already is. And I get that what they're trying to do is very hard to pull off without feeling at least a bit messy. But I definitely think they could have made some changes to make the flow and structure better. Because as a read, it only gave me a headache going from route to route. I guess they wanted us to have that authentic Okabe experience.

As for the anime, I liked it a bit more this time around since it caps off the story decently well. I never finished the VN back then so I found it lacking. Some of the anime, like episode 8, is better than the VN.

As for the routes themselves, I'm mixed. I liked the GS route quite a bit. Everything that could go wrong goes wrong and it's pretty thrilling to read. The TA route though wasn't nearly as interesting. Some decent scenarios here and there, and the scenes about Maho and Kurisu's relationship were nice. But the majority of it was boring. The RMG route was good, it was nice to see more of Mayuri and there were some moments that did get me a little emotional. The PR route was great and I liked it about as much as the GS route. It feels like it hit all the right notes to be a very entertaining sequence of events. The VA route was mostly similar to the GS route which made sense but I wish it let me skip scenes from that route without having to use force skip. The last 30-60 minutes of the route were great.

One consistent thing I liked within all the routes was how much the characters help out against the antagonistic forces in this. Characters that did barely anything in Steins;Gate do quite a bit for the story and most of the original cast is improved in terms of writing. Even Faris. I still hate it when Faris is on screen but off screen she's great in terms of how helpful she is to the lab and the cast. Daru is amazing in this and is probably the best character here. He was good in Steins;Gate but he really shows off his best sides here. When things get serious, Daru takes a stand and works his ass off to make things right. And since S;G0 is mostly serious, he does this a lot. It was also great seeing the relationship between Daru and Suzuha in this. Probably the most impactful relationship in S;G0.

I liked how with each route we see mistakes that can be avoided in the next route and with each one we gain new information and allies. Even former enemies help out. The problems in both the Alpha and Beta worldlines had to be known for Okabe to find ways to fix them or find a way to avoid them altogether. I like how this is a necessity for him to find the path to Steins Gate. it's really cool on paper but again, it just isn't executed well enough. The story writing feels cliche sometimes. It also has huge pacing issues due to unnecessary scenes that could have easily been removed in favour of more scenes to develop certain characters like Yuki.

Speaking of Yuki and newer characters. Some of them are good, and some of them suck. The twist villain feels cheap which is a bummer because if they weren't a twist villain I'd honestly like them. Maho is good but I wish they gave her better scenarios and more scenes to really show off her best traits. Mayuri's friends are whatever. I don't have any strong feelings for or against them, they kinda just exist in the story. Yuki though, needed more development because of how important she is in the grander story. There are things explained about her that have very fragile reasoning behind them and then they never get spoken about again.

As for the art direction and music. It's overall good but I have some problems. No issues with the soundtrack, I like it about as much as the S;G VN soundtrack. And of course, great voice acting. Some lines got me emotional with how they were delivered. The terrible English is funny too. The art direction is my main problem. I like the art style of the game but sometimes it looks off. And they don't look nearly as good as S;G's unique art style. I understand the choice of changing the art style due to the difference in tone for S;G0 but it feels too simplistic at times. It could've been done to better suit the imagery invoked by the text itself. The most jarring thing about the VN's art is how it mixes character art from S;G with ones from S;G0. Side by side they look very weird together. They have a very clear difference in style so it makes the VN feel cheap at times. I'm bummed I feel this way about the art direction because it has my favourite box art in the series and maybe even in the medium of VNs. It's genuinely incredible.

Unfortunately, even with all the things I like about Steins;Gate 0, it's another case of an amazing concept and a not so amazing execution similar to Chaos;Head.

7/10

this is a worthy entry in the science adventure series and absolute peak steins;gate game play this although its quite depressing but still so peak

Much more eventful right off the bat compared to the original. Certain worth playing for anyone who enjoyed steins gate, but I can't really recommend it for people who haven't, since the story revolves around mega mongo spoilers from the first game, and much of what happens doesn't really make much sense without the proper context. 0 certainly proves its worth as a sequel (sort of) to a game with a very conclusive ending, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading.

Hard to do sequels for small games that hit it big, but this one follows through

Amadeus is calling *Depression intensifies*

Hello there, fellow time traveler!

You've been probably wondering if its worth it playing Steins;Gate visual novel after finishing the anime or the VN and i can tell you: YES! It is 100% worth it. There are so many scenes which were not in the anime like all the different endings and bunch of new dialogue. If you have played the prequel, then you should get this game for sure.

Its an alternative world where Okabe couldn't save Kurisu and Mayuri, its a world filled with pain, sadness and hatred. I dont wanna tell you too much about it, because you should see it for yourself. It took me around 50 hours to get all endings and 100% achievements. All endings are totally worth it because its new content which did not get shown in the anime.

This is by far my my favorite anime / VN of all time. I've watched the anime countless of times and i'd recommend it to anyone who loves Sci-Fi stuff.

We'll meet again in Steins;??? my fellow mad Scientist.

El Psy Kongroo.

very cool vn. must read.

Beyond Kino, Absolute Cinema.

my college roommate hated me for crying at night
5pb 谢谢你

Not as good as the original but still worth playing

Before I say EVERYTHING that I want to say, I just want to outright say first that I did in fact enjoy the game at several points. That and I will do my absolute best to keep this review spoiler free if I can (forgive me if I slip :( ) ALSO if you don't like to read long reviews, this game is a solid 6.5/10 from me. I recommend you play it AFTER Steins;Gate and if you're iffy about it or don't want to shell out for full price, buy it on the major steam sales. I got this during winter 2024 and it was pretty good.

I think that the game is... Okay. I genuinely may in fact be influenced by the negative reviews here but a lot of things in this game left a bad taste in my mouth (I just finished it on the day of writing this review)

In the first game, a lot of things are outright explained to you or told. However, in this sequel, a lot of things are left up in the air. New things are brought up... only to NOT be explained fully or at all which can indeed make someone, like me, confused and kind of wanting to figure out more. Some of the things to my understanding are explained in another format but truth be told, someone shouldn't really have to research everything that's happened in the in order to have an enjoyable experience. It was nice having things just be fully explained in the original Steins;Gate and I missed that here :(

Another issue I had was with the endings. I only really enjoyed like 2 of the endings available. I don't know if this is necessarily spoiler territory but I will explain a little bit. Of the endings given, some of them leave a lot more questions than answers and as I said earlier, everything isn't really fully explained in this game. I genuinely wish a lot of those things that weren't talked about in the endings were actually talked about because that genuinely would've instantly knocked this game up a few points for me because I was left confused and wanting an explanation for those things that happened.

Overall, I just really feel confused. I just wish the writers went more into depth. Also some of the plot points in this story are EXTREMELY PREDICTABLE... And the art is kinda funky looking too mixing in some altered assets from the original and blending them in with the new assets to ultimately create a conflicting character portrait style in some scenes. Like the art created specifically for this game is actually pretty good, I liked it. Same with the CG arts which I thought were outright beautiful at a lot of moments. I genuinely liked them but the jarring art style switching was really not entertaining to see at all. Play this game if you want to see what happened in that space between Steins;Gate (Kind of. As I said earlier THINGS ARE LEFT OUT AND NOT FULLY EXPLAINED.)

Have played this countless time.

MASTERPIECE

this is kino

This game does not narrate as good as the first game, as there are various discrepancies between multiple endings. But the true end alone is still very well worth playing especially the very last moment (no spoiler) is one of the best scene of VN history along with the music. This is still a must play game after playing the first game.

legal loli science

10/10 midquel

Truly a choices of Steins;Gate. El Psy Congroo..

So far so good. Steins gate is my favorite story. This is not quite as good and has some small issues. 9/10

Review made with the context that I've never watched/read the S;G0 anime/manga.

I didn't get into S;G0 with high expectations since it's an interlude to S;G, but I was very satisfied with the experience so far. It is imperative that you play/watch S;G first to get the whole context -- it would be very confusing to play this as a standalone or before playing S;G.

I find that the endings here are easier to achieve than the ending navigation for S;G, but a good completionist may have to rely on a walkthrough to cover all bases.

Rise like the Phoenix you named yourself after, the journey to Steins gate has just started. That's just what we expect from you! You will do something we never can! That's why we love you! That's why we adore you
El Psy Kongroo!

peak part 2

This is tough, I want to leave it a neutral and I can't bring myself to leave a negative review. It's a solid 6/10. I feel as though the story starts out strong, brings up some interesting points and then never touches on them again or does so in a way that's really shallow. There are six endings, all but two I felt were fairly lackluster and the true ending left me thoroughly confused and frustrated with a "THAT'S IT?!" moment. There are segments that I really loved of course but I felt they weren't neatly tied up. It is also a roller coaster of emotion (in a good way!) but I'd say it's pretty emotionally heavy, borderline nukige, so be warned.

There's a lot of retcons or otherwise modifications to the original I wasn't a fan of, but I'm sure that's a mixed bag with people.

Also, the art is a MAJOR downgrade, but what can you do. There's some sections that use the new sprites mixed with the old and it's very odd. Music is great though.

It's worth the read if you're a fan I suppose.

leskinen best waifu

Where? Where are the Japanese Shaman girls, Lintahlo!

Also, happy birthday to all sad scientists!

If Steins;Gate changed my life forever, this game just remade me from scratch.

I can't understand how this intersequel can be so good and perfect, but it really is. The setting is the most depressing thing I've ever experienced, and that's a good thing, as it really connected with me in a lot of ways. This game offers a lot of heartbreaking and beautiful moments, tension, horror even, it's just... a whole lot.

I really can't believe how well it connects with its predecessor, and the lots and lots of information that it provides to the player. The way this was made offers one of the most complete experiences you could have in the Steins;Gate series, and I really mean it.

Of course, the characters as always are very complex and unique, for the most part, and I can assure a lot of them offer the most precious moments in this game. Also, this game unlike the original Steins;Gate, not only does offer the protagonist perspective, but also the perspective from a lot of other characters, adding a lot of context and information about how the other characters really feel.

Obviously, if you intend to play this game, you need to play at least Steins;Gate first (also if you want more context and vital information you should play Chaos;Head, Robotics;Notes and Chaos;Child too).

I really enjoyed this game, with my soul, and I owe it a lot. Thanks for this precious adventure, that I'll treasure every day of my life.

El. Psy. Kongroo.

Hiyajo Maho

c.ai starts ww3

peak;0

JAPANESE SHAMAN GURL はどこにいるんだいリンタロ？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？？

A fantastic story of time travel, artificial intelligence, rebelling against fate and human connection (and the utter depravity of certain organizations. If you know you know.) It is somewhat darker that the original and does a good job of continuing from the original while also adding additional plot elements and characters in a way that feels meaningful. The true ending also does a good job of looping things back to the true ending of steins gate.

That said, it does drag on at points and some of Daru's dialogue could be readily deleted without much loss.

The only me is me. Are you sure the only you is you?

AI in Steins;Gate 0

The Relevance of AI Today

Ethical and Philosophical Considerations

• Can AI truly replicate human consciousness? As AI technology progresses, we see more examples of AI being used in ways that mimic aspects of human behavior. However, as Steins;Gate 0 suggests, there is still a fundamental difference between a digital simulation and an actual person, no matter how convincing the AI might seem.
  
• The ethics of AI consciousness: If AI can simulate consciousness, should it be treated with the same rights as humans? Is it ethical to create digital beings that are aware of their own artificiality?
  
• AI and memory: The emotional weight of memory is central to Steins;Gate 0. AI that preserves memories, like Amadeus, raises questions about the authenticity of these memories. If an AI "remembers" something, is it the same as a human remembering it, or does the experience lose its emotional depth when reproduced by a machine?
  

Notes on New Characters

Hiyajo Maho

Shiina Kagari

Kaede Kurushima/Katsumi Nakase

Amane Yuki

Alexis Leskinen

Judy Reyes

Positives

• Soundtrack - The music is still top-notch, setting the perfect tone for the game’s emotional moments.
  
• Voice acting - The voice performances are excellent, continuing the high standard set by the original.
  
• Character designs - The updated character designs are a visual improvement, and the addition of mouth movements during dialogue adds a new layer of animation to the scenes.
  
• Enhanced visuals - The game's visuals are more dynamic, and the characters now move their mouths during dialogue, which, though minor, brings more life to the scenes compared to the original’s static images.
  

Negatives

• Pacing - Can feel sluggish at times, especially with the shift in perspectives.
  
[*]RINE - While text messages were important in the original game, the use of RINE messages here feels way less impactful.

Conclusion

Game of the century. No further comments needed. Outstanding story and characters, not once has a game made me consistently so emotionally invested in the story!

My review
this symbol (+) for positive review and (-) for negative review
(mixed) Graphics
(+) Story
(+) Soundtrack
(-) Gameplay (easy to unlock true ending than previous title)
(-) Inconsistent design character (character is mixed between new design and old design)

my ex addict friend was 3 months in remission from depression. i accidentally played Messenger from zero on spotify, he chugged a bottle of anxiety pills and died. so peak.

peak vn

Solid addition to the main game 10/0

Wow this Christmas party with my friends sure is fun, I'm so glad to be spend-

WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL WAR IS HELL

They dont make VNs better than this 😩
Japanese people speaking english will always sound funny tho lmao

10/10 this and the og compliment each other, don't listen to the hater saying that sg 0 "ruined" sg as a whole, this is peak

I'm not sure which world line I'm in anymore

I didn't have the highest of hopes going into this game. Steins;Gate was a masterful piece of writing, its characters and plot were gripping and its ending emotional. I was afraid that 0 would disrespect and tarnish that story in some way.
I was incredibly mistaken.
0 does not tarnish the original Steins;Gate, it enhances it. It goes into detail on a plot beat crucial in the ending of the original game, a plot beat we hadn't learnt of. Steins;Gate 0 explores this and explains it, whilst telling an amazing and gripping story along the way. It doesn't feel like a cheap copy or attempt at creating a sequel to the original, it is a story built on the original game which tells an entirely unique, yet relevant story. Somehow it manages to respect and build off the original in its own way, whilst still telling its own unique story instead of feeling like a forced continuation. You may have heard the story of 0 is not as good as the original, that is true. However, thats about where it ends. It's just "Not as good". However, compare it too a myriad of other stories, its exceptional. It is still amazing. Saying its not as good as the original isnt a way of putting down 0, its simply a testament to the quality of the original, Steins:Gate 0 should be played, its an amazing story that wont damage your opinion of the franchise. It will just enhance it.
Steins:Gate 0 is an incredible piece of story telling, enough said.

PLAY THIS GAME (after the original, of course)

I want Maho to step on me

este juego es el mejor juego qu ebhe jugado en mi viad, 100% recomendado si quieres una nalgadas por ese culo y 100000% recomendado si no las quirees. Chicos jueguensdeu este ins gate es de masidado bueno por favor chicos

A faithful sequel to the original game. The story keeps you invested in the characters and it is extremely well done. Some of the endings are a bit depressing, but I think that makes the good endings all that much better.

Peak

Get in the time machine, Okabe

Steins;Gate 0 is a very important story to understand what happened at the end of Steins;Gate.

The Positive

The Negative

Verdict

10/10 masterpiece

Wolfgang ʳKurisuʴ Mozart :D

MAKISE KURISU!

Suffer from PTSD and talk to AI waifu.