Publisher Ratalaika Games and developer ds-sans have announced the launch of their brand-new visual novel Chemically Bonded. Chemically Bonded is a traditional Japanese romantic visual novel where you are entwined in a dispute between two neighboring female students. Your task in the game is to fix their broken friendship and you will have to make some choices during the game which will help you achieve your goal. Each choice that you make will affect the story and its outcome for you. You will have to figure out what caused the fight and get to know both of the girls in order to fix it.
In Chemically Bonded, you play a male character who is trying to mend the friendship between two girls in his high school. You will learn about the past together and then piece together their relationship and mend their bond while forming your very own bonds as well. Along the way, there will be some conventional and unconventional choices that will shape the relationship formed with both of the girls. These will range from restarting the school science club or increasing your athletic capabilities as you get closer to both of the girls. Both of the girls are unique and have their own likes and dislikes.
Kiyoko Ishikawa is an aspiring scientist and likes to control her emotions through logic while Naomi Satou is a girl with plenty of passion and she puts it into her attitude. She is also extremely popular in high school and despite being famous, she has a small social circle and is pretty closed off to strangers. She is also the captain of the athletic team while Kiyoko prefers playing around with science. The developers at ds-sans comments:
The story has been written with the tastes of the audience in mind and what people are looking for within the romance genre. It offers a more conventional take on modern-day relationships and the emotional struggles of early adulthood as one stage of life progresses to the next. In contrast with other titles in this genre, Chemically Bonded follows the theme of ‘facades’ throughout its narrative and how people’s true selves often conflict with their desires to be accepted by others.
The visuals of Chemically Bonded are exactly what you would expect from a visual novel however the developer has ensured that they are of the highest quality. Special attention has been paid to the character design and backgrounds to ensure an accurate Japanese setting. The backgrounds are 3D models based on extensive research on how each location is presented in the game. Key features of Chemically Bonded include:
The outfits and poses change depending on the scene/setting.
Interactive phone system.
A realistic depiction of a Japanese high school (including classrooms, hallways, and cafeterias) and a modern Japanese city featuring cafes and arcades.
The ‘main character’s’ house is used for moments of reflection.
Replayability allows the player to reach every possible ending.
Fully original soundtrack consisting of 14 different songs.
Fully voiced by a talented team of voice actors/actresses
Approx playtime is between 6 and 9 hours
Chemically Bonded is slated for release on October 13, 2023, on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. This visual novel is specially created for a Western audience based on anime and manga tropes. The developer ds-sans has been creating visual novels for over seven years now and has additional projects in the pipeline currently as well.
Are you a fan of visual novels and would you be interested in playing Chemically Bonded when it launches later this week? Let us know in the comments section below.
