This post will contain spoilers for the original Robotics;Notes Elite, and mild spoilers pertaining to Robotics;Notes DaSH’s route structure and plot premise. Be advised.

The original 2012 Robotics;Notes release, while certainly an enjoyable story, rested a large part of its marketing and brand recognition on Steins;Gate’s wildly successful laurels. This move ultimately proved to be to its detriment, as fans who were anticipating some kind of “Steins;Gate 2” simply did not get what they were expecting, and the proverbial lightning did not strike twice for MAGES., who were so wildly certain of Robotics;Notes’ success that they had invested time and money into an anime project, half a dozen manga spin-off stories, and several planned figurines (a few of which ended up being scrapped). There were substantial issues with the plot and pacing, especially towards the final act, though I am pleased to say that these were all fixed by the 2014 Vita port, “Robotics;Notes Elite”.

Either way, once I learned that there would be a sequel to Robotics;Notes, I was apprehensive, even more once I realized that Daru from Steins;Gate was going to be taking center stage. I wondered if they had such little faith in Robotics;Notes as a franchise piece that they felt as though adding Steins;Gate flair to it was absolutely necessary for it to even work. When I saw the marketing material heavily leaning on Steins;Gate again, and Chiyomaru’s mad twitter ramblings about how “this is the game that will show you how Daru makes a Time Machine,” and “this game actually takes place parallel to Steins;Gate Zero,” I tried my best to lower my expectations as far as they could possibly go, because I was honestly starting to expect some kind of clustered mess.

So, how did I feel when I finally got my hands on the game and played through Common Route?

My feelings were mixed.

In some regards, Robotics;Notes DaSH had surpassed my expectations. That being said, the bar had not been raised high, I defensively kept those expectations in check. The scenario was handled by Tooru Yasumoto, a man who had an extensive history handling Daru as a character, as well as experience handling some incredible parts of Chaos;Child (Nono route) and Steins;Gate Zero (Promised Rinascimento Branch). I was certainly confident that he’d be able to write something decent, and I found no faults in his writing here either. That being said, the structure was unusual… The Common Route was composed of only two chapters, they were around 5-6 hours long each, after which the game branches out into one of 5 potential ending chapters.

Kimijima Kou – Back from the dead, for the second time!

The story through common route was nothing spectacular, either. It felt like a typical kind of fandisc type scenario. The basic gist of it was that it’s now six months after the first game ended, and the baddie is back, and he’s got the main character and his friends going on a wild goose chase around the island during festival season! Throw a 29-year-old Daru into the mix and you have a big goofy affair full of shenanigans and hijinks. At times it really felt more akin to one of the Chaos; Love Chu Chu games than a true-blue sequel to one of the mainline titles. More of a collection of inconsequential shenanigans with fanservice in the form of Daru and funny, almost-lewd stuff happening now and then, rather than the kind of high-stakes Science Adventure I’ve come to know and expect from the mainline titles.

And when it came to the five forking character routes, my mind was hardly changed much on this front, either. They ranged from endearing, to wacky, to downright surreal. One route had the focal character learn self-confidence and personal expression, another has a character work towards repairing his relationship with his father (with the help of Daru), while another route had its central character feed an unusual creature yaoi manga until it grows to a large size and causes mayhem. In fact, the only route of the five that focused on suspense and a high degree of dramatic tension was the shortest of the lot, my playtime clocked in at around three hours for that one, as opposed to the three-and-a-half/four hours that the others ended up taking.

I’ll take a brief moment here to say that if you disliked the delusional/Project Noah aspect of Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child, then you will probably be unsatisfied with the developments in this game. I was startled by the fact that not only was this game not heavy handed at all in its “Steins;Gate” aspects, but it was actually heavily leaning on the Chaos; side of the series in terms of plot elements and concepts. Common route doesn’t shy away from introducing Noah as a plot point, and even the character routes have Real Booting mentioned fairly casually. I’m a large fan of both Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child, so this came as quite a pleasant surprise to me. I know this won’t impress some others.

Back to the main point, however. I was not really sold on this game being especially gripping or important. It was certainly fun, and Yasumoto had clearly done his research on the Robotics;Notes characters. Their routes covered their idiosyncracies and anxieties, and were written pretty damn well from a characterization perspective, even when they got really goddamn weird in terms of actual plot content. But even though the game was certainly amusing, it just wasn’t particularly gripping…

That was, until I finished all five of those routes.

“Kimijima Kou” – Takeshi Abo

A new option appears on the main menu once all five routes are cleared, unlocking the proper continuation of Common Route. The True Ending is composed of two chapters. Phase Akiho, and Phase Daru. In total they’re around seven or eight hours long combined, and they make up the real meat of the game’s story.

I won’t spoil specifically what occurs on this path, but it completely flipped my opinion of the game on its head. The narrative suddenly became tense, gripping, and at times terrifying. The antagonist who surfaces in this route is not only imposing, but perhaps has the most frightening far-reaching implications in the entire Science Adventure series so far, with a constant overbearing presence that makes you feel the pressure he places the cast under.

The game suddenly became very real, very serious, the writing shifted subtly to match the new tone, and the sound direction was almost claustrophobic, a far cry from the lackadaisical and carefree sense that the game had adopted for the majority of its time so far.

Daru, a character who had been written very true-to-form for the entire game so far, was handled excellently as a serious and capable character who copes well under pressure. Kaito, who had received some meandering development as the game carried on, suddenly had a lot of weight thrust upon his shoulders, and his inner monologues reflected that tension perfectly. Naotaka Hayashi, the original writer for Robotics;Notes, was also aboard to help support Yasumoto with the scenario. There were moments in the final chapter especially that I knew he must have written, and he really played to his narrative strengths in those scenes.

I would definitely criticize the lack of impact the individual ending character routes have, and if that was all the game had to offer I don’t think I would’ve liked it half as much as I do now. I would also say that some of the characters didn’t feel like they’d developed much individually, and some of the problems we went over in this game almost felt like a repeat of the problems they’d gone over in the first. But, when you think about the context of the first game, it’s understandable that those problems wouldn’t have just disappeared in a heartbeat. In a sense it feels like this game was the natural “second half” to addressing those issues. That being said, the development during the events of DaSH were solid enough that I’m hopeful to see them with changed dynamics if they show up again in a future game. The gripping true end sequence doesn’t exactly excuse the fact that the game feels 60% like a fandisc, but the content was substantial enough for me to come out of the game feeling satisfied with it.

I would also like to add that the game is not merciful to people unfamiliar with the setting. It expects you to have played Robotics;Notes Elite (or the original Robotics;Notes, but I wouldn’t recommend that version), and most of the concepts from Chaos;Head/Chaos;Child and Steins;Gate are simply introduced without any real tips to clue in the reader about what they’re supposed to mean. You need to have some experience at least with the series before trying to sink your teeth into this one, or you’ll quickly find yourself lost.

“Perverted Gentleman” – Takeshi Abo

Composer Takeshi Abo has completely outdone himself, I think Robotics;Notes DaSH may be the greatest and most varied of the Science Adventure soundtracks so far. Because this game is somewhat of a conceptual crossover, he is less restrained to a singular theme, and that allows him to truly shine. In the scenes featuring Daru as narrator, there are more wistful and carefree tracks that call back to the SoL moments of Steins;Gate, as well as remixes of more intense original tracks from the game he began in, just with a more “Robotics;Notes” techno vibe running under them. In the tense scenes, he’s clearly channelling his work on Chaos;Child to create a foreboding atmosphere, there is not a single track in this game that felt out of place. The sound direction was, on a whole, superb. In the scenes that channel the essence of Robotics;Notes, that being “I love giant robots”, you can really feel the majestic undertones of the original game shine through.

The big man himself. (Daru is actually 5 foot 4 inches tall.)

On the presentation angle, I can give nothing but high praise to the game. The 3D models are really high quality, and they have much more fluid motion and expression than the ones in the first game did. They also utilize the 3D models and have them interact with the scenery. Characters will often be staggered out, standing at different distances, or even walking around the screen as they gesture. The creative use of camera angles is also employed, some scenes having panning shots, or above/below-angled shots. Many parts of the game simply felt like I was watching a story unfold through motion, it really brought a new angle to the “visual” medium of Visual Novels. I’m also pleased to say that when event CGs did show up, they were very high quality, and the library was quite big. You can tell that the game had a much larger budget than the first, and I’m thankful that they thought it was a worthwhile investment.

Hidaka Subaru, wildly gesticulating

In some ways Robotics;Notes DaSH echoes the first game, down to certain character arcs being revisited, and even in the presentation of the narrative towards the endgame. I can’t help but feel that this was at least in part intentional. It was almost as if the creators were saying, “We’ve acknowledged that our first attempt at fully utilizing this cast was flawed, but now we’ve finally perfected the formula.”

And to conclude, I would say that is something I would agree with. Robotics;Notes DaSH truly felt like Robotics;Notes Elite, just better in every conceivable way. It blended in aspects of the two other parts of the Science Adventure Series seamlessly, I had no trouble believing that all of the concepts they brought together in this game belonged in the same universe. It is nothing but a straight and true upgrade to the original, a title that fans of the series should absolutely check it out if they are able.