This review may contain spoilers. If you’d like to know what to expect without those, please read the summary at the bottom.

April 29th, 2009 a preview for a game Katawa Shoujo was released. A Visual Novel where you play as a guy named Hisao. A seemingly normal lad who is revealed to be diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, causing him to suffer from a major heart attack (after being asked out by someone at his old school.) and becomes hospitalized for a long while. Afterwards he finds out he must go to a new school, Yamaku High School, which is a school for disabled children, where he will now meet the titular characters that have shaped many people’s lives, personalities and much much more.

January 4th, 2012. Approximately 12 years ago (Almost 13!!!) from the day of release here on Steam, Katawa Shoujo fully releases. After a few years of interest, weird scrapped betas, and other shenanigans we get the game that I would personally call the greatest Visual Novel of all time. Other visual novels like Doki Doki Literature Club! Cite inspiration from this and it’s very plain to see why. The characters in Katawa Shoujo are masterfully written and each one somehow finds a way to not just tug onto your heartstrings, but grip and never let go years later. Let’s talk about why.

The first thing to remember is that not only was this Visual Novel made at a different time, but not much could compare to it when it did release. I remember hearing about it upon release and not even knowing about the NSFW scenes involved in the game, and still playing through it just because I was so engrossed in the story. Let’s also address the elephant in the room. “Is the game still good WITHOUT the inclusion of the NSFW scenes?” Honestly? Yeah. I think it’s fine. It loses a bit of intimacy on some routes (one route in particular might be a little better without them…) but if you want to experience the story without the worry of someone walking in on you doing the deed with a girl who’s missing her legs, or a girl who’s heavily scarred on half her body then it’s alright.

Why has Katawa Shoujo stuck with people for so long? The story that I've mentioned a few times now is pretty heavy. It doesn’t shy away from discussing or mentioning things of any calibur. This creates a story that’s easy to relate to for certain people. Hanako with her anxiety is a great example, being so shy and over worrisome. Even if you can’t fully relate to any of the girl’s routes, you might still find yourself wanting to see improvement and fully help your favorite girl overcome her issues, and prove that her disability doesn’t stop her from being any less of an amazing person. A person that you love.

The game is separated into acts. We have 4 acts alongside a prologue, However Act 1 is the most important Act from a gameplay perspective. As you play the game you will normally be presented with choices in what to say in a situation, and you’ll usually have different outcomes. The game has many endings, which is where the main meat of the game comes through. Mostly in act one, you make choices that affect which character’s route you end up taking and which ending you’ll get. Saying there’s only 4 acts is technically wrong, as each character has their own acts. For example, some characters start their ‘route’ in Act 2, then have their own personal Acts 3 and 4. Some might only have 3, and that doesn’t include each character having multiple endings in their acts. There are also dead end endings (one very popular one that most people know of) and others where bad things may just happen if you pick a choice that’s possibly quite dumb… However, don't feel bad about getting stuff messed up, getting bad endings or the infamous dead end ending is part of the experience, and it’s safe to say that most people during their playthroughs ended up on that rooftop. :]

Katawa Shoujo is a game that I’ve held onto dearly for most of my life and it’s changed me and how I view stuff quite permanently. I’ve met lifelong friends through shared interest in the game, met and talked to artists who love the game, followed the creators of the game and what they’ve done now, and probably gotten into more stuff of a similar Katawa Shoujo vein because of it. This game will probably mess you up pretty bad if you’re vulnerable to sensitive and sad topics and I know I was, but I think I’m better because of it.

Summary for people who wish to avoid spoilers below:
The game centers around a man named Hisao, who suffers from a congenital heart defect. This causes him to go to a new school for disabled children where he meets a plethora of characters who each have something to them that’s deeper than it lets on. You’ll experience a story that will break you and make you want to jump through the damn screen and help whoever’s there. Just to give them a hug or something. It will get heavy, but isn’t that the best part when things do end up working out?

I think if you even have an inkling of interest in the game, in Visual Novels, or in similar games (ex. DDLC) The game is free. Pick it up, and sit down and play it. I cannot stress enough that you should be playing it Blind, or as blind as you can be. Do yourself a favor and play every girl’s route at least once. Get an ending in each girl’s path and see who you like best. I mentioned it above but if you are open to it, there is a NSFW patch available for this game. It shouldn’t be too hard to find by looking around the page a bit.

Little extra tidbit, but This stuff above doesn’t really mention it, but the game releasing on Steam is pretty massive. Back in the say there was even a cute Steam Release april fools day prank by the team at 4S. Hopefully seeing it finally here after all these years feels good. Thanks to everyone at Four Leaf Studios. You guys will are the best.

Enjoy Katawa Shoujo![imgur.com]