The Science Adventure series, known mainly by the abbreviation SciADV, is a multimedia franchise of visual novels that tell interconnected Science Fiction stories. The stories are all mostly connected to the same universe and follow different themes in science fiction, from time travel to augmented reality.
There are currently six main installments of the series, with additional spin-offs and remade additions that add more elements, storylines, and characters. As aseries of visual novels, you can affect the outcomes of the stories through choices you make in various ways and methods through each game’s different themes.
N/A (Never made it internationally)
PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One
Paranormal Science
The fifth installment of the main game series, Occultic;Nine is thevisual novel adaptationof the light novel books of the same name. It follows the plot of the light novel and follows nine characters linked by the “Choujou Kagaku Kirikiri Basara” occult summary blog. Together, they all get involved in a mystery that could alter what is considered normal in our world.
Although the anime, manga, and light novel works were received well, the game release itself was fraught with many complications and a lackluster reception. It never saw an official international release, but had an additional port for the Switch that added several things canceled.
Sci-Fi Theme
Robotics;Notes Elite
Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360
Robots
Visual Novels are a bit interesting for gameplay. Basically, you read the story’s events and only get involved in the narrative through several multiple-choice decisions that change the story’s direction. Robotics;Notes is an egregious example of how non-interactive web novels are. The story takes place on the Japanese island of Tanegashima in 2019. There, we follow Kaito Yashio and his friend Akiho while they build robots and save the world from an impending apocalypse.
Unlike other installments in the Science Adventure series, thenarrative is much more linear. The only sure way for you to interact with the story is by activating the PokeCom Trigger, which allows you to use several applications installed on a computer menu that helps slightly guide the story. Aside from that, you don’t have much control over where the story goes, defeating the purpose of the visual novel set-up and making most of the events feel boring if you’re not a fan of the genre.
N/A
Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch
Perception and reality
Chaos;Child is a sequel to Chaos;Head and is the fourth installment in the series. Thematically, it follows the same premise but through a different POV. Instead of Takumi from Chaos;Head, you follow Takuru as he investigatesthe same murderstaking place from Chaos;Head. You’re not just an observer reading the plot’s progression, you are an active participant in solving the mystery.
To go alongside the visual novel “gameplay,” you have two distinct forms of interaction with the story, which are much more involved and investment-worthy than the previous entries. There is Delusion Trigger, where you may choose between a positive or negative delusion or ignore them entirely. Then there is Mapping Trigger, in which you must make correct selections between sticky notes or pictures on a chalkboard as a unique puzzle to progress the game.
Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows
Hacking Game of Life
The sixth mainline installment of the Science Adventure series, Anonymous;Code, tells the story in the distant future where orbital satellites went out of control and destroyed major cities worldwide. You follow a young computer hacker named Pollon Takaoka one year after this event as he navigates his ability to “save and load” into different points of the past in hopes that he can alter future events.
This installment of the series is unique in how the static visual images for each of the artwork panels of the story are much more animated and dynamic. Even if the actual gameplay is lackluster, you will still be fully immersed in the animated sequences and actions. Because of the time travel mechanics of saving and loading to different points in history, this is going to be where most of your player input will be.
Chaos;Head Noah
Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch
The Chaos;Head installment is the one that officially kick-started the general interest in visual novel games and their unique brand of storytelling and gameplay. Chaos;Head was first released in 2008, around the same time as other popular visual novels like Clannad and Kanon, which were also released around this time. Chaos;Head broke the mold of those other visual novels by engaging players with ways to affect the story and interact with the characters and narrative.
Your objective is to investigate a series of bizarre murders while navigating the linear flow of the story through positive and negative delusions. This system carries on in the thematic sequel Chaos;Child, and it helps shift several of the scenes and moments of the story. Because the visual novel elements are intermixed with several points of player-based deviations, Chaos;Head is great at getting players invested and keeping their attention, even through the text and exposition.
Spin-Offs and Remakes
Ports
Steins;Gate 0,Steins;Gate: Hen’i Kuukan no OctetorSteins;Gate 8bit,Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram, Steins;Gate Elite,Steins;Gate Re:Boot
Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, iOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Android, PlayStation 4
Time Travel
Steins;Gate is the most expanded and well-known of the entire Science Adventure series, with several adaptations and alternate retellings under the name. Steins;Gate would probably be your first introduction to the Science Adventure series, and the one recognized the most. There are many memorable characters here as well that are popular with anime fans and visual novel players.
The gameplay of Steins;Gate is also the most involved and prominent element in the game. Instead of the negative/positive delusion system from Chaos;Head and its sequel, you have the phone trigger system that is used for moments in the game where you can answer or ignore calls and receive messages that can alter the flow of the story depending on your choices.
Steins;Gate Elite
WHERE TO PLAY
STEINS;GATE ELITE follows a rag-tag band of tech-savvy young students who discover the means of changing the past via e-mail using a modified microwave.
