Narcissu: Sumire (PC) Review

Visual novels as a genre offer a great opportunity to explore themes and experiences that are difficult or uncomfortable to deliver through other genres. When playing a game and taking the role of a character, people often want to take up the role of a powerful and nigh invincible protagonist. Narcissu: Sumire gives us the exact opposite in a deadly sick girl who has nothing but the games her brother has given her.

This allows Narcissu: Sumire to deliver the sort of theme that has been Narcissu's signature since the original title, questioning where the line between life and death is. At the start of the game, this game's titular protagonist, Sumire, is living a relatively healthy life, but has, after some bad life choices, dropped out of school, and has no friends or things to do with her life, save some games that keep her company.

As her sickness develops further, and, inevitably, given the franchise, she gets progressively worse and worse, but as she enters the infamous 7th floor, she actually starts to make connections and friends. This makes her feel more alive than she ever did when she was physically healthier, and further from the grasp of death than when on the 7th floor. This creates a wonderful contrast between the physical life and the mental feeling of being alive that all builds up towards a beautiful conclusion that will leave no eye dry.

The story is beautifully written to transcript the message that no matter the circumstances, as long a person is still alive he or she can create incredible and valuable memories that will keep them alive in the hearts of their friends and family. It is a lovely message, which brings a lot of emotional power into this tale in a form rarely seen in the video game industry, or in media overall. To add to this, there is wonderful music, art, and voice-acting that really helps to set the mood of this gloomy visual novel. It is rare to see titles that tackle death in a beautiful and worthy way, but Narcissu: Sumire is certainly one of them.