CHAOS;HEAD NOAH and CHAOS;CHILD Double Pack review

Prepare yourself for a double dose of top-tier storytelling where reality and delusion disturbingly intermingle.

When it comes to visual novels, the Science Adventure series belongs in a league of its own. As a collaboration between MAGES (formally 5pb) and Nitroplus, the franchise’s six mainline entries are astonishingly creative, cerebrally stimulating, and visually rewarding. If not for the occasional lapse into fan-service and the infrequent padding of playtime, the titles habitually transcend the medium. As long as you don’t mind a bit of grisly horror, the series is a requisite experience.

Available in a bundled package or available as separate digital entries, Chaos;Head Noah and Chaos;Child both veer from visual novel tradition. Most branching VAs task players with making decisions that affect the direction of the narrative.

But with these two titles, you’re placed inside the headspace of the protagonists, where delusion is an enticing alternative to reality. Another remarkable attribute is each novel’s intricate tapestry of exposition. Subsequent playthroughs reveal new information that can shift your standpoint. While working toward the game’s ‘true ending’, new insights generally contribute rather than refute events. It’s nearly impossible not to admire the delicate planning and skillful execution that went into both works. So, let’s delve into the details of each title:

CHAOS;HEAD NOAH

Steins;Gate’s technological tinkering and main cafes embodied Akihabara’s energy, while Robotics;Notes’ setting of Tanegashima island captured the ambitions of adolescents growing up in the shadow of a space station. Chaos;Head Noah is set in Shibuya, circa 2009, following the experiences of Takumi Nishijou, an socially isolated otaku who lives in a cargo crate atop an apartment building. While there’s a selection of heroines, there’s also the sense of isolation that can creep into city life.

Like most shut-ins, Takumi spends a disproportionate amount of his waking hours staring at monitors. When he’s not playing his favorite MMO or watching anime, his latest obsession is reading about a string of local serial murders. Dubbed, “New Generation Madness” the killings are especially grisly and bizarre. But they have the local population enraptured as local media and internet users fan the flames of sensationalism.

But gradually Takumi is lured out of his lair of fantastical escapism and veers closer to the killings. Events continue to escalate, reaching a pinnacle when he finds himself witnessing a new murder. Oddly, the killer appears to be a young girl about his age. Preceding what will be a series of preposterous events, the girl sits next to him in class a few days later.

Large sections of Chaos;Head Noah unfold linearly. But periodically, Takumi has agency via the novel’s “delusional trigger” system. Here, you have the option of witnessing either positive or negative perceptions. The former allows for a bit of light fan-service influenced by the lead’s reliance on escapist media to cope with social anxiety. The latter explores his inclination for paranoia, delivering expectantly disturbing scenes.

The heart of Chaos;Head Noah revolves around Takumi’s struggle to hold onto reality. Sure, other mediums have plumbed this space before, whether it’s Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions, or Kubrick’s The Shining. But MAGES and Nitroplus are truly blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, in a way that’s probably exceptionally relatable to anyone with a figurine collection. Sure, you might not be Takumi, but chances are, you’ll see glimpses of yourself.

Much of the novel’s success hinges on its brilliant characterization. Even if you don’t identify with the protagonist, Chaos;Head is one of the few works that recognizes how we can grow worrisomely dependent on seemingly innocuous things.

CHAOS;CHILD

Chaos;Child’s story picks up six years after the events of Chaos;Head Noah, after a mysterious earthquake devasted Shibuya. In the interest of moving past the tragedy, the ward is being quickly rebuilt. But progress is shadowed by a series of homicides called the “Return of the New Generation Madness” since they’re executed on the same days as the original killings. Beyond the scrutiny of the police, the murders have also caught the attention of Takuru Miyashiro, a third-year high school student and president of the newspaper club who lost his parents in the quake.

Like Steins;Gate’s lead, your initial reaction to Chaos;Child’s protagonist might be a bit off-putting. With a judgmental demeanor, Takuru Miyashiro tends to pigeonhole people into three groups. ‘Wrong-siders’ are those who don’t rely on methodically researched and thoroughly scrutinized evidence and data to make decisions. Often, they evangelize their ignorance online, influencing society’s blissful oblivious ‘normals’. Enlightenment arrives from an elite group of critical thinkers known as the ‘right-siders’. Unsurprisingly, the egotistical considers himself part of the latter.

As the enduring popularity of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes character demonstrates, aloof, socially inept intellectuals can be engrossing, but they need counter-balance. Certainly, Miyashiro, frustrated with the dawdling and bureaucratic methods of the local police, is very much a modern-day Holmes. Here, the character espouses his intellectual superiority over the newspaper staff, who each bring their own charms and capacities to the plotline. Some might initially suppose the presence of these female secondaries reveals the developers pandering to harem fantasy. But across the novel’s storylines, there’s enough intriguing backstory and character development to challenge that assumption.

While Chaos;Child’s initial playthrough escorts players though a static plotline, you’ll gain adjacency during subsequent journeys. Here, the direction of the plot is influenced by Miyashiro’s own Delusion Triggers. Although Miyashiro seems more mentally stable than Takumi Nishijou, he still imagines some really twisted things. Opt for the positive contemplations and you’ll often witness some comical interludes that are often a pleasing respite from the investigation of brutalities.

The game’s negative delusions were originally penned more than eight years ago. Thematically, these explore some of the same bleak territories as the main plotline, examining the dark recesses of the human mind. Given contemporary sensibilities, some might be startling, or even incendiary. But keep in mind they’re also the innermost thoughts of a socially awkward high-schooler. Had the story’s characters actually acted this way, CHAOS;CHILD might converge on the problematic. But since they’re a depiction of a delusional mind that hasn’t fully developed, they’re shocking without being morally reprehensible.

An Occasionally Lackluster Localization

One of the biggest issues with previous stateside releases of Chaos;Child was an untranslated map, which made advancement difficult if you couldn’t read Japanese or use a FAQ. Smartly, that’s finally been fixed, making this the definitive Western release. But that said, there are several issues with the releases. Some of this is rooted in linguistic inconsistencies across the Science Adventure series. Another issue is the removal of quotation marks, with could make dialog rather confusing for deaf players. Finally, there’s an issue with the Switch version of Chaos;Head Noah. At present, completion may not be possible. Let’s hope that is quickly remedied.

Review code for the CHAOS;HEAD NOAH / CHAOS;CHILD
Double Pack bundle was provided by the publisher.