The visual novel genre of games is one that largely goes under the radar for most gamers. You kind of HAVE to want to find out about what games are upcoming as they are generally small-budget, simple affairs. In fact, the developers at L3 are literally just a three-person team, so it doesn’t get much smaller.
Be that as it may, I’m always on the lookout for a good VN game as those games married with the handheld function of the Switch 1 and 2 are a match made in Heaven when snuggling up in bed or chilling on a sofa.
First impressions of Without A Voice were very favourable and exceeded the expectations of what to expect from a small team. The game, on the surface at least, is of a high quality.
The music, especially, is very ethereal and adds to the game’s fantastical, wispy vibe. As I type, I have the menu track playing softly in the background (“Fariytale Forest”), and it’s really relaxing as I do.
The artwork, although not what I would call great, is not terrible either. The visual backgrounds the game has are indeed very beautifully drawn, and it’s enjoyable to see each scene load up on the screen. What was disappointing, though, was that the character models lacked rendering to make them really pop. Each colour on the character only has two shades, which makes each surface a bit flat and boring. On top of that, there is a lack of detail or effort to just break the image up a bit, which means the artwork looks, well, a bit childish, if I’m honest.
This is a shame as a majority of the game is just the two main characters talking, and I don’t understand why they couldn’t have made a big effort in the look of the characters, ie, the things you will be seeing the most.
The game mechanics are as simple as can be, but importantly for a visual novel game, the writing was easy to read in both handheld and docked modes.
It doesn’t take long, however, for that thin veneer of quality to start to fade. The main culprit is, unfortunately, the most important one: the writing. I enjoyed the setup of the story, simple as it is. A princess, on her own in a forest, meets another strange woman and gets to know her over the course of a few days. On the last day, what occurs depends on the choices you made previously and affect the ending you get. There are eight endings in all.
After just approximately one hour of play, I suddenly and abruptly came to my first ending. What shocked me first was how quickly I got there, but also, in the lead up to the ending I got, the writing seemed disjointed. For example, in one conversation, person B replied to person A in what I thought a pleasant tone and a reasonable answer. However, person A seemed to find offence, and you have to make decisions with this person despite the fact that you didn’t agree with her being upset in the first place?! The writing felt rushed, forced, and awkward.
What was good was that there are many questions you start to build up in the narrative that you hope to find the answers to come the game’s end. In short, the writing was good enough for me to be invested in it. However, this was blown out of the water because the ending I got on my first playthrough answered nothing! The game just ended on a whimper!
So, I went back to a previous save point, went with different choices to answer previous questions and…got exactly the same ending again! I tried once more, and for a third time, using different answers yet again, got the same bland ending.
I suspect I got the “default” ending, which, if so, was really disappointing.
So, I had to check online to see how to actually get any of the other endings. Seeing as the game is so short, and there is a skip option to go straight to the decision points, it doesn’t take long to manufacture a different ending.
To get different endings is actually almost like having to input a specific binary code of yes, no, yes, etc., rather than a simple three choices, with each one leading to a different ending type thing. The game could have helped the player find other endings by highlighting options you’ve already chosen, for example, or have a very simple, angry route, a happy route, etc. It also said a lot to me that I wasn’t bothered to go through the story again, other than to skip to the endings!
So, the questions you build up in your head from the clues the game leaves out like breadcrumbs are answered in the various endings, but it felt like a dishonest, unsatisfactory way to get that information by having to use cheat codes rather than following a natural narrative path. All in all, even after watching a couple of different endings, I felt dissatisfied with the story by the end, which I know sounds harsh, but that is simply because I’ve played many other VN games that do a better job of constructing a story with various different paths.
The plus side, however, is for a younger audience, and at such a cheap price point and short play time, there is a lot of value to be had for anyone curious about the genre. I could even, in fact, see this being used as a wonderful way to read a story with a young girl at bedtime together, chapter-by-chapter.
Lastly, there are voice actors reading the lines of dialogue, and they all do an excellent job with the work they were given.
Summary
A short story with multiple endings at a cheap price point makes this game attractive. The artwork will appeal to some, especially the gorgeous backgrounds, as will the excellent voice acting. However, the erratic writing and enigma-like code paths to get to different endings will hinder gamers’ enjoyment and leave them feeling a little deflated until they do.
Developer: Witz Games, L3
Publisher: eastasiasoft
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 1/2, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One & X/S, PC
Release Date: 18th June 2025 (Nintendo Switch), 20th March 2020 (PS4/5, Xbox One & Series X/S, PC)
Gaming Respawn’s copy of Without a Voice was provided by the publisher.
