Break Chance Memento (BCM) is the latest (but technically first) visual novel by Cyanide Tea. BCM is primarily a story about family bonds across time and involves time travel, tracking down a serial killer, and potential gay romance. It is plot-heavy rather than romance-heavy and can be classified as slice of life, boys' love, and science fiction. We give the game a 15+ rating due to violent/horrific imagery and writing.
The big feature in this game is the ability to travel back and forth through time. (Note: I did a lot of research for the setting/culture, but of course a lot of places have been made up, so it's not going to be 100% true to life.) The gameplay involves saving serial murder victims by traveling through time and piecing together clues to solve the whole mystery. Time travel is only possible if you have the proper memento for the point in time you’re wanting to go back/forward to, so you also have to figure out and find these items and utilize proper game time management. Also, during lulls between the murders, you get some downtime in which you can live life as a normal student and further personal relationships. Romance is not the main point of this game, but of course part of the gameplay involves talking to the potential love interests and getting them to like you. It's entirely possible, however, to get the true ending of the game without being romantically involved with anyone.
BCM is set to release on December 16, 2015 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The game will retail for $19.99.
Four years ago, Shuuki's world was turned upside-down when his twin sister, Fuyuka, died in an accident at just 12 years of age. His parents blamed her death on the negligence of their eldest son, Natsume. The Amamiya family was never the same.
One fateful morning, Shuuki stumbles across the gruesome sight of his brother Masaharu's corpse. When all hope is lost and Shuuki must come to terms with the fact that his brother has been murdered, the mysterious Kyousuke appears before him with a proposition:
"Do you want to bring your brother back? To fix your family's broken relationship? You can…if you learn to travel through time."
Before he knows it, Shuuki is caught in a plot far more sinister than he could have ever imagined. He learns that the key to traveling through time and stopping innocents from being killed lies in mementos: items that are a link between the past, future, and present.
Trigger & Content Warnings: verbal and physical abuse, implied sex, slurs related to gender/sexual identity, blood/gore, murder, violence, student/teacher romantic relationship, glitch imagery, some flashing lights/white screens, and suicidal speech/actions.
Break Chance Memento is, at its roots, a story about a family that's very broken and trying to get back together again. It's about the uncertainties of life and time travel, how no issue is simply black or white, and focuses on teenaged boys who have to come to terms with who they really are and what they really want out of life.
This is the main cast of characters. We have a complete cast of about 25, including secondary and minor characters... You'll have to wait and meet them all properly in the actual game, but we have posted up some of their sprites from time to time.
Shuuki Amamiya (天宮秋希), 1st year, 16 years old. The "hero"?
Our protagonist. He is bright and quick-witted, but has a sharp tongue and won’t apply himself to anything he considers boring. Many of his peers find him hard to deal with and there’s a lot of nasty rumors floating around about him. Most of them are true. Though he loves his brothers, Shuuki often goes out of his way to try to annoy them.
Natsume Amamiya (天宮夏目), 3rd year, 18 years old. The narcoleptic.
Shuuki’s eldest brother is asleep more often than not. While harsh and cold towards people he doesn’t know, Natsume is ridiculously affectionate towards his two younger brothers and Chiaki. He loves to cook, doodle pictures of giraffes, and read modernist Japanese literature. Incidentally, literature is the only class he isn’t failing.
Masaharu Amamiya (天宮政春), 2nd year, 17 years old. The serious one.
Growing up, Masaharu always felt too normal compared to his brothers and developed a need to set himself apart from them. As a result, his personality is rather dry and he’s quick to anger. Masa is the captain of the basketball team even though that position is normally reserved for seniors; it’s a testament to his ability.
Chiaki Sorata (空田稚空), 3rd year, 18 years old. The chibi.
Natsume’s childhood friend turned caretaker. Chiaki is somewhat short-tempered (especially if you mention his height) and a hard worker, so it's a wonder how he and Natsume even get along, but they manage. He has a shaky relationship with his own family and doesn’t like to open up much about himself.
Yukinari Hosokawa (細川行成), 2nd year, 17 years old. The dreamer.
The outsider in this group, Masaharu’s dreaming, scheming classmate Yukinari grew up in a strict, old-fashioned family that maintains influence and power in national business and government. There's a certain amount of privilege coming from that background, but mostly Yukinari feels a burden of restrictions and keeping up appearances.
UI: 100%
Art: 100% though Auro's now doing promotional art and some extra stuff.
Writing/programming: The writing and programming is complete minus some last-minute polish/extras.
Trailer/Screenshots:
The official website for Break Chance Memento is bcm.cyanide-tea.net and the game's itch.io page is here. Other points of interest are my dev Twitter and Auro's Twitter, where we both tweet about the game a lot. Cyanide Tea related links: the Cyanide Tea blog, Twitter, and Facebook page.
