It’s time for another visual novel and this one is a biggie! CHAOS; HEAD NOAH and CHAOS; CHILD are the first two games in the Science Adventure franchise and they’re here in a new double pack! Previous entries included Steins; Gate, Robotics; Notes, and of course, CHAOS; CHILD. All of the games take place in the same shared universe. While we’ve previously received several entries in the series, including CHAOS; CHILD, we’ve never previously had an official localization of CHAOS; HEAD before and it’s exciting to finally get to play it.
CHAOS; HEAD NOAH, from Mages, Nitroplus, and publisher Spike Chunsoft, follows the exploits of Takumi Nishijo, a young high school student who is a barely functional shut-in. In Japan, these individuals are called hikikomori and the condition is considered a psychiatric disorder that requires treatment. Takumi lives in a shipping container and plays video games online all day. He barely goes to school and his entire world is his room and his online presence. Sounds pretty tedious, right?
Well, Takumi manages to get his whole world flipped upside-down when on one of his rare times out, he manages to be witness to an utterly grisly murder. While he rushes home and pretends not to have seen anything, the consequences from this chance encounter constitute the bulk of CHAOS; HEAD. It turns out that there’s a whole series of related incidents called ‘New Gen’ by people on the street and Takumi is right in the thick of it all.
As you would expect if you’ve ever seen anything from Mages before, this is a visual novel. Originally released in 2008, this is actually the first novel in the Science Adventure series and as such the writing feels a bit different. For one, the deep dive into Takumi’s psyche is a bit more focused than other entries in the series. There’s almost too much focus on the single protagonist here and that single person is remarkably unlikable. Then there’s the delusion trigger system.
Rather than giving branch choices like other VNs, CHAOS; HEAD NOAH uses a system where the screen tightens at a point of mental instability for Takumi. You can then hit the shoulder buttons to trigger a positive or negative delusion where he either lives out his fantasy or someone dies horribly. You can also simply do nothing and see what happens leaving you three options at every branch point. The real purpose behind the game isn’t to make us identify with Takumi. Instead it’s to sit inside his headspace (ew) and experience what he’s going through. In that sense, CHAOS; HEAD is a wild success because it feels like you’re Takumi himself experiencing the events of the game.
For the most part though, it’s reading time. There is a lot of text here and that’s not a bad thing but CHAOS; HEAD manages to muck things up a bit. Some online text scrolls independently of the script and the text overlays oddly occasionally, making for more difficult reading. The English interspersed with the Japanese also looks odd in news articles and headlines and the font is quite small. Mostly, though, you’re reading constantly about the inner workings of Takumi’s strange mind and slowly sliding into madness as events spiral out of control or his fantasies take over his world.
While CHAOS; HEAD is a good read, it’s also a tedious one and your first playthrough moves by at an absolute crawl, especially the first third or so. Subsequent adventures are significantly faster because you can skip text but it simply isn’t as engaging as other titles in the Science Adventure series and if this is your first VN, while polished, it may be a bit of a turn-off. At a solid 20 hours for the first run, this is a pretty heavy commitment.
Meanwhile, we’ve got another title to look at, namely CHAOS; CHILD. While it makes sense to release CHAOS; HEAD alongside CHAOS; CHILD since it is a direct sequel, CHAOS; CHILD was originally released on PS Vita, PS4 and PC in English in 2019. There are a lot of direct parallels between the two games and for those that have already played CHAOS; CHILD, playing through again will yield a lot of new insight when paired with CHAOS; HEAD.
CHAOS; CHILD takes place six years after CHAOS; HEAD and once again, the New Gen murders have begun. They’re just as strange and unexplainable as before, but instead of the somewhat loathsome Takumi, Takuru Miyashiro, a more level-headed high school student and the president of the school’s newspaper club. He’s definitely less creepy, but Takuru is still unfortunately prone to delusions and the delusion trigger system from CHAOS; HEAD returns here. Being able to pick from a variety of positive and negative delusions is always cool and for those completists out there, you can make your way to different endings on subsequent playthroughs based on your choices in each delusion.
There’s also a bulletin board straight out of a detective’s office from a serial killer movie. This investigation board links all the New Gen murders as you progress through the game and gives you a feel of doing some actual investigation of your own. While it’s not a key element in terms of plot, it’s still interesting for the backstory and having played CHAOS; HEAD adds a bit more as well.
The plot and script of CHAOS; CHILD are certainly an improvement over CHAOS; HEAD. It’s clear that this is a sequel, partly from the added polish in the dialogue and partly from the expansion of both plot and character development. Takuru feels more like a real person than Takumi did and it’s easier to identify with him. While the delusion trigger system remains unaltered, the visuals are a hair nicer and the sound is a major step up with well-integrated sound effects that make CHAOS; CHILD feel as much like an audio drama as it does a visual novel.
What’s unchanged from the first game though is the sheer terror and disturbing nature of the deaths in CHAOS; CHILD. One man literally hallucinates until he slices up and eats his own arm live on a webcast. While it isn’t directly shown, there’s more than enough clear implication and blood to go around and honestly, not showing the goriest bits is more disturbing than showing them. Leaving things up to the imagination but toeing the line is a fantastic way to disturb players and CHAOS; CHILD nails that portion of the story. Expect to be uncomfortable!
Naturally, with a compelling story, the reading is far less tedious, but this is still a visual novel and you’re looking at a good 25-30 hours of reading with your first playthrough of CHAOS; CHILD. That’s a pretty significant plotline and don’t forget there’s another 15 or so hours of alternate storylines to get through as well to hit the true ending of the game. The time goes by fast though and Takuru and company will be excellent companions on your journey.
The Switch is a natural platform for visual novels, especially with the portability that comes along with the system. Porting both CHAOS; HEAD and CHAOS; CHILD to Switch was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, there’s no touch-based control of the game, a minor but irritating quibble as it greatly increases accessibility for portable Switch players. Instead you can auto-advance or use the sticks to advance the text. Both games also feature a tip section that allows you to check the definitions of real and imaginary terms as part of the story and specifies them as real or not. There’s a quick save option too and you can save or quick save anywhere in the game, further lending to the pick-up-and-play nature of the Nintendo Switch.
Ultimately, you’re getting two excellent linked storylines in one huge package with the CHAOS; HEAD NOAH/CHAOS; CHILD double pack. Both are worth your time and while CHAOS; CHILD is definitely the better of the two, CHAOS; HEAD is no slouch once things get moving. You can buy both games for $50 or each individually for $25. There’s no additional content included when you buy them together however. The Science Adventure franchise is pretty great across the board though, so chances are you’ll want both games. You’re getting an absolute ton of content too, with both games weighing in at between 60 and 90 hours depending on how much of a completist you are. Whether you’re only interested in one game or you’re dying to work your way through the entire franchise, the CHAOS; HEAD NOAH/CHAOS; CHILD double pack is definitely worth your time if you’re looking for a couple of wild visual novels!
This review is based on a digital copy of the CHAOS; HEAD NOAH/CHAOS; CHILD Double Pack provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes. The CHAOS; HEAD NOAH/CHAOS; CHILD Double Pack is also available for PC on Steam.