Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram is a visual novel which is a spin-off from Steins;Gate. It is a port of the original game that came out for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Vita, although that version was never translated into English. This port was translated into English and released as a bonus with PS4 and Steam copies of Steins;Gate Elite. It contains eleven side stories which expands upon the events of the original visual novel, although this version lacks trophies, which is a shame but not a huge deal.
If you are playing this straight after Elite, then there will be quite a bit of adjustment required. This is because the graphical style is completely different. Elite took scenes from the anime, while this game reused assets from the original visual novel. Therefore the backgrounds and sprites have a totally difference aesthetic. That said, this is a unique aesthetic and looks great. Despite the majority of the game being reused assets, there are still a few new backgrounds and all of the CGs are new and specific to this game. The game is completely voiced by the same voice actors, so this is not just a cheap and lazy cash tie-in.
The game expects you to have already played the original and that you are familiar with all the characters, the events, and the concepts. The various side stories take on different tones, some are serious, while others are sillier and more lighthearted. The concept of the game is that each of these side stories take place in alternate worldlines, or possibilities. For example, in the very first side story, Okabe casually uses D-mail and time leaps with none of the serious repercussions that the main game had. Each side story has a different supporting character as the narrator, so it can feel quite different given that you’ll be hearing their inner thoughts which also reveals a lot more about their characters than ever before.
Each side story still roughly fits within the events of the main game, somehow. Sometimes it stretches the scenario quite a bit and it basically asks you to overlook that. Most of the side stories take place within the same few days as the main game. There are plenty of nods to the events of the main story, especially with the secrets that each character holds within themselves. Time travel still features quite heavily as a plot device and while this game was originally released before Steins;Gate Zero, there are some things that happen here, that you will recognise or see referenced in that game.
The scenarios in each side story generally works and there are times where it rivals the original in terms of raw emotions. Exploring the what-if scenarios and having that different perspective so that we can see the thoughts of the side characters provides a lot of additional impact. While some of the side stories don’t actually reveal too many additional major events, by going into depth on what we had already known, it makes it much more nostalgic and full of potential. Although the ones that cover the same events from a different perspective are a little bit more boring in comparison.
There is one particular chapter that deserves mention, and it is one of the later ones. It is interesting in that it is a mystery story akin to the original. Obviously it isn’t as long but it doesn’t need to set up all the concepts and is able to jump right into it. As the mysteries keep piling on, you are waiting to reach the end and the big reveal. Once it does that, it’s not that it is unsatisfying as it still all clicks into place, but it stretches the believability of the events. And this is a theme because a lot of the events in the side stories rely on coincidences, ones that seem to always somehow involve the cast of supporting characters. While this is necessary in terms of game design, it can raise a few eyebrows when the world seemingly revolves so much around this group.
The game has limited interactivity, as you’d expect of a visual novel. The only control you have to is to pull out your phone and reply to different text messages that you’d receive. These text messages end up becoming the collectibles of the game as different replies will branch off the content of subsequent replies. There’s an in-game tracker to see what you are missing. Story-wise, these text messages don’t affect it at all and you will always reach the one ending for each side story. Each route varies between an hour to two hours long, so that’s around 15 hours of content, depending on your reading speed.
Not all side stories are available from the get go, you will need to unlock batches of them as you complete others. After reading all the side stories, there isn’t anything else to do unless you want to replay them to get all the text message replies. This English translation is a bit of a rushed job. This is probably due to the game being a bonus inclusion rather than a standalone release. It’s fine for most of the game but towards the end, it’s like the editor either ran out of time or was just sloppy as the frequency of typos increased.
Overall, Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram is a good bonus for fans of the original Steins;Gate. You get to spend more time with the characters and explore a few alternate worldlines including some really interesting ones. On the other hand, it does retread a lot of things and relies heavily upon knowledge of the original game. There are certain sections of the game where it is obvious that there are different writers as the style and themes aren’t as focused and tight. Still, it gives you a nostalgic hit and it is a good expansion to the Steins;Gate universe.
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