The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood Review – TIME CUT SHORT

I’m not the biggest visual novel fan out there. Bold opening statement, I know. But that being said, I still absolutely adore the Phoenix Wright and Danganronpa series. So when I had the chance to cover a game about Tarots and changing the fate of a core cast of characters through card readings, the premise certainly had me intrigued. However, for the first time in my career, I have had to put a massive disclaimer on this review of The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood:

FOR THIS REVIEW, WE ENCOUNTERED A GAME-BREAKING BUG THAT PREVENTED US FROM FINISHING IT. THEREFORE, THIS IS A REVIEW OF ONLY WHAT WE WERE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE ON THE NINTENDO SWITCH.

Not Seeing What’s Happening

Excuse the crude bold text there, but I just want to make things abundantly clear. During Chapter IV, after I exhausted all of the possible options I had, the game simply refused to advance to the next section. I completely closed out of the game and rebooted it multiple times over a 30-minute period, and the Switch version even started to randomly update at one point too. But still, after all my efforts, the game simply refused to let me progress.

From the 4-5 hours I played though, The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood featured a pretty decent cast of characters and a unique, yet serviceable story. Before the events of the game, an exiled Witch/Tarot Reader named Fortuna was placed under house imprisonment in space (makes sense once you see it) and begins receiving visitors to help out after an amendment to her 200-year sentence. I should also mention that she keeps this gigantic, purple friend around her called a ‘Behemoth’ who is clearly up to no good, but seemingly needs something from our understandably depressed-out-of-her-brains protagonist.

To cut to the chase: the thing that’s really missing is the classic, age-old ingredient of show don’t tell. There are just so many moments that lack the appropriate emotional punch, simply because they happen off-screen. And it’s a shame too, because the main narrative of overthrowing a vile witch leader and dealing with the fallout from the Coven makes for a pretty cool, choose-your-own-adventure type of read. However, since the game only follows Fortuna’s perspective as she moves/sits around her tiny house, it often feels like the more entertaining scenes are happening elsewhere.

Simple, Yet Sufficient Gameplay

There isn’t much to do in terms of gameplay, apart from choosing between dialogue options and creating new Tarot cards to open up the range of “readings” that Fortuna can make. AKA her own interpretations. Although, the game offers a lite dating sim aspect where you can cuddle with your new fling of the day and encounter unique dialogue, as well as balancing ou the four elements (air, earth, water and fire) to respond to certain questions/scenarios throughout.

Since you can’t manually save over this game’s 6-10 hour runtime, each dialogue option feels more weighty but also opens up the door for more replay value. I also enjoy how each major choice remains consistent throughout the game. Characters will remark about a decision the player has made and it really feels like you’re shaping the world around you, instead of just receiving a cheeky one-liner or a ‘Person X will remember that’ which doesn’t necessarily impact much of the proceedings.

The music does help to set the tone though, with a very chilled-out, synthy feel to the game’s soundtrack. Almost reminiscent of the iconic, headphone-bopping Lofi girl… Lofi girl in space, that is. Now I rarely talk about budgets in my reviews. However, you can definitely sense the limitations at work here. Since most of the game is spent pent-up in Fortuna’s floating house while being viewed from a constant, very specific angle, there isn’t much visual stimulus going on here. Yes, I’m well aware that this is a visual novel, but at least Phoenix Wright and Danganronpa had some simple, yet effective animations to look at. However, apart from a few head nods/glances and scenes that take place in Fortuna’s past, the visuals certainly could’ve used more diversity.

Decision

Even though I physically could not finish the game, from what I experienced, The Cosmic Wheel Sister featured a fairly compelling story and characters. However, it would often forgo the age-old show don’t tell technique, leaving the audience feeling like its biggest scenes are happening in another castle. The lack of visual variety also hurts the immersion factor too, as one does not simply stare at the same camera angle for 30 minutes without losing interest. Regardless, if you’re looking for a decent visual novel that tackles an assortment of mature themes, alongside some cruisy, choose-your-own-adventure gameplay with lite dating sim elements, you could certainly do much worse.

By Anthony Culinas – Reviewed on Nintendo Switch

Unscored

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is an adequate visual novel that prefers to tell players what has happened, rather than showing them the outcomes of their decisions. The simple Tarot card reading gameplay doesn’t require much skill or planning to spur along the proceedings, but it does offer a competent look into the human experience and some simple dating mechanics to boot. Just avoid playing on Nintendo Switch for the time being.

This game was reviewed using a download code provided by Devolver Digital. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website.