Perseverance: Complete Edition is a visual novel for the Nintendo Switch. More accurately, it’s a collection of three stories previously released as individual games over the past five years. They tell the story of Jack and Karen, two strangers whose worlds intertwine with an impending apocalyptic event.
I like reading. I always have a book or two on the go between gaming. Visual novels appeal to me for the same reason, as a form of escape with the added bonus of a visual treatment. Perseverance presents the gripping story of an average man named Jack caught in his own domestic woes while a catastrophic event unfolds around him. Meanwhile, Karen is an assassin-for-hire who has her own issues. It’s an interesting take on the end-of-days genre, with an engaging human side mixed in with the usual tropes.
Unfortunately, I have a few gripes with Perseverance. Firstly, there are many typos and grammatical errors. This is particularly prevalent in the first of the three stories. It presents an unpolished feel, especially for a title that relies heavily on words. I can forgive a few mistakes, but I eventually gave up counting after seeing the likes of “jelous” for “jealous”, “conscience” instead of “conscious”, and “wierd” rather than “weird”. What’s more disappointing is that this isn’t even a new game; the developers have had five years to correct these issues. While it might not bother everyone, they’re glaringly obvious to me. It smacks of poor design; we all make mistakes, but that’s why we have professional proofreaders.
The simple user interface is fine in general, with a top menu that provides easy access to functions like saving and loading. What’s missing are a few quality-of-life additions, such as the ability to rewind, and touchscreen control. While not strictly necessary, it enhances the user experience dramatically. I love visual novels with a touch ability to move forward rather than relying on pressing a button. It makes the game much more accessible if you’re in handheld mode, yet this isn’t a feature available in Perseverance.
There are also glitches. When the credits rolled in one of the stories, I loaded a save point to try an alternate path, and the credits remained overlaid on the screen, a bizarre experience. Another super-strange error was when I was able to choose a name for a character. That was a nice touch of interactivity, however whenever the character was mentioned from that point forward, there was just a gap. It took me out of the moment and away from the drama by making it even harder to read. I tried various names by going back and choosing another one, but it made no difference.
Thankfully, the story itself is interesting and engaging, if predictable. The stories become longer and more intertwined as you progress, presenting several hours’ worth of entertainment. I enjoyed the way the characters overlapped within each tale, and there are plenty of opportunities for decisions that affect the outcome. Most of the time, they’re either superfluous or lead to death. In the case of the latter, you’ll automatically go back to your last decision to try another option. This was a feature I appreciated, since you don’t have to restart from the beginning or a save point – and that’s if you remembered to manually save it. I also enjoyed the visuals, which present a graphic-novel style. The colors and well-designed characters help bring the tale to life.
Overall, Perseverance: Complete Edition is a dark visual novel that brings three stories into one release. The typos and glitches are distracting, but the solid story and neat visuals will keep you entertained. A few more options would also go a long way.
