Buy WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.01

My god. My heart after playing this game. This is coming from a man who has watched & played multiple Urobochi works.

The story is about a kid who is attempting to enact his dream - to explore Mars - through rapid accumulation of wealth utilizing the stock market. At age 16 he ran away from home, earned 1,000 mools (appears to have 1/1 exchange rate with USD) working, then multiplied it to 72,000 mools through margin trading.

While starting off slow - perhaps even painfully so, the story moves towards a powerful, deeply moving (and terrible) conclusion. I don't want to spoil more, so I'll end by saying World's End Economica (in Volume 1, at least) is the definition of the Linear VN archtype, unlike Fate/Stay Night you don't even get to make choices.

For those who want some action in their VN, Sunrider (a free game, and on Steam) plays very much like Fire Emblem with a dash of Mass Effect style morality choices.

Although I am recommending World's End Economica, it is emotionally traumatizing. Definitely not for everyone.

NO SPICE, NO WOLF
JUST FULL ON MOON ECONOMICS
IT'S THE STOCK MARKET ON THE MOON, MAN
IT'S A HIGH FLYING ROCKET TO THE COOLEST ECONOMIC STORY AROUND
BE INVOLVED IN SOME INTENSE TRADING
TALK TO GIRLS ABOUT STOCKS
IF YOU HAVEN'T INVESTED IN A COMPANY YET
WHAT ARE YOU EVEN WAITING FOR
PS: THE WORLD DOES NOT END

NOTE: This review will only cover episode 01 and therefore contains no spoiler of later episodes. Spoiler of episode 01 is not guaranteed. This review is written from my experience playing the first English version of the game and after a quick technical test of the Steam version.

Quick story summary: In the far future, the Moon has been conquered and turned into a self-sustained colony. It quickly gathered wealth and became a capitalist haven. Haru/Hal wants to get rich quick in this Luna colony, so he does so by gaming the system through stock market trading, Episode 01 of this game follows his teenage years, accumulating his first successes at stock trading.

My view: The premise may make you think this story is gonna be like a boring Wall Street Journal article, but it really is not. This is really a drama. The game spends a lot more time with the relationships between Hal and the people around him, how they live their poor lives outside the center of wealth of the world, how capitalism affect their lives, how the pressure of a materialistic society pushes them into dark corners, and how the dream to get rich made Hal cynical of his circumstance. This is less Capitalism: A Love Story and more Wall Street (the Oliver Stone movie).

I like the character development a lot, although the game takes its time to play this out. I like the relationship between Hal and Hagana, they started out with a misunderstanding (to the point of physical violence) and remained hostile toward each other in the first part of the game. But as it goes along, both of them slowly softens up to each other, and it's pleasant to see this gradual shift in their relationship. I like how beneath the surface, our protagonist is not really greedy as the capitalist bosses that he resents so much. He actually has a noble purpose by getting rich which is revealed in the last part of episode 01. To many, money is their goal, to Hal, money is a tool to serve his higher purpose. I like Lisa and how she acted like a mother/older sister figure to the protagonist. I even like the money lender Toyama in this game, the game portrayed him as less of an one-dimensional loan shark, and more as just another victim of capitalism.

Another thing this game really succeeded at is how it engages you into stock market trading, which should have been dry and boring. Even if you don't understand any financial terms, the game explained all of them in a layman's language, from the basic terms to advanced trading and analyzing technique. And it goes really deep, explaining how the market is influenced, how the stock numbers form a pattern and how the common mentality is taken advantage of (the mentality to always bid at 10-rounded price marks, for instance). This game made me really get it, that thrill of trading stocks and taking risks that might give a big payoff. This is why people are obsessed with stock trading, I really get it now.

Yet despite indulging in the stock market theme, this game does not glamorize it. This is ultimately a cynical social commentary about capitalism. We have all seen this before in real life. The stock market ruins as much lives as the lives it paid off big. In this game, it ruins not only lives, but relationships as well. Without spoiling the specifics, episode 01 ends on a bitter note, prompting the next phase in Hal's life in his adult years in episode 02.

Graphics: The game runs in glorious 720p resolution by default, but you can resize the the window of the game on smaller screens. As a result, art assets in the game are made in native 1280x720 resolution. The backgrounds benefit from this the most. They look gorgeous, especially the views of Newton City, it's as much of a sight to behold as the narrative described it to be. There is not much variety in the scenes so you will end up getting the same backgrounds a lot of time, but considering this is an independent game, it's still quite impressive. The character sprites look okay if a bit lacking in poses, but they have some weird pencil sketch lines on their neck shadows. If you're bothered by this, do be noted that episode 02 onward no longer have these weird pencil sketches.

Audio: There is no voice acting. The soundtrack have some scifi bleeps mixed in here and there. For the rest of the time, they are mostly calming and not very memorable.

Technical report: I'll be commenting on technical aspects of this particular version in this segment. This is the 2nd English version of the game. And here are the differences:
- Config menu and pop-up messages in the first English version was in Japanese. The whole interface is now in English.
- The game now allows you to pick a much wider range of text font. The default font (Times New Roman) looks quite unpleasant. I recommend the font Flamenco for this game, it looks really nice.
- The original version had some game crashing bugs that occur when you open the About window or try to play a track in the music mode. Also, the gallery and the music mode are bugged in the original version (no images and tracks unlocked when you finished the game). All of these bugs have been fixed in this version.
- A slightly new translation. I can't comment on the translation quality, but I can only hope it would be better then the first English script. My experience of the game was from before it received a translation patch and an edit pass by sekaiproject.
Also do note that the game is bilingual. The original Japanese script is included, a great resource for language students.

Early Access status: Steam integration is incomplete. Steam overlay is not working in windowed mode right now and features like Screenshot is not working either.
Release version status: Not much different from the Early Access version. The same issues are still here and the game still uses the same engine. A bit disappointing, but at least the meat of the game is still intact.

I hope my review helps you making a decision whether to purchase this game.

World End Economica. Is a visual novel. And by that, the type of linear, no-choice novel. It is by all practical means a book. A digital book with music and linear storyline.
If you thought you'd get to play your hands on the stock exchange, or remembering the words:
"The first rule: Never take a loss.
The second rule: Never forget the first."
Then you'll be disappointed, there are no "Choices" for you to make.

So why do I recommend this?

Story - In keeping with Hasekura's arguably more famous work of Spice and Wolf which is a series of books and manga I wholeheartedly would recommend to you, the reader. It's as it says on the tin, about economy.
But in all the numbers and logics, there's a story. And what a story! It's in this sense, not a game. It is a story, a well-built story with its natural plot twists and moments where you'd want to cheer, and moments you'd be stuck in a well of sympathy or spite depending on your own evaluation.

Music - It's got music, and to me i do feel it quite surely fits to the whole setting. Sound really makes a scene deeper, if the music is quite right. This one Is just that. Quite right.

Graphics and visuals - As to be expected, there's CGI's which themselves are quite well made. The general playing scenes might be described as if ever so slightly bland. Stemming from the fact that the characters themselves seem a bit bereft of emotions for reasons i'll let you discover yourselves.
It is a book, and a quite fine book.
But as a game, no it's not so much a game, there's no interaction you do as the "player" You are the reader, so in this sense, advertising as a game might be misleading. But nontheless. I do recommend this game to you all, for those rainy days when you'd get a headache playing RTS or FPS games, don't feel like going outside, and just want to sit back and, read something. Good.

This is easily one of the best visual novels I’ve played on Steam so far. Make no mistake though, it’s aimed at a tiny audience. The protagonist is a stock investor, and the writer went out of his way to make it authentic. It’s to the point where I imagine sections of the story will be impenetrable for those who haven’t read a course or two of economics. Terms like “short selling” are used without more than the briefest explanation.

It does a good job of portraying not just the appeal of the stock market, but also the absurdity, and the risks involved with it. Folks with modest aspirations have their dreams smashed by people in ivory towers, who view the economy as a game. The story conveys how stock trade happens, without dumbing it down in any way. Here’s where I think it’ll lose much of the audience. At the same time the story attempts to create a human connection to the people on the street. Those who just live their lives, making a meager wage, who have to go into debt just to pay for education and healthcare. It walked a precarious balance here. The two parts worked for me, but I’ve seen reviews that don’t agree at all. It revels in trading with such detail, that I can see all attachment being lost with many in the audience.

When I saw this was “Episode 1” I expected it to be 3-4 hours long or something. But instead it was around 8 hours long. It’s a complete story arc which stands on its own legs. I played it all in a single sitting without feeling the need to stop, which I can only take as a good sign. All the various story threads have good pay-offs in the end, and I felt the tug of wanting to see what happens next. My only problems with it were in the production values. The backgrounds were outstanding, and the music was good. But the engine was behaving strangely. The UI is way too big, and it often looped music incorrectly, and many image transitions were messed up. Apparently this was ported from one engine to another to allow cross platform support. Wouldn’t surprise me if this is the culprit, and that nobody has the will to patch it, as I’d guess it’s at least a hundred little polish problems littered across the game. These polishing issues didn’t ruin it for me or anything.

I’m impressed at the effort the author put into this. This was not aimed at a general audience. It’s definitely one of those stories that was written with no regard to mass market appeal at all. And that’s what makes it work! I’m kind of amazed it was made at all.

Interesting VN marred by some formatting issues, occasional typos and a lack of extra CG's to put some situations in context. In true Spice and Wolf fashion, it's a bit heavy on the technical jargon; prepare to be confused if you don't know much about the stock market and investing, though this is not by a lack of effort on the novel's part to teach you, at it does touch at least on the basics.

Clocks in at around 13 hours depending on how fast you read, it definitely doesn't overstay its welcome. Solid sci-fi human-colonies-on-the-moon setting, with interesting characters that unfortunately don't have enough time to be developed fully. The music score is solid for the most part, with special notion to the catchy main menu tune, Under the Net.

Fantastic ending, fitting for the end of the first episode of a trilogy. A great purchase if it goes on sale, though it is absolutely worth your 10 dollars.

Playing WEE Ep.1
I learned
~how to invest
~how to look at the stock market
~how to trade efficiently and gaining income
~how to make like 10$ to 100$
~how to save money

10/10 would learn these life hacks again

I was very reluctant to buy this game at first, it says episode 01 and I know there are more to follow. I was not sure how long it would be and if the story will end or just leave me hanging for a sequel that might or might not ever happen (been there, done that in the past).

However, I ended up buying it because of steam sales and oh boy was I wrong. Why did I not play this before?
The story is great, the artwork is amazing (aside for some secondary areas and backgrounds). This is not a "choose your own story" visual novel with multiple choices and paths, this is just a story. Do you like reading books? Do you like getting immersed in good stories? Then you will like this.

Do you play dating sims and visual novels with "routes" and choices? Do you just want some h-scenes? Then I'm sorry this is probably not to your linking.

The story is long enough to keep you entertained (I clocked 13-14 hours), it is very interesting and at times not so easy to follow so it will require your attention most of the time. If you think you might not like economics and stock trading... well, you might be surprised because this story really makes you want to get more into it. I myself do not really enjoy stock trading but this story almost made me want to get out of my way try my hand at being an investor,it really is that interesting.

The ending fits well with the story and provides somewhat of a closure so you won't be left hanging in the middle of the plot only to be told "yo sorry, go buy the other episodes". Without spoiling anything, it leaves enough space for the following episodes, but at the same time you will feel content with what you have. Just like reading a good book of a trilogy, so do not be afraid to give this game a go. It is totally worth the money in my opinion.

This is probably the best Visual Novel (VN) on Steam, it's about a really good storyline, not kawaii and moe things, also it has very nice calming soundtrack that helps concentrate reading it. It's about a guy who is very good at stock trades, who lives in more future time than we, when humanity achieved fully reaching the Moon and even made city there that uses Solar power with Solar Panels to maintain itself, and it located inside a dome where even rain is simulated, so there lives our protagonist.

This VN is written by Isuna Hasekura the writer of Spice & Wolf series, there is even anime and manga of it besides more than 11 books. Because of this you can see World End Economica is written more professionally than other VNs, she describes small details very well, engages different moments with explanations of secondary things that gives a more deep feel to the story, characters and the surrounding world of the City in the Moon, I also really like the characters personality, the Moon and their citizens and different places there are described in multiple details making you feel more the world of the story.

I totally recommend getting World End Economica, if you like VNs with good more serious stories where even the anime style is a secondary thing, anime style is nice it gives characters their personality and look, but it doesn't really affect the actual story, so even if you are not into anime you would probably still like it, Isuna Hasekura is a really good writer, she won't disappoint you. The only little downside is that the game story is very slow paced , so every scene progresses slower than other VNs, I feel that the author is more of a book writter than VN writter, she tends to describe every scene with lots of details and it makes it long.

"It's not whether or not it can be done; but keep going until it works!"

Written by Isuna Hasekura - best known for his Spice and Wolf series - WORLD END ECONOMICA is a slow progressing three part visual novel with a heavy hit on one's psyche, sense of justice and emotional durability. This first episode and the second one following are currently accessible for the community, and it is announced that with the translation complete, we can see the third episode here any day now.

In this elaborate science fiction/economic thriller, it's been 16 years since the mankind embraced a new frontier and built a colony on the moon. That colony declared its independence to take on to become the financial capital of humanity. Kawaura Yoshiharu - a young boy who was born on the moon and never has seen the earth - ventures out to follow a big dream: gathering enough capital fund to go out and establish a new frontier for the mankind: Mars. For the purpose of gathering enough money, he runs away from his home and lower-mid class life style; and starts margin trading in stock market. As he goes after this own dream, his life crosses with a bunch of others, making him a witness to both the hollow and the ugly side of any glory. Will the boy who is already living on the moon be able to reach Mars one day?

This first chapter of WORLD END ECONOMICA narrates Haru's backstory by introducing the fundamental structure for a powerful metropolis set on the moon, and not so prosperous lives of other individuals that Haru grows attached to as a powerful contrast to the seemingly flawless wealth of the setting. The setting is unique, and the storyline - even though dreadfully slow building at the start - grows to become a marvelous thriller that will present you a sleepless night. The narrative is heavily relied on financial terms and a bit hard to follow at times, so I advise taking time to read slowly. Considering it is a kinetic visual novel with no actual participation from the player, this is most certainly not a "one sit to go" story. Threat it like an anime series that you'd be excited to see the next chapter of.

As a visual novel, the display is decent enough. While panoramic art are various and breathtaking, character design and art are somewhat mediocre. For a visual novel with this size and playtime, I'd expect a certain variety with CGs and artworks, yet it feels like there was a shortcoming about that department. The music is fittingly moody/exciting at every turn though and establishes a successful tone for the narrative.

I cannot recommend this first chapter to everyone, with its slow progression and heavily dramatic plotline structure - but for the one's that would be interested with a plot driven drama on a mid-sci-fi setting, this first episode was a very well-done choice. You'll start reading it lazily and hope that something exciting would soon happen for the first half; and then suddenly you cannot stop reading by the point that you are halfway done. It is a heart-wrecking experience.

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