Xbox Review | Crime Opera Fandisk: The Caterpillar Candids

It’s time to be taken back to the first game, Crime Opera: The Butterfly Effect, and be given additional details on the before, during and aftermath of its events. For those who desire deeper details and expanding lore, this is where you’ll get your wish granted. With this game, Crime Opera Fandisk: The Caterpillar Candids, we have a simple ‘fan disc’ where you learn a little extra about certain characters and are also given extensive insight into the creation of the Crime Opera Series by the team behind the games which was welcomed by myself and certainly not expected, allowing you to be informed and connected to the behind the scenes process. Crime Opera Fandisk: The Caterpillar Candids has been developed by Crime Opera Studios, Eastasiasoft Limited and Ratalaika Games SL while being published by Eastasiasoft Limited to bring us back to different times and places where questions will be answered and more understanding will happen naturally. Please read on if you’d like to know my more in-depth thoughts on this title.

Things I Liked

• Artistic Quality | As visual novels go, Crime Opera Fandisk: The Caterpillar Candid certainly keeps up appearances and keeps the same appealing hand-drawn art style from the original I’d already grown to admire by combining appropriate colouring with beautifully drawn character designs. They capture the characters in all their glory and accurately portray their personalities. The backgrounds have kept their quality, adding to the games overall aesthetic and giving beautiful settings to those who want to truly picture the current scenarios. The use of monochrome in the chapter ‘A Day in the Strife’ was a nice touch, implying an earlier time before the main game took place as opposed to the present day.

• Intense Audio | The audio, much like the original game, is incredible and is full of well-placed atmospheric tones which pushes these visual novels to another level. Due to the seriousness of a Mafia family and all the ongoings with various characters, it’s essential to get the audio spot on when tempers flair, tears are shed, confusion sets in and more and with the different audio tracks, this is done seamlessly. It makes the ‘visual novel’ aspect more than expected as not only are you reading text and viewing imagery but also adding another sense into the equation.

• Additional Backstory | Additional story detail, lore and background is something I will always enjoy and encourage when it comes to visual novels, especially one which expands over multiple games as the Crime Opera Series has. As a ‘companion piece’, Crime Opera Fandisk: The Caterpillar Candids focuses solely on the characters in the first game where the writer believed there to be some possible gaps in the story and extra details which could prove interesting to readers. I was pleasantly surprised to learn more about Terry Childers, Xander and Molly, and how the aftermath affected the children involved.

• Developer Insight | Something I did not expect was the chapter titled ‘Beyond Butterfly’, which took me from the game and back into reality. This acts like an interview of sorts which gives us a generalised idea of how the game came together. The journey of SBester has been told in such an open way by themself which I admire, allowing me to truly understand all it takes to make a successful visual novel. Life happens, and with it comes ups and downs/stops and starts, which SBester has been incredibly forthcoming about – from personal life to financial funding. Each member of the team has also been written in with explanations about their contribution to the game and the process each element has taken. Visuals (Characters by JT and Backgrounds by Giao) and the Audio (Solo Acapello) have been explained in immense detail which made me appreciate the process and finished pieces even more. Thank you for this chapter Crime Opera Studios!

Mixed & Disliked

• Short and Sweet | Although I enjoyed the additional chapters of Crime Opera Fandisk: The Caterpillar Candids, I have been left wanting even more. Like I said before, I’m a sucker for any extras I can get my hands on! As this title was supposed to be in between The Butterfly Effect and The Floodgate Effect, its release time on the console did feel strange due to the next instalment being released the same day. Maybe if it had been possible to space these out, then the game would have fitted a companion piece better. In total, with me reading everything with no automatic skips, it took me an hour to finish which was short but expected as it was not presented as another main plot in the Crime Opera Series.

• Aftermath Chapter | One of the main questions I had after I completed Crime Opera: The Butterfly Effect was how all of this family fallout and death affected all the children. The chapter ‘Aftermath’ attempted this and provided short conversations with each child. The reason I say attempted is because I felt there wasn’t anywhere near enough detail in this chapter. Some of these kids must be traumatised by what they’ve witnessed and it feels like they’re getting by with very few problems. In my opinion, an opportunity has been missed here to really delve into the emotions and damage caused.

How long did I play the review before publishing? 1 Hour
How long to beat the story? Approximately 1 Hour
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 12/12 OR 1000/1000G
How long to achieve 1000G | Approximatley 1 Hour
You’ll love this game if you like these | Crime Opera Series and Intense Visual Novels

Conclusion

Score: 60/100

Although it was nice to play Crime Opera Fandisk: The Caterpillar Candids for its additional lore regarding the original game and ongoing characters involved in the series, I did feel a little let down by the lack of additional backstory. I would have loved more chapters to further delve into more characters and their pasts with emphasis on the ‘Aftermath’ chapter. The visuals, audio and quality of writing still hold up to the original game. The chapter which allowed us to understand the process behind how the game series became a reality was really interesting, though, and I’m glad this was included.