Thank you Sekai Project for sending us this game to review!

9-nine-:Episode 4 takes place in a parallel universe with a different chain of events. Like the other timelines, powerful artifacts have made their way into the hands of students who use their newfound abilities for good or evil. When you first begin this story you’ll be chatting with Sophie and be given an overworld view of the various timeline branches (Episodes 1-3). It’s highly recommended that you’re familiar with the previous three games before playing this one. You’ll be doing a lot of timeline hopping in the hopes of defeating Iris and saving the lives of your friends.

Up to this point, you have not managed to defeat her despite having a powerful party that can break through her barriers. In Episode 3 Noa Yuuki (referred to as the parfait queen in previous entries) froze up and it’s your goal to get closer to her to figure out what held her back and how to unlock her power’s full potential.

By using his overlord ability, Kakeru can predict future events that happened in previous timelines. He’s pretty accurate and quickly earns the trust of his allies in this timeline as a result. Due to Iris’ meddling, the timeframe shifts sometimes but if things get really bad, Kakeru can rewind time and do things over (within reason).

As Kakeru earns Noa’s trust, he’ll learn about her past and the traumatizing events that hinder her ability to harness the full power of her judgment ability. Despite the somber events, there are plenty of light-hearted moments to keep this visual novel upbeat and enjoyable. The dialogue is funny at times though it’s often riddled with language and blaspheming. There are some sexual jokes and references as well. Like previous entries, premarital sex does happen and there are adult patches available for this game to unlock lewd artwork. I played the vanilla version that leaves that stuff to your imagination.

Violence and bloodshed are also present in this episode. Severed limbs are shown and other deaths/injuries are vividly described. When any party member takes damage the screen will flash red. Tough decisions are made in this episode and sometimes that involves preemptive strikes. If given an opportunity to kill someone before they murdered many others, would you do it?

The visuals and sound effects are still top-notch. The same background music is used and the voice acting is consistent with the previous episodes. I’m still captivated by the artwork and expressions on the characters. The colorful backdrops are plentiful and beautiful.

If you don’t mind the mysticism, language, and sexual references, 9-nine-: Episode 4 is worth checking out. Since I played some of this game offline I don’t know my true game time but there are probably more than 11 hours or so. The asking price is a reasonable $19.99 and I look forward to seeing the teased final ending/installment.