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

Companion is a kinetic visual novel that tells an interesting tale in roughly two hours. There are no choices to be made, so the ending and dialogue will be the same for everyone who chooses to embark on this story about finding love despite an apocalypse quickly approaching.

You play a male astronomer approaching thirty. He is one of the few humans who will hibernate underground, as the rest of the world is oblivious to the massive asteroid that will strike Earth within a couple of months. Not many people know about this and even fewer are taking safety measures to ensure humanity’s survival. The hibernation slots are so limited that the scientists are not even allowed to bring their young children to the bunker with them.

With less than a week before going underground, the main character is on his way home just like any other day. The rain is coming down pretty hard when a young girl asks to share his umbrella and home with her for the night. This isn’t his first time with a street worker, but her helpless demeanor pulls on his heart strings and he falls for her charms.

The game’s text is vividly detailed and the story is very well written. Sex is implied, but not drawn out or expounded on more than necessary. The F word is used to describe the encounter. Blaspheming is also found in the text as well. Many of the dialogue lines are voice acted with the exception of the main character's. The voice acting is done in Mandarin and in all honesty I found the prostitute girl, Airi’s voice quite grating at times.

Aside from her voice, her character didn’t really resonate with me. I get that she had a troubled past and a hard life, but she comes off as fickle and is even more difficult to figure out than a standard female. As a woman, I can vouch for how complex we are at times, but still there is usually a reason for why we act the way we do and Airi seems to fly off the handle more than I would anticipate.

The main character is still drawn to her and wants to give her happiness and show her kindness in the limited amount of time he has left. This becomes more than a one night stand and he put her feelings above his on many occasions in this story. Because this game is so short I’ll leave the story a mystery and not spoil it for any visual novel fans out there.

The artwork is really nice and you can view many of the stills from the extras menu. Some of Airi’s artwork is provocative and revealing. The background music and sound effects are well done. Most of the voice acting was well done with the exception of Airi’s in my opinion.

In the end, I enjoyed the story and time in this visual novel. Because it’s only two hours long I’m not sure if I would want to pay $9.99 for it since it’s only good for one play through. It’s certainly worth adding to your wishlist and picking up on sale as long as you’re not offended by the cursing and adult content.