The Song of Saya

The Song of Saya is one of those visual novels that always comes up when people ask for something seriously messed up but also really good. It's the exact opposite of your typical high school romance story. It's more like… a body horror love story… Which is weird, but that's what makes it memorable. The whole thing is about this med student named Fuminori. He gets into this crazy car accident that kills his family and the experimental brain surgery that saves his life completely messes up his perception. His entire world turns into a disgusting, pulsating nightmare of flesh and gunk. Everyone he knows looks and sounds like a monster and food tastes like rotting meat. He's so alone and horrified that he's basically ready to give up on life. Then, one night in the hospital, he sees this one girl who looks completely normal and even smells nice. Her name is Saya, and she's like this pure, cute beacon of light in his gross world. She's the only thing that doesn't look like a walking pile of guts, so obviously, he instantly latches onto her.

Right from the start, the game doesn't hold back on showing you how awful Fuminori's world is. The descriptions and the art are graphic, like, a simple lunch with his friend becomes an unbearable scene where he's trying not to vomit at this fleshy monster spewing fluids. It's not that scary, it's just deeply unsettling because you feel his exhaustion and isolation. You totally get why he'd want to escape that world with Saya, who seems perfect. But here's the thing that makes the story so tense: Saya is obviously… off. She's way too perfect for this world. The game does an amazing job of making you feel this creeping dread underneath their seemingly sweet moments. You just know there's something seriously wrong. Why is she the only one who looks human to him? What is she really? The story slowly peels back the layers of that mystery.

The story takes like 8 hours. It moves fast because it cuts out all the pointless slice of life stuff and just focuses on the main plot. There are only a few important characters, so everything feels really tight and focused. It even switches perspectives sometimes to show you how other people see Fuminori and Saya, which is genius because it makes you understand the consequences of their actions. The art is this cool, gritty, realistic style that fits the mood perfectly. The characters don't look like shiny anime idols; they look like real people, and the grotesque CGs are seriously disgusting.

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 The biggest bummer is that, for some reason, I can't get the sounds to work at all in this port. I've tried messing with all the settings I could find, but no luck. It's a real shame because the soundtrack is supposed to be amazing for setting the mood. On the plus side, everything else seems to run okay. The pictures all show up on the top screen just fine, and all the text displays perfectly in the bottom screen, so it's totally readable. As for the adult content… I actually haven't gotten that far yet myself, so I'm not sure if this particular port has it or if it's been edited out. I guess you'll find out. Just wanted to be upfront about that since it affects the experience.