Nirvana Pilot Yume [Switch]
Dev9k’s Nirvana Pilot Yume is an unusual blend of a visual novel and a classic racing/action title. Overflowing with sci-fi nostalgia, you play as an ‘Eye’ - one half of a duo required for racing - called Mitur Aldaine. Interplanetary disputes are no longer resolved by war, but through the G.U.R.U. (which stands for Great Ultrathought Race of the Universe), where pilots from each Orbital City face off. After a terrible incident where Mitur and his Pilot, Celeste, lost their Nirvana Sync mid-race and she perished, Mitur feels wracked with guilt. The Eye oversees the race, controlling from afar, whilst the Pilot is physically inside the ship, so because of this he survived - witnessing her death. Long after retiring from races, a new Apprentice Pilot by the name of Yume, convinces him to return and join her in her quest to become a great Pilot.
As the bond between Mitur and Yume grows, their Nirvana Sync (which the game hilariously shortens to Nsync) enhances, enabling them to be better racers and ultimately this can also have an impact on the ending. There are five different story endings available, as well as a number of different events in the story that will set you on the path for particular endings depending on how you react and respond to other characters, with relationships increasing or decreasing depending on interactions.
The blend of racer/visual novel is apparent in the aesthetic of Nirvana Pilot Yume, with each segment looking vastly different to another. Racing segments are slightly different from typical racing games, in that you are not actually up against any other racers on the track with you - the aim is to just survive through the full track (no checkpoints, eek!). And whilst these do increase in difficulty as you progress, they are fairly quick to get through (assuming no deaths, but there’s gonna be a lot of deaths!). The colour palette is gorgeous, with lots of blues and purples, as well as pinks/reds that all look great together, but sadly the racing tracks and their backgrounds are very simple and bland aside from the pretty colours. Character designs are very anime-esque, and work really well within the style of the game also. Obstacles in each race are difficult to see in advance, and due to your speed, will be right up on you in an instant. This can make certain areas of the track super-frustrating as you just can’t pull off a jump well enough. The more bumps you have, the lower you Nirvana Sync drops, and when the Nsync drops too far, you’ll also get visual interference covering the screen making it even harder to succeed.
The soundtrack is something that really stands out here, as it is fantastic, particularly in the racing sections. With adrenaline-fuelled, kick-ass tracks that really spur you on as you blast through the circuits, this really works to further differentiate from the softer, synth tracks looping in the visual novel sections.
As you progress through the story, races get more difficult and at times become near enough impossible due to the controls. There is the frequent need to brake to make turns or get in a quick jump, as these will sometimes catch you off guard. Once you get a hang of braking, it will help slightly but doesn’t slow you down enough to be able to pull across to far sides to avoid falling off the track, and banging into things is an all too-often occurrence when you’re going too fast. Races end very abruptly, cutting into a loading screen before moving back to the visual novel sections. This feels off putting, as it would be far better to have a proper form of an ending to these races.
Available for less than a fiver, at just £4.49 on the Nintendo eShop - it’s a pretty average game, coming in at around three hours long. There’s an Arcade Mode available as well, either for you to continue playing after completion, or in my opinion, up front to get the hang of the controls for each race - as some of these feel almost impossible with weak steering and frequently unresponsive jumps. Overall, it’s got a lot of things going against it, but with a fairly interesting story and fantastic soundtrack, for £4.49, it’s not too bad of a price for what it is.
In the end, we decided to give Nirvana Pilot Yume the Collecting Asylum rating of 5/10.
Have you played Nirvana Pilot Yume yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Dev9k for the Nirvana Pilot Yume Nintendo Switch review code!
