Kanon is a slice-of-life, all-ages romance visual novel with multiple routes developed by VISUAL ARTS/Key and published by VISUAL ARTS. It is the very first game developed by Key but hasn't been available on Steam until now, with HD visuals and Japanese voice acting. You take on the role of Yuichi Aizawa, a teenage boy who moves to the Japanese town where his aunt, Aikiko Minase, and his cousin, Nayumi, live since his parents moved overseas but Yuichi didn't want to leave the country. Although Yuichi once visited this town seven years ago, he has memory gaps of his time there. As he goes about adjusting to life in this snowy town in the middle of winter, he meets various characters, who are potential love interests, and perhaps his memories of the past return. Since I don't wish to give away any story spoilers, I'll leave off my synopsis here. ^^

As for the gameplay, Kanon has 6 female romance routes and lots of choices. While the early choices determine which route Yuichi will go on, the later choices determine whether you'll obtain a good or bad ending. As for who the potential romantic partners are, they're the following: Nayuki (even though they're first cousins, romance between them is considered acceptable in Japan), Ayu (a girl whom Yuichi bumps into and has a love for taiyuki), Makoto (an amnesiac who always tries to pull pranks on Yuichi and seemingly dislikes him), Shiori (a first-year student at Yuichi's high school who has a long-term illness), Mai (a third-year student who fights monsters and is socially awkward), and Sayuri (also, a third-year student who is Mai's best friend and is very friendly). As I mentioned earlier, there is Japanese voice acting, and most of the characters are fully voiced. Only Yuichi is partially voiced. There are plenty of beautiful CGs along with a varied soundtrack. Of course, there are steam achievements, and they count towards a user's global total. However, no Steam trading cards are present at the time of this review.

Now that I've gone over the story and gameplay, I'll move onto my thoughts. I have been a major fan of Visual Arts/Key's VNs (please do check out and follow my curation in which the link will be provided at the end of this review to read some of my reviews of other Key VNs ^^) for a long time now, so I couldn't help getting excited as soon as I found out that Kanon would be coming to Steam. Although I heard lots of wonderful praise about it, I didn't have a chance to play the original version. However, thanks to the wonderful people at VISUAL ARTS, I finally got the chance to play this remastered version and share my thoughts.

First, I'll give my thoughts on the story and characters. I like how the story starts off, with Yuichi sitting on a bench at the station, waiting for Nayuki, who's late. He's in his innermost thoughts, wondering how life is going to be, in another town and away from his parents. Yuichi is pretty much your typical male main character. His main trait is that he tends to like to tease others although it's never in a negative manner. As for the romance interests, they have varying personalities although at first glance, they embody the usual anime tropes. For example, Makoto comes off as a tsundere while Ayu comes off as an airhead by the way she behaves. Although the story can feel slow in the early part (btw, it takes place during the month of January), especially since it's slice-of-life with Yuichi going about his daily school and home life, it definitely picks up once you're on a route and there's definitely more to the chosen romantic partner than appears at first glance. For example, with Makoto, although she initially appears to hate Yuichi for unknown reasons, it turns out that she actually likes him a lot and that there's a very good reason that she behaves in a hostile manner towards him and tries to pull pranks. Also, I love how there's a story with each route. Like, with Shiori, she wants to live a normal life despite her illness, and it turns out that she has an older sister, who is Yuichi's classmate, but her sister actively denies that she has a sibling. Most of the routes are written wonderfully. The only exception is perhaps Sayuri's route, but that's because her route can only be accessed as you play through Mai's route. I felt like Sayuri's route was more tacked on, and I would have loved for more exposition in regards to Sayuri's backstory. Also, the romance felt lacking compared to the other routes. My favorite route would definitely have to by Ayu's, and even the game implies that Ayu's route is the true/canon one.

In regards to the writing, the story is narrated beautifully. Pacing can feel inconsistent with regards to routes, especially towards the ending of routes, but I think that's ok since having time skips helps to move the story along. There were very few grammatical errors (I played the English version, btw) at the time of this review. I only noticed them in Ayu's route, but considering how much story there is, I think it's fine. As for the gameplay, I like how you can access any route as long as you make the appropriate choices. Thus, if you just want to go for Ayu's route, you can do that without having to play another route first. With regards to achievements, all of them unlocked for me although getting the bad ending achievements can be a bit tricky. Even though there are online guides for getting the good endings, I couldn't find guides for bad endings, so I had to experiment with choices and all.

Regarding the art, it is gorgeous. I love that there are HD visuals and CG coloring to modernize this classic visual novel. Of course, I took plenty of screenshots from my favorite moments:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259620784

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3261598179

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3262282361

The colors feel vibrant and alive, and the backgrounds, sprites, and CGs are drawn very well. There is a bath scene on Makoto's route although no actual nudity is shown. With the music, the tracks are lovely to listen to. They vary in feelings and capturing pivotal moments in the story, ranging from excitement to heartfelt and emotional. Of course, there's Japanese voice acting, too, and I love listening to all of the characters' voices, even the minor ones who are present to advance the story. As I mentioned earlier, Yuichi's voice is partially voiced, mainly towards the early and ending parts of the story/route. At any rate, the voices fit perfectly with their respective characters.

Overall, would I recommend Kanon? If you're a fan of visual novels, especially the ones by VISUAL ARTS/Key, and you want to experience a story that will touch your heart, has a bit of the supernatural, and makes you believe in miracles, then this is totally worth checking out. I'm happy that Kanon is now available on Steam, and I hope that visual novel fans will take a look at this beautiful classic.

Finally, I want to give a huge thank you to VISUAL ARTS for the review copy. I feel happy and honored that I got to experience this lovely story for the first time and to share my thoughts for others who might be interested. ^^

For more detailed, fully complete, high quality reviews like this, please follow The Introverted Gamer, prioritizing heart and soul always. ^^

[i]Kanon[/i] is a slice-of-life, all-ages romance visual novel with multiple routes developed by VISUAL ARTS/Key and published by VISUAL ARTS. It is the very first game developed by Key but hasn't been available on Steam until now, with HD visuals and Japanese voice acting. You take on the role of Yuichi Aizawa, a teenage boy who moves to the Japanese town where his aunt, Aikiko Minase, and his cousin, Nayumi, live since his parents moved overseas but Yuichi didn't want to leave the country. Although Yuichi once visited this town seven years ago, he has memory gaps of his time there. As he goes about adjusting to life in this snowy town in the middle of winter, he meets various characters, who are potential love interests, and perhaps his memories of the past return. Since I don't wish to give away any story spoilers, I'll leave off my synopsis here. ^^ As for the gameplay, [i]Kanon[/i] has 6 female romance routes and lots of choices. While the early choices determine which route Yuichi will go on, the later choices determine whether you'll obtain a good or bad ending. As for who the potential romantic partners are, they're the following: Nayuki (even though they're first cousins, romance between them is considered acceptable in Japan), Ayu (a girl whom Yuichi bumps into and has a love for taiyuki), Makoto (an amnesiac who always tries to pull pranks on Yuichi and seemingly dislikes him), Shiori (a first-year student at Yuichi's high school who has a long-term illness), Mai (a third-year student who fights monsters and is socially awkward), and Sayuri (also, a third-year student who is Mai's best friend and is very friendly). As I mentioned earlier, there is Japanese voice acting, and most of the characters are fully voiced. Only Yuichi is partially voiced. There are plenty of beautiful CGs along with a varied soundtrack. Of course, there are steam achievements, and they count towards a user's global total. However, no Steam trading cards are present at the time of this review. Now that I've gone over the story and gameplay, I'll move onto my thoughts. I have been a major fan of Visual Arts/Key's VNs (please do check out and follow my curation in which the link will be provided at the end of this review to read some of my reviews of other Key VNs ^^) for a long time now, so I couldn't help getting excited as soon as I found out that [i]Kanon[/i] would be coming to Steam. Although I heard lots of wonderful praise about it, I didn't have a chance to play the original version. However, thanks to the wonderful people at VISUAL ARTS, I finally got the chance to play this remastered version and share my thoughts. First, I'll give my thoughts on the story and characters. I like how the story starts off, with Yuichi sitting on a bench at the station, waiting for Nayuki, who's late. He's in his innermost thoughts, wondering how life is going to be, in another town and away from his parents. Yuichi is pretty much your typical male main character. His main trait is that he tends to like to tease others although it's never in a negative manner. As for the romance interests, they have varying personalities although at first glance, they embody the usual anime tropes. For example, Makoto comes off as a tsundere while Ayu comes off as an airhead by the way she behaves. Although the story can feel slow in the early part (btw, it takes place during the month of January), especially since it's slice-of-life with Yuichi going about his daily school and home life, it definitely picks up once you're on a route and there's definitely more to the chosen romantic partner than appears at first glance. For example, with Makoto, [spoiler]although she initially appears to hate Yuichi for unknown reasons, it turns out that she actually likes him a lot and that there's a very good reason that she behaves in a hostile manner towards him and tries to pull pranks[/spoiler]. Also, I love how there's a story with each route. Like, with Shiori, [spoiler]she wants to live a normal life despite her illness, and it turns out that she has an older sister, who is Yuichi's classmate, but her sister actively denies that she has a sibling[/spoiler]. Most of the routes are written wonderfully. The only exception is perhaps Sayuri's route, but that's because her route can only be accessed as you play through Mai's route. I felt like Sayuri's route was more tacked on, and I would have loved for more exposition in regards to Sayuri's backstory. Also, the romance felt lacking compared to the other routes. My favorite route would definitely have to by Ayu's, and even the game implies that Ayu's route is the true/canon one. In regards to the writing, the story is narrated beautifully. Pacing can feel inconsistent with regards to routes, especially towards the ending of routes, but I think that's ok since having time skips helps to move the story along. There were very few grammatical errors (I played the English version, btw) at the time of this review. I only noticed them in Ayu's route, but considering how much story there is, I think it's fine. As for the gameplay, I like how you can access any route as long as you make the appropriate choices. Thus, if you just want to go for Ayu's route, you can do that without having to play another route first. With regards to achievements, all of them unlocked for me although getting the bad ending achievements can be a bit tricky. Even though there are online guides for getting the good endings, I couldn't find guides for bad endings, so I had to experiment with choices and all. Regarding the art, it is gorgeous. I love that there are HD visuals and CG coloring to modernize this classic visual novel. Of course, I took plenty of screenshots from my favorite moments: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259620784 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3261598179 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3262282361 The colors feel vibrant and alive, and the backgrounds, sprites, and CGs are drawn very well. [spoiler]There is a bath scene on Makoto's route although no actual nudity is shown.[/spoiler] With the music, the tracks are lovely to listen to. They vary in feelings and capturing pivotal moments in the story, ranging from excitement to heartfelt and emotional. Of course, there's Japanese voice acting, too, and I love listening to all of the characters' voices, even the minor ones who are present to advance the story. As I mentioned earlier, Yuichi's voice is partially voiced, mainly towards the early and ending parts of the story/route. At any rate, the voices fit perfectly with their respective characters. Overall, would I recommend [i]Kanon[/i]? If you're a fan of visual novels, especially the ones by VISUAL ARTS/Key, and you want to experience a story that will touch your heart, has a bit of the supernatural, and makes you believe in miracles, then this is totally worth checking out. I'm happy that [i]Kanon[/i] is now available on Steam, and I hope that visual novel fans will take a look at this beautiful classic. Finally, I want to give a huge thank you to VISUAL ARTS for the review copy. I feel happy and honored that I got to experience this lovely story for the first time and to share my thoughts for others who might be interested. ^^ [quote]For more detailed, fully complete, high quality reviews like this, please follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url], prioritizing heart and soul always. ^^[/quote]