OpenCritic
Steam
Clannad is a visual novel adventure game available for PlayStation 4. It allows you to trace two periods in the life of a young Japanese - the last months of school and a few years of early adulthood. Both stages are filled with numerous dramas and fantastic elements. The gameplay boils down mainly to following the plot and making decisions.
Clannad is an adventure game that belongs to the visual novel category. The production was developed by a renowned visual novel creator - Japanese studio Key, known for titles such as Kanon, Air, Little Busters!, or Rewrite.
Plot
The player assumes the role of a Japanese teenager named Tomoya Okazaki, who attends the Hikarizaka Private High School. The game's branching, highly non-linear plot revolves around his school life. As a result of various decisions made at specific story moments, sooner or later the plot begins to focus on one of five girls attending the same high school. As each of them has a unique story, the entire game can and should be played multiple times.
After completing the first part of the story, i.e. getting to know the stories of all girls, a second one, entitled After Story, is unlocked. It’s set seven years in the future and assumes that from among five potential love interests the main character eventually started a family with a girl named Nagisa Furakawa. The second part of the game is at least as long as the first one, which described the characters' school years.
Like most visual novel games, Clannad's main focus lies on the story. The plot is very extensive and filled with both comedic scenes and dramatic events, featuring some fantasy elements as well.
Mechanics
In terms of gameplay, Clannad is a typical visual novel - we passively follow the story that is told in text form and accompanied by two-dimensional characters sprites and backgrounds. From time to time the player is given a choice between several alternative actions or statements and the decisions he makes have a significant impact on further development of the scenario, eventually directing it into one of several alternative paths and affecting their possible endings.
Such a structure requires the player to complete the game repeatedly to see everything it has to offer.
Last updated on December 2, 2015
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Videos and Screens
Hardcore Gamer: 4 / 5 by Marcus Estrada
Clannad is a visual novel that everyone should complete at least once in their lives.
Cubed3: 8 / 10 by Renan Fontes
Despite a beginning that focuses a bit too much on archetypes, so that it can deconstruct them later and far too much fluff, CLANNAD pulls its act together rather quickly to present a beautifully written story about family and optimism within change. This visual novel is a big investment, but its status as a potentially life changing one makes it more than a worthwhile read.
Digitally Downloaded: 4 / 5 by Lindsay Mayhew
I don't remember the last time I was so interested in a story labelled as "romance," but then came Clannad and everything changed. I never know a romance story could be so engaging, so multifaceted, and so emotional. The choice of a perceived bad boy as protagonist was an interesting one as opposed to showing the innocent girl fall in love with the rebel, a scenario played out far too often in Hollywood. Clannad shows us the softer side of a delinquent teenager, juxtaposed with the often harsh outcomes of his decisions.
Clannad Summary
Platforms:
PC / Windows April 28, 2004
Switch July 4, 2019
PlayStation 4 June 21, 2018
Android OS September 18, 2012
PlayStation Vita August 14, 2014
PlayStation 3 April 21, 2011
Xbox 360 August 28, 2008
PlayStation Portable May 29, 2008
PlayStation 2 February 23, 2006
Developer: Key
Publisher: Visual Art's
Age restrictions: 16+
