Games worth discovering

This musical visual novel is interesting, but the story stops before it really gets going

2K View2023-09-20

Concerto on White has a lot of interesting ideas, but the current version of the game just wasn't engaging enough to keep my interest. Part visual novel, part music simulation game, Concerto on White takes place at Concordia Academy of Music, a school attended by some of the world's most talented muscians. You play as Macaron, a modestly talented student who was admitted to the academy under mysterious circumstances.

Music is an incredible vehicle for storytelling, and I really think that visual novels and rhythm action games are an underrated combination. Unfortunately, there's not much story here so far. Concerto on White is still in the development, and the narrative abruptly stops and the end of the first chapter. Once I'd read through everything, the whole thing left to do was unlock and play through music pieces.

Lots of music games simply ask you to follow along with the beat, but Concerto on White actually required me to play the melody of each song. I had to use one hand to adjust the pitch of each note while using the other hand to play. I grew up playing the piano, but I still found it to be pretty complex, especially when there were a lot of notes on the screen. I tried playing on PC and Android, and found the gameplay to be slightly easier on PC, but your mileage may vary.

Every character in Concerto on White has a small selection of playable songs to choose from, and successfully playing a track improved my bond with a character, giving me access to more music pieces. Most of these songs are classic pieces, like Bach's Air on the G String and Pachabel's Canon in D, but there were a few playable tracks that felt a little more modern.

The biggest problem with Concerto on White is that the musical gameplay just isn't that fun on its own. I played through some tracks after I got to the end of the story, but I wasn't that interested, and I didn't feel motivated to practice and get better.

Concerto on White has awesome character designs, and it seems like it could be a lot of fun when it's in a more finished state. As it is, I'd rather spend my time playing an instrument in real life. If you love classical music, it's worth checking out, but it's not the addictive musical visual novel I hoped it would be.