slow damage - 29/05/2025
hey !! today i will share some thoughts on slow damage
( TRIGGER WARNING : child abuse, self harm, SA, violence, smoke/alcohol abuse + spoilers)
Rating : 9/10
When did i first hear of it ? : Probably when the english traduction was released, i remember checking the wiki to read more about the characters.
but i decided to play it only recently (15/05/2025) after finishing Room no 9 when i was looking for other darker themed visual novels. a lot of people recommended it on reddit.
My first impression : When i first saw the chara designs i was like damn they're UGLY. not talking aboout art but the design of the characters didnt appeal to me at all.
i was mostly interested in certain cgs i saw where Towa was cutting himself and since it was pretty graphic, i got very curious and just wanted to learn more by playing it myself. had no idea what the story was about
Taku : Before even starting i was very sure i wanted to do the doctor's route first, cause i just really like doctors. as expected Taku was very gentle, kind and concerned for the main character, and even if i found him old and ugly i wanted to start with him. unfrtunately i quickly started seeing him as Towa's father figure......... they really insisted on the fact that he knew towa since he was a kid. and he was just acting like a parent to him. overprotective, very realistic lmai
if the age gap was not uncomfortable for me (towa is 26 its fine) the nature of their relationship was. (why would he show towa a pic of him as a kid then proceed to kiss him???)
I still liked his route, both the bad and good ends were nicely written and honestly in character. I like Taku, and i believe they were written this way on purpose. it was great nonetheless
i just wonder if taku knew about the child trafficking going on at euphoria. he was annoying trying to keep towa's past a secret this bad. i got very confused the only thing he revealed was towa's real name. he did treat all of towa's injuries as a kid but that doesnt mean he knew everything.
Rei : I love himm he is sweet, caring and cute. his pink hair down aa!!!!!. i enjoyed playing his route immensely. The way he cares so much about towa, taku and the girls..
His story and taku's thing with the drug were present on other routes too, which is a great touch
Others characters and things i liked :
Arimura : his sprite is super cute and his voice is pretty soft.
The grandma : i really appreciated the exchanges between her and towa, it was sweet. i like her
Mayu : i love his voice acting especially his laugh, and his ending with towa was GREAT. LIFE changing voice lines. also he was a mercenary and a hunter before ??? thats crazy
baby (6.1 feet tall man)
Igarashi looked super cool to me when i first saw him and i just fell in LOVE. chill yakuza puppy guy. kind of disappointed he didnt appear more often. honestly thinking what if he had more interactions with towa? would they be close friends like Rei
Towa : he is a nice protagonist. i like him a lot. the only moment i had doubts about him was when he didnt react to Rei being injured, it felt weird.
it was very funny when he was messing with asakura and when taku pointed out he was up to no good. overall he is very cute, he paints, has a very good design, niice variation f hairstyles. felt terrible for him during the nightmares and when he had panic attacks .. he got a kind of a happy ending with fujieda, im glad for that. He also got a normal vision back !!! i liked the way he saw things, colorful and auras etc. he was disappointed when he started seing things normally haha
(He looks so good with this hairstyle)
OST : All bangers, litteraly. check out my fav ones on the right side of the blog. the music box on the menu hits hard
Art/Cgs : Very great, loved the way the scars and blood were drawn. thats definitely what interested me the most in the first place
I finished this game in a week (40 hours). the menu got all clear after everything. it was a nice feeling.
the damage was indeed slow
♪♬