Asterism

Asterism is a visual novel adventure game set in a contemporary fantasy world. Players follow Kotachi, a high school student who possesses the unique ability to see and combat spectral monsters known as ‘specters’ that are invisible to ordinary people. Inheriting a pair of magical revolvers forged from the constellation Perseus after his grandfather’s death, Kotachi must protect both the constellations of the Zodiac and the general populace from these shadowy threats. The game blends RPG elements with branching dialogue trees, player choices that influence side characters and outcomes, and features an optional male love interest, offering 8-12 hours of gameplay centered around astronomy and celestial mythology.

Asterism: A Constellation of Confusion and Contradiction in the Indie Landscape

In the vast, ever-expanding cosmos of indie gaming, few titles embody the complexities of modern development and archival quite like Asterism. It is not one game, but a celestial collision of two distinct entities sharing a name—a visual novel steeped in urban fantasy and a handcrafted interactive art-rock album—each orbiting a different creative vision. This review seeks to untangle this unique astrological knot, examining the legacy, or lack thereof, of a title that exists more as a fascinating case study in digital ephemera than as a monolithic piece of art.

Development History & Context

The story of Asterism is a tale of two developers operating in parallel universes, their projects destined to share a name and little else in the crowded marketplace of digital storefronts.

The first, and primary subject of most database entries, is the Asterism developed by Crystal Game Works. Released on December 31, 2019, for Windows, Mac, and Linux, this game was built using the Ren’Py engine, a popular tool for visual novel creation. Its development context is that of a small, perhaps solo, passion project emerging from the thriving ecosystem of indie visual novel developers. The gaming landscape of 2019 was one where niche genres, particularly those with LGBTQ+ themes and anime aesthetics, were finding dedicated audiences on platforms like Steam and itch.io. Crystal Game Works aimed to carve out a space within this niche with a premise that blended high school life with supernatural action.

Simultaneously, an entirely different project named Asterism was in development by Italian studio Neutronized, known for mobile titles like Drop Wizard. Their vision was a “sort of Metroidvania with levels,” featuring a real-time day/night cycle and a narrative centered on interdimensional travel and rescue. However, this project, despite an announcement trailer and press coverage from outlets like TouchArcade in the early 2020s, seemingly never saw a public release, fading into development limbo.

Further complicating the astral chart is the 2025 release of another game titled Asterism by Scottish developer Claire Morwood. Described as a “playable indie-rock concept album set in outer space,” this project was a publicly funded art piece that critics would later hail as innovative. This review will focus primarily on the 2019 Crystal Game Works release, as it is the most documented and widely available version, while acknowledging the confusing planetary alignment of its namesakes.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

The narrative of Crystal Game Works’ Asterism centers on Kotachi Asterio, a high school student burdened with a unique perception: he can see spectral monsters, known as Specters, that invisibly prey on ordinary people. His journey begins with inheritance—a pair of ornate white revolvers forged from the celestial material of the constellation Perseus, passed down from his deceased grandfather. This immediately establishes core themes of legacy, duty, and the weight of hidden worlds.

The plot operates on a dual-life structure. By day, Kotachi navigates the mundane challenges of high school; by night, he becomes a guardian, protecting both humanity and the constellations themselves from these shadowy threats. The incorporation of the Zodiac as both a source of power and entities in need of protection adds a layer of mythological grandeur to an otherwise contemporary urban fantasy setting. The dialogue and character interactions are framed through branching trees, promising player agency in how relationships develop. A key thematic and mechanical element is the “optional male love interest,” positioning the game within a tradition of visual novels that explore LGBTQ+ romance narratives, offering a path of emotional connection alongside the supernatural conflict.

However, the provided source material offers no deep critique of the writing quality, pacing, or character depth. The promise of an 8-12 hour experience with branching paths suggests an ambition to deliver meaningful choices, but without extensive player reviews or critical analyses, the execution of these narrative elements remains an unknown quadrant on its star chart.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

As a Ren’Py game, the core gameplay of Asterism is fundamentally rooted in the traditions of the visual novel genre. The primary interaction loop involves:

• Reading text and advancing through dialogue.
• Making choices at key junctures that influence the narrative direction and character relationships.
• Viewing static artwork featuring anime/manga-style character sprites and backgrounds.

The game markets itself as an “action visual novel,” a subgenre that typically incorporates more interactive sequences beyond text choices. The sources mention “action scenes in the vein of classic action visual novels,” suggesting there may be quick-time events (QTEs), tactical decision points during combat narratives, or other interactive elements that break up the reading. However, the exact nature of these “action scenes” is not detailed—they are unlikely to be real-time combat but rather menu-based or narrative-driven sequences.

The UI is described as “point and select,” indicative of its mouse-driven design. The inclusion of “RPG elements” is intriguing but unspecified; this could range from a simple relationship stat tracker to a more complex system for managing the powers derived from the Zodiac constellations. The overall mechanical impression is of a standard, choice-driven visual novel with aspirations of genre hybridization, though the extent of its success in blending these elements is undocumented.

World-Building, Art & Sound

The world of Asterism is our own, but layered with a hidden, magical reality. The setting is explicitly Contemporary Fantasy, grounding the cosmic stakes in a relatable environment of high schools and urban landscapes. This contrast is a classic but effective tool for building atmosphere—the familiar made unfamiliar by the lurking supernatural.

Visually, the game is defined by its Anime / Manga art style. Ren’Py games live and die by the quality of their artwork, and while no screenshots are available in the provided sources, the aesthetic choice aligns perfectly with its genre and target audience. The art galleries mentioned as a feature suggest a pride in the visual assets, offering players a chance to appreciate the character designs and CGs outside of the narrative flow.

There is no available information on the sound design, music, or voice acting. A strong, evocative soundtrack would be crucial in selling the game’s tonal shifts between everyday school life and cosmic battles against Specters. The silence on this front in the available data is one of the game’s great unknowns.

Reception & Legacy

The reception of Crystal Game Works’ Asterism is perhaps the most telling aspect of its history. It is a game that exists in a state of critical and commercial obscurity.

• Critical Reception: As of the provided data, there are zero critic reviews on MobyGames. Metacritic and other aggregators have no listing for this 2019 version. It exists outside the mainstream critical conversation.
• Player Reception: On Steam, the game garnered a mere four user reviews—one positive and three negative—an insufficient number to generate a score. This indicates extremely low visibility and a very small player base. On MobyGames, it is listed as being “collected by” only six players.
• Commercial Performance: Estimates from VG Insights suggest minuscule commercial impact, with roughly 600 units sold and gross revenue of around $6,080.

Its legacy, therefore, is not one of influence on other games or industry trends, but rather as a digital artifact representative of the sheer volume of indie games released into the market. It is a testament to the fact that for every breakout indie hit, there are hundreds of titles like Asterism that are developed with passion, released, and then quietly fade into the background noise of the digital marketplace. It serves as a fascinating case study in game preservation and the challenges of documenting every corner of the industry.

Conclusion

Crystal Game Works’ Asterism is a paradox. It is a game with a compelling, market-savvy premise that blends urban fantasy, anime aesthetics, and inclusive romance—a formula that has found success for many other titles. Yet, it exists in a vacuum of reception, a star that failed to ignite. Based on the exhaustive but ultimately sparse data available, it is impossible to declare it a hidden gem or a failed project. It is simply an unknown quantity.

Its place in video game history is not as an influential title, but as a perfect example of the “long tail” of indie development. It represents the thousands of games that are completed and released but never break through to wider awareness. For the intrepid game historian or archivist, it is a compelling subject—a reminder that the history of games is not just written by the winners, but also by the quiet, obscure titles that populate databases like MobyGames.

The final verdict on Asterism is that it is less a game to be played and judged, and more a celestial waypoint for a discussion on game preservation, visibility, and the immense diversity of creative output in the modern era. To review it is to review a ghost—a specter of potential that remains just out of clear view, its true quality a mystery locked behind the veil of its own obscurity.