128. Sakura Swim Club | PC | 2015 | 5/10All this talk about VNs lately got me wanting to play one. So I decided on Sakura Swim Club, rather randomly. This game is available on Steam, albeit censored from what I've read. (I pity the fool who pays $9.99 for a censored VN on Steam.) I did not play the Steam version, I played an uncensored one.
Anyway, in this VN you play the part of a male high school student who is a new transfer to whatever high school it is. Being listless he decides to join a swim club on the behest of a teacher. The swim club apparently only consists of two girls and himself after that point. With such a small amount of members, it isn't long before the swim team starts to bond. And by bond, I mean bang. Yes this is some high school boy's wet dream come true... because both girls end up being his sexual play things (when they aren't busy being their own sexual play things).
But what about a plot you say? Well the main character does eventually help the girls to overcome their fear of swimming in a competition. And he helps one girl get over her guilt due to an accidental drowning she was involved in. Also the main character starts to bond with his dad through the swimming club progress he makes, and whatever. It's all pretty much banal banter to pad out around the parts where he's just having sex with the swim club girls whenever possible.
Sakura Swim Club has some positives I guess. The artwork is great (especially the uncensored scenes), and the music is quite nice. The little visual novel engine used is quite smooth, I especially enjoyed the ability to scroll through the conversations forwards and backwards using the scroll wheel. It's a breezy VN to read, but there's not much play. Best I can tell every choice is illusory, always leading to the same outcome. But the illusion of choice was nice.
Sakura Swim Club reminded me of the one thing I really don't like about VNs... endless filler dialogue and monologues. Anything that can be said in one sentence will be said in fifteen instead.
Many, many, many VNs do this as a form of artificial extenuation of the amount of time they take to finish, so that's nothing new. Even with all the insipid blathering, you'll still probably finish this VN in under two hours. You might enjoy it for what it's worth. I for one appreciated the tight swimsuits and naughty bits, but I'm just simple like that. If you're looking for a deep and complex narrative, with a plot that will keep you hooked until the wee hours of the night... forget it. Sakura Swim Club is about as deep as a puddle of weeb drool.