PARQUET

I went into PARQUET half-expecting the usual Yuzusoft formula with the adult content stripped out and nothing meaningful put in its place. I came out surprised. This is a focused, earnest kinetic novel that earns its sci-fi setup rather than just wearing it as costume. The premise centers on Kanato, an artificial being assembled from thousands of merged memories through an illegal Brain-Machine Interface experiment. BMI technology in this near-future world lets people upload, download, and trade memories like files - a concept the story uses less for hard sci-fi world-building and more as a lens on friendship and identity. Kanato leaves his corporate handlers behind and ends up living with two young women, Kido Tsubasa and Ibaraki Rino, who have their own complicated histories with BMI research. The first half leans heavily slice-of-life and can drag - Kanato is a passive, unvoiced protagonist who spends a lot of time nodding along rather than driving events. It is a genuine structural weakness. The second half is noticeably stronger once the characters open up and the mystery around their shared pasts starts to pay off. On the production side, this is unmistakably a Yuzusoft product. The 1080p artwork is detailed and consistently high quality, the soundtrack fits the mood without overstaying its welcome, and the voice cast is excellent - notably, Nao Touyama voices two of the heroines. Side characters like Tsubasa's mischievous friend Nika and Rino's motherly boss Aya keep the lighter moments grounded without tipping into farce. The writing stays clean and avoids the low-effort comedy that clogs a lot of this genre, which is a genuine relief. Translation quality is mostly solid, though a handful of consistency errors - character names that flip between titles, minor typos - surface enough to be noticeable if you are paying attention. The structure is essentially kinetic: one linear main route with two short unlockable after-story routes that open once you finish the main game. Achievements are tied simply to completing those routes, so completionists can wrap everything up in roughly ten to twelve hours total. That runtime is both the game's charm and its main liability - the pacing of the after content in particular feels rushed, and some character arcs needed more space to breathe. If you come in expecting the scope of a 50-hour Yuzusoft flagship title, adjust expectations sharply downward. On its own terms, though, PARQUET works as a contained, warm story that has more thematic ambition than its runtime lets it fully realize. Who is this for? Visual novel readers who want something all-ages, genuinely sci-fi adjacent, and friendship-focused rather than romance-driven. Veterans of the genre who can tolerate a passive protagonist and a slow first act will find a well-crafted second half waiting. If you need branching routes, player agency, or adult content, this will frustrate you. But if a tightly produced, emotionally earnest short read sounds appealing, PARQUET delivers exactly that.

Alex · Scout Team

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