STEINS;GATE vs. STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace 1. STEINS;GATE: My Darling Embrace is a spinoff of STEINS;GATE. It is not canon. It is a romcom. You don't need to play STEINS;GATE before playing this spinoff - I definitely wouldn't recommend doing that but you don't have to because characters, places and time travelling is introduced in a very brief way, in just a few sentences. In STEINS;GATE, introductions were quite long and in my opinion lasted for the first three chapters, I have another detailed review on that. But again, I wouldn't recommend playing this before STEINS;GATE. I'd recommend playing STEINS;GATE and then this because like I said, the introductions in this game are very brief, very compressed in comparison to STEINS;GATE. 2. STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace takes place in the Delta world line unlike the Alpha and Beta world lines in STEINS;GATE. So, in this spinoff, you'll notice the divergence meter beginning with the number "3". Now, if I'm correct, this story begins after Okabe sends a D-mail about the lottery ticket in his Alpha world line however in this story, he then ends up in this Delta world line after sending the D-mail. In this world line, I'll just say that things are mostly pitch perfect and not a lot of dark things go down in STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace compared to STEINS; GATE. Unlike STEINS;GATE, in STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace, no one's out to kill you and no one dies. 3. In this game, there is a NEW CHARACTER that wasn't in STEINS;GATE!!! 4. There's 3 new gadgets in STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace which were not part of STEINS;GATE. I won't spoil them, but the story revolves around one of them. 5. Just like in STEINS;GATE, STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace has multiple endings but unlike STEINS;GATE, all but one ending can be obtained based on what you decide to do at just one scene where D-mailing can occur. I won't further explain. One ending in particular, which I consider to be the true ending of the game, requires you to do additional things in order to reach it. I discuss more about that later on. 6. Unlike STEINS;GATE, in STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace there's a new feature that allows you to see a diagram of mails you have sent/received to/from your lab members. It also shows if you have yet to discover more emails. This new feature will come in handy for those seeking 100% completion, because there's a lot of achievements revolving around emails. The concept is reminiscent to Link0306's flowchart guide for STEINS;GATE. 7. Lastly, it might just be me but Mayuri and Shining Finger's voices are a a bit quieter in STEINS;GATE: My Darling Embrace, compared to STEINS;GATE. If you have the same thought, configuring voice and music settings can help, I had to increase voice volume and decrease music volume a bit. And, I additionally had to upgrade the resolution. It was at 1280x720p so sprites looked a bit blurry and edgy and then when I brought it up to 1920x1080p it turned to normal. Also it might just be me again, but I felt like Daru's voice was a bit different in STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace, he's mostly a bit high-pitched (less deep voiced) in STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace unlike how his voice was a bit deeper in STEINS;GATE. He's also a bit more perverty, in STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace. I found it quite annoying to often read pervert Daru's lines, theres's a lot of such lines and a lot of Daru nose-bleeding. More About STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace Well, it's the world line of love and safety - these three words greatly summarizes this new world line you'll explore. As mentioned before, there are multiple endings you can obtain and all but one can be reached by simply sending a D-mail at one scene at the right time. The ending where you can't just do that is Mayuri's ending, which I also consider to be the true ending of the game. In order to reach Mayuri's ending, you will have to do a few more things, which are sending some emails before the scene. I would suggest following a guide in order to reach it. I used this guide, I would recommend it: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1935848835 However, I definitely would not recommend you getting Mayuri's ending first, it definitely should be seen last. There seems to be mixed thoughts about the ending order within the community, and I will tell you this: 1. As I have already mentioned, Mayuri's ending should be last. There's no question about it. 2. In Mayuri's ending, my eyes caught a few lines referencing Faris's and Lukako's route. There may have been more lines referencing other routes that I wasn't able to catch though. 3. Whatever you do before Mayuri's ending, in my opinion, doesn't matter too much, but I think most people would prefer Kurisu's ending first and then whatever you want in between. 4. My ending order was: Kurisu, Faris, Lukako, Moeka, Suzuha and lastly Mayuri. I had no problem. But honestly, whatever order you get your endings in is okay. It's not the end of the world, you're supposed to experience this visual novel without following ending guides, anyway. So, just see what your luck brings to you. Also, if you're out chasing achievements, I can tell you that most silver achievements about emails can be obtained through the common route but to get all email achievements you have to literally read all emails, so my tip is to use the new mail list feature to track emails and to be careful with when/where you save and how fast you skip lines. Skipping a few lines can cause you to be unable to reply to new emails, just like how it can happen in STEINS;GATE! Lastly, make sure you read all emails. You can get some sweet extra CG's and a special email. ;) Review of STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace Honestly, I absolutely loved STEINS;GATE: My Darling's Embrace. Lukako and Moeka's endings just felt quite fitting and satisfying for their characters, providing more depth to their inner thoughts and background stories. Faris's ending was just absolutely fun. There's nothing funnier and more entertaining than seeing the lab members in maid outfits . Suzuha's ending referencing Back To The Future was also a fun part to read as a fan of that trilogy. But most of all, I absolutely loved Mayuri's ending. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Mayuri is definitely Okabe's match in this world line, unlike how Christina was STEINS;GATE. Such a cute and fitting couple. You know, I've thought that perhaps the writers of STEINS;GATE thought: "What would happen if Okabe got together with Mayuri instead of Kurisu?" and this story is the greatest answer to such a question. Just beautiful. Overall Rating: 10/10
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