Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe – Everything We Know

Japanese developer Visual Arts/Key cast a brighter spotlight on Visual Novel (VN) video games when they released Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet in 2004. The game was so popular with the audience that the studio released a prequel titled Planetarian: Snow Globe in 2021.

While it took a decade for the first Planetarian game to reach the West in 2014, the wait was worth the delightful experience. Now, fans can enjoy the complete experience as Visual Arts/Key has announced the scheduled launch of Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe. Here is an overview on everything we know about this new game.

What is Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe?

planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe was announced! First info below: pic.twitter.com/xIXMPXXnd3

— Niche Gamer (@nichegamer) April 28, 2024

Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe is a Visual Novel (VN) or ‘Kinetic Novel’ video game. It is a combination of the original VN game Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet and its prequel, Planetarian: Snow Globe.

Ideally, this new game will establish a connection between the original game and prequel, filling in the gaps between the two titles. Ideally, it should be a more detailed and complete take on the entire Planetarian title.

Interestingly, the original game and its prequel also exist as web anime and animation feature films, testaments to their popularity. While the content was originally made for the Japanese audience, it received a grand reception across the pond.

Story

Playing Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe (and all VN games) is all about following the story. Fortunately, the story behind this game is deeply captivating and gets different emotions running. Moreover, while it is fictional, it gets you thinking deeply about the current world affairs and trajectory.

Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe blends the stories in the original game and prequel. The original game features a post-apocalyptic world, while the prequel features the period just before the world’s collapse. Interestingly, while the prequel launched more than 15 years after the original version, it makes sense to discuss it first.

Planetarian: Snow Globe features a time before the world’s collapse. It focuses on Yumemi, a feminine robot designed to work at a planetarium set on the top of a Flowercrest Department Store. Yumemi works as a planetarian for ten years before overriding her original commands and taking interest in the outer world. Curiously, she occasionally acts strangely, walks out of the planetarium, and starts wandering the streets with no discernable objective.

Yumemi’s behavior puzzles the human staff working at the planetarium, as she exhibits human-like curiosity. As such, they ask one of the staff members, a human woman called Satomi, to follow the robot, observe her activities, and bring her back. It is a story of contrasts, as Yumemi is cheerful and optimistic while Satomi is uncertain about her life and the world.

Unfortunately, Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet features a more tragic period for humanity. Prolonged periods of wars, climate change, biological attacks, and the unchecked production of malicious AI programs destroyed the world. A biological hit Sarcophagus City and was abandoned about 30 years ago. Today, the city is manned by drones and experiences ceaseless acid rain.

Yumemi remains at the planetarium in Sarcophagus City despite her failing battery. A human survivor, a faceless man simply known as “Junker” wandering the city in search of useful junk, walks into the planetarium seeking refuge from the dangers outside. He is the first person to walk into the installation in 30 years.

Yumemi cheerfully welcomes Junker as a customer, oblivious to the world’s current situation. She pleads with him to fix the planetarium and observe the stars, which are now hidden behind the dark clouds producing the acidic rain. Junker agrees to restore the planetarium and learns incredible things about the world and himself during his interactions with Yumemi.

Gameplay

Visual Novel games like Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe feature minimal gameplay mechanics. Notably, unlike the more common RPG, open-world games that give players the freedom to control developments, VN games follow a predetermined path, as told in the story. Players essentially read a story featuring text, stunning art, and other audiovisual elements. To this end, VN games best fit the category of adventure games.

Although dubbed a Kinetic Novel, this game uses the same gameplay mechanics as all VN games. Playing involves following the story by reading the text, listening to the narrator, and studying the images. It is worth noting that the audio is only available in Japanese. However, the text is available in various languages, including Japanese, English, French, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.

Notably, the images are sharp and creative, depicting the most subtle details about characters and environments. Moreover, the soundtrack is subtle and reflects the beautiful story unfolding between the characters and the world’s destruction and desolation. Overall, the captivating story and creative audiovisual elements make for an immersive playing experience, despite the minimal gameplay mechanics. Interestingly, the game offers a music collection and CG galleries at the end of the story.

Development

Visual Arts/Key created and published Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet and Snow Globe. Visual Arts/Key is also the developer behind several other popular VN games, including AIR, CLANNAD, Kanon, Rewrite, Angel Beats, and Busters!

Trailer

Unfortunately, Visual Arts/Key hasn’t released an official trailer for Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe. However, YouTube has many trailers of the individual games, including the original version and the Snow Globe prequel. The trailers are essentially summaries of the games’ stories, considering the lack of gameplay mechanics. Watching both titles’ trailers gives you a good idea of what to expect in the coming adventure.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe will launch on June 27th. It will be available only on one platform: Nintendo Switch. However, the developers will probably adapt the game to other platforms over time, as they did with the original version.

So, what’s your take on our review of Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet & Snow Globe? Let us know over on our socials here or down in the comments below.