For those unaware, STEINS;GATE is genuinely one of the best pieces of science fiction ever created. It began as a visual novel in 2009, a tense and dark story of time travel and the weight your actions have not just on yourself and those around you, but on time itself. It spawned multiple projects that followed, including manga, anime, sequels and more. STEINS;GATE, as a visual novel, has already had a remake in the form of STEINS;GATE Elite.
Elite took the anime and fused it together with the visual novel. It made some big changes to the original script, cutting it down and reusing the anime’s animation to make something more digestible than a straight visual novel. While a lot of fans were unhappy with the choices made with the script, it at least offered a new visual way to experience a classic. Now comes along STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT, still made by developer MAGES, another remake that becomes somewhat of an amalgamation of everything that came before. The problem is that it doesn’t live up to any past iteration; it’s hard to recommend over the much cheaper versions already out there.
RE:BOOT is entirely held up by the inherent quality of STEINS;GATE as a story. It follows the same script as STEINS;GATE Elite, leaving a lot on the cutting room floor when compared to the original. Rintaro ‘Okarin’ Okabe is our protagonist, a wacky and eccentric wannabe scientist with a heart of gold buried deep. He works together with the rest of his cohort in Future Gadget Laboratory. When the gang accidentally discovers time travel, things quickly start to spiral out of control as Okabe spirals from one world line to the next, trying desperately to hold on to those he loves.
The story here is as fantastic as it was almost two decades ago. While it takes a bit to get going, once it kicks off, one chapter flows into the next with white-knuckled enthusiasm and dread in equal measure. There are multiple pathways and endings that are linked to your decisions and romantic choices, handled almost entirely through Okabe’s cell phone. STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT is dark, twisted, and hard science fiction with plenty of heady terms and real-life connections that are enthralling. It continues to be one of the sci-fi greats, taken even further due to the player choice and agency inherently tied to a visual novel.
While the original had gorgeous hand-drawn art, and Elite took the animated route, STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT opts for something kind of in between. The backgrounds have been entirely redone and are gorgeous. Dense and detailed, littered with CRT TVs and Tokyo streets, the new graphics truly bring the player back to 2010 Akihabara. These are easily one of the best parts of the new package. I wish I could say the same about the new character models.
“STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT is dark, twisted, and hard science fiction with plenty of heady terms and real-life connections that are enthralling.”
RE:BOOT does away with the classic hand-drawn 2D art, instead turning the characters into 2.5D animations. The intent here is to make them more lifelike with breathing animations and more natural expression changes, but instead, they look like Vtubers. The animations are jarring and repetitive, cycling through the same handful of motions over and over. At one point, I had two characters staring at me and blinking in rapid succession, with an uncanny creepiness to them rather than anything close to natural.
The new models are also bright and colourful, a far cry away from the messy paint and melancholic vibes of the original. The art of the original, and even the animation of Elite, matched the tone and vibe of the story. These new character models just don’t. They’re way too fluorescent and bubbly, and don’t carry the same gravitas that the originals did. You do eventually get used to them, but they never look or feel as good as past iterations. There’s been new voice acting added as well, and for those who like the anime voice actors, there’s more to like here.
RE:BOOT also introduces a new worldline and ending that hasn’t been seen before. It is a great and exciting new addition, but it doesn’t do enough to justify the high price tag. For ultra-dedicated fans of the series, it may be worth the dive in, but for anyone new to the series, the originals are way cheaper and offer fundamentally better experiences than STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT. It costs $59.99 USD, while the original and Elite are less than half of that, especially if you catch them on sale. The original’s script and art are unbeatable, while Elite at least offers much more animation.
The biggest question I walked away with from STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT is just who is this for? It doesn’t do anywhere near enough to ask new players to come back at a higher price tag. New players are better suited to the older versions, unless one of them isn’t on the platform of choice. It’s not that RE:BOOT is bad, because STEINS;GATE is still one of the best in the genre, but it fails to offer a reason that makes it worthwhile.
For those diehard fans and those who’ve never experienced it and like the Vtuber style, STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT will be a truly enjoyable ride. For most others, they’ll be better suited to another version of this time-travelling classic. El Psy Kongroo.
