Remember11 is the one VN in my top 5 I rarely see much discussion or recognition for, despite how absolutely amazing it is, so I HAD to shill it more. Which is why, here's a thread on why you should read Remember11! It's amazing, you should give it a chance & I'll explain why!
First off, what is Remember11? Remember11 is a mystery/thriller visual novel that follows the two protagonists, Kokoro and Satoru, as they both fight for their life in vastly different situations. Kokoro is in a fight with nature, as she's stranded in a cabin on an icy mountain-
-alongside three strangers after a plane crash, and despite all the hostilities that arise within the group, she and the others have to avoid getting frozen to death and try not to starve as they desperately try to contact help when no signals to the outside go through.
Meanwhile, Satoru's fight is against a murderer that's out to kill him while he's trapped in a facility called SPHIA on an island he cannot leave alongside people who he cannot trust, since any one of them could be the person trying to kill him.
How do Kokoro and Satoru's stories overlap? They body swap. At seemingly random intervals, they switch bodies in the middle of dangerous situations, and they have to work together to solve the mysteries surrouding this phenomena and survive. Remember11 is in the same series-
-as the more popular VN, Ever17, and although Ever17 is great, Remember11 is considered to be even better by many people, including myself. Remember11 was also worked on by Zero Escape & E17's creator, Uchikoshi, though Nakazawa, the creator of Root Double, played a bigger role.
Now, what makes Remember11 so good and worth reading? First of all, the plot and mystery. The plot & mystery just suck you in immediately, with a mindbendy plot about survival, conspiracies and mysterious body swapping. The pacing helps a lot here, R11 has INCREDIBLE pacing,
There's seriously not even a few minutes where it feels boring or uninteresting, every second just has you hooked to your screen to the point where it's hard to find a place to stop reading for the day, and that speaks to how well the plot and mysteries are woven.
The reveals, although it lacks in sheer amount compared to Ever17, are mindblowing, I've been left absolutely shell shocked and in awe more than a few times while reading Remember11, the twists feel absolutely cathartic. Next up, the atmosphere, another 10/10 thing about R11.
The atmosphere in both Kokoro's location & Satoru's location feel different, but individually done so well. In SPHIA, you really get the feeling of being suspicious of everyone around you, feeling like there's a murderer lurking around to leap at you at any point, & in the cabin-
-it really feels like the situation gets more and more hopeless everyday, as supplies run out and the cold closes in, freezing the characters more and more. The OST is pretty great too, which compliments the atmosphere super well.
Then, there are the characters, who are solid down to every cast member. Kokoro is an idiot but she's very much a lovable idiot MC, one of my favorite examples of this trope alongside Battler from Umineko, and Satoru is her antithesis, he's smart, calm, cool and calculating.
Kokoro and Satoru balance each other out so well, both providing a perspective the other doesn't catch on to, and fit together the two halves of the story. Then, there's the supporting cast, who are all really well done. Yuni, Hotori, Inubushi, Utsumi, Yomogi, Mayuzumi, they're-
-all really well written, my personal favorites being Yuni, Utsumi and Yomogi. As the story goes on, more & more layers are peeled off them which makes you see them in so many different lights, their character arcs are a rollercoaster of emotion & ALL of them are so well written.
Finally, I'll address the ending, the most controversial aspect of Remember11. The ending is very much a hit or miss, but I feel like people who like stuff like Umineko and Subahibi's ending are gonna like Remember11's ending. It doesn't spoonfeed you the answers and wants you-
-to go on a search for them yourself, and that open ending is integrated so well into the stories main theme and plot, I couldn't imagine it ending any other way or it having a third route like a lot of people wanted personally.
So yeah, if ANYTHING in this thread appealed to you, go read Remember11! It's not that long, it's around medium length and such a gripping experience the entire way through, one of my favorite stories of all time and so unique. More people need to experience this fantastic story.
Forgot to add, Remember11's art style is quite nice too, something about it is really pleasing to the eye and fits in the with the story well, definitely an upgrade over Never7 and Ever17's art. Everything about R11 is great really, give it a chance!