Review: Muv-Luv Remastered Switch Version Is a Great Place to Start

Getting into the Muv-Luv series is a commitment. One that’s certainly easier now than it was years ago when it was a Japan-exclusive series, for sure. But still. You need to be ready to get invested. Fortunately, the Muv-Luv Remastered Switch release really does feel like the best and easiest way to get into the series, as well as enjoy reading through Takeru, Sumika, and Meiya’s story.

Editor’s Note: There will be no Muv-Luv Unlimited spoilers in this Muv-Luv Remastered Switch review.

Now, right away the Muv-Luv Remastered Switch release makes it easy to get into the adventure, as you get to make a choice immediately after starting. You can jump right into Muv-Luv Unlimited, rather than playing Extra first. You shouldn’t, but you can. Considering Extra is the weaker of the two stories, I don’t blame you if you just look up some details on characters and go with the second part first, but there is some important character development in the initial part.

With Muv-Luv Extra, you get to experience normal school life for Takeru Shirogane. He’s always been close to Sumika Kagami, his childhood friend. So close that, as his neighbor, she just comes in every day to his room to wake him up. However, one day he wakes up to find Meiya Mitsurugi in his room and bed. As you can imagine, this means a whole love triangle begins as Meiya insists she’s meant to marry Takeru and Sumika starts wondering about what she really wants. However, it isn’t just a love triangle, of course, as you can also choose to go for Chizuru, Miki, or Kei as you play.

Muv-Luv Extra in Remastered is, in general, fine Switch visual novel. It feels like a very typical dating sim. Characters can feel like they belong to established tropes like elegant rich girl or childhood best friend. Takeru is often an immature, perverted teenager, which may make it more difficult to connect with him at the start. The best part of it, especially in this remaster, comes down to the production values. Every character has multiple sprites. They’re moving around the screen and dynamic, to give a sense of motion and energy you might not typically experience in a visual novel. Even if the general concept might feel ordinary at the start, the extra effort put into those elements helps a lot.

Muv-Luv Unlimited is when the Remastered Switch release and series gets interesting. It begins with Takeru back at the first day of Muv-Luv Extra, except he finds he is in a whole different world and timeline. Here, the BETA aliens invaded and everyone fought back. Only his house is standing when he wakes up in bed. What’s left of humanity fights back in giant mechs and puts forth plans to try and salvage some sort of life for themselves. However, some of the people he knew and loved from the original adventure are back. It’s tone is quite different, given the sci-fi approach and “after the apocalypse” nature of things. However, there there is still a bit of a romance option to it, depending on your choices. It isn’t a dating sim in the same way Extra is, but you can earn endings with characters. 

In this Switch Remastered release, it’s basically Muv-Luv Unlimited that makes Extra worth playing. The differences between the characters we meet in the original storyline, then what they are like in the second part, help provide a better perspective of what’s going on and who they are. One informs the other, and it grants the player a better understanding and appreciation.

Likewise, Muv-Luv Unlimited is essentially a redemption for Takeru. There’s such personal growth and development as we see what this young man experiences. Getting to see what his life was like, what his new story entails, and how he reacts as a result is fascinating. It’s a sense of culminating maturity that we get to see carried forth even further. There’s not the genuine pay-off for everything yet. (That’s saved for Muv-Luv Alternative!) However, there’s still something there.

Also, as expected, the production qualities in Muv-Luv Unlimited in Remastered on the Switch remain as high as in Extra. The game looks great on the system. It’s especially fun in handheld mode. The perspective and resolution looks good. The displays are dynamic. It’s easy to make quick saves, jump around to past text, and keep track of everything going on. The audio quality is also quite good, which gets to be important as the drama ramps up in the second part of the story.

When it comes to the Muv-Luv series, you’re basically committing to a three-game experience when you start it. Muv-Luv Remastered, as a whole, sets up a foundation for one of the most intriguing visual novels to come out of Japan. This means that what you’re experiencing is happening for a reason. Muv-Luv Extra might feel a bit trope-heavy and as though the dynamic nature of character portraits and movements are the only thing setting it apart, due to it laying groundwork regarding characters. Muv-Luv Unlimited is when it starts getting interesting and we get into the meat of things, due to the new mysteries being introduced and way what we learned in the first game shapes the lives of characters like Takeru and Meiya. Put together in one package with Muv-Luv Remastered, and we get a solid start to Age’s story.

Muv-Luv Remastered is available for the Nintendo Switch. It is also available on the Vita and PC worldwide and the PS3, Xbox 360, and mobile devices in Japan.