Chaos;Head NOAH

Chaos;Head Noah is the first title in the Science;Adventure series, which is most commonly known for its second entry, the anime and visual novel Steins;Gate. While the original Chaos;Head released in April 2008, it got a major overhaul with the release of Chaos;Head Noah in 2009. Even though it was released in 2009 it took until 2022 to get an official English localization. In October 2008 an anime got released for Chaos;Head, but the community at large does not recommend watching it (and I haven't checked it out either). Everyone interested should read the visual novel for the best experience. People interested in playing on PC or android should look into the Commitee of Zero patch made by the community for further improvements. This review contains spoilers.

Story and Setting (light spoilers)

The game follows Takumi, living alone in a former shipping container on the top of an apartment building in Shibuya. Takumi is the embodiment of a stereotypical otaku. He’s at the top of the one MMORPG he plays, he is into anime, his most valuable possessions are anime figures and he reads hentai. Takumi goes to college, but is trying to get by with minimum attendance and skipping as many days as he can. He is socially anxious and doesn’t want much to do with his classmates, thinking of them as “DQNs”. With the beginning of the story starts a series of mysterious murders. A specific phrase that Takumi has been thinking about since he was a child suddenly appears: “Whose eyes are those eyes?” or “Whose eyes are those?”

Next to Takumi is a selection of female side characters. Rimi Sakihata, Nanami Nishijou, Yua Kusunoki, Sena Aoi, Ayase Kishimoto and Kozue Orihara. Those characters get their own route and ending. To get the true ending, you will need to go through all other endings first. I will talk about all the girls and their endings in more detail. The first ending is locked, to achieve all remaining endings, I recommend this guide by Kiri Kiri.

Some notes about the Switch version

If you like to collect physical games, the Switch version is the one to get. It was released as a double pack together with Chaos;Child and has a steelbook available. However, as far as I know, there is no Committee of Zero patch for the Switch. Even with a modded Switch you’ll have to stick with the official localization. A note regarding gameplay: A central gameplay element is positive and negative delusions. To trigger those, press ZL or ZR while a scene shows a black border with a round city skyline. The Switch version never indicates the presence of those triggers but you’ll need them to reach different endings.

Should you play Chaos;Head Noah?

I would recommend Chaos;Head to everyone who likes mystery and psychological horror. For Steins;Gate fans thinking about venturing deeper into the Science;Adventure series it’sthe next stop. While not the original order, playing Chaos;Head Noah after Steins;Gate should not be too confusing. There are a lot of references to Chaos;Head in Steins;Gate and some minor spoilers when you read all the tips. Make sure you don’t mix up Chaos;Head with Chaos;Child, that title definitely needs to be played after Chaos;Head Noah. While I didn’t enjoy the first few chapters when I initially read it for the first time, the story really picks up later on. The slow build up is most definitely worth it.

The good and the bad - a timeline (heavy spoilers)

The bad (heavy spoilers)

Let’s start with the bad. The first four chapters felt like a slog. Of course, I did certainly contribute to this by dropping it in between, but then again the question is why I dropped it. I remember when picking it up in November 2023, I looked at my total play time of 10 hours and thought, if I don’t like it now, is it really worth it? So I decided to go to the next title in the science adventures series after Steins;Gate, which is Robotics;Notes. But then I got to the scene at the end of the prologue, after reading for around an hour. “Whose eyes are those eyes?” - and I knew I had to go back and attempt Chaos;Head more seriously. After trying to play in October 2022, March to April 2023 and July 2023, as shown by the screenshots of my save games, I finally stuck with it.

Why was it so hard to get through the beginning? First of all, Takumi is shown as a coward, self-centered, insufferable and anxious character. He is afraid of talking with anyone, especially girls and seems to think people are out to get him. His thoughts about the female characters often lead to horny daydreaming. All those traits effect the experience of reading noticeably. The most memorable scene in the beginning is the crucified incident, where Takumi stumbles into Rimi, full of blood.

But the game takes a lot of time to actually reveal what happened there. It’s not until close to the end that you fully understand the inner workings of that gruesome scene in the beginning. The NewGen killings take a while to take off. Even Asae is too abstract after you talk to her in the tunnel the first time. Takumi being insufferable and the mystery and horror only slowly developing at first made it hard to stick to it. But when I did give Chaos;Head a real, honest chance I discovered a great story.

The good (heavy spoilers)

Which leads us to the good of Chaos;Head Noah. What did I like about it, after ranting about Takumi and the slow build up? The story is really good at displaying Takumi's inner turmoil, confusion and paranoia. It is clear that Takumi likes to avoid his problems on every level. He avoids his family, only talking to his sister Nanami when she shows up or he is deeply worried about her, fearing for her safety. He avoids college as much as possible, trying to get through the class with minimum attendance. He also avoids almost everyone at school, with the only exception being Daisuke, his one male friend, and Rimi, his female friend. Only going out to buy anime figures and groceries and sometimes visiting an internet café. Most of his social interaction seems to be online, but even then he only talks to one person on a regular basis, Grimm.

Takumi often feels ‘gods gaze’, which is why he started thinking to himself: “Whose eyes are those eyes?”. This phrase is going to appear at the crime scene of one of the NewGen murders, which leads to Takumi questioning his involvement. Takumi constantly questions himselfs and everyone around him. You can feel the paranoia through the storytelling. The things that make Takumi unbearable at first start to create an atmosphere of dread and psychological horror going further into the story.

But Takumi is not the only element to the story. Following the murder cases all around Shibuya unfold and the mystery surrounding so-called Gigalomaniacs keep the story going. The brutal and unconventional murders add a lot of gore and body horror. Unraveling the secrets behind people with special abilities - Gigalomaniacs - also play a major role in the backstories of the girls and their endings. Someday I wanna analyze every girls route and depiction in the story, but that will have to wait for another time.