A Line Held Tight
A Line Held Tight is a visual novel that could have so easily been too overwhelming in its language, overbearing in its themes, and sombre in its tone. The story is set in a space mining colony in a sci-fi universe during a time of change, upheaval and an uncertain future. I actually delayed picking the demo up for a while as I suspected, unfairly, that it could be too heavy to get into in my current headspace. I am so happy to admit that that wasn’t the case.
The demo sucked me in effortlessly with its perfect onboarding. There weren’t many proper nouns or sci-fi concepts to get my head around and instead, the story starts quietly, with our main character giving us an easy to understand but immersive account of a day at work, what that entails and his feelings around it. I felt transported to the world, with everything somehow feeling so familiar that it just existed, with no extra effort required from me to understand or decipher new concepts.
The design plays no small part in the immersion, with the game being presented in a unique, distinct way, impressively consistent with the environment we are engaging with in the fiction. The monochromatic visuals are displayed in two ways. Charcoal drawings – a genius choice for the mining themes – depicting imagery with varying degrees of abstract and clear styles. And grimy looking photographs, layered with chalk doodles bringing context to the scenes. These seemingly simple choices do great work in giving this game such a strong identity. Not to mention the sound design, carefully placed to provide the most impact, whether in its presence or in its absence. I strongly feel that this is what every visual novel should aspire to. Not to be just like A Line Held Tight, but to be as confidently individual as it is, making use of every medium thoughtfully to enhance the experience as a whole. No one could play this demo and think ‘this could have been a book’.
My time with the demo was a pleasure all around, despite the stress of some difficult choices and a dramatic view into the story ahead. The volume of screenshots I took speaks for the quality, and relatability of the writing. If you pitched ‘Sci-Fi space mining colony political drama’ to me, I won’t lie, it wouldn’t be something that I would be very hyped to try. But the trailer still managed pique my interest through the other aspects and I am so glad because the demo completely won me over. Give it a try if you are in the market for an immersive story!
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