Let’s kick off this Valentine’s Day (month) celebration with a look at a visual novel called Adventure of a Lifetime.
Adventure of a Lifetime follows a young man named Hiroki who returns to the islands where he grew up to help his grandmother during summer vacation.
There, he reunites with his childhood friend Chisa, and also meets a mysterious girl named Emily who has come to the islands in search of sunken treasure from an old shipwreck.
The three of them soon make it their quest to find the shipwreck and retrieve the treasure that is so important to Emily. Scuba diving is a key part of the story due to the sunken treasure focus, and it puts in a surprising amount of effort into explaining details about diving and safety measures.
As someone who loves treasure hunt stories, I found that to be an especially enjoyable aspect to the story. It really did convey a sense of treasure hunting and, well, adventure, as promised by the title.
A small handful of choices made throughout the visual novel will determine whether you end up following Chisa or Emily’s route. I thought Emily’s route felt more central to the story due to the focus on the shipwreck, but Chisa’s route had its share of great moments. Romance didn’t feel like a huge focus, but was still an important part of the routes and felt believable enough.
The art is also beautiful, and I liked how many CGs it had for a visual novel you can finish in a few hours. It has a good soundtrack, too.
Adventure of a Lifetime is a nice visual novel to play if you’re looking for an island-set romance with a focus on diving and treasure hunting. It’s also the first game to be added to the list of prizes in this year’s contest, if you’d like to dive into this romance yourself!
