Want to soar through the sky? Then If My Heart Had Wings might be the right game for you. Check out our If My Heart Had Wings review!
Aoi Minase returns with shattered dreams to his wind-swept hometown of Kazegaura. There, atop a hill lined with wind turbines, he encounters a wheelchair-bound girl, Kotori Habane, and a beautiful, white glider soaring through the sky.
Together, they decide to revive their school’s defunct Soaring Club in order to ride the “Morning Glory,” a phantom cloud carried on the wind that blows across Kazegaura.
This is a tale of youth, a tale of boys and girls who loved the sky.
If My Heart Had Wings – Nintendo Switch Trailer
If My Heart Had Wings is a new visual novel on the Nintendo Switch. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of a visual novel, it is a game where you control a character while a big story unwraps around you, often involving choices you need to make, which will affect the story. There’s also a ton of dialogue to read. If My Heart Had Wings doesn’t deviate from this formula.
This story of this game puts you in the role of Aoi Minaseml. He was a cyclist, but due to an injury, he had to retire. There is a sense of loss – a central theme the game will be dealing with. Returning home after the accident, his mother puts him in charge of being “Den mother” of a group of high school girls in a dormitory. It’s kind of a weird setup as I can’t actually see that happening in real life, but it helps propel the story forward.
If My Heart Had Wings focuses on the local Soaring Club, a club for developing Gliders powered by the wind. He meets Amane Mochizuki, and this kickstarts the story into gear. Along the way, you are going to meet quite a few girls, all matching the different stereotypes you would expect from a game like this. A former tomgirl, a clumsy but smart Girl, twins with opposite personalities – they are all fun to meet and spend time with.
The one I do want to talk about is Kotori Habane. She lost the use of her legs and is confined to a wheelchair. She is also dealing with a sense of loss, and there is a strong bond and emotional connection between your character and her. A lot for visual novels focus on tragedy, but in this situation, I always felt hope was coming from her, and I, therefore, as Aoi felt more hopeful about his future, so did I.
The story is long and will take you dozens of hours to complete. As far as visual novels go, it feels like a longer story than I’m used to playing. There are some choices to make, but also not as many as you usually see in visual novels. However, it does lead the game to multiple endings so you can see how your actions end up affecting the story. I found If My Heart Had Wings pace to be a bit slow, but the story was good, and it had enough powerful story beats to get me interested again.
As the game does focus on the Soaring Club, you will be building a glider during the game. It actually gives you a surprising amount of information about building and flying gliders in general. I was surprised about that. Also a nice diversion from the story as well.
The art in If My Heart Had Wings is gorgeous, and it definitely stands out on the higher end when compared to other visual novels I’ve played. The art helps to present all characters, and the locations feel alive. I’m used to playing around static backdrops, so I appreciate it when developers do things differently. The sound in the game suits the visuals perfectly with a relaxing soundtrack that fits the pace of the game. The musical themes throughout If My Heart Had Wings feel just right and added so much to the story’s presentation.
Final Thoughts
I had a good time with If My Heart Had Wings. It’s a visual novel for which I loved the art and sound direction, as it made it feel like a higher-end visual novel with a ton of content and a lot of extra effort put into it. I did struggle at times with its slower pace, but I did end up wanting to see where the story would be going. In the end, I enjoyed Aoi’s story, so it’s an easy one I recommend you play.
Disclaimer
This If My Heart Had Wings review is based on a Switch copy provided by MoeNovel.
