Everlasting Snooze Review by Abubis

A short boys’ love visual novel filled with mystery, focused on hypnosis. Cereus has amnesia, only forgetting one day – but it just might have been the most interesting day of his life.

Everlasting Snooze is a boys’ love visual novel where you follow Cereus Bai as he tries to unravel the mystery of sudden amnesia. Not a detail can be remembered from the day before – which coincidentally, seems to be one hell of a day to forget. Cereus works as the receptionist in a hypnotherapy clinic. He has always wanted to learn hypnotherapy, but unfortunately never ended up being accepted as a student due the fact he is emotionless, and being incapable of feeling seems to be too problematic in such a job, where you delve into the minds of others. All is not lost however, as he at the very least works in the world he wishes to be proficient in, and it just so happens that he’s found himself surrounded by some handsome and interesting men.

While Everlasting Snooze carries the boys’ love tag, its primary focus is not at all romance. Instead, the story is about uncovering the day Cereus has forgotten, a mystery that made the story very interesting. But you’re not just unveiling the mysteries of yesterday, as it seems there are many secrets to be unveiled.

The first major character we meet aside from the protagonist, is Dr. Vere. Cereus’s boss, and also the man waking him up from hypnotherapy. He hides some deep secrets, ones that seem to leave some painful scars on his past.

Secondly, coincidentally, Cereus seemed to have gotten a new roommate on the same day he had forgotten – Kurokawa, who also works under the same career, hypnotherapy. However, his ideals are much different to Dr. Vere.

Finally, the third: Magenta, my personal favourite! Another person we know nothing about, due to meeting on the forgotten day. He uses hypnotherapy as a performance act, and with his flirty, fun nature, seems to be very popular.

Everlasting Snooze does not necessarily have good endings, or a good conclusion to that route. Instead, each ending is to help you learn more details about the overall plot, sharing details about each character and what is happening as you go.

There is also a very basic mini game included when Cereus attempts to perform hypnosis. You control yourself walking through the layers of their consciousness, stopping to occasionally relax them. At first I found this interesting and fun, however, when replaying other routes it is impossible to skip so I’d recommend saving after each mini game. To facilitate the replayability, multiple saves and a skip function are available. You can rewind a limited amount of text and see history. In the options, there are character profiles that show your unlocked information on each person as you go. There is also an achievements screen that shows you the requirements to meet specific endings. Combined with an option to show your progress towards certain values, the endings are not at all hard to unlock, especially if you use the guide frostylantern has posted on steam!

The visuals for Everlasting Snooze are simple, but pretty. Each character has their own unique look, fitting to their personality, For example, Magenta, whose character design fits their flirty, playful personality. While Cereus rocks a very normal, generic look as the protagonist, a guy of no significance until the day of his amnesia arises.
Backgrounds become interesting and creative at certain points in time to fit with the scenario the player is in. While in odd places, the background will reflect as so, with odd movements or not so natural surroundings.

Length-wise, this is not at all a long visual novel that requires too much time. A several hour sitting could easily help you unravel the mysteries hidden within. The other games within this trilogy, “The Mind Deceivers”, is also not required for you to fully understand Everlasting Snooze. They simply share genres and themes, and have some character cameos for those who play all three.

Overall, when I first started Everlasting Snooze, I was a bit confused and lost. But that was just like Cereus, and I imagine, intentional. Over time as you unravel answers and progress, that confusion disappears and you start to understand. Afterall, waking up with amnesia would confuse anyone. I am yet to play anything else in the trilogy, but I would certainly recommend this one if you enjoy unraveling unique stories. The plot is nothing like I have personally played before, which also felt very refreshing. I would certainty recommend this game to anyone interested in hypnosis and a bit of mystery.