The Sun Shines Over Us

The Sun Shines Over Us is a visual novel about mental illness, trauma and relationships made with care and feeling. Here, you play Mentari, a young girl who has transferred to a new high school in the middle of the school year. The reasons are clear from the start: Mentari has been a victim of bullying, which leads her to act shy to the point where she cannot speak.

Visual novels are a video game genre where decision-making is important, and The Sun Shines Over Us is no different. It has fifteen chapters and six different endings, so you can always play it again. The decisions you make will drive the story. Several require gems to make, so the game lets you buy them or earn five a day through videos.

The trauma left by bullying is difficult to address in a video game, but The Sun Shines Over Us does a good job of depicting not only this but also the various problems the characters face. You won't just help Mentari navigate her new life at school, but also the rest of the characters. The Sun Shines Over Us is also a game about empathy, both between its characters and toward you, the player. For example, when you choose to have Mentari introduce herself to a teacher at the beginning, instead of doing what you have chosen, she remains silent. She is unable to do so. As you progress, Mentari will respond better to what you decide. In this way, The Sun Shines Over Us shows how sometimes wanting is not the same as being able to, and that in order to heal trauma, you need to keep trying.

The Sun Shines Over Us is a really enjoyable game, but you should be careful when playing it. The developers have issued a warning at the beginning about the topics it covers, such as bullying or eating disorders, so players know what is going to come.

If you want to play a visual novel about empathy and overcoming trauma, The Sun Shines Over Us is the game for you. Download the APK here.