Clannad

Year: 2004

Publisher: Visual Arts

Developer: Key

Country: Japan

Genre: Visual novel

Platform: Various

Image credit: “Clannad game cover” by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clannad_game_cover.jpg#/media/File:Clannad_game_cover.jpg

Clannad, a 2004 Japanese visual novel developed by Key for PC (and later PlayStation and Xbox consoles), concerns the life of Tomoya Okazaki. When we first meet Tomoya in part one, School Life, he is a teenage delinquent in his last year of school. There, through Tomoya, players help solve his classmates’ problems, including five recurring female characters. After Story, the second arc, picks up with Tomoya at the start of his adult life. Gameplay is driven by a branching plot that allows alternate scenarios, dialogue, and interactions depending on a player’s choices. Unlike Key’s earlier adult releases, Clannad received an all ages rating. After Clannad became the bestselling PC game sold in Japan, an adult spinoff, Tomoyo After: It’s a Wonderful Life, capitalized on the original game’s success. Clannad has made the leap to other media, including manga, audio dramas, soundtracks, an animated film, and a TV series.

LGBTQ references in this game:

“Bad Ending” with Tomoya Okazaki and Youhei Sunohara

Citations: