Baldr Sky

Baldr Sky (バルドスカイ) is a duology of Japanese adult visual novels with 2D action elements developed by Baldrhead from Giga. The series characterizes itself as a cyberpunk action adventure game. The first game, named Baldr Sky: "Lost Memory" Dive1 (バルドスカイ ロストメモリー ダイブ1") was released on March 27, 2009 for the PC. The second game, Baldr Sky "Recordare" Dive2 was released on November 27, 2009. A manga based on Dive1 by Kouji Tanaka is serialized in Comp Ace.

Gameplay
A majority of Dive1's gameplay consists of reading the text that's rendered on screen and supported with audio for voices. The player will occasionally be presented with choices to select which may or may not determine the outcome of the game. As Dive1 has multiple endings, the player will have to replay the game multiple times in order to view all of the endings.

Similar to other games in the Baldr series, Dive1 is also driven by a top-down 2D interface where the player controls a mecha in sprite form to combat enemy machines. The player is given a chance to upgrade or modify the equipment of the mecha prior to a series of battles.

Setting and themes
Baldr Sky takes place in Japan some time in the future during the 21st century. Nanomachines have become a commonplace and have taken a major role in society. The abilities of these nanomachines range from medical purposes for curing ailments and modifying the taste of food. A new generation of humans now also have a chip embedded in them which allows them to be connected to the Internet at all times. With the dawn of these new technologies, warfare has expanded beyond the physical world onto the virtual world. People engage in combat online in sumicrams, the name of the mecha units in the game, or with viruses (unmanned robots).

Story
The story of Baldr Sky revolves around the male protagonist Kou Kadokura (門倉甲) and is told through two timelines, the present and the past through flashbacks. At the beginning of the story, Kou is suffering from memory loss so much of the back story about the past is told through flashbacks while Kou is recalling his memories with the aid of medical nanomachines. In the present, Kou and his subordinate, Rain Kirishima (桐島レイン), are after a group of scientists who had inadvertently triggered a hazard due to a developing nanomachine. The city and the surrounding area that the lab is located in is ultimately demolished but the scientists had actually evacuated to safety from the lab before the place was destroyed. Kou wishes to uncover the truth about what happened that day and to prevent another tragedy from occurring again, as his girlfriend Sora was killed by the nanomachines. It is eventually revealed that Kurihara Naoki had accessed the Baldr System and been possessed by the consciousness of the mad scientist Neunzehn, who caused the tragedy to happen. It is also revealed that in a parallel world where is was not her but him who was killed, Sora, like Kou, became a mercenary also partnering Rain and fought Dominion and GOAT, and in an attempt to stop the Tranquilizer, ended up at the Sea of Es where the AI's subconscious allowed her to see and meddle with other worlds. Neunzehn, linked to the Tranquilizer, was also given that ability, and the two fought a multiversal war with Sora trying to save the Kou of other worlds through her avatar the Agent, while Neunzehn tried to destroy mankind with the Assembler via his own avatar, Father Gregory. The memories of the events of the other worlds eventually flow back to Sora's where they awaken Kou's simulacra, and he kills Neunzehn. However in Sora's world mankind has already been wiped out by the Assembler and all the people are actually wired ghosts, electronic life-forms with no bodies in the real world. They use nanomachines to recreate life on Earth, however, and after an immesearuble amount of time are able to create clone bodies of their old selves which they then inhabit. Meanwhile in yet another world, Kurihara, with Makoto's help, does not succumb to Neunzehn and the Assembler is completed successfully, so the Gray Christmas never happens.

Music
The opening theme for Dive1, entitled "Restoration -Chinmoku no Sora-" (Restoration -沈黙の空-), is sung by KOTOKO. The opening theme for Dive2 is jihad, also by KOTOKO.

Development
Baldr Sky is the third game in the Baldr series following Baldr Force and Baldr Bullet "Revellion". Character designs were, like the other two games in the series, by Seiji Kikuchi. Music composition was provided by Tgz Sounds, Barbarian on the Groove, and LittleWing.

Release history
Prior to Dive1's release, GIGA released a demo of the game's prologue chapter online on the Internet on January 23, 2009. The full game was released about two months later on March 27, 2009.

Reception
According to the sales numbers on Getchu.com, Dive1 appeared second in the sales ranking during its release in the month of March and twentieth in the following month in April.