Recent reviews by ετhεrεαl

This game is definitely inspired by the likes of the Ace Attorney series, focusing on individual mysteries tracking down what happened in each incident and leading up to an unmasking of the culprit (the 'Dissolution').

I think the story is carried quite heavily by the overarching mystery you feel between each episode - especially with the post-scene of each. None of the episodes are bad, I quite enjoyed 1, 4 and 6, but they all follow exactly the same formula of Social Media Research > investigation > Identification > Socials > investigation > repeat > Dissolution which does start to become quite predictable and I wish they had varied the length a bit.

It's especially jarring because it feels like crucial information is sometimes revealed to you only right at the end (episode 2 was very notable for this) and more time for the episodes would allow readers to discover and figure those out on their own.

The ending is apparently quite divisive, but I didn't mind it. I didn't quite manage to figure it out but I had definitely twigged a couple of key details before they were revealed. It at least felt like a satisfying conclusion to the ~15 hour adventure I had just been on.

The music and artstyle are great, even if you'll hear the house theme for most of the first half of the game.

Another reviewer pointed out the poor quality of the translation. I'm by no means an expert on Japanese or VNs but the most I saw were some typos and grammatical errors. Not great, by any means, but not atrocious either. Don't buy if those sorts of things are a massive turn off for you unless there's a translation patch.

Overall, there are definite flaws and I can't say this game is amazing, but if you're interested by the premise and can look past a few translation errors and a slightly repetitive formula, there's a really interesting story being told here.

A very well-paced idle game, that doesn't require full attention 24/7, nor is it full of unnecessary timegates. There's always something to be progressing towards and there are enough systems to interact with that it feels fulfilling to max out boosting one resource, without falling victim to the trap of too many systems requiring a guide to comprehend.

Bonus points for semi-regular content updates (as of 3rd Feb 2025).

I've played for a little while and i think this game is fun. If you enjoy idle games, maybe you'll think this game is fun too :)

A super fun word puzzle game in the style of Antichamber. The non-euclidean exploration could really have done with a map like that game, but the word puzzles were fun and clever enough that I didn't feel my enjoyment was ruined.

If non-euclidean isn't your thing, there's also Level 2 which is way more about the puzzles than the navigation (though it's not totally devoid of weird navigation quirks).

Custom maps can extend your enjoyment for even longer too.

tl;dr Short for a VN, but what is there was an interesting mystery with likeable characters and a unique concept. A few minor gripes did nothing much to hamper my enjoyment of the game as a whole.

Paranormasight is a mystery centred around nine people known as 'curse-bearers' and the powers they are gifted (cursed?) with one night.

All through the game, the central mystery surrounding why the incidents are taking place is never forgotten, despite the many other plotlines and threads connecting the characters together. This makes it a coherent and interesting mystery that any fan of similar games will enjoy. I found the characters to be very well-written and believable, especially as the relationships between them are one of the story's main focuses, though saying much more would venture into spoiler territory.

A highlight of this is how Tsutsumi's relationship with his daughter is portrayed, as well as how it comes to the conclusion at the end of the game, as this is one of the few moments I didn't see coming and still think about even now.

The controls (why am I talking about controls, it's a VN) have a couple of notable absences, such as a 'skip only read text' option (though, a skip mode does exist) that can be found in many other VNs, though none of the individual segments were long enough to make this a bad problem. Some of the options are even used in creative ways at points in the game's story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The story chart is a nice way to integrate the flowchart system, and I especially like that all the segments are arranged in chronological order, but spaced out so you can see which events happen at the same time.

However, I would say that the way to unlock the true ending was a bit obscure, even with me working out what the hints the game provided were talking about. That was the only time I had to look up something in the game, as I found the rest fairly intuitive.

Overall, a fun way to spend 10-11 hours, with a well-written narrative and surprisingly thought-provoking events.

Another 'I wish I could leave a neutral review' review.

The escape rooms in this game are the standout for me; well-designed with few exceptions and were genuinely fun, which is good as they make up roughly 50% of the game's content. There's even an option to just play the rooms without the story in between which I wish I had made use of.

On the other hand, the story is average at best and laughable at worst. The characters' terrible voice acting certainly didn't help get me invested and half the concepts were done much better in Exit/Corners anyway.

tl;dr If you're in this for the story, buy another game. If you're in this for the puzzles, just play them and skip the story - you're not missing anything.

Got 8 hours in, then lost all my progress due to switching PCs. Not having cloud save is an instant negative review from me, which is a shame as the game was pretty good judging from what I played.

tl;dr - Much better than the previous, definitely one to pick up for fans of the ZE series.

Spoiler Warning for this review.

As someone who thought Head AS Code was good, but not great, my expectations were a bit lower coming into this, however I was thoroughly impressed with how much better Birth ME Code managed to be. It's clear the developer learned from their mistakes and then some. I definitely enjoyed the premise of playing as the mastermind behind a death game for once though I must admit the twist that you aren't really the mastermind does sour this a bit.

I hesitate to use the word 'likeable' when talking about the characters, but I generally did find myself getting lured in by their personalities. However, the game does a very good job of reminding you just often enough that all of them are despicable criminals that you shouldn't be getting too close to. This dissonance does a good job of making you feel genuinely uncomfortable playing the game, but not so much that it puts you off playing.

Also, I have to commend the inclusion of actual puzzles this time. They were pretty cool, even if a bit obscure at times, but the hints were good enough that I never felt stuck for too long. The ones in the deduction rooms weren't bad either, and I enjoyed actually having something to work out this time, instead of just clicking on eyes and hands like in Head AS Code.

Finally, the ending. This game builds very well on the idea of God being you, the player, introduced in the first game. It really keeps you thinking about how we interact with games like these, and how our actions affect (if they affect) the characters within. I also enjoyed seeing the returning characters from the previous game, namely Marco, Greta, Hannah and Emily; and getting to see more of their backstories and how they fit in the greater Abime universe. I didn't play before the patch that changed the ending to be more understandable, but I didn't feel I had any of the problems expressed by previous reviewers about the ending, so whatever was patched, worked.

Overall, a big step up from the previous entry in the Abime series. I would definitely recommend you pick this up if you're fans of the Zero Escape trilogy and want to satisfy that itch for similar games.

In response to the '''review''' pointing out that most of the negative reviews have <50 hours of playtime, here's a guy with over 5k hours telling you to find a better idle game to play.

I quit just after the Year 3 events started because I noticed a pattern with CNE's business decisions that didn't look like it was going to change any time soon. They want your money, and they will sell literally everything possible in the game to get it: chests, champions, time gate pieces, potions, scrolls, cards, familiars. I wouldn't be surprised if they start selling campaigns in the future. Don't get me wrong, it is entirely possible to play the game without buying a single thing (like me), but you'll find that you are not the type of player they will cater for and you'll be consistently 'just behind' the peak of progression because of it.

Now earlier I suggested you find some better idle games, so I'd be remiss not to point out some others that I've enjoyed:
-Idle Wizard
-Realm Grinder
-NGU Idle
-Antimatter Dimensions

Hopefully this kills the ridiculous notion that some reviews are worth more than others because they 'haven't played enough'. Perhaps if new players are quitting the game because of microtransactions, it's the company that's adding them you need to look at, not the players...

tl; dr - A must-buy for any fans of the Zero Escape trilogy. (Who puts a tl;dr before the main text??? I do.)

Don't go in expecting the level of polish of a true AAA visual novel. However, if you temper your expectations, the game will be sure to entertain you through its playtime.

Let's start with what I'd consider the cons: firstly there are typos, quite a few of them too. They don't particularly break the immersion, but I think a decent spellchecker would have helped here. Secondly, there is no flowchart to help you quickly go to decision points, meaning you're forced to make tons of saves for each choice. Thankfully, the game provides a lot of save slots and this never felt like too much of a chore. There's also a handy 'skip' function which unlocks after you complete a certain amount of endings, which allows you to input your choices and get placed at a specific point in the story - though it only works up to selecting a route, the choices on that route aren't included. Finally, the 'slight lack of polish I mentioned earlier', the music can sound a bit generic and unfitting at times, and the heavily blurred photo backgrounds can look odd, but again this is a minor gripe.

Now, the pros. The writing immediately stands out as the best part of the game - as it should, since this is a visual novel. The characters all seem real and their backstories are explained well and by the end, I was left wanting to have more of their stories and interactions along with feeling bad for those who died, except one . The different routes are thought out well, and different enough from each other that I felt I was experiencing something new each time. Each one is mainly focused on a particular character, with one 'true' route as well. Aside from the true ending, I would say my favourite routes were Monkey's, Snake's Dragon's and Horse's. The puzzles were quite interesting and I found myself enjoying trying to figure them out, even if some could be quite obscure.

Ending details below here, you have been warned.

The way Mouse figures everything out at the end, by looking over key parts of everything that happened before felt like an incredible way to get the player to figure it out on their own. I needed some pointing in the right direction by the hints, but they were structured in a way that I still felt accomplished when I figured everything out. .

Finally, I think the idea of the Interview Rooms was very clever and enjoyed getting the final thoughts from certain characters, though they way they are unlocked felt a bit forced and I think would've been better if they were just all unlocked from the start.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing through this game and recommend it to anyone with an interest in similar games.