I knew this game was going to be incredible halfway through the prologue and that I would be in for a ride.

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Based in a smaller area of the Sumida ward in Tokyo Japan known as Honjo, the story of a 'Rite of Resurrection' has blown up in popularity. Each character within the game has different reasons for pursuing the Rite or seeking information regarding the Rite, coming to conclusion that the 'Seven Mysteries of Honjo' are related to the Rite. Each of the protagonists find that they come into possession of a 'Cursed Stone' in some way or another, and each of these stones are related to one of the 'Seven Mysteries of Honjo'. These cursed stones grant the bearer the power to kill others using the curse in a manner that is related to the origin of the stone once prerequisites are met. Those who have a cursed stone in their possession, known as Curse Bearers must kill others and take their soul as fuel for stone if they wish to perform the 'Rite of Resurrection'.

The game follows through the stories of multiple protagonists, some of which I did not initially find as interesting as others, however, by the time I got further into the game, I was fully invested in each and every story. Each story and character were connected in some way or another, yet each connection made sense and did not seem as if they were dropped on the player out of the blue. For the most part, the story made sense, and there weren't any glaring loopholes in the story. In the canonical ending of the story however, I did get a little bit confused, however it did not detract from the experience of the game as a whole, and I still enjoyed the story greatly.

The game also includes something that represents a storyboard, showing all of the pathways the player has taken as a result of their actions, and allows the player to seamlessly jump between points in time to change their decisions to see what happens if a different decision is made (no need to save like a madman, and no need to replay a massive chunk of the game if you forgot to save). There are multiple different endings, some are obvious, some are more hidden (with one main ending, of course), and for the most part, I enjoyed seeing each one (the credits do play after each ending and it gets tedious as a result but it is skippable).

I loved the story of Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. The complexity of it may be confusing for some, but I found it to be beautifully connected and enjoyable. The horror aspect of the game, however, does drop off in the middle and end of the game instead transitioning into a mystery game. Regardless, I found myself invested in the mysteries of the story, and grew to be interested in each protagonist's story.

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo implements some gameplay mechanics I've never seen before as early on as the prologue. It involved thinking outside of the box, and I found it to leave a deep impression on me, and I loved it each time. Unfortunately the 'puzzles' were not a regular occurrence, though the ones that were there left a lasting impression on me, I would have loved to see more of the creative puzzles.

The game allows the player to observe their location from a 360 degree point of view in some areas, and the ability to do so is terrifying in-game. By making the player to manually have to look around, particularly in the beginning of the game is frightening, and I enjoyed it greatly.

By having the timeline/storyboard easily accessible, and allowing for players to jump between stories to certain points in time to select different decisions was great, and saves hours of time of having to replay the game, or to save generously. I greatly enjoyed exploring different endings or stories to find different answers to puzzles, or to change what happens in the story.

I did find that the game did throw a lot of information at the player in the beginning, and periodically during other times of the game. It involves a lot of text and reading, which may not be as interesting to others and may be tedious instead. Fortunately, all of these files are still accessible in the menu during points in time where the player must make a decision.

The art in this game is beautiful. Each character looks great, and the scenery looks equally fantastic, portraying a dark and muted world fitting of the story. It is charmingly stylised with a grain effect with the details even carrying onto the menu. These aesthetics remain throughout the entirety of the game, however, I do wish that more CGs were included, potentially even with more animations, as I was left yearning for more visuals.

The soundtrack is absolutely haunting at times, jazzy, upbeat, and sombre at other times. At each time it perfectly sets the mood, building up anxiousness in anticipation of what's going to happen next, or will have you grooving in your chair. I love the soundtrack, though at points in time, there is no music or ambience at all, and there will just be silence. I'm uncertain if this was a decision made to make the player feel uncertain of what's going on, but I would rather something to be added to the silence.
The characters in this game are not voiced at all, and I believe this was an active decision made by the developers, I thought it was great. It was unique, and may be unusual for those who are accustomed to characters being voiced in visual novels, but I found that this decision had some significance from a gameplay perspective (though I would have preferred for this significance to become more present and active in the game).

I don't believe this game has much replayabilty. As it allows the player to jump around different points in the story to find different endings through different decisions, it does not have any need for the player to replay the game in full. There are collectables within the game, however, similarly with the different endings, a full replay will not be required as the player can jump to specific points in the story as a result of the storyboard function. I only consider replayability to be for games that have value when replaying the full game all over, as a result, Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo does not have any replayability unless an individual is looking to re-experience the game in it's full, but it won't have it's significance or impact anymore.

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo was fantastic. I loved the engaging and complex plot that keeps the player on their toes. The characters are interesting, interweaving with each other in some way or another. Most importantly, the unique game mechanics this game at some points had me impressed right from the prologue. This game left a long-lasting impression on me, and I find that it was unlike any other game I had played.

I highly recommend this game to those who have interest in dark, intriguing and complex storylines involving mysteries.
I was not disappointed in this game whatsoever. For fans of the Spirit Hunter: Death Mark/NG franchise, AI Somnium Files franchise and Zero Escape trilogy... This is the game for you.

I fell in love with Death Mark, and consequently the Spirit Hunter franchise. I'm looking forward excitedly to future additions.

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I was immediately drawn in by the premise after reading the synopsis of the game, and as I played through the game, I was not disappointed. Each new spirit was always something to look forward to learning about, along with meeting the new characters that would follow. Some aspects of the story did get rather redundant, such as having to explain the situation with the Mark to each new character, along with not having much character development with side characters, hence being the reason as to why the plot is rated a 4/5.

Despite this, the plot continued to draw me in, offering several chapters of traditional Japanese horror. Combined with that, Death Mark is not for the faint of heart, vividly describing events to the point of the player being able to concoct an image for themselves, even before the game's own graphics show it, mentioning topics which some may be uncomfortable with at times such as suicide, rape, child abuse and world wars.

Death Mark does not present horror through the idea of a monster where the player will always have to look over their shoulder, but instead through an enveloping sense of existential dread as the clock continues to tick, building tension as the time for confrontation steadily nears.

As per the trend with visual novels, the game is narrative heavy with dialogue choices that may or may not impact the future. Unlike other visual novels, Death Mark is more interactive, playing out as a point-and-click adventure with exploration, battle sequences and time-limited choice events.

Death Mark gives the player the freedom to explore using their mouse as a flashlight to investigate areas of interest, or to pick up and use objects for any puzzles. During this investigatory phase, most of the background of the spirit is uncovered, as well as items which are vital in the final confrontation. I did, however, find the map layouts to be quite finicky and confusing, as I often found myself lost. Luckily the exploration is not time limited allowing the player to be thorough in their investigation.

Throughout the game, "Live or Die" situations will present themselves, being multiple choice questions that the player must answer correctly before the time runs out. Not picking the correct answers based on information that has been uncovered throughout the journey leads to a "Game Over" screen.

As the game is originally in Japanese, do keep in mind that some of the answers may be a game of probabilities as some answers in the original game are based on word play with kanji. Death Mark is quite generous with Game Overs though, as the player will only be pushed back to the beginning of the Live or Die sequence, therefore trial-and-error is not harmful enough to significantly slow down the gameplay.

Throughout the game, the player will be able to pick a partner to bring with them through their investigations and confrontations. Each have different traits, skills and knowledge. Depending on the partner the player has chosen, some choices may be blocked, and they may have to go back and change their partner.

When confronting a spirit, the player must figure out what items to use from the information previously gathered. There is not one correct answer, depending on the route taken the ending of that particular chapter, as well as the ending of the game will change. Due to this, it is important to pay attention to what is learnt about the spirit.

Death Mark encapsulates the chilling and nerve-wracking environment that is expected from a horror game with it's art style and visual effects, teetering on the edge of showing enough distinct features to bring a sense of dread without revealing too much, letting the darkness in the corners of the screen creep into the players mind to instil fear of the unknown.

There is nudity in some of the CGs, seemingly sexualising women. The graphics are without a doubt beautiful and horrifying in one, however the use of nudity, namely of women, both alive and dead may ruin some immersion, resulting in a 4/5. Despite this though, the visuals are without a doubt disturbing, and achieve the goal of shocking the player, leaving memorable images (pleasant or not) that stay in the player's mind long after completing the game.

The sound design of the game is absolutely bone-chilling. When the game is without any graphics, the audio playing from the game is enough to make the player uneasy. While sound effects can easily grow old if overused, I never found this to be the case. The ambience of the wind, crackling noises, insects, all whilst exploring constantly keeps the player on edge and feeling uneasy. It is not always nerve-wracking, returning to home base provided me with a sense of relief, allowing me to feel safe. The audio design is at the sweet spot of equally alarming and comforting. The game does, however, lack much voice acting, resulting in the rating of 4/5. However, in return, it does allow for the developers to bring more attention to the sound effects and ambience.

There are multiple endings to Death Mark, which allows for some interesting replay value, with different endings with each chapter, as well as with the game's conclusion. Even after having reached all the endings, I'm not opposed to playing through the game again, for all it's twists and turns, beautiful art and sound design. However learning the full story, and knowing of the spirits, it does take away the fear of the unknown and the tension that comes with Death Mark's first playthrough.

Despite the flaws of Death Mark, I love the ♥♥♥♥ out of this game and I don't see myself forgetting about this game, or dropping it from my Game Showcase anytime soon. My only gripes are in regards to the lack of character development, as it did not allow myself as the player to grow particularly attached to the characters, as well as the sexualisation of females.