I will only recommend this game to a very specific group of people who:

• Desperately want to have their time wasted and have no problem dealing with the morning-after regret.
  
• Have an inhuman level of tolerance for verbose and childish writing.
  
• Believe in pseudoscience and don’t even bother looking up the validity of it.
  
• Are gullible and believe whatever bull**** people throw at you.
  
• Can turn a blind eye to any ridiculous plot hole and deus ex machina scenario as long as the story moves forward.
  
• Don’t mind their elaborative faculty being questioned and taunted by the devs again and again.

If you find yourself fit in at least four(4) of the categories above, go give it a try, you may have an incredibly fun time with this game. Otherwise you may just end up like me, tortured by regret and fury for all the wasted time and anticipation.

I know, Japanese visual novels (also Japanese literature in general) are well known for verbose writing, I had this in mind before stepping into this game. However, its excessive verboseness still overwhelmed me somehow. You might think I am exaggerating and overacting at this point, so, to sufficiently prove my points, I am going to give a demonstration of two techniques used in this game, two techniques that stretched this game from a story that could have been properly told in 5 hours into an endless marathon.



I don’t know if this game was made for kids or not, but considering it is rated M in many countries, my suspicion might be incorrect. Anyway, the devs seemed to have highly underestimated the elaborative faculty of the players to an almost offensive degree.

As if describing a fact or ratiocination that sticks out a mile by the narrator wasn’t enough, they just have to recapitulate the same thing (indeed, the exactly same thing, no Rashomon effect involved) through the mouth of every character available at the scene again and again, and eventually, to have the protagonist to sum it up one extra time…

Here is an example:
(Note that it’s not an excerpt of any actual in-game scene, but a simplified demonstration of how this “technique” works, as is the example in the next part)

Originally posted by Example 1:

You rushed to the door only to found its handle missing.
Where the handle was supposed to be, left only an empty socket behind.
You tried to force it open *BAM* *BAM* of no avail.
People gathered around to investigate it. (“narrator describes the situation” Check ✓)

Character 1: “What are you doing? Let’s open this door and proceed!”
You: “I just arrived and found its handle missing.”
Character 2: “A door can only be opened by rotating its handle, I guess we cannot open the door then.”
Character 3: ”Let me handle this, I’m full of muscle! *BANG* *BANG*”
You: “I tried, it didn’t even budge.”
Character 5: “Let me give you a hand!”
Character 3: “Rawr… Doesn’t work!”
Character 6: “We can’t open the door normally, nor force it open. I figure this door is off-limits to us.”
Character 2: “That’s what I’m thinking, we cannot open this door at this moment.”
Character 4: “Then we are trapped! This is the only door we haven’t entered!”
You: “Maybe there is some other ways to open a door?”
Character 6: “Like teleporting through?”
Character 4: “How is that possible!?”
Character 2: “How about lockpicking?”
Character 1: “Without a handle, there isn’t any lock to lockpick I’m afraid.”
Character 4: “So we are trapped! We are going to starve to death!”
You: “Is it possible to find some explosives to breach it?”
Character 2: “Whew! Yes, we can plant some explosives to breach it through. Why haven’t I figured that out.”
Character 6: “Indeed, it’s a tough door no doubt, but I don’t think it can stand against explosion.”
Character 3: “Good idea! I know I can count on you.”
You: “Is that truly the only way?”
Character 1: “Or we can find the missing handle to fix the door, and open it the way a normal door would.”
Character 5: “Exactly what I was thinking. We can also try finding the missing handle.”
Character 4: “Does that mean we don’t have to die here if we can find the missing handle or get some explosives to breach it?” (“every character recaps the same thing at least once” Check ✓)
You: “So our current objective is clear, we either find the missing handle of the door, or get our hands on some explosives to breach it open. Everybody clear?” (“protagonist sums it up one extra time” Check ✓)

Did you get how painfully annoying it is?
Also note that since every line is accompanied by voice over and character animation, any simple scenario like this one could easily last ages.



As you might have already known, the game is consisted of two parts. One is the “
Visual Novel” part, in which you simply read the story, and sometimes make decisions to push the story forward. The other one is the “Room Escape” part, which plays just like any other room escape game, except for the puzzles being mind-numbingly easy and straightforward.

What truly bothers me is that every character keeps saying sh*t that are either too intelligent and informative, or embarrassingly flirty (both from male and female), which is totally out the realm of their character personas and the overall atmosphere. There is one scene where they were just screaming and vomiting after the discovery of a bloody dismembered body, the next minute, they started flirting and recollecting childhood memories right beside the corpse!?

And that isn’t even the worst part, the worst part is that every character keeps commentating before/during/after your every single action! It might be hard to understand how, so here comes the demonstration.

Imagining yourself entering a room with two other characters, the room is completely empty except for a tea table in the center and a key atop it. The exit is on the opposite of the room, locked. The solution here is quite self-evident, you grab the key, unlock the door and get out, not much to talk about really. However, such simple scenario would evolve like this in this game:

Originally posted by Example 2:

(Just when you enter the room, game freezes.)
Character 2: “Oh, this room is so empty, can we just chill out here for a while and take a break?”
You: “Time is running out, I’m afraid we can’t afford the luxury.”
Character 1: “Yeah, let’s find out the solution to this room.”
Character 2: “You men are always this rushy.”


(Game resumes control, you start to explore the room)


(Just before you are about to grab the key)
Character 2: “Look! There is a key on the table.”
Character 1: “Yeah, I saw that too, I wonder what it opens.”
You: “Let’s take a closer look.”

(Right after you pick up the key)
Character 1: “Hey, what’s that you’re holding? A key?”
You: “Yes, I just found it lying on the table.”
Character 2: “Oh, it looks so stiff and hard.”
You: “Wait, can you say that again?”
Character 2: “Say what again?”
You: “The one you used to describe the key.”
Character 2: “Oh that’s awkward, please forget about it!”
(“ridiculously unnecessary flirting” Check ✓)

(While you attempt to further search the room)
Character 1: “Since there are only two doors in this room, one is the one we just entered, the other one must be the exit, why don’t we check it out.”
Character 2: “It looks locked though, but maybe you can unlock it with the key you just found?”
You: “Only one way to find out.”

(When you approach the door.)
Character 1: “Oh, this door is so strongly fortified, there’s no way we can force it open, got to use a key.”

(After you insert the key and open the door.)
Character 1: “Man, you are such a talented door-opener, I love the way you insert the key into the lockhole, how fierce.”
Character 2: “You guys are disgusting!”
(“ridiculously unnecessary flirting again, seriously?” Check ✓)
You: “Just shut up and let’s get out of here.”

Are you feeling it now?

I will only recommend this game to a very specific group of people who: [list] [*]Desperately want to have their time wasted and have no problem dealing with the morning-after regret. [*]Have an inhuman level of tolerance for verbose and childish writing. [*]Believe in pseudoscience and don’t even bother looking up the validity of it. [*]Are gullible and believe whatever bull**** people throw at you. [*]Can turn a blind eye to any ridiculous plot hole and deus ex machina scenario as long as the story moves forward. [*]Don’t mind their elaborative faculty being questioned and taunted by the devs again and again. [/list] If you find yourself fit in at least four(4) of the categories above, go give it a try, you may have an incredibly fun time with this game. Otherwise you may just end up like me, tortured by regret and fury for all the wasted time and anticipation. I know, Japanese visual novels (also Japanese literature in general) are well known for verbose writing, I had this in mind before stepping into this game. However, its excessive verboseness still overwhelmed me somehow. You might think I am exaggerating and overacting at this point, so, to sufficiently prove my points, I am going to give a demonstration of two techniques used in this game, two techniques that stretched this game from a story that could have been properly told in 5 hours into an endless marathon. [h1]Technique 1:[/h1] I don’t know if this game was made for kids or not, but considering it is rated M in many countries, my suspicion might be incorrect. Anyway, the devs seemed to have highly underestimated the elaborative faculty of the players to an almost offensive degree. As if describing a fact or ratiocination that sticks out a mile by the narrator wasn’t enough, they just have to recapitulate the same thing (indeed, the exactly same thing, no Rashomon effect involved) through the mouth of every character available at the scene again and again, and eventually, to have the protagonist to sum it up one extra time… Here is an example: [b](Note that it’s not an excerpt of any actual in-game scene, but a simplified demonstration of how this “technique” works, as is the example in the next part)[/b] [quote=Example 1] You rushed to the door only to found its handle missing. Where the handle was supposed to be, left only an empty socket behind. You tried to force it open *BAM* *BAM* of no avail. People gathered around to investigate it. [b](“narrator describes the situation” Check ✓)[/b] Character 1: “What are you doing? Let’s open this door and proceed!” You: “I just arrived and found its handle missing.” Character 2: “A door can only be opened by rotating its handle, I guess we cannot open the door then.” Character 3: ”Let me handle this, I’m full of muscle! *BANG* *BANG*” You: “I tried, it didn’t even budge.” Character 5: “Let me give you a hand!” Character 3: “Rawr… Doesn’t work!” Character 6: “We can’t open the door normally, nor force it open. I figure this door is off-limits to us.” Character 2: “That’s what I’m thinking, we cannot open this door at this moment.” Character 4: “Then we are trapped! This is the only door we haven’t entered!” You: “Maybe there is some other ways to open a door?” Character 6: “Like teleporting through?” Character 4: “How is that possible!?” Character 2: “How about lockpicking?” Character 1: “Without a handle, there isn’t any lock to lockpick I’m afraid.” Character 4: “So we are trapped! We are going to starve to death!” You: “Is it possible to find some explosives to breach it?” Character 2: “Whew! Yes, we can plant some explosives to breach it through. Why haven’t I figured that out.” Character 6: “Indeed, it’s a tough door no doubt, but I don’t think it can stand against explosion.” Character 3: “Good idea! I know I can count on you.” You: “Is that truly the only way?” Character 1: “Or we can find the missing handle to fix the door, and open it the way a normal door would.” Character 5: “Exactly what I was thinking. We can also try finding the missing handle.” Character 4: “Does that mean we don’t have to die here if we can find the missing handle or get some explosives to breach it?” [b](“every character recaps the same thing at least once” Check ✓)[/b] You: “So our current objective is clear, we either find the missing handle of the door, or get our hands on some explosives to breach it open. Everybody clear?” [b](“protagonist sums it up one extra time” Check ✓)[/b] [/quote] Did you get how painfully annoying it is? Also note that since every line is accompanied by voice over and character animation, any simple scenario like this one could easily last ages. [h1]Technique 2:[/h1] As you might have already known, the game is consisted of two parts. One is the “ Visual Novel” part, in which you simply read the story, and sometimes make decisions to push the story forward. The other one is the “Room Escape” part, which plays just like any other room escape game, except for the puzzles being mind-numbingly easy and straightforward. What truly bothers me is that every character keeps saying sh*t that are either too intelligent and informative, or embarrassingly flirty (both from male and female), which is totally out the realm of their character personas and the overall atmosphere. There is one scene where they were just screaming and vomiting after the discovery of a bloody dismembered body, the next minute, they started flirting and recollecting childhood memories right beside the corpse!? And that isn’t even the worst part, the worst part is that every character keeps commentating before/during/after your every single action! It might be hard to understand how, so here comes the demonstration. Imagining yourself entering a room with two other characters, the room is completely empty except for a tea table in the center and a key atop it. The exit is on the opposite of the room, locked. The solution here is quite self-evident, you grab the key, unlock the door and get out, not much to talk about really. However, such simple scenario would evolve like this in this game: [quote=Example 2] (Just when you enter the room, game freezes.) Character 2: “Oh, this room is so empty, can we just chill out here for a while and take a break?” You: “Time is running out, I’m afraid we can’t afford the luxury.” Character 1: “Yeah, let’s find out the solution to this room.” Character 2: “You men are always this rushy.” (Game resumes control, you start to explore the room) (Just before you are about to grab the key) Character 2: “Look! There is a key on the table.” Character 1: “Yeah, I saw that too, I wonder what it opens.” You: “Let’s take a closer look.” (Right after you pick up the key) Character 1: “Hey, what’s that you’re holding? A key?” You: “Yes, I just found it lying on the table.” Character 2: “Oh, it looks so stiff and hard.” You: “Wait, can you say that again?” Character 2: “Say what again?” You: “The one you used to describe the key.” Character 2: “Oh that’s awkward, please forget about it!” [b](“ridiculously unnecessary flirting” Check ✓)[/b] (While you attempt to further search the room) Character 1: “Since there are only two doors in this room, one is the one we just entered, the other one must be the exit, why don’t we check it out.” Character 2: “It looks locked though, but maybe you can unlock it with the key you just found?” You: “Only one way to find out.” (When you approach the door.) Character 1: “Oh, this door is so strongly fortified, there’s no way we can force it open, got to use a key.” (After you insert the key and open the door.) Character 1: “Man, you are such a talented door-opener, I love the way you insert the key into the lockhole, how fierce.” Character 2: “You guys are disgusting!” [b](“ridiculously unnecessary flirting again, seriously?” Check ✓)[/b] You: “Just shut up and let’s get out of here.” [/quote] Are you feeling it now?