@@marloforrealis the letter interactive? I'm playing saintmaker right now and heard it's from the makers of the letter. And so far, there is zero interaction besides rarely having to pick one out of two responses.
@@TheActionHank by "interactive", did you mean being able to click stuff in the background? I don't recall being able to do so - just pick from 2 choices as well. I'd suggest checking out other playthroughs to confirm. Sorry, it's been a while for me!
I’m playing through it now, and I’m really liking it. The writing and art are very good, and the puzzles are really creative. I thought it was going to be a visual novel, but it’s really more of a point and click adventure. You have an inventory, look around the environments, and solve a few puzzles. It’s a game that makes good use of the gaming medium’s interactivity, you couldn’t tell this story as a movie.
This looks fantastic and exactly the type of game I enjoy. I'm definitely buying it. From the review, it reminded me Tokyo Dark which I loved. Thank so much for reviewing the more obscure narrative games!
Give Raging Loop a shot! It's on the Switch and offers a similar timeline flowchart with interesting characters and a whole lot of horror and mystery intrigue.
Great review, and glad to see more good horror/thriller VNs. Seem to be getting pretty high praise from the few reviews out there. How long is the game roughly?
NO REALLY SPOILER but considering the nature of the game, it could lead to spoil you indirectly in some ways, maybe. Finished it yesterday and, welp. Overall, it was indeed really good. A bit on the shorter end of VN but I'd say it was fortunate because it if went too much longer, it might have lose points. PROs: - Really good overall ambience and art direction. Good job to the designer for making "normal looking characters" while trying their best to keep them unique and interesting. - The game keeps on rolling plot twists, small or big, one after another. Sadly most of them weren't that surprising to me, maybe because I played / watched too much of stuff like that xD. Nonetheless, the writing was still good to bring them up coherently and in an interesting way. Neutral / Maybe Cons: - I really liked how the game sometimes make you take some meta / 4th wall actions, yet disapointed in how little they went with it. While I understand it's not an easy path to undertake develpment wise to keep it consistent and coherent, I would have like more effort put toward that. You can feel how it took inspiration from the Zero Escape trilogy in some ways. - The (true) ending chapters were a bit of a let down for me. While there are surely some details that flew over my head during my playthrough, most of the ending directions feels "odd", "out of place". Like the conditions to trigger the true ending, they felt extremly situational and even with a lot of effort, I could had only hope to graze them by guessing over guessing. - That one may be weird coming from me, an usually non fan of horror game, but I'm a bit sad the horror part of the game complelty went MIA past the first chapters, because it was doing an actual good job at keeping me on edge, without abusing (too much) jumpscares. If I had to make a wild guess, I'd say the game is victim of it being made from a small studio with a small budget: small amount of sprites for characters, lack of artwork, lack of voice, few musics, but thankfully, all of that was made up for by huge effort from the teams and they were able to show how much love they poured into the game. What it lack in quantity, it made up in quality. Then again, it is a 20 bucks game, and on sale for its release so another reason I easily forgive all of that! I'd still recommend it heavily for anyone, especially people who aren't used to that kind of game as they might feel more surprises from it. It's also a good game to embrace the visual novel experience as it's not too long, considering most VN can be daunting to approach with their dozens of hours length.
Like the review overall, but it's always tiring to see reviewers complain that visual novels have a visual novel section. Like, come on. It's a visual novel. It's gonna require reading.
I’m playing through it now. The lack of voice acting was actually a deliberate choice as it turns out. It ties into a puzzle. I was surprised. Or maybe it’s the other way around and they didn’t have the budget for voice acting, but they turned that into a puzzle. Which is clever.
@@adams3560 and the "puzzle" is really not worth it lol. Maybe they just didnt have money for VA and decided to turn it into a puzzle gimmick, but if its vice versa and they got rid of VA for that puzzle then....its just a dumb and disappointing decision
@@karamarakamarama Yeah, after I thought about it more, they probably just didn’t have the budget for voice acting. But then they decided to make use of that fact to create a puzzle, which is clever.
@@NoisyPixelNews i checked the description on metacritic and it didn't mention it Still gonna play it cause it looks interesting but having the death spoiled ruins the twist that is supposed to get the player invested
Why on earth would you assume it's free? In a single player game without microtransactions, the developers wouldn't get paid if they were selling it for free.
I finished the game. Hate to say it but overall I didn’t love it. It’s not completely terrible but you have to admit the slog throughout the majority of the game is really hard to handle. I feel like I’m not alone when I say the premise here was sorely lacking with the core writing.
The premise, setting, design, and aesthetic are completely different. It's in the same genre of horror point and click visual novels, but that's where the comparisons end.
Its not bad writing as something does happen to him in the story. Wont say because of spoilers. Also like you play as different characters in the game.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
As a big time Zero Escape and Somnium Files fan, I was sold on this game the moment I saw the timeline flowchart.
Finished today and it was marvelous.
This is the types of Visual Novel I love.
I wish there were voice acting tho.
Agreed. If you're craving for another horror-mystery with an amazing voice acting, check out "The Letter".
I am a huge fan of famicom detective club, it’s a bummer there’s no voice acting. it brings a bit more immersive experience imo
Niggas say this and play English dub💀
@@marloforrealis the letter interactive? I'm playing saintmaker right now and heard it's from the makers of the letter. And so far, there is zero interaction besides rarely having to pick one out of two responses.
@@TheActionHank by "interactive", did you mean being able to click stuff in the background? I don't recall being able to do so - just pick from 2 choices as well. I'd suggest checking out other playthroughs to confirm. Sorry, it's been a while for me!
I’m playing through it now, and I’m really liking it. The writing and art are very good, and the puzzles are really creative. I thought it was going to be a visual novel, but it’s really more of a point and click adventure. You have an inventory, look around the environments, and solve a few puzzles. It’s a game that makes good use of the gaming medium’s interactivity, you couldn’t tell this story as a movie.
You have an inventory for less than a third of the game. Did you get past the prologue?
Thanks for reviewing this. Without you I probably would’ve never known about this game. It looks right up my alley!
Yay!!!
This feels like Spirit Hunter vibe but much more grounded with its own narrative and art design, very interesting.
Square Enix with another sleeper hit.
Haha no marketing at all :P
Now if only a sleeper could get a hit on their pres before he scuttles the company more.
Dang, definitely buying this, thanks for the great review! Can't beat the 20% off on Steam, which is good up through March 23rd.
Yea the price is definitely right!
This looks fantastic and exactly the type of game I enjoy. I'm definitely buying it. From the review, it reminded me Tokyo Dark which I loved. Thank so much for reviewing the more obscure narrative games!
Good game and does justice to the genre. Some of my favorite flow chart games are Raging Loop, YuNo, World End Syndrome and I liked this one.
a great game with one of the best prologues in gaming/VN history.
i was honestly surprised that NFT stage square enix published this gem
Honestly, the NFT stage square enix was kinda cool, it's sad that the new square enix said they are shifting to prioritize AAA projects.
This definitely feels like something Atlas would develop. I'm intrigued though. Thanks for the review.
Damn, preordered it becouse I liked the premise, so happy it turned out great.
it's awesome!
Preordered after this review :)
yay! You're gonna have fun
Ahh I want more games like this! ❤️
I already played Ai somnium files, Zero escape, Danganronpa.
Check Death mark and NG if you liked this one.
Give Raging Loop a shot! It's on the Switch and offers a similar timeline flowchart with interesting characters and a whole lot of horror and mystery intrigue.
also try your turn to die, if you liked danganronpa. Though it is still not complete.
Great review, and glad to see more good horror/thriller VNs. Seem to be getting pretty high praise from the few reviews out there. How long is the game roughly?
8 - 10 hours depending on your reading speed and if you get stuck.
@@NoisyPixelNews Oh damn. That's way longer then I expected. Feels like its worth the asking price then. Definitely picking this up on the eShop!
@@Zuntenshi I’m playing it now, and it’s definitely worth the price. Really good stuff.
@@Zuntenshi it's actually pretty short compared to typical visual novels, I wish it was longer tbh
NO REALLY SPOILER but considering the nature of the game, it could lead to spoil you indirectly in some ways, maybe.
Finished it yesterday and, welp. Overall, it was indeed really good. A bit on the shorter end of VN but I'd say it was fortunate because it if went too much longer, it might have lose points.
PROs:
- Really good overall ambience and art direction. Good job to the designer for making "normal looking characters" while trying their best to keep them unique and interesting.
- The game keeps on rolling plot twists, small or big, one after another. Sadly most of them weren't that surprising to me, maybe because I played / watched too much of stuff like that xD. Nonetheless, the writing was still good to bring them up coherently and in an interesting way.
Neutral / Maybe Cons:
- I really liked how the game sometimes make you take some meta / 4th wall actions, yet disapointed in how little they went with it. While I understand it's not an easy path to undertake develpment wise to keep it consistent and coherent, I would have like more effort put toward that. You can feel how it took inspiration from the Zero Escape trilogy in some ways.
- The (true) ending chapters were a bit of a let down for me. While there are surely some details that flew over my head during my playthrough, most of the ending directions feels "odd", "out of place". Like the conditions to trigger the true ending, they felt extremly situational and even with a lot of effort, I could had only hope to graze them by guessing over guessing.
- That one may be weird coming from me, an usually non fan of horror game, but I'm a bit sad the horror part of the game complelty went MIA past the first chapters, because it was doing an actual good job at keeping me on edge, without abusing (too much) jumpscares.
If I had to make a wild guess, I'd say the game is victim of it being made from a small studio with a small budget: small amount of sprites for characters, lack of artwork, lack of voice, few musics, but thankfully, all of that was made up for by huge effort from the teams and they were able to show how much love they poured into the game. What it lack in quantity, it made up in quality.
Then again, it is a 20 bucks game, and on sale for its release so another reason I easily forgive all of that!
I'd still recommend it heavily for anyone, especially people who aren't used to that kind of game as they might feel more surprises from it. It's also a good game to embrace the visual novel experience as it's not too long, considering most VN can be daunting to approach with their dozens of hours length.
Yeah, hope it receives good sales number so file 23 can become true with more budget
I just got it on sale last December. It was worth the price. I would give it a solid 8.5/10
On Switch does it have touchscreen functionality or only analog sticks?
It has both
Used my gold points for the first time ever and this game was chosen
Totally getting now. Apparently it’s getting sequel but only in manag
On sale right now at 20%...well worth the price of admission
I loved Hotel Dusk. Is it similar in gameplay?
I cant find all the stickers.. 😢😢
I only need #4, #17, #19, #20
Genuinely this game BLEW me away. Easily GOTY material, already
Do you know what you unlock after collecting all mocking birds? I don’t find anything.
Masterpiece
Like the review overall, but it's always tiring to see reviewers complain that visual novels have a visual novel section. Like, come on. It's a visual novel. It's gonna require reading.
You must be new here. We are visual novel reviewers.
@@NoisyPixelNews Which makes it worse, lol. You should be used to reading.
Cool
Totally ;)
How long was the game?
Like 8 - 10 hours. Maybe more if you get stuck?
8-10 hours, depending how you go with puzzles. A couple of them took me a little bit.
Question and spoilers
Is the ending where Yoko reveal her true curse the final ending and if not how do you unlock the other ending?
IT HAS JUMPSCARES
Does it have voice acting?
No
Nothing really to say, but I enjoyed this video. Thanks for making and sharing it.
Wish we had a physical releaae....
Me too
I bougth this and fatal frame the same day
Is this a jump scare horror game?
There are a few
Who tf is "Shojo"?
Its like you havent watched the video. Its the mc. Shogo Okiee is the dude in the beginning.
Nah thats my boy Shoejoe Okeydokey
chromatic abberation up the asz : the game
my poor eyes
At first I thought this was only being released in Japan
No voice acting is such a missed potential for me. If this drops below 10 bucks I’ll definitely check it out though
I’m playing through it now. The lack of voice acting was actually a deliberate choice as it turns out. It ties into a puzzle. I was surprised. Or maybe it’s the other way around and they didn’t have the budget for voice acting, but they turned that into a puzzle. Which is clever.
@@adams3560There's a lot of that. I'm pretty proud of myself for solving the "sound" puzzle so quickly.
@@adams3560 and the "puzzle" is really not worth it lol. Maybe they just didnt have money for VA and decided to turn it into a puzzle gimmick, but if its vice versa and they got rid of VA for that puzzle then....its just a dumb and disappointing decision
@@karamarakamarama Yeah, after I thought about it more, they probably just didn’t have the budget for voice acting. But then they decided to make use of that fact to create a puzzle, which is clever.
Did you really need to mention a character's death
It was in the trailer and the description of the game page :/
@@NoisyPixelNews i checked the description on metacritic and it didn't mention it
Still gonna play it cause it looks interesting but having the death spoiled ruins the twist that is supposed to get the player invested
I thought this game was gonna be free :( is it worth buying?
Yes…
Why on earth would you assume it's free? In a single player game without microtransactions, the developers wouldn't get paid if they were selling it for free.
@@ravus9935 I didn't realize at the time it was a Square Enix game, that's why.
I finished the game. Hate to say it but overall I didn’t love it. It’s not completely terrible but you have to admit the slog throughout the majority of the game is really hard to handle. I feel like I’m not alone when I say the premise here was sorely lacking with the core writing.
It’s a visual novel what expecting? Was there something wrong with the story you didn’t like or the gameplay?
Yea for real it’s a visual novel. What more do you really want
For some reason this sounds like 999
The premise, setting, design, and aesthetic are completely different. It's in the same genre of horror point and click visual novels, but that's where the comparisons end.
ALVVVVVV ENSERIO es el
Jojo's spooky jumpscare adventure. Well, that's my first impression after 2 hours anyway.
why dd you say "supposed protagonist" that's a tip that something is off about dude. bad writing.
Its not bad writing as something does happen to him in the story. Wont say because of spoilers. Also like you play as different characters in the game.
Bleh.. i hate visual novels
Its pretty good.