
"Dichotomy Illusion" is a Shin Honkaku mystery visual novel that combines real-world entertainment elements with physical locations, utilizing ACGN (Anime, Comics, Games, Novels) subculture knowledge to solve criminal cases and uncover the truth.
Revenue comes from in-game items and microtransactions, which our price-based model doesn't estimate. Copies below reflect the player base, not paid sales.
Media

About
The bisected corpse
split precisely along its central axis and gruesomely suspended from a dilapidated ceiling fan - belonged to a former underground idol and cosplayer who had gained local fame in the commercial district. The bisection occurred during production of a live-action promotional video for an unreleased sequel to a Chinese indie horror game...

Shortly after the bisection incident... severed limbs of a woman began surfacing in niche culture stores across the Commercial District, each bearing bizarre yet distinctly coded terminology comprehensible only to hardcore ACGN enthusiasts...

The cases may seem like closed chapters, all present efforts appearing as futile gestures. Yet when you launch the game and immerse yourself with genuine curiosity, you might seize the hidden truths of these twin tragedies, bearing witness to their ultimate reckoning through digital resurrection.
Character Introduction:
Armchair Detective / Curator

Investigation Aide / Citrus Sugar (IRL Handle: Cheng Zicheng)
Quizmaster, Primary POV / Solaris Custard

Chronicle-Bound Cast:
The bisected cosplayer, a socially challenged indie dev, a reassuring game editor veteran, an opportunistic photographer boyfriend trailing his cosplayer girlfriend for impromptu shoots, and proto-otaku twins whose crude promotional video operations resembled cavemen discovering fire...
Their stories laced with cryptic agendas (a subjective yet imprecise descriptor) during the incident will gradually crystallize through digital ephemera.
Yet this is merely the prologue, nothing but an overture.

Supporting Cast of Chaos:
Elementary schoolers obsessively pinning otome game husbandos on their itabags? The gyaru merch boutique clerk at "Spring Valley" compulsively collecting PokeCough Mon catalogs? A plus-sized staffer in band tees sneaking fancams of indie idols from livehouse control booths? A four-member girl band resembling chromatic warriors from some yuri rock manga (with their cerulean bassist currently AWOL in legendary fashion)...
These gloriously unhinged denizens of the ACGN underworld shall aid the investigation through chaotic means, for critical clues might lurk within their meme-laden otaku-speed diatribes – postmodern hieroglyphs demanding cultural literacy to decode.

Scene Recon Log
In their investigation of the limb abandonment case, Solaris Custard and Citrus Sugar shall conduct "fieldwork" (or more accurately, fish-flopping) at these locations. Beyond the macabre biological evidence, the crime scenes themselves might spark morbid fascination among otaku-crossover socialites – each site functioning as geek pilgrimage grounds where murder-mystery tourism collides with ACGN subcultural ecospheres.
Merch Mausoleum: A resurrected deadmall where ACGN shops wage merchandise warfare amidst peeling posters of last season's waifus
PS5 Purgatory: A luxury plaza's white elephant - that overpriced PlayStation experience zone bleeding yen through its marble floors
Idol Crucible: A sweatbox dungeon vibrating with hardcore wota chants, where dreams of "next Cinderella" dissolve into body odor fog
Venue Vanitas: Livehouse boasting instagrammable neon façade but delivering sonic disappointment worthy of bargain-bin earphones
Collecting merch, grinding co-op achievements, snapping cheki with minor idols, enduring ear-bleeding band covers... Surely these ACGN detours during criminal investigations deserve absolution .
(Unless you claim to despise hanging with bro-coded gloom maidens - though that tsundere protest sounds sus coming from an itabag-toting legend like yourself.)

Core Case Matrix
(Visual evidence redacted per narrative constraints)
Chinese indie horror titles, rhythm games featuring idol project crossovers, that notorious domestic indie publisher, grotesque merch from a 90s mecha IP rife with faction wars and Oedipal mech-pilots, an onion-wielding digital diva, psychotic battle royale mascots reduced to environmental decor, and of course the retro cringe of girl band tropes - all deliberately stitched into the game's fabric like inside jokes carved in radioactive neon.
Should these culturally-coded Easter eggs trigger your neural pathways into involuntary mirth, congratulations on your otaku baptism. Discern the real-world IP correlations, and you might just outpace our protagonists in unraveling this bloodstained tapestry of references.
Genres
Stats
Languages: Simplified Chinese
Engagement
Reviews
Themes across 48 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
[h3] 卧槽这个太好玩了 [/h3] 烤批和音企痴不得不品的一环!全能看懂的没救了,拖下去吧( neta的部分太多太好笑了导致我一直在狂笑,美术和ui风格也别具一格。因为一开始就没当推理游戏来打,推到真相篇还是看得蛮高兴的。 [spoiler]顺便握着她的手切下去那段描写真是色情啊。真是色情啊。色情啊。
Психологический триллер с элементами головоломки в аниме‑стилистике. Игрок расследует загадочное происшествие в футуристическом городе, разгадывает тайны через взаимодействие с окружением и диалоги с неоднозначными персонажами. Плюсы: Захватывающий сюжет с неожиданными поворотами и многослойной интригой — тайны раскрываются постепенно. Визуальный стиль: сочетание киберпанка и аниме с детализированными фонами и выразительным дизайном персонажей. Нелинейные диалоги — выбор реплик влияет на отношения с персонажами и доступ к дополнительной информации. Минусы: Сложная навигация в диалогах — легко пропустить важные варианты ответов без сохранения. Высокие требования к внимательности: некоторые подсказки легко упустить, из‑за чего головоломки кажутся запутанными. Медленный старт — первые уровни посвящены знакомству с миром, динамика нарастает не сразу. Итог: подойдёт поклонникам психологических триллеров и аниме‑игр с упором на сюжет и атмосферу. Заинтересует тех, кто готов вникнуть в детали и распутать сложную историю с футуристическим антуражем.
Related
Related
Trends
Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Hours played at review time, across 48 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
很好的视觉设计,复古CRT效果天生就带有怪谈风味,画面也是饱和度拉爆, 非常不错 剧情可以当成电子榨菜食用()
"就像真正的安乐椅侦探那样,就像那个旧书店老板兼职阴阳师那样——" “驱除他的心魔。” 虽然之前一边玩一边就在吐槽“这个是在模仿OO之匣吗”但是这两句台词一出来我真的浑身鸡皮疙瘩都起来了。 感谢游戏作者,这是我作为一个京极夏彦死忠粉看过的对京极堂最棒的致敬(真心话)。 (以及身为一个老年二次元不知道是应该为依旧能够看懂游戏里80%的梗而哭(我的人生真的没救了)还是应该为已经有20%的梗看不懂了而哭(我真的老了) (还有Thanks for playing 拼错了啊喂!写成palying了(不过正是这样让哭得稀里哗啦的我瞬间笑出来了 期待店主兄妹俩或者双胞胎为主角的续作,嗯。
故事虽然很中二世界才会发生的剧情,但是反转很精彩,猜到玩家是凶手,但是没想过还有另外一种结局。
画面太有冲击力了很喜欢表现形式,分尸那里好牛叉好邪典好喜欢。
怎么说呢,就演出来说个人认为是接近满分的,至少让我能玩的下去而不是像某些无趣ppt让人频繁看表,剧情上面虽然有点胡言乱语但还是有一点点共鸣,如店长这两句话“已经很久没和人聊过,过去自己年轻时真正喜欢真正付出过热情的东西了。我现在唯一还能和现代阿宅接轨的要素只剩下幸运星和初音未来了。” 另外想吐槽一下夏沫是什么地雷富江,还有一想到受害者生理上是未成年女性,临近结尾那段详细R18G作案描写让人真的后背发凉很不适 所以虽然冒昧有点好奇制作者也是自我性别认知障碍吗?看自称bro,此作文案也给人很强烈的男性向,但是打过作者其他作品游戏没这么“恶臭猎奇”,对不上潜意识认知有点凌乱
个人很喜欢
大卫城,二七,大上海,棉纺路,南阳路,是好熟悉的地方。但更熟悉的地方是澄空学园,泉此方和宇宙第一公主殿下阿。 我承认原本是冲着猎奇来的,但最后的店长的独白,真的有点触动。谢谢你让我想起了2008年前后的快乐时光。
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.