DRAMAtical Murder

My introduction to DRAMAtical Murder actually began long before I played it. Back in 2012, when I went to my first Comic Con, the character merchandise was everywhere — keychains, posters, art prints — all showcasing the game’s vibrant, striking character designs. Even without knowing the story, the aesthetic alone made a lasting impression. At the time, I was also probably too young to play it, and on top of that, the game itself was not easily accessible, especially outside Japan. For years, DRAMAtical Murder existed for me only through seeing fanart and merch pop up occasionally at Cons and through social media. When I finally experienced the game itself, it reached the expectation those early designs had created. The narrative blends cyberpunk atmosphere, emotional depth, and stylistic flair in a way that feels both distinctive and memorable. Each route offers its own tone and thematic focus, making the overall experience rich and varied and I'm glad there's both the censored and uncensored versions now available (the uncensored patch can be purchased from JAST's website as an add on to the Steam version if you want it). Among the cast, Clear remains my favourite character. His gentle demeanour, unique mannerisms, and the emotional resonance of his story make his route especially impactful. Mink is my least favourite out of the main characters, for reasons that will become clear to you once you've played through his route. However, when it comes to pairings, my favourite dynamic is unquestionably Koujaku and Aoba. Their shared history, emotional complexity, and the gradual unfolding of their relationship create a compelling and heartfelt arc. Not to mention I'm just a sucker for the childhood friends to lovers trope and Koujaku's route ticked all the boxes for me. Overall, DRAMAtical Murder is a visually distinctive, engaging experience. Finally being able to play it after years of limited accessibility has made the experience all the more satisfying, and it’s easy to see why the game — and its characters — have remained so beloved.

before purchasing the game BIG warning that the steam port IS censored, and the censoring ends up removing a good chunk of the story; so i sugguest either buying the nsfw patch off of jast or finding a sneaky link who can give you the patch files for free, or you could just do a little sailing of the seven seas and get the full game off somewhere else; overall though peak experience, and i highly sugguest playing

Amazing game! I touched my little thingy while playing this. However, I would recommend buying additional files if you want the full 18+ version. Unfortunately, the Steam version is censored. Also, the lore is surprisingly amazing; I really enjoyed playing this game, and I'm planning to platinum it. Here's the link to the additional files if anyone wants to play the full uncensored version https://jaststore.com/games/blue003_dlc/dram-atical-murder-dlc-steam

If you're familiar with Nitro+Chiral titles, you'll probably expect dark themes, unhealthy relationships, and some absolutely cursed bad endings. What's funny is that DMMd looks like the brightest and most colorful game they've ever made. But don't let it fool you. Their trademarks are still very much there. The story is fantastic, slowly revealing pieces of the bigger picture before tying everything together in the final route. The OST is also such a banger. I still find myself listening to it years later. Also, this game's bad endings are legendary for a reason. These aren't just "oops, you died!" moments, but more like alternative universes of suffering. Some of them traumatized my younger self back in 2012 so bad and stayed in my head for over a decade. The fact that every bad ending gets its own song definitely doesn't help at all! If you're planning to play I'd recommend the order of: Koujaku -> Noiz -> Mink -> Clear -> [spoiler]Ren[/spoiler] The plot unfolds really nicely in this order. (It also steadily increases the emotional damage.) Though I had an urge to skip Mink's route because I've never been this pissed off by a character in all my years of reading VNs, you need his good ending for the final route. (Also my pride won't let it happen.) I'll also leave some trigger warnings in case you need them. Or you can go in blind and suffer my fate instead. Honestly, that's probably more fun! Notable trigger warnings: [spoiler]Sexual assault, mindbreak, blood and gore, rape, physical abuse, decapitation, body mutilation, bestiality, cannibalism.[/spoiler] Overall, this is one of N+C's most memorable titles, even after all these years. I'd absolutely recommend it. (Grab the uncensored patch from Jast too. Or better buy it directly there.)

this game is life changing, it saved my dying great grandpa from cancer and meningitis, 10/10 would play again

I've collected all the achievement, so I feel like I have somehow a say on the content of this game as someone who've experienced it in its fullest. Things I like: - The concept and designs of the setting and characters are pretty interesting. - The art is pretty good 90% of time. - The voice acting is as good as you would expect it. Things I absolutely don't like: The story is just, just bad. I mean it's the same problem with the majority of Japanese visual novel, as in they give you a big structure plot, and stuff it with the anime-style emotion-directed logic, with no real logic behind most of the character motivation. It's the classic "conflict appears for the sake of the conflict". Like, most of the time I'm thinking "but, but like why? there's so many other better ways that makes way more sense..." Idk, it's really frustrating to see a plot being driven by the "oh desperation! oh salvation! oh players are definitely gonna tear up at this!" mentality, instead of an actual good story. Especially when the characters and setting do have true potentials.

YAOI 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

It's not even that it's an amazingly written game, it's just that it is truly nothing like whatever you've heard and it is so much more than you expect of this genre. I absolutely adore the art style and the number of ways the story is retold in several perspectives whilst keeping in line with its set lore. The music unlocked in special moments, and even the sound work for scenes, is done quite well, and the voice acting is dynamic and feels appropriate for the scenes. It also has really nice quality of life features that I recommend you turn on in configurations: changing the colour of already read text (for future runs), skipping cutscenes (the opener and credits); there's also a lot of different built in features like two skip button types, easy saves, redoing choices, etc. You probably know what you signed up for with DMMd, but for those who were unfamiliar, such as myself, it is nothing like other games in this genre; it's honestly more psychological than anything else. I didn't find a good enough content warning list with some hints so I'll try my best to leave a short, non-exhaustive list here without spoiling much: - rape; very early, prominent with Mink but in all routes except Noiz and generally good endings, - drugging, - kidnapping, - body horror / torture; includes cannibalism, decapitation, - so, so much brainwashing (e.g., unable to stop killing, attempting rape, etc.) - split personalities / dissociative episodes - any combination of the above in the worst ways you can imagine

in this case so many things are just weird at the core concept, designs, art and voice acting are interesting/good (to say the least about everything) - got to mention Heavily against non consensual nature of this work specifically and the way it presents stuff! it's not just about the consent but the way it does his job and the problem is that potential is right there to explore stuff better. - story is bad/disturbing(not because it's dark f'ed up and there are many SA scenes) to my experience!(because things feel empty rather than exploring dark and heavy uncomfortable stuff! I'm totally ok with those but in this case consent is just one case of example and things feel rotten in a way that I don't think they're dark psychological stuff that u will explore and heal u or validate u in any way(if you're looking into that? I was just here for some good story no matter the subject). and again I'm ok with dark and F'ed up stories and I kinda knew what I was getting into and I was ok with that on theory or on paper but the game doesn't deliver for me in many aspects and basically what I'm saying is dmmd does his job BAD and doesn't achive the goal and hit where it should) , even consent doesn't change things in the context of game(and most EXPLAINATIONS for why some things happens doesn't click for me. and even if they put some good concept in there that can be relatable they don't use the potential of it at all, so what's the point? just assault for the sake of assault?. I'm ok with dark stuff but when they are GOOD and there are layers and depth to explore) Idk.. got too many things against this game and the only reason I'm writing is after finishing the game is that I saw other paths and damn it could be good!(and I enjoyed some of my time and some aspects of the game but..) it could be something that I would enjoy even more but Nah. last but not least is on top of all that, game is censored and it's not even worth to buy even if you love the game.

i love yaoi