Scar of the Doll

Great if short horror/mystery visual novel. There are plenty of ways to die and some of them seem like some nonsense but it's worth pushing through. Make sure to save often and keep rolling saves.

Let’s get this out of the way first: this is [i]not[/i] a AAA game, it’s a low-budget independent visual novel that clearly lack polish. Location backgrounds are reused, music loop points are very obvious, the dialog feels flat at times, and some of the characters feel under-developed. It’s also very linear – there’s one ending, and very little possible variation in the journey. The puzzles, if you can call them that, are relatively simple. There are plenty of ways to die, but it’s fairly easy to work out the correct sequence of actions. For early deaths, the game even tells you where you went wrong. There was only one point where I had trouble working out what I was supposed to do. None of that gets in the way of the thought-provoking story Hidehisa Miyashita tells. There’s plenty of suspense and surprises, and you really don’t know how all the pieces will fit together. It leaves you with plenty to think about. The game does feel dated – it’s definitely a product of the late 1990s. It’s not surprising that it didn’t receive an English translation at the time. I won’t say it’s an overlooked masterpiece or a must-play classic, but you can see its influence on later visual novels and interactive fiction. Considering the low price and frequent discounts, it’s good value. You’ll probably find it particularly interesting if you appreciated Miyashita’s writing for the RPG Folklore.

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Bello, la storia mi è piaciuta molto

A slick visual novel with a good story.

It's like "Reading the oldies" but instead of Richard Simmons it's Hisayasu Satō.