SHINRAI - Broken Beyond Despair

I remember reading Branson Reese reviews on letterboxd and there was a particular quote that stuck with me. "High school productions are often better than professional ones, because you know EVERYONE wants to be there." And that's a sentence that kept coming back to me here. Shinrai REALLY wants to be about how lack of communication can destroy relationships. And it wants you to KNOW that's the story from beginning to end. I don't really want to be mean to an indie project, but this really feels like a game made in 2008 rather than 2016. It almost screams American middle schooler trying to write an anime, with memes and quirky archetypes and so on and so forth. Its all-encompassing and if that drives you up a tree, you're gonna have a bad time. But I can't really work up a dislike for it. And so I keep coming back to that Branson Reese quote. Its not always well-written or engaging, but you can really feel how much the creators cared about what they were writing. They worked really hard to write a complicated mystery, tying together different character motives so it all made sense. You can feel how they all laughed amongst themselves writing a goofy old Castlevania reference or hentai joke. Or how they committed to their protagonist wearing cat ears and had to write situations where she would keep forgetting to take them off during a murder investigation. I dunno! It was weird! It was embarrassing! It was ambitious and earnest! I had to keep skipping text because I just got overwhelmed with the sheer Middle School Energy of the dialogue. The theme is heavy-handed, but you totally buy that these are the mistakes these children were making because they didn't know how to communicate! I think I liked it a lot! Maybe! I had more to say about this four hour murder mystery vn than the 70 hours/six months I spent on (the unquestioningly good!) Dragon Quest XI. I don't know if that's damning of me or the games, but it says SOMETHING.

Данганронпа на минималках. По механикам очень похожа на Ace Attorney и Danganronpa, но отвратительная рисовка, утомительный саундтрек и убогий текст вынудили меня дропнуть эту подделку. Что тут говорить, если даже бесплатные фанатские игры по ронпе (Project: Eden's Garden) превосходят ее по всем фронтам.

Dreadful, D Tier Ace Attorney / Danganronpa style murder mystery visual novel. I gave this chance after chance but it just doesn't work. The artwork doesn't fit at all, it's not even an acquired taste. The writing is full of absolutely cringe-worthy puns and references, and some of the most awkward dialogue and internal monologue you've ever read. You might find some enjoyment in solving the mystery, and I guess it is possible to figure it out properly with the facts provided, but I wouldn't call it rewarding.

This game looks worse than a free flash game, is weirdly perverted towards kids. Has some of the worst writing I've read in a game, incredibly overwritten. Sure, I did not play a whole lot. Maybe the mystery itself is compelling, but the true mystery is why I bought this game in the first place.

[WITHOUT SPOILERS] "HEPPY HELLOWEEN" I think most people look to VNs trying to find wonderful stories and deep characters, and you should be aware that you will not find any of those here. HOWEVER, if you enjoy Christie, Doyle or any other whodunit AND howdunit stories, you can be sure that you will be well-served here. It really is a fair mystery. I can see how much those two guys (yeah, just two people on the development) paid attention to details and how the story rewards you when you pay attention as well. I think the art it's fine, but even if some people are not fond of it, will you really let it prevent you from enjoying a so much well constructed plot? Just buy it! It's cheap, short, has a lot of references to other great visual novels as well, and you will probably finish it wanting to (re)watch Case Closed.

An okay mystery hurt by pacing issues and the worst cast of characters I've ever experienced in a VN. So let's go through them: - Nobara, your best friend. She has an extremely strong and persistent written accent. [url=https://i.imgur.com/lTfm7E6.png]Here's one example[/url]. [url=https://i.imgur.com/ryIV5Js.jpg]Here's another[/url]. It's not fun to read, it's just distracting and so heavy that I can't actually tell what her accent is supposed to be - in my mind she sounds like Joey from YuGiOh?? Also one of Nobara's biggest character traits is that she's terrified of everything and is EXTREMELY clingy with the protagonist, meaning you never really get away from her and her absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I don't feel like Nobara has any arc or changes at all during the story - in the after credits scene, you see that she's still easily scared so....what's the point of her? - Kotaba. OH BOY, ANOTHER VISUAL NOVEL WHERE A CHARACTER'S ENTIRE PERSONALITY REVOLVES AROUND BEING A [url=https://i.imgur.com/IrkXvmO.png]PERVERT AND SEXUALLY HARRASSING PEOPLE[/url], DIDN'T FIND THAT OBNOXIOUS IN THE 20 OTHER GAMES THAT HAVE DONE IT ZZZZZ. Like I'm sorry but in one of the first scenes he's in, he's talking about hentai and the protagonist finds a magazine of his that has sticky white stuff on it. Haha get it, it's ♥♥♥ XDDD Every character is cannonically stated to be 14-15 years old by the way! No one would tolerate someone who talks about their jacking off habits like this in real life and I'm so sick of this nonce ♥♥♥♥ in every visual novel I come across. Oh yeah, he has a second personality trait - [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/758474111147311154/935764403280830494/unknown.png]he can speak multiple languages[/url].....and guess what, it's not fun to read either. Both of these traits are competiting each other to make the most unenjoyable experience possible. Also if the game wanted me to dislike this character, then his ♥♥♥♥ actions would have consequences but all the characters just brush it off and don't think it's a big deal that this dude has stalked women at school - Mika. This character spends the ENTIRE game, both before and after a murder has taken place, speaking in [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/789568210885541920/936790454576484422/unknown.png]third person[/url]. Why? I don't know. If the production values on the whole visual novel weren't quite so good, I would have to assume that Shinrai was written by a 14 year old from from Deviantart in 2009 (no offense to anyone here, I was that kid) because you can really tell they wanted to make characters sound unique and stand out, and do so in the most obnoxious way ever. Also says "Aku" a lot? Like "akuakuaku" and at the end of sentences. Not sure what that was supposed to be, a laugh I guess? Also this character contribues essentially nothing to the plot and could be scrapped. I assume she's only here to pad out suspects - Runa. This character is supposed to be posh and well spoken. She refers to the characters as Surname-chan, instead of first name like everyone else. This isn't ergergious but it is annoying to be like "wait who does she mean?", pause the game, open up the character profiles and look through them The rest of the characters aren't awful but no one is very well developed either. The characters I mostly tolerated were the protagonist (because she is quite stoic/calculating and doesn't have an annoying quirk outside of saying "curses" at least 30 times in chapters 3 and 4), Taiko, Rei and I guess Karmen but she's missing from most scenes. Besides that though, the rest is okay I guess. The pacing of the beginning is extremely slow - Shinrai spends the first hour and 30 introducing characters and setting stuff up, even though all characters feel underdeveloped regardless. Since I was quickly not into the characters, I didn't enjoy the beginning at all which I think just soured my perception on the rest of it. I didn't care about the mystery as much as I should've, because it's character driven and I didn't care about the characters As I write this review, I'm honestly kinda mad at myself for not dropping this in chapters 2-3 where I could tell I wasn't enjoying it. I kept telling myself, there's a ton of posititve steam reviews! I'm sure it gets better! The mystery will probably get going and make everything worth it!....and it just absolutely didn't

Fiquei um bom tempo pensando se deveria recomendar esse jogo ou não. Para ser bem sincera, não é um jogo péssimo. Diria que está um pouco abaixo de medíocre. Um jogo nota 4. Só que existem jogos com defeitos horríveis - que têm qualidades que ao menos compensam ou fazem valer um pouco a pena. Tipo ser grátis, ser muito barato, ter uma história boa apesar de ser feio/ter uma jogabilidade estranha/ser bugado. Esse jogo tem defeitos em todo o espectro - de pequenos a grandes - e nenhuma qualidade grande o suficiente para salvá-lo. 1 - Trilha sonora repetitiva e pouco inspirada; 2 - Arte...meh. Os cenários são melhores que os personagens, mas nada chega a ser lindo. Em uma VN de terror isso é um defeito significativo, porque a ambientação visual é uma das partes mais importantes do mood geral. 3 - Ritmo bizarro. Começa com aquele monte de ladainha/besteirol típicos de anime, fica uns 30% do jogo nisso, aí morre um, morre outro, morre mais um e puf, acabou. Aí tem um epílogo com mais ladainha de anime e aparições sem nexo de personagens que nem foram mencionados na história principal. Tá, entendi que provavelmente isso referencia outro jogo da mesma desenvolvedora, mas parece o Multiverso da Loucura, é o puro caos. 4 - Personagens: é aqui onde o jogo mais peca. O cast é simplesmente horrível. A única personagem realmente interessante é a principal (Raiko). O resto vai de sem graça a desgraça. Sabe a outra menina ali nas imagens de divulgação? Parece uma segunda protagonista ou deuteragonista né? Saiba que ela não faz nada de útil o jogo todo, só fica se escondendo apavorada atrás da Raiko. Pra não dizer que ela não tem função nenhuma, a função dela é dar álibis à protagonista e fazer a trama rodar sem os outros personagens ficarem questionando. Tem outra cuja função é ser a genki girl louca, não acrescenta absolutamente nada à trama. Os personagens masculinos são um pior que o outro (com uma única exceção) - em qualquer jogo do tipo você torce (mesmo sabendo que é em vão) para os personagens se salvarem, nesse você só consegue falar "bem feito" porque é só o esgoto. A motivação do assassino é a mais besta que já vi em qualquer VN do tipo, terminou e fiquei "ué, só isso? surtou só por isso?". Todos eles são estereótipos, o que por si só não é um demérito - Danganronpa não apenas trabalha com estereótipos como os glorifica com títulos de Ultimate, mas os personagens ali transbordam carisma, vão além do seu exterior extravagante. Aqui, tenha certeza, isso não ocorre. 5 - História e mecânica de jogo: A maneira como os assassinatos se desenrolam é bem sacada. As áreas de investigação também, apesar de sempre simples - não dá pra dizer que tem um puzzle nesse jogo. A exploração nos ambientes escuros foi bem feita também, pena que não focaram tanto nessa parte. Senti falta de mais gente mentirosa, mais contradição, de botar a palavra de um personagem contra o outro. Enfim, é um jogo mediano pra ruim. Se você gostar muito do gênero e estiver SEDENTO por algo do tipo (foi assim que comprei, já joguei praticamente tudo o que existe de murder game na Terra e precisava de algo para satisfazer meu vício), vale se estiver tipo com 90% de desconto. Do contrário...tem muita coisa melhor por aí.

Some people have mentioned the beginning being a bit slow, but I honestly hardly felt it; what I've felt, however, was how deeply invested I was as soon as the story gets kicked into motion. I initially thought of playing one chapter per day, and ended up absolutely devouring it! The mystery was very satisfying too, and it left me happy I spent a weekend with Raiko and co. If you think fondly of late 2000s/early 2010s VNs you'll probably like the vibe of this one too; I know I did!

It's kinda weird the characters are all so young (14-15 years old) but the murder mystery was really good and kept you thinking. You could actually figure everything out yourself without having to rely on weird logic jumps or baseless assumptions from the protagonist (yeah I'm looking at you Danganronpa and Ace Attorney). Game was not too short, nor too long. Sure, it had a slow start but most visual novels do, so it was to be expected. Overall, it was a pretty impressive game from a small team. I want more.

A lot of love put into this game, but it was not my cup of tea; I knew going into it that I didn't like the art style or the sound design, but I could forgive that if the writing and narrative were engrossing. At best this was an ok VN with a few choices leading to a finale that asks you to walk through the mystery point by point, Danganronpa-style, but without the twists and interesting visual style or colorful characters. I did like that it required some attention to solve the mystery, but it was not a particularly difficult mystery. While the mystery at the heart of this story was fine, it was not interesting enough to make up for everything else. I didn't especially care for any of the characters; the prose style (at least of the English translation) was stiff and repetitive; moments of humor were really, really bad--perhaps they simply don't translate well--and the pacing of the story was rather slow. I could not recommend this to a lover of VNs or kinetic novels.