SHINRAI - Broken Beyond Despair

Short but fun murder mystery game. I had a good time. However, I do have some issues and, since I don't want to say anything about the mystery itself or the characters, this will sadly take up the majority of the text in my review: The art might take some time to get used to but I did get used to it. A select few tracks in the soundtrack sounded a little too messy for my taste, however. My greatest issue with the game is the lack of an important quality of life feature. From other mystery games, I value the option to look through your evidence while prompted to answer a question (that does not involve presenting evidence itself). However, in Shinrai, when prompted to name a culprit or answer a multiple-choice question, you can not look through your evidence and notes, which I found to be pretty frustrating.

SHINRAI does start off a bit slow, and some players may be put off by the anime like gimmicks certain characters have. However, it's more than worth sticking with it for the central mystery and how it unfolds. It is presented in a very compelling way, one that keeps you guessing about the true culprit. I went from thinking I had it figured out, to suspecting a completely different character later on multiple times. As many other reviewers have already stated, the mystery is logical and very much grounded in reality. There aren't any wild jumps in plausibility or over the top revelations. Once you learn the entire truth, everything makes perfect sense. I really enjoy how the progression system in SHINRAI works as well. At first, accusing a character, then presenting your argument/evidence seems a bit odd. But it actually works quite well here and makes you thoroughly consider each piece of evidence, every witness account you have. I had a lot of fun with these accusation/debate sections where you go through the mystery, choosing potential culprits and then defending your accusations by presenting arguments and evidence as proof. It's a very thorough process that takes you through each part of the mystery, one step at a time. It breaks down the entire series of events and how it all happened. Another aspect of SHINRAI I enjoy is the characters. A few of them are a little obnoxious, maybe too much in some cases, with their respective gimmicks. However, most of the characters are likable and garner sympathy for the situation they're in. In particular, Kamen ended up being my favorite. I think Raiko is also great as the protagonist though, and while having a unique personality of her own, is often neutral enough you can feel as if you're truly solving the mystery and coming to these conclusions yourself. I appreciate all the puns throughout the game too, many of which are from Raiko. As I said before, the game does start off a bit slow, but I'd recommend at least staying with it for the first couple chapters. That's around the point where the game's pace starts to pick up, so I think it's a good indicator of whether you'll enjoy the game as a whole. SHINRAI is fairly reminiscent of games like the Danganronpa and Zero Escape series, so if you've enjoyed those, you'll most likely have a good time with it as well.

Despite its ostensibly dark tone, a consistently fun, if somewhat amateurish, visual novel. 7/10

decent mystery, even if my eyes were glazing over the text by the end.

Gostei do jogo, os gráficos são ok e começa um pouco lento mas vale bastante a pena, os personagens, a história e o mistério do jogo me agradaram bastante. Recomendo.

If you can tolerate some 2000s era cringe (in particular in the first couple hours), there's a decent mystery here. The ending sequence is pretty good and you will probably mess up the first time.

[spoiler] There is 1 impostor among us [/spoiler] Good mystery, decent plot. Overall an enjoyable read. Mika best girl.

A solidly built and set up murder mystery. Excited for what the creator's do next