[h1] Death, Dollies and Tattoos! [/h1]
I heard this was award winning and tbh it was really interesting playing it. You have a handful of characters who keep you interested, the main character is mysterious. The story is pretty good too.
[b] Story: Good [/b]
As a previous horror gamer I enjoy a good horror story, and this story is a curious and a plot twisting one. You follow the protagonist to a mansion where you have a mark on your arm and temporary memory loss leading to those marks, with instructions from a very lovely looking doll and guidance from a handful of vibrant characters, Death mark really leaves a nice imprint on to the soul. There are total of 5 main chapters, with the sixth one being the DLC one. You have a lot of choices to explore which would alter your fate and the fate of others. You follow a certain spirit in each chapter, and along with a partner that you can choose for help, you either can get good or bad ending depending on how you fight the spirit in the end. The story can be scary, a bit of gore here and there but not super spooky of course. As a theravada buddhist I really enjoyed the sanskrit words and buddhist references used in this Japanese game. I wonder if the Kannon soldier is named after the Pali Canon? It's a must to get the good ending to continue the game to the chapter 6 btw.
[b] Characters: Epic! [/b]
The characters are a handful, with their own silly, quirky and sometimes mysterious personalities. The mark do not spare the kids either, my favorites is the Detective, Suzu and Tsukasa. You in the bones feel the helplessness of the choices that you take and on your partners. The spirits themselves are crafted based on interesting fictional? urban legends, twisted with their own trauma and pain. From the antagonists the "Hanayome" is something that I have witnessed in a Thai drama, in a collection of horror stories.
[b] Gameplay: Buggy? [/b]
Yes sometimes the game would freeze at the point where you need to fight the final spirit so make a nice save there, also PLEASE make a save as soon as you get the opportunity so when you start the 6th chapter, there is no selection from the menu. The game cannot be saved all the time, so you need to time manage. There is collecting items and using them, sometimes you need to examine the object twice so the main protagonist will start getting what to actually do. I found it annoying that the game would restart itself without my permission and keep on going until i get to the save point. The final fight with spirits are interesting, you can do combo attacks using the items you find. There is also the live or die segments which are timed and you must find the right answer quickly as possible until your soul power goes out. You can die with careless decisions in this game so beware.
[b] Achievements: straightforward [/b]
Achievements are not that hard to get, you just get good and normal endings for each spirit and then you are done.
[b] Art: Interesting [/b]
This VN is semi voiced, the art is good. The spirit character sprites seem very unique. The kannon soldier specially caught my eye along with the buddhist chanting that followed it.
[b] Overall [/b]
A very interesting Japanese ghost hunting VN with elements of Buddhism, gore, trauma and suspense. What will you choose to do? completely annihilate the spirits or save them?
