WORLD OF HORROR

I am deeply in love with this game, but to explain why, I have to mention that Forbidden Siren 1 and 2 are my favorite videogames (SC: CT, GTA III and NFSUG2 as well but that's another story). Before you read anything else and since I want to be transparrent, 2D games are not my usual cup of tea as I usually like to have full control of my character in their environment, but here I am enjoying this game more than any 3D game that's come out in recent years. Having exhausted the two original Siren games to the point that I can casually walk through Yamijima like it's my hometown and having spent hours in both Hanuda and Yamijima to make my research for my personal project, I was looking for something more, discovering the world of Sion Sono's films where despite the fact stories don't connect with eachother despite some exceptions, you get the feeling that they all connect as different timelines within the same universe or vice versa just like Ju-On where the timeline is weird intentionally in order to create tension and get you more into its mysteries. This game is all of that and more! I didn't know it had been published in 2023 as no ad had ever appeared for me and I had no knowledge of its existence until wednesday while walking to the car lot after work when it appeared out of nowhere as a suggested ad on YouTube. From the little I could gather it was a visual novel but there's much more in it than that. For starters there's a small RPG element since you can upgrade your character and change their clothes and there's also a character selection screen. From what I've gathered so far, most clothes are cosmetic (I haven't found any piece of clothing that might give you any atributes like extra strength for instance but there might be some that I am unaware of - nontheless, it's a nice touch being able to feel like you do your typical everyday things when not solving a mystery). Another RPG element is that you choose a God in the beginning of the game and they all come with their own perks and disadvantages so there is not a single one that might feel overpowered against the others. Something that is extremely interesting and I hadn't noticed in the beginning is that you actually have 2 health bars in the form of Stamina and Reason. If your stamina falls to 0 you die but if your reason falls to 0 you get another ending in which you might even end up in a clinic. In both cases, you have to be careful not to let any of the 2 drop to 0 and this makes the game difficult, especially since there are many moves (including exploration actions that do not involve fighting) with which you might gain 1 stamina in the cost of 1 reason (or more than just 1 stamina) or you might lose points if your atributes fail during an investigation. The possibilities are endless here so I can't truly include them all and it's something you should experience for yourselves, however this is what makes this game request a form of strategy on your behalf instead of letting you mindlessly click "next" like many visual novels and sometimes choose an action randomly just to get an ending. Even if you die this is an ending (like in many visual novels) but the fact that it's mixed with so many RPG elements is why the game is rightfuly categorised on Steam as a roguelike horror game with turn based combat. The controls (or the UI actually) give - off Forbidden Siren vibes. Forbidden Siren was designed to be difficult by default. It was created to fight the player as the real enemy against the player was the game itself and the real villain of the story was probably the player and their choices. The menus (just like with the World of Horror here) feel overly cold / emotionless / bureaucratic and absent from the player like typing commands on an old computer. Not only does it fit the aesthetic as the game immitates the 80s computer games feeling but it also adds to the tension since you know that even during the introductory case the menus are there just to be used and while you get some hints on what to click, you have to figure the rest out for yourself instead of expecting everything to be fed to you (I don't know if on easier difficulties you get more help but I know that for what I chose it feld as hardcore and unforgiving as I wanted it to be and I had to keep mental notes on some of the choices given throughout the game to know which action does what). There are tons of puzzle elements as you have to figure out specific things to do if you want to progress or even skip entire sections or get specific endings and it means that you are tasked with keeping an eye on what people say or what messages tell you during each investigation. Anything you do has consequences and anything you do has multiple solutions. I love everything about this game and even though I have made some progress in it I feel like there are tons of things I have to discover so while this is my take on the game, I'll say that I still haven't completed it and I'm still a far cry from mastering it. It might not exist in the same universe as the films and games I mentioned in the beginning but it certainly feels like a spiritual successor and a loveletter to them. My only wish is that this game will get even more notoriety so that more people will learn about it. Just as it popped on my main page on YouTube out of nowhere like an one - time instance in an RPG game, further adding to my intrigue, this is how I wish everyone will be absorbed by the game's world. I bet this more than shouts that I 1000000000% suggest this game! Even if you're not into horror or even if you're not into 2D games or hardcore games, you should give it a try at least once and you'll understand why it's more than just a horror game!