The Mask games are easily my favorite story ever. While Mask of Deception was mostly slice of life, it really gave me a chance to get invested and understand the main cast. They’re all either funny, good, or both. And even among that cast there were a few that stood out among the rest. It was also the coziest reading experience I’ve ever had. The major plotline starts to pick up in the second half, but it never gets so serious that you lose heart. You’ll even get to see some familiar faces again. The world building goes crazy both for the world it is now and the world prior to it. But the ending to it is what swept me off my feet and put its hooks into me for Mask of Truth.
Mask of Truth on the other hand is the most emotionally packed story I’ve read. It hasn’t ditched its SoL heart entirely and frankly, it also has some of the best SoL I’ve ever read. What it has done is taken that cast that I loved from Deception and put them through the crucible. Not only does a civil war rage on, they’ve been dealt a crushing hand from Deception’s end. Everyone’s story either comes out just as good or much better than it was in the last game. The four people that ended up being my goats were Haku, Kuon, Nekone, and Anju with Haku being by far the best character in the games. Watching him go from that lazy, helpless, but caring bastard lost in this new land to a legend to be sung about was the best character journey I’ve ever been on. That laidback slow life he craved, he threw it all away to carry out the job left to him. The other 3 people I listed have some crazy struggles of their own with Kuon probably being the most interesting. The most emotional damage I’ve ever experienced from one character though goes to Nekone and her own relationship with Haku. It’s not even just her either. Everyone in her family has taken my kneecaps. All of the emotional catharsis in this game is fantastic and there’s just so much of it. All their tragedies, struggles, and triumphs have me broken by the end of it.
If there’s any real critique I can give the story is that it stumbles a bit near the end. Just a messy and rushed act as we approach the finish line. I almost lost faith that this would be a fumbled end. But the very ending portions of the game are done so well and everything preceding that act was so good I can let that go.
The music is competent with two real nice exceptions. There are 2 inserts in the game I really enjoy and one in particular that is the song I hear when I think about these games.
While I have basically no complaints about the story, I think the gameplay is very mediocre. It’s far too simple for me. The BP system is a pretty interesting idea for how to customize but it ended up just being like pumping attack and speed when I could afford it. There’s basically no reason to use tanks in this game. The passives you can equip also aren’t particularly interesting. It wasn’t bad, just not really the reason I played the game. One map was offensive though but the final map more than made up for it. I didn’t do the post game arenas at all though since the gameplay wasn’t for me.
Despite those problems, I’d still give this a 10/10. The story was just that strong. If you thought Uta 1 was decent, these should be right up your alley. If you didn’t play Uta 1, just expect a solid experience from Uta 1, but these 2 games are why I’m so thoroughly in love with the series.
Mask of Truth on the other hand is the most emotionally packed story I’ve read. It hasn’t ditched its SoL heart entirely and frankly, it also has some of the best SoL I’ve ever read. What it has done is taken that cast that I loved from Deception and put them through the crucible. Not only does a civil war rage on, they’ve been dealt a crushing hand from Deception’s end. Everyone’s story either comes out just as good or much better than it was in the last game. The four people that ended up being my goats were Haku, Kuon, Nekone, and Anju with Haku being by far the best character in the games. Watching him go from that lazy, helpless, but caring bastard lost in this new land to a legend to be sung about was the best character journey I’ve ever been on. That laidback slow life he craved, he threw it all away to carry out the job left to him. The other 3 people I listed have some crazy struggles of their own with Kuon probably being the most interesting. The most emotional damage I’ve ever experienced from one character though goes to Nekone and her own relationship with Haku. It’s not even just her either. Everyone in her family has taken my kneecaps. All of the emotional catharsis in this game is fantastic and there’s just so much of it. All their tragedies, struggles, and triumphs have me broken by the end of it.
If there’s any real critique I can give the story is that it stumbles a bit near the end. Just a messy and rushed act as we approach the finish line. I almost lost faith that this would be a fumbled end. But the very ending portions of the game are done so well and everything preceding that act was so good I can let that go.
The music is competent with two real nice exceptions. There are 2 inserts in the game I really enjoy and one in particular that is the song I hear when I think about these games.
While I have basically no complaints about the story, I think the gameplay is very mediocre. It’s far too simple for me. The BP system is a pretty interesting idea for how to customize but it ended up just being like pumping attack and speed when I could afford it. There’s basically no reason to use tanks in this game. The passives you can equip also aren’t particularly interesting. It wasn’t bad, just not really the reason I played the game. One map was offensive though but the final map more than made up for it. I didn’t do the post game arenas at all though since the gameplay wasn’t for me.
Despite those problems, I’d still give this a 10/10. The story was just that strong. If you thought Uta 1 was decent, these should be right up your alley. If you didn’t play Uta 1, just expect a solid experience from Uta 1, but these 2 games are why I’m so thoroughly in love with the series.