I plan to revisit it from time to time. I thought it would last about an hour, but there are many things to discover and read. So far, I've managed to obtain a sutra, useful for warding off demons one might encounter around the city.
It's very engaging; it builds a formula for the open-air museum that I really appreciate, mixing architecture, folk tales, religious beliefs and historical characters. The most crucial aspect is the exploration in highly atmospheric settings, both due to the graphic-artistic rendering and the sound design. The exploration comes with descriptions provided on a time to time basis depending on what you find; there's also a viable encyclopedia that you can fully read whenever you want. Additionally, there are puzzles necessary for progression or to gather more information. The puzzles themselves can be a bit challenging, especially because there's a textual component where the player interacts with certain NPCs, writing responses or making requests. I imagine the issues are mainly due to translation issues. Fortunately, in several instances, dialogues progress regardless of what is written, presumably to overcome this problem. Another issue is that instead of the text box there's a glitch: a white rectangle that obscures everything, likely due to emulation.
Graphically, the game is beautiful, and the artworks integrate seamlessly into the game interface. The UI, with its minimalism and pitch-black color, is impactful, although arguably unnecessary. There's a considerable amount of unused space; at most, I would like for a portion of this space to be used for the main artworks and to give more space to the backgrounds; that's just a minor observation though.
Ironically, death occurs in a context where beliefs converge with Buddhist disciplines, introducing an element of rebirth and reincarnation. In this sense, it manages to be very modern, assigning meaning to the player's defeat. It allows exploration of the jigoku (hells) and, after undergoing torture or witnessing a cycle of death and rebirth, returning to the city where the events unfold.
Note: In the game interface, there are two small squares at the bottom, one on the right and the other on the left. These represent, respectively, a depiction of the coins in your possession and the level of karma. If one possesses a low level of karma, they will be reborn as dogs.
It's very engaging; it builds a formula for the open-air museum that I really appreciate, mixing architecture, folk tales, religious beliefs and historical characters. The most crucial aspect is the exploration in highly atmospheric settings, both due to the graphic-artistic rendering and the sound design. The exploration comes with descriptions provided on a time to time basis depending on what you find; there's also a viable encyclopedia that you can fully read whenever you want. Additionally, there are puzzles necessary for progression or to gather more information. The puzzles themselves can be a bit challenging, especially because there's a textual component where the player interacts with certain NPCs, writing responses or making requests. I imagine the issues are mainly due to translation issues. Fortunately, in several instances, dialogues progress regardless of what is written, presumably to overcome this problem. Another issue is that instead of the text box there's a glitch: a white rectangle that obscures everything, likely due to emulation.
Graphically, the game is beautiful, and the artworks integrate seamlessly into the game interface. The UI, with its minimalism and pitch-black color, is impactful, although arguably unnecessary. There's a considerable amount of unused space; at most, I would like for a portion of this space to be used for the main artworks and to give more space to the backgrounds; that's just a minor observation though.
Ironically, death occurs in a context where beliefs converge with Buddhist disciplines, introducing an element of rebirth and reincarnation. In this sense, it manages to be very modern, assigning meaning to the player's defeat. It allows exploration of the jigoku (hells) and, after undergoing torture or witnessing a cycle of death and rebirth, returning to the city where the events unfold.
Note: In the game interface, there are two small squares at the bottom, one on the right and the other on the left. These represent, respectively, a depiction of the coins in your possession and the level of karma. If one possesses a low level of karma, they will be reborn as dogs.