I went in expecting a fun little horror-themed game to pass a few hours and ended up playing what has easily become one of my favourite visual novels.
The "horror" drops off relatively quickly to a more standard mystery but the writing is solid throughout and at no point did I feel like I just wanted the game to get on with it. The story is presented on a timeline as though it will have branching paths, but for the mostpart this is simply a mechanic to make you switch between characters to ensure they're in the right place to advance the plot, along with a couple of single-chapter Bad End branches. Honestly, as someone who prefers one-and-done stories in VNs, this suited me down to the ground.
The clever use of 360 degree photos for the backdrops allows them to do so much more with the art than most VNs I've played. Having multiple camera angles per scene and clever placement of the character sprites really lets them frame each shot more like a movie or anime than the common "two portraits standing side by side looking at the player against a static background". Dramatic panning shots and depth of field really make this game stand out visually when paired with the film grain filter and chromattic aberration.
I've read that the game's director would love for the game to become a series of paranormal themed visual novels and I can only hope this ends up being the case as I would absolutely play more games in this visual style.
The "horror" drops off relatively quickly to a more standard mystery but the writing is solid throughout and at no point did I feel like I just wanted the game to get on with it. The story is presented on a timeline as though it will have branching paths, but for the mostpart this is simply a mechanic to make you switch between characters to ensure they're in the right place to advance the plot, along with a couple of single-chapter Bad End branches. Honestly, as someone who prefers one-and-done stories in VNs, this suited me down to the ground.
The clever use of 360 degree photos for the backdrops allows them to do so much more with the art than most VNs I've played. Having multiple camera angles per scene and clever placement of the character sprites really lets them frame each shot more like a movie or anime than the common "two portraits standing side by side looking at the player against a static background". Dramatic panning shots and depth of field really make this game stand out visually when paired with the film grain filter and chromattic aberration.
I've read that the game's director would love for the game to become a series of paranormal themed visual novels and I can only hope this ends up being the case as I would absolutely play more games in this visual style.