When I first started playing The 25th Ward, I wasn’t sure how to feel. After a very good opening chapter, things quickly slowed down and I was having trouble taking in what the game was telling me. The Silver Case had me playing alternating chapters between two perspectives that, while unique, focused on the same overall plot. Any confusion I had regarding the new information I learned was always cleared up via the next chapter retreading what I’d played and beating the information into me. The 25th Ward, however, now has THREE alternating chapters, none of which are as closely tied together as the two Silver Case routes were. At one point early on, I began to question my feelings toward the game. And then I played the next chapter and suddenly everything clicked. The plot quickly started picking up and I immediately fell in love with the game. The character writing is among the best you’ll find in the Kill The Past series, and it’s backed up by a story that gets more and more interesting the further you progress. After a certain point I found it hard to resist binging the game, and was making my way through several chapters a night. Each chapter delved deeper and deeper into the main character of each of the three routes, offering a lot of insight and intrigue regarding their stories and invoking much more sympathy than previous games in the series.
By the end I had very few complaints, the biggest one being that I wish we would’ve gotten to see more of the returning characters from The Silver Case and Flower, Sun, and Rain that I’d grown to love. The other is the gameplay itself. The game has some annoyingly opaque trial and error puzzles that leave you with little option other than to waste a lot of time guessing, or otherwise consult a guide. It also can’t seem to escape its roots as a mobile game, as movement in this game has been reduced to choosing an option for whichever directions are available to you, a big downgrade from The Silver Case’s movement system, which was reminiscent of a first person dungeon crawler. These complaints are all fairly minor though, and don’t take much (if any) away from my pleasant experience with the game.
In conclusion, this game is excellent (as were the two that came before it) and something I’m looking forward to revisiting in the future. I imagine there’s a lot of foreshadowing and small details that went over my head. There’s plenty of room to continue, so now all that’s left is for me to sit here hoping Goichi Suda’s plans for The 26th Ward eventually come to fruition.
By the end I had very few complaints, the biggest one being that I wish we would’ve gotten to see more of the returning characters from The Silver Case and Flower, Sun, and Rain that I’d grown to love. The other is the gameplay itself. The game has some annoyingly opaque trial and error puzzles that leave you with little option other than to waste a lot of time guessing, or otherwise consult a guide. It also can’t seem to escape its roots as a mobile game, as movement in this game has been reduced to choosing an option for whichever directions are available to you, a big downgrade from The Silver Case’s movement system, which was reminiscent of a first person dungeon crawler. These complaints are all fairly minor though, and don’t take much (if any) away from my pleasant experience with the game.
In conclusion, this game is excellent (as were the two that came before it) and something I’m looking forward to revisiting in the future. I imagine there’s a lot of foreshadowing and small details that went over my head. There’s plenty of room to continue, so now all that’s left is for me to sit here hoping Goichi Suda’s plans for The 26th Ward eventually come to fruition.