ok this might be a long one cause i have quite a bit to say.
credited as one of the most influential mystery/horror vns out there, in particular directly inspiring uchikoshi and serving as the basis on which virtue’s last reward was built on, i was quite excited to jump into kamaitachi no yoru finally now that my jp is at a point where i can read stuff comfortably, and it definitely was worth the wait.
the story is essentially your typical and then there were none type setup. however instead of an island and the cast being trapped by a typhoon, instead the location is a ski lodge, with the characters being stuck in a snowstorm. its a small change but as someone whos seen this setup several times by now it was a nice breath of fresh air seeing the ways in which this change in location has an impact on the mysteries at play.
one aspect that i had heard a lot about going in was kamaitachi no yoru’s at the time unique approach to choice making. while you still have your typical cyoa choose a,b,c type choices, the main focus here is in identifying who the culprit is. quite early on in the story (before any of the main cast dies), you are given an option to point out who you think the culprit is by entering their name. there are no flags here meaning its entirely possible you could just get it right first try and get the best ending, however this is very unlikely. in the case that you don’t know who it is, the story will continue and people will start to die. a bit later on you are given a 2nd opportunity to solve the case in the same fashion. solving the mystery here will still net you a good ending, however slightly worse than if you had solved it prior. failing to solve the mystery here leads the murders to continue, where the only endings you can get are bad ones. looking back now its quite a basic structure but for me it was intriguing enough to draw me in and see how early i could solve the case. and whats especially great is there is no big xd cliche asspull plot twist - the culprit and their motives make a lot of sense, can be deduced from clues the game leaves, and feels rewarding to figure out.
kamaitachi no yoru originally released for the snes back in 1994. because of this, i was expecting the presentation to be slightly dated by todays standards but instead was blown away. the games artstyle uses a combination of photography and amazing pixel art to really craft this immersive world. instead of using anime style portraits, the game opts for sillouettes of the characters instead which adds a lot of charm culminating in a unique aesthetic that i really enjoy. some of these are animated at times as well and they look almost disney level quality at times. adding to this immersion is the ost which might be one of if not the most impressive scores i have ever heard on the snes. this was released under the brand of “sound novel” and its not hard to see why. without even touching on the phenomonal music, the use of sound effects from footsteps to these ominous pads that make you feel dread whenever they appear to the sound of the raging blizzard outside. its honestly mindblowing how a game from 20yrs ago can not only live up to but in many aspects outshine vns that are getting released today.
unfortunately, to experience the game in english your options are very limited with both being shit. the remake (kamaitachi no yoru rinne saisei) has gotten a fan translation however the amazing silhoutte style of the original that set it apart from all these fucking anime characters type portraits has gotten overhauled and replaced with just that which pretty much rips away and shits on one of the best aspects of the game. its so bad of a change in fact that the majority of jp fans dislike it too, mass disliking bombing the reveal trailer back when it came out.
on the other hand, there is an official localisation that was done in 2014 and though i havent played it i can tell you right now that you should stay the fuck away from it. first of all its ios only which should already be a red flag, but all the character names and where the story is set have been “westernised”. the main character names of toru and mari have been changed to max and grace and instead of taking place in a snowy region in japan it now takes place in fucking canada. also some of the lines i've seen just read really badly to the point where it breaks your immersion
it really sucks that these are the only options available. although i dont think my jp is good enough to do it justice rn, i really want to take a shot at making a full english script or even a fan translation for the original game at some point in the future so more people can experience this.
credited as one of the most influential mystery/horror vns out there, in particular directly inspiring uchikoshi and serving as the basis on which virtue’s last reward was built on, i was quite excited to jump into kamaitachi no yoru finally now that my jp is at a point where i can read stuff comfortably, and it definitely was worth the wait.
the story is essentially your typical and then there were none type setup. however instead of an island and the cast being trapped by a typhoon, instead the location is a ski lodge, with the characters being stuck in a snowstorm. its a small change but as someone whos seen this setup several times by now it was a nice breath of fresh air seeing the ways in which this change in location has an impact on the mysteries at play.
one aspect that i had heard a lot about going in was kamaitachi no yoru’s at the time unique approach to choice making. while you still have your typical cyoa choose a,b,c type choices, the main focus here is in identifying who the culprit is. quite early on in the story (before any of the main cast dies), you are given an option to point out who you think the culprit is by entering their name. there are no flags here meaning its entirely possible you could just get it right first try and get the best ending, however this is very unlikely. in the case that you don’t know who it is, the story will continue and people will start to die. a bit later on you are given a 2nd opportunity to solve the case in the same fashion. solving the mystery here will still net you a good ending, however slightly worse than if you had solved it prior. failing to solve the mystery here leads the murders to continue, where the only endings you can get are bad ones. looking back now its quite a basic structure but for me it was intriguing enough to draw me in and see how early i could solve the case. and whats especially great is there is no big xd cliche asspull plot twist - the culprit and their motives make a lot of sense, can be deduced from clues the game leaves, and feels rewarding to figure out.
kamaitachi no yoru originally released for the snes back in 1994. because of this, i was expecting the presentation to be slightly dated by todays standards but instead was blown away. the games artstyle uses a combination of photography and amazing pixel art to really craft this immersive world. instead of using anime style portraits, the game opts for sillouettes of the characters instead which adds a lot of charm culminating in a unique aesthetic that i really enjoy. some of these are animated at times as well and they look almost disney level quality at times. adding to this immersion is the ost which might be one of if not the most impressive scores i have ever heard on the snes. this was released under the brand of “sound novel” and its not hard to see why. without even touching on the phenomonal music, the use of sound effects from footsteps to these ominous pads that make you feel dread whenever they appear to the sound of the raging blizzard outside. its honestly mindblowing how a game from 20yrs ago can not only live up to but in many aspects outshine vns that are getting released today.
unfortunately, to experience the game in english your options are very limited with both being shit. the remake (kamaitachi no yoru rinne saisei) has gotten a fan translation however the amazing silhoutte style of the original that set it apart from all these fucking anime characters type portraits has gotten overhauled and replaced with just that which pretty much rips away and shits on one of the best aspects of the game. its so bad of a change in fact that the majority of jp fans dislike it too, mass disliking bombing the reveal trailer back when it came out.
on the other hand, there is an official localisation that was done in 2014 and though i havent played it i can tell you right now that you should stay the fuck away from it. first of all its ios only which should already be a red flag, but all the character names and where the story is set have been “westernised”. the main character names of toru and mari have been changed to max and grace and instead of taking place in a snowy region in japan it now takes place in fucking canada. also some of the lines i've seen just read really badly to the point where it breaks your immersion
it really sucks that these are the only options available. although i dont think my jp is good enough to do it justice rn, i really want to take a shot at making a full english script or even a fan translation for the original game at some point in the future so more people can experience this.