I really just love Corpse Party. There's no other way to say it, I'm extremely passionate about this series and will staunchly defend it. It scares me and I legitimately felt for the characters within it. You wouldn't think that a pixelated top-down 2D game would be terrifying, but here we are.
Corpse Party is able to fuel my anxiety via the gradual increase of encroaching fear (of the unknown) as the chapters continue. The story summed up can attest to this effect: the main characters are very suddenly thrown into a school with deadly traps and suffering souls scattered about. Death lurks everywhere and any wrong choice can lead to one of the protagonist's doom. Something like that would probably start to make you a bit uneasy.
Unlike most RPGMH series, Corpse Party goes into great detail when describing how each bad end occurs. Most of these are extremely unnerving on an unimaginable level and will legitimately continue to linger in your mind for a while after they occur. I can totally understand if people thinks it gets to an uncomfortable degree, because it does. But it also haunted my dreams for quite a bit afterwards, so I'd say these scenes
The dialogue for a horror game such as this is well written and a lot of it is exactly how I would think a group of Japanese high schoolers would react if they were trapped within a death school with no way out.
Even more amazingly, the developers are able to craft these characters and flesh out their personalities within such a dire situation such as this...and it works.
Most of the characters, even minor ones, are likeable (or hateable) in some way, making it extremely difficult to deal with the fact that most of them will perish right in front of you or end up becoming tools for the main antagonist. Scenes where these characters are clearly in pain are just as disturbing to watch, especially when the are shown slowly dying, contemplating what they can do with their last bit of life. The same can be said for characters who has a deterioration of their sanity. As the player, you view their inner thoughts as they slowly swell into meaningless nonsense or desperate attempts to cling onto some form of comfort.
Corpse Party is just as engaging gameplay-wise, being a mix of puzzle elements and text-based dialogue choices. The puzzles are not too difficult, with the most challenging part likely being you ensuring yourself that your next move isn't going to end with a wrong/bad end. There occasionally parts where things can get a tad too confusing and force you to look around the school more thoroughly for an answer (or even consult a guide), but these occurrences are rare.
Even with such a long description of the frights that are in Corpse Party, there are certainly some parts that are lacking. For example, voice acting is not available in every version of the game (though can be via mods on PC). This is a pretty integral part of the experience and I'm a little confused as to why it is omitted from some releases.
It's also unfortunate that there are not very many CGs. These are usually reserved for emotional or horrific scenes, but they're still not always there.
Corpse Party is a game you have to play to understand. Of course, not everyone is scared by this type of game. A lot of people just won't be able to find something like this frightening. But I'd still recommend anyone who is a horror fan, RPG Maker fan, or even just a suspenseful story fan to check out Corpse Party.
Corpse Party is able to fuel my anxiety via the gradual increase of encroaching fear (of the unknown) as the chapters continue. The story summed up can attest to this effect: the main characters are very suddenly thrown into a school with deadly traps and suffering souls scattered about. Death lurks everywhere and any wrong choice can lead to one of the protagonist's doom. Something like that would probably start to make you a bit uneasy.
Unlike most RPGMH series, Corpse Party goes into great detail when describing how each bad end occurs. Most of these are extremely unnerving on an unimaginable level and will legitimately continue to linger in your mind for a while after they occur. I can totally understand if people thinks it gets to an uncomfortable degree, because it does. But it also haunted my dreams for quite a bit afterwards, so I'd say these scenes
The dialogue for a horror game such as this is well written and a lot of it is exactly how I would think a group of Japanese high schoolers would react if they were trapped within a death school with no way out.
Even more amazingly, the developers are able to craft these characters and flesh out their personalities within such a dire situation such as this...and it works.
Most of the characters, even minor ones, are likeable (or hateable) in some way, making it extremely difficult to deal with the fact that most of them will perish right in front of you or end up becoming tools for the main antagonist. Scenes where these characters are clearly in pain are just as disturbing to watch, especially when the are shown slowly dying, contemplating what they can do with their last bit of life. The same can be said for characters who has a deterioration of their sanity. As the player, you view their inner thoughts as they slowly swell into meaningless nonsense or desperate attempts to cling onto some form of comfort.
Corpse Party is just as engaging gameplay-wise, being a mix of puzzle elements and text-based dialogue choices. The puzzles are not too difficult, with the most challenging part likely being you ensuring yourself that your next move isn't going to end with a wrong/bad end. There occasionally parts where things can get a tad too confusing and force you to look around the school more thoroughly for an answer (or even consult a guide), but these occurrences are rare.
Even with such a long description of the frights that are in Corpse Party, there are certainly some parts that are lacking. For example, voice acting is not available in every version of the game (though can be via mods on PC). This is a pretty integral part of the experience and I'm a little confused as to why it is omitted from some releases.
It's also unfortunate that there are not very many CGs. These are usually reserved for emotional or horrific scenes, but they're still not always there.
Corpse Party is a game you have to play to understand. Of course, not everyone is scared by this type of game. A lot of people just won't be able to find something like this frightening. But I'd still recommend anyone who is a horror fan, RPG Maker fan, or even just a suspenseful story fan to check out Corpse Party.