has a LOT of problems coming with being a ps2 adventure game in 2004 (specifically a slow 1st person one w difficult to find items and a localization that rubs against its atmosphere a little too hard) that bring it down in ways that i find harder to forgive than usual but god damn will i anyway. find its storytelling rly novel for asking you to find and put most of its pieces together on your own, and rly appreciate how its ties itself together thematically. awesome ending w kinda brutal implications. idk how the other echo nights stack w this one yet but it totally deserves more credit.

they finally invented a vn that is fun as fuck to read p much from start to finish. amt of cgs in this and how well they're employed is a genuine feat. so in love w kurosawa's writing and the localization feels rly good, little is wasted yet so emotionally transparent even in its vaguest motions, especially strong in its characterization btwn ch 2 and 3's couples. maybe goes a bit too fast towards the climaxes of ch 1 + 2 but i really like how ch 3 denies closure in a way that's necessary for the couple at its center. devilman but make it tomorrow won't come

the first chapter is cool bc it's one big map rather than a bunch of little ones you warp to via menu which just felt like giving in to adv convention, while it lasts here it's a solid early attempt at rpg navigation for an adventure game. loved that npcs would move around seemingly independent of triggers and the fact you can just miss some scenes, sets it apart from just feeling like pc engine rpgmaker and contributes to the suspense of knowing something bad's gonna happen but you won't see everything to get the full picture leading up to it. shame it doesn't properly capitalize on that for the actual mystery but that it gives you that feeling is worthwhile. after the haunted house the game gets so confused on what its doing that i couldn't care to continue. snake lady's cute tho