Sunday, August 6, 2023
Genre - Horror, Yuri Play Time - 25 hours Developer - Success Steam VNDB
Shaped By Inevitable Bonds
Being
bound by the red string of fate is a common trope in Japanese romance
stories and at first glance you might assume that Akai Ito would
follow these conventions given its emphasis on yuri. However, nothing
could be further from the truth as the game takes this romantic convention and repurposes it to further a disempowerment horror story.
Fate takes on a shade of grey with the feeling of love being tinged by the
march of supernatural forces who care nothing for this newly formed
bond. Akai Ito is very much a visual novel from a bygone era and this
makes it a strange oddity in the modern day especially with how few
games in the medium get HD remasters. Its strong core identity has
only grown in potency as its peers have fallen into obscurity and a
lack of the cliches of the current age makes for a novel experience.
Even its strange collection of design choices are not enough to sour
the overall package. With all that said how well does this mix of
yuri and horror stand up against the more varied modern medium? Let’s
follow the treads of fate and discover what this relic has to offer.
Returning To A Forgotten Home – Narrative and Themes
As
a narrative core romance and horror make for odd bedfellows and it
this exact dissonance Akai Ito uses to great effect. It utilises a
supernatural mystery as the binding element between these two halves and puts
each to good use as the source of the tense horror of being in the shoes of a weak
protagonist and for rich variety of yuri relationships. Sometimes this is pushed too far and stretches the player’s
patience with just how powerless the protagonist is even in
situations where it does not make narrative sense.
Returning
to a family home you barely remember is a strange experience with
memories slowly coming back as you explore the place where you once spent
so much time. Such is the backbone of Akai Ito’s supernatural
mystery, a forgotten past in a distant home which many people who would
rather the protagonist, Kei, forget for good. No secret can remain
hidden for long when curiosity guides the one it concerns and this
acts as the diving force for both Kei and the player leading to a
feeling of exploration and forward momentum. Each new discovery hints at
the next and passes on the sense of intrigue in such a way that the
player never feels too sure they know how this is going to end. There
is a well divided structure to the distribution of key revelations
between the routes so none of them horde all the good twists and they
are provided to the heroine with which they have a connection, so they
can be delivered believably. What this means in practice is utilising
them as a source of conflict against and between Kei and the route
heroine creating dynamic situations in which secrets flow out
naturally. In doing it this way the supernatural mystery can sit next to the other narrative elements without overwhelming them with
major plot points centred around it.
 |
| There are quieter moments to contrast the mystery and tension |
Alongside
the mystery sits the game’s emphasis on a tense disempowerment
brand of horror. Kei is no superpowered fighter nor does she become so
over the course of the story. Instead she is a fairly average human
in terms of physical capabilities and this makes the threats against
her life all the more palpable. The player instinctually know the
consequences of any harm that comes her way since they too feel the
fragility of human life with each attack being a possible broken limb
at best or instant death at worse. Tapping into this primal fear of
our own weak bodies and the spectre of death in every possible slip
up is the game’s greatest achievement and it injects a visceral sense
of tension into the supernatural threat facing Kei. It feels as if
even the slightest nudge could cause this story to come to an abrupt
and bloody end. The only issue with this approach is that Kei’s
weakness can sometimes be pushed too far and she feels like a
passenger in her own story with her love interests doing all the
heavy lifting to the point of eclipsing the person who is meant to be
the main character. While this never makes itself know enough to
break the player’s suspense, it can still be distracting to see how
little our main character does at times in their own story.
 |
| Chance meetings and fate are a constant force it Akai Ito |
The
final pillar upon which the narrative rests is the yuri romances
between Kei and the heroines that drive much of the game’s drama.
Rather than following a cookie cutter formula, each romance is
tailored to the contents of the route and the personality of the
heroine. Its presentation of what it means to love another has an
extremely textured and varied nature doing a better job of examining
how the route’s pair come together than many similar games. These
range from ideas of self isolation and duty to loss and being
forgotten to family bonds and expectations. Each acts as a distinct
force pushing and pulling on the relationship to test its worth and
what it means to the ones engaged in it. On top of this, the romantic
elements know when to take a backseat when things need to become
tense or focus on pushing the story forward and what results is an
incredibly balanced overall pacing. There are few throw away moments
and Akai Ito makes the most out of the time it has available to tell
its concise ideas.
Tied Together By Fate – Characters
On
one side of the character divide with have our protagonist Kei who as
mentioned above is a deliberately underpowered character for the
threats they are facing, but beyond that they are also immensely
relatable. Their vulnerability makes the actions they take to face
the threat against their life take on a greater weight and helps sell
the human nature of their heroism. Kei is not someone who is helping
out of the goodness of her heart and instead she acts to protect and
support those she cares about, normally the route heroine. The
childish and selfish streak in her does a good job of making feel
like she is someone her age, on the cusp of maturity but still with a
lot of the emotional baggage of a teenager. For a player point of
view character, this mixture of strengths and weakness is perfect for
keeping interest constant and having a relatable point of reference among all the supernatural forces since we have all been in that cusp
of adulthood during our lives so we too know how confusing it can be.
She also works well as a mirror for the heroines since she has the
innocence that they do not and is able to see through the masks they
wear and show them their true feeling even as they try to reject her.
These bonds are reciprocal as Kei learns and matures in a way close
to the route’s heroine by taking on a small amount of their traits
so she can be more like them.
 |
| Kei can be very childish at times |
Sitting
opposite Kei is the rest of the cast, both heroines and antagonists, as
they all share a similar clear focus to their aims even if Kei is not
immediately aware of what they are or what they involve. These competing desires lead
to them rubbing each other the wrong way and results in
interesting, telling and varied interactions that do a lot to further
the mysteries at the heart of the game. The conflicts are not limited to
fighting against the antagonists and many stem from the heroines’
differing values as they struggle to contain their hostility or
unease towards each other, all the while tiptoeing around Kei. Such a
wide pool of character relationships helps support the game’s
multiple route structure as it can put an emphasis on a certain set
of struggles to make them the focus, keep them fresh and encourages a
thorough dive into each route to gain a complete picture of these
characters. The mystique surrounding the antagonists is maintained by
never revealing enough through these interactions to give away what
drives them or what they have planned, but still provide enough for
the player to form their own theories. As a whole they are an
astonishingly well thought through cast that fit their roles and the
tone of the game well.
Otherworldly Beauty – Visuals, Audio and Technical
Presentation
is one of the key elements used to sell this HD remaster and, while
the original version never released in English, there has been a
clear effort to make sure it lives up to these expectations. This new
layer of polish breaths life into an early 2000’s title with
crisp visuals and increased fidelity which helps enhance the game’s
tone by giving it a grounded aesthetic. The charm of this older style
of anime character and CG designs is not lost in the transfer into HD
and now it stands out even more alongside a field of moe centric
visual novels, making it a refreshing blast from the past.
However, the visuals have not been stretched to fit into a widescreen
resolution and instead light patterned sidebars have been added to
fill out what would have been black bars around the image. These are
relatively unobtrusive and to be expected since this is a remaster
rather than a remake and they never intrude into the experience in
the way simple black bars would have. On the audio front the sound
effects and music maintain the excellent atmosphere of the original
and they are clear to the listener with no distortions. Each track is
used to great effect and they all lean into the mystery and romantic
tones that define Akai Ito which leads to some impressively emotive
moments.
 |
| I have never seen sound levels being described as small and big before |
Despite
the general high quality of Akai Ito, there is one area bringing down
the whole experience and this is the uneven nature of the translation
and its implementation. The overall quality of the translation is
decent, but there are certain places were it stumbles and these happen
often enough to be distracting. One of the most noticeable places to
observe this is in the menus where some text is translated very
literally to the point of requiring you to stop and think about what
the button you are hovering over actually means. Within the game
itself there will be moments where the phrasing of certain sentences
will be unnatural or flow poorly and you’ll wonder if you misread
it which brings you out of the events on screen. Then there are the
issues with how text is implemented into the game, it is a regular
feature for a single section of text to be broken into several
textboxes with one ending suddenly and shifting directly into the
next in a way that makes it clear that the original text occupied a
single textbox. This can lead to the text lacking the impact it might
have otherwise had if it was delivered as a single blow rather than
being split up. All these points are disappointing given the
otherwise high bar of the game’s quality and are worth keeping in
mind when considering your purchase.
 |
| The built in flowchart does help ease some issues |
From
a mechanical perspective Akai Ito is more or less what you would
expect from a visual novel of this period with one important
exception, its lock system. These locks acts as a means of
controlling the player’s progress through the game and prevent them
from seeing key information out of order. In theory this sounds fine
since there are many visual novels which follow this pattern when
dishing out their content, such as Virtue’s Last Reward, but in
practice this implementation of the system is confusing and
frustrating. The main issue here is the fact that there is no way to
know what scenes give unlocks until you have completed an ending and
there is no way to know in advance which routes have locks to prevent
you progressing. If the player heads down a route with a lock on it the game
does not inform them about it and instead throws them onto a
bad ending and this can lead to them banging their head on this wall
thinking they made a wrong choice when in fact there is nothing they
can do about it. While in context the unlocking scenes make sense,
they do not stick out in the moment to moment progression of a
route’s narrative and it is only in hindsight that the player can
spot them.
Conclusion
On
the surface mixing yuri and horror might seem to be a recipe for
disaster but Akai Ito showcases a strong case from how taking two
disparate genre together can lead to exciting new games. Smoothly
blending the suspense of its supernatural mystery with the horror of
our own fragile mortal bodies and the enriching and varied nature of
love is the main draw of this visual novel. Backing this up is a solid cast of
multifaceted heroines and villains alongside a protagonist who
displays a strong humanity in her actions. This strength continues in
its visual and auditory presentation which has benefited highly from
the HD treatment. The only places the game stumbles are in its uneven
translation and frustrating lock system, but neither of these do
enough to ruin an otherwise well put together title.
Verdict –
An outstanding disempowerment horror experience that utilises its
yuri component with grace and which stands out despite its age and a
few questionable design choices.
Pros -
+
A good balance of supernatural mystery and tension keeps the
narrative engaging.
+
The yuri relationships are presented believably and never overshadow
the story’s direction.
+
Clear and crisp HD visuals that retain the charm of their originals.
+
Plays up the protagonist vulnerability just enough to enable the
horror elements.
Cons -
-
Translation can be a bit strange at times and there is a lack of
polish when it comes to how it is integrated into the game.
-
The lock system creates unnecessary confusion and serves only to frustrate the player.
-
The protagonist can be a bit too passive in the events determining
her very survival and often leaves things to her love interest rather
than doing it herself.
