Archive for May 2025
Best Visual Novel Releases – May 2025
As
we creepy slowly closer to summer, the temperature has been rising in
the world of visual novels with a suite of exciting releases. It has
been a month full of a little bit for everyone from those who want a
harem of catgirls to the complex relationships of yuri and yaoi to
various supernatural tales dripping in danger. Let’s dive in and
find out what visual novels from the past month you should be
playing.
Official Releases
NEKOPARA After
It
has been five years since the last entry in the NEKOPARA franchise
and this seemed to be a series which had reached its natural end.
Then along come After to inject life with a game focused around a
previously minor catgirl and the protagonist’s sister. Nothing
about this game is interested in breaking the formula established in
previous titles and it instead doubles down on the familiar
characters and setting as its main selling points. This is a victory
lap of sorts focused on the only remaining character without meaning
exploration, Kashou’s sister Shigure and her odd relationship
with her brother. Since the games have generally had a dual heroines,
the catgirl of Kashou’s grandmother has been brought in to act as a
foil to the antics of Shigure and their dynamic is main selling point
of After. If you are a fan of NEKOPARA then After is a must buy, but
it will not be converting anyone who never meshed with its brand of
humour and slice of life story.
7'scarlet
Originally
released on the PSVita back in 2018, this Nintendo Switch release
opens up the supernatural romance up to a new audience who get to
enjoy its imaginative brand of otome. The visual novel is focused
around the heroine’s search for her brother who has gone missing
after he visited Okunezato. With this as her only clue she sets out
with her childhood friend Kagutsuchi Hino to investigate this
mysterious town, but what she find is more dangerous than she could
have anticipated as the local ‘Legend of the Dead’ turns out to
be very real. This supernatural mystery forms the backbone of the
narrative as each new route reveals a piece of the puzzle alongside
getting to know the various suitors. It does a good job of balancing
the love and the danger to create an engaging tension between the
leads which helps spice up the typical otome romance. Overall
7'scarlet is a fun otome for those looking to add a little more
intrigue to their pursuit of the suitors.
The Town of Nie Iromusubi
Being
the fandisc to the original The Town Of Nie puts Iromusubi in an
interesting position due to that first game’s darker themes and
afterlife centric story. It chooses to tackle these elements by
leaning into them as it expands on both the good and bad endings from
the original in order to continue the rounded perspective on its
characters. There are also the customary extra stories
common in fandiscs, here they are all given to side characters so
their backstories can be explored in a way they could not be before.
As a whole Iromusubi shifts away from the direct sense of danger and
mystery into a title examining the few possibilities left from new
angles. While not quite offering the same experience as the original
it still manages to offer fans something substantial to chew on.
Perennial Dusk -Kinsenka-
Frontwing’s
newest title has an interesting set up with it following a group of
exorcists in training in a world where the living and the dead freely
mingle. Everything about this game is set up it makes its intent to
create a powerful and resonant emotional journey clear as well as
the fact it will not be an entirely happy one. This is a story about
the ability of the human spirit to endure hardships and how that
shapes people while they keep pushing forwards. However, this is a
Frontwing game so this is never going to be a wall to wall bleak
affair and instead leans into elements of action and slice of life to
break up any darker feelings and make time for the characters to just
be themselves. Being a focused and linear version of the developer’s
style makes Perennial Dusk an excellent place to dip your toes into
their portfolio and offers a compelling experience for existing fans.
Clover Reset
For
this month’s yuri game we have Cover Reset, a tale of young love
and heightened emotions. This is a title which firmly leans into its
teenage cast and school setting to present its romance through a
heart-warming coming of age story. It puts a lot of effort into
making its cast feel human and with relatable concerns which build upon
each other to create an excellent breeding ground for drama. All this
results in a very inward looking narrative where the inner journeys
of these characters are in many ways more important than their actual
actions. Cover Reset is a suitably emotional ride that will appeal to
fans of the genre and those looking for something with an
introspective nature.
POV Characters – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels
A Window Into The World
Every
story needs someone to tell it and often this role is given to the tale's
protagonists so they can paint an intimate picture of their journey.
Visual novels love to play with perspective due to their tendency
towards first person narratives where it can help the player better
understand events or trick them with smoke and mirrors. This
regularly involves entire large sections from the different points of
view among its cast, each of which provide new information to help
construct a complete picture of what is going on. Not every use of
perspectives needs to grand with many titles jumping POV for only
small periods of time to create an emphasis on key emotional moments.
Of course the simplest use of this technique is the bait and switch
protagonist where it looks like one character is going to the
protagonist only for something to change and another
character to raise up in their place. There is a great deal of
expression available for a developer through showcasing multiple
perspectives and opening the player up to new experiences. Let’s
swap characters and find out how this all works in practice.
Differing Perspectives
Having
multiple POV characters opens a lot a possibilities in how a
narrative can present itself and what information the player will be
given and by whom. It allows for its characters to show the same
events through different eyes in order to slowly reveal the complete
picture as the game goes on. Choosing to structure a visual novel in
this way means adopting a non-linear formatting to progression either
directly within the story flow or in an episodic fashion due to how
much jumping back and forth it will be doing. It is also rarely a
simple duel protagonist set up and there can instead be as many as
five competing perspectives on the same events which can be a
challenge for the player to keep track of, so it is key for the game
to make it clear who is currently the POV and what they stand for as
fast as possible. The main advantage of having so many POV characters
is how it offers a natural way to recontextualise what the player
believes to be true without stopping the story to do a big plot
reveal. What happens instead is the characters just give out what
information on what they are seeing and feeling and it is only from
the player’s perspective that they have this additional layer of
meaning. To someone within the story their world view seems normal
and it is only from a higher angle it can be revealed to full of
holes. There is an important development cost angle to this use of
multiple characters since the repeated revisiting of the same places
and times means the assets created for it can be reused with each
return. As such there are generally less overall assets to create and
this leads to a freeing of resources for the key narrative moments or
to keep the project within budget.
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| VNs with lots of POVs often have some sort of chart to help track them all |
Looking
at Wonderful Everyday and 428: Shibuya Scramble as examples of visual
novels using this structure we can see the two contrasting visions of
how it can be implemented. Wonderful Everyday has an
episodic take on the multiple protagonists approach with it swapping
to an entirely new perspective at the start of each episode. The
events and time period of every episode are mostly the same with
a few outliers and showcase how they looked for another angle as well
as showing things the other protagonists could not have seen since
they were not present. What forms is a slowly expanding picture of
these events where the player is constantly having to reevaluate
their prior knowledge as people they thought were reliable turn out
not to be and vice-versa. Its constant stream of new protagonists
helps create a broad and empathetic cast where previously minor
characters get a chance to shine and demonstrate how their relevancy
to the overarching narrative. This leads to the plot feeling like the
natural conclusion of various people’s actions rather than a
contrived plot structure. On the opposite side of this embracing
multiple perspectives sits 428: Shibuya Scramble and the way it
constantly pushes the player between different protagonists. Its
structure is decidedly non-linear with it not being possible to
complete one perspective without having finished parts of various
others in order to progress. Adopting this approach allows the game
to lean into the interconnectivity of the characters’ lives and
provide the player with different options of what to experience next
without giving away control of how and when major plot beats are
experienced. Rather than making the player question the reliability
of its POV characters, Shibuya Scramble uses this differing
perspectives to give each a piece of the picture which only makes
sense when placed alongside those from other characters to give the
narrative a jigsaw like feeling.
Creating Emphasis
Not
all uses of different perspectives need to be extensive and instead
they can function as short pacing and information controllers. These
manifest in the form of quick switches of POV from the main character
into the head of another in order to get their viewpoint of
events before returning back to the protagonist. By quickly providing
a new angle on the emotions and events of a scene they can highlight
these moments as significant in a broader sense and makes them stick
out in the player’s mind. Each acts as a widening of the player’s
appreciation for their consequences and opens the window to the
feelings evolving in characters beyond just the protagonist. Unlike a
more extensive multiple POV structure, these small tangents are
intense bubbles of emotion which aim to create drama and suspense
rather than feed into some greater picture. As you might expect they
are somewhat contrived in nature and can be a little nonsensical if
the player ever stops to think about them hence why they are so short
so there is no time to give them serious consideration before the
game moves on to the next plot beat. They are also used sparingly
over the course of a visual novel so they do not become invasive and
take the player out of the protagonist’s head space which many
titles rely heavily on in order to create an impactful experience. The infrequent use of perspective changes does not create
this friction while also countering any potential sense that the
world revolves completely around the protagonist.
 |
| I'm sure she is completely reliable right? |
Using
multiple perspectives in this manner is most common in various slice
of life or romance visual novels where the aim is to use them to
underscore the blossoming love between the leads. One developer in
this genre who loves to regularly dip into different POV’s is
Yuzusoft and they have even experimented with more expansive
protagonist swapping. Their short dives into another character’s
mind are almost always into the head of the route heroine or story
relevant characters close to them. Focusing on the heroine is a way
through which the game can communicate the mutual nature of the
couple’s affections rather than making the heroine appear to exist
just for the protagonist’s desires. This is especially important
due to the erotic component in these titles since it could come
across as objectifying the heroine or be otherwise uncomfortable for
the player if it did not make their common feelings so clear. It also
serves a minor role in pushing the plot forward if the conflict is
placing the heroine in some kind of direct danger where the
protagonist may not be aware of it or simply cannot perceive it due
to it being internal in nature. However, Yuzusoft are careful to have
everything come back towards the protagonist so the romance can
remain front and centre in order to sell their relationship as a
seamless experience for the player.
Bait And Switch
Not
every visual novel immediately makes it clear if there are going to
be multiple protagonists within their story in order to trick the
player into believing they know how things will play out. This is
done purely for the sake of a twist reveal that the initial
protagonist was in fact not the main character of the story and the
role falls to another of the established characters. A bait and
switch like this regularly results in the first POV character being
removed from the story now they have fulfilled their purpose and all
the remaining play time is from the new POV. Narrative techniques of
this type are a once and done affair since the player is now aware of
the trick and any additional attempts to do the same thing will lack
impact. It acts as a means of grabbing the player’s attention in a
shocking manner and drawing them into a plot they thought they had
all figured out. One the notable risk to this approach is if the
player has bonded with the original protagonist they may not like it
when this character is taken away and they are forced onto another
one. This may leave a bad taste in their mouth and prevent them from
properly engaging with the new POV character as they now have a
bitter association between this protagonist and these negative
feelings. Hence most bait and switches of this type tend to take
place in the opening hours of a game to not give the player enough
time to get overly attached to the character who is about to be
thrown away.
 |
| Danganronpa can get away with a lot other titles cannot |
A
particularly famous example of this technique can be seen in
Danganronpa V3 at the climax of its first trial. Here the first
protagonist Akamatsu Kaede is shown to not be a reliable narrator to
the events of the chapter and is in fact the murderer they have been
attempting to uncover. The POV then swaps to reveal the real
protagonist to be Saihara Shuuichi someone who had been a major
character beforehand so the transition has a believable passing of
the torch quality. Since Kaede dies not long after Danganronpa
cleverly makes her existence and absence impactful for Shuuichi so
Kaede does not entirely disappear for the narrative the moment the
game is done with her, even if it is only in spirit. The reason for
the bait and switch is simple, shock value. As a franchise
Danganronpa lives on its over the top nature and this big twist fits
right in with its existing tone which helps smooth over the
transition between the two protagonists. Other visual novels would
have struggled to retain the player’s interest in quite the same
way after such a dramatic end to a likeable character.
Conclusion
The
eyes through which the player sees the story of a visual novel
control a lot about how they engage with it and so shifting between
multiple of them opens up a lot of possibilities. Through the use of a wide
range of POV characters the narrative takes on a patchwork quality
where competing perspectives offer pieces of the big picture for the
player to uncover. Performing a bait and switch with the protagonist
has the ability to create an impactful early experience which can
capture the attention of the player and help keep it for the long
term. Even the sprinkling in of infrequent POV swapping can be useful
when the story needs specific emotional moments and plot beats to have more
emphasis to help underscore their importance. There are few tools
available for visual novel developers which can have quite the impact
on the game’s overall structure and reception as multiple POV
characters so it is worth carefully considering how you use them when
making your own titles.
Management Simulators – Uncovering The Hybrid
Pursuing High Numbers
As
a mechanical backbone for a game Management Simulators create a
distinctive focus on numbers and long term organisation which at
first glance might make it appear incompatible with visual novels.
Despite the contrast between the two styles of game, there have been
many titles merging them and it has revealed some interesting
interactions between how they function. On the most basic level the
visual novel sections act as a means to soften the hard of edges of
the Management Simulators’ dry tendency to hyper fixate on numbers.
The Sim also naturally construct a journey which a narrative element
can weave in and out of in an organic manner while adding weight to
process of advancement. It is common for them to be accompanied by
another style of gameplay in order to add variety to the content and
this offers the visual novel parts an opportunity to play off two
complementary sets of mechanics. Let’s crunch some numbers and find
out how this hybrid’s interactions work in practice.
Softening The Edges Of Progress
By
their nature Management Simulators are extremely distant and
impersonal even more so than other sims like raising and dating. This
is due to a combination of the wider scope of their subject
matter and the inherent number based nature of such sims. Rather than
the systematising of the struggles and growth of a single individual
found in raising and dating sims, Management Simulators instead
present the bigger picture of running an organisation or business
over the longer term and require the player to engage with this far
seeing approach to succeed. As you might imagine this leads to some
sharp edges when it comes to how this big picture relates to the
people directly involved in it and how it influences their lives.
This is where the visual novel element comes in as a means to soften
this issue and bring these abstract systems down to a level the
player can easily understand from an emotional perspective. In
particular the simple presentation of visual novels makes them an
easy way to show the story while not being a massive leap away from the
menu based nature of Management Simulators and allows for the game to
easily transition between them without either side appearing out of
place. Looking at it in reverse the visual novel gains a larger
perspective on events it might otherwise struggle to accurately
capture due to its personal and direct narrative style and so the sim
can frame it to provide the developer’s desired impact.
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| Management does not need to be complex |
Let’s
look at a couple of examples which showcase the differing approaches
to utilising this interaction between these two parts of the game.
Kamidori Alchemy Meister has a sizeable focus on managing the
protagonist’s alchemy shop and the creation of items to
restock it which underpins much of the sense of progression in the
early game. There is a keen sense of this shop as being a cosy home
for the characters while also a place of business and balancing these
feelings is key to its presentation. This is achieved through several
avenues chief among them being the various small events which take
place in the shop and frame how the space should be interpreted by
the player. Each of these visual novel sections acts as a break from
the mechanical elements of the title and adds some extra flavour to
the people living there. The same characters are also available for
the player to assign to run the shop and offer a variety of benefits
appropriate to their personalities to tie what is experienced in the
vignettes into the gameplay. On the opposite end of the spectrum we
have Astra's Garden which treats its Management Simulator element as
a minor secondary concern. Here the focus is on the protagonist
Astragalus and the interactions they have with their customers. The
Management Simulator elements are very basic and simple in nature due
to the game’s desire to use them as a framing device for the
narrative encounters. By doing this the game is able to communicate
to the player a sense of what it is like to run the shop and how the
meetings with customers feels within that context. In many ways this
version of the Management Simulator is merely a narrative device
through which the visual novel sections can express a more abstract
set of ideas they would have difficulty conveying in the precise way
it can.
From Economics To A Journey
The
line must always go up in something so focused on management and
economical aspects and the graph it ends up creating the natural
outline of a narrative. It is a journey through the various perils of
running whatever organisation is at the game’s core and this has
its ups and downs yet it broadly trends upwards towards the final
goal. Of course not ever Management Simulator has a set ending point
and some continue as long as the player desires to engage with them
but such titles are generally entirely divorced from any form of
direct narrative. Those which do include story elements can take
advantage of their natural tendency to end up with the rough outline
of a journey which enables them to seamlessly weave in the visual
novel parts. Achieving this is generally done by triggering these
events on key milestones in the upwards trend and relating the
player’s achievements to the characters’ own progression and
growth. This rewards structure is interspersed with self contained
vignettes to ensure the narrative is never gone for so long that the
player might forgets it exists or loses track of what is going on. This
is especially important as the goals set by the game become
increasingly large and the time between each major story beat becomes
longer.
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| I hope you are good at bartering |
Take
the pair of DS Spice and Wolf games, My Year with Holo and The Wind
that Spans the Sea, they are good examples of how this can be implemented.
Mechanically they trading style Management Simulators where the aim
is to spin up a profit by buying low at one place and selling high at
another based on the rumours and other information on the best price.
This leads to an open structure where the player travels from town to
town following profit and as such they will regularly go back on
themselves and will not progress in a predictable manner. As such the
majority of narrative beats are attached to the player’s arrival in
specific locations or to them meeting key goals along the journey.
Shaped like this, the story follows a broad structure which accounts
for the possibility of them being experienced out of order or after a
long gap since they are singular on their point and isolated enough
to be clear no matter when they are experienced. Splashed in between
these major beats are numerous smaller interaction when travelling
between towns or after certain periods of time. These offer snapshots
of Holo and the cast’s interactions in order to reminds the player
of the people their choices are influencing and keeping them
emotional invested in them.
Rarely The Whole Package
Pure
Management Simulators are not common and they often utilised
alongside other gameplay elements in order to create a diverse and
balanced experience. It is predominately mixed with some other kind
of big picture mechanic such as strategy since they do not conflict due to their similar overall perspective. This combination is an
opportunity for the visual novel sections to tread the line between
the two and play off the differing emotional qualities of each.
Ordering a man to build a market and sending him to die in a battle
have different impacts on the player even if they operate on the same
higher plane of organisation. The narrative acts as a means to bridge
the two by showing the same characters acting across the whole
spectrum of what the gameplay presents going from dealing the effects
of management to those of combat. Having them deal with the fallout
of the player’s management lends a common sense of personal
investment to these higher level gameplay systems and prevent the
feeling of bouncing backwards and forwards between segregated parts
of the game. Madou Koukaku is a prime example of this merger with its
city management and strategy. The story is segregated down this line
and big actions scenes are found around the battles while the quieter
moments are gathered around the city building since this matches the
tone and content of the mechanics they are connected with. Yet there
is a lot of overlap in the characters and key events as they grow and
develop throughout to match the escalation of mechanical difficulty.
This consistency allows for a coherent picture of emotional impact of
the gameplay on the characters to emerge over time as the player’s
actions within them become more dramatic to match the escalating war
across the Melkia empire.
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| A city is the heart of its people |
Conclusion
Putting
something so focused on the big picture in Management Simulators next
to the intimate and personal format of visual novels might seem like
a terrible match at first but the extreme nature of their differences
works in the union’s favour. The narrative element provided by
visual novels can act as a way to offer emotional context to the
actions the player performs while managing and this helps keep them
invested. Since Management Simulators are rarely the only style of
gameplay present, the story can work as a bridge between the different
mechanics and connect the impact they have on the characters. As a
sim progresses it naturally forms the outline of journey with its ups
and downs where the player has to deal with various trials and it
makes for the perfect space for a visual novel scenes to slot into.
For those looking for a way to find a balance between higher level
mechanics and story there are few better ways to achieve it than
through this memorable hybrid.
Corpse Party: Book Of Shadows Review – Is Salvation Just A Choice Away?
Genre – Horror, Adventure Game Play Time – 20 hours Developer - MAGES. & Team Gris Gris Steam VNDB
Can Fate Be Changed?
Making
a squeal to a horror game is never an easy task since if it deviates too
far from what made the original terrifying then the audience may feel
disconnected from it. Book of Shadows’ answer to this problem is to
firmly bury itself within the Blood Covered’s setting and
time-frame in order to tell a set of different stories using the same
material. Trading out the sprite based visuals for one much closer to
the style of the CGs and a movement system much more akin to a
dungeon crawler are both changes made to help it stand out from the
original while still being able to incorporate its core identity. A
certain glee can be felt from the game when it presents the player with hope and new
possibilities only to crush them in inventive ways. The most notable
departure from the first game is in its focus on the previously minor
cast members who often died off screen and giving them the proper
time to shine rather than being glorified set dressing. Relying so
much on Blood Covered comes with the draw backs of not really pushing
the greater narrative forwards until the very end and having few
interesting mechanics to call its own. Is this over reliance on the
original enough to undermine its own achievements? Let’s avoid
those bad endings and find out.
Cyclical Horror – Narrative and Themes
Sticking
so close to the original’s material allows Book of Shadows to play
on the familiar and known aspects of the world in ways which add to
the player’s appreciation of it. In particular it loves to take a
section of the story that the player thinks they know and expand upon
it to reveal there was more going on then they realised in an
episodic fashion. The chaotic myriad of other people who were drawn
in by the Sachiko Ever After ritual, only glimpsed before, are given
the space to showcase their tragedies and how their stories
intersected with the main cast’s own journey. It does a good job of
highlighting the magnitude of the suffering which occurred and how
lucky the people who escaped were in the face of this ever-changing
labyrinth of death traps. As a whole the game loves to play with the
player through giving them hope before cruelly snatching it away just
when it seems to be within grasp. This happens multiple times across
the play time while being spaced out enough to convince you that
maybe this time will be different. Of course it never is, the end of
this tale has already been written and witnessed in the original so
it is folly to think otherwise, but Book of Shadows does a masterful
job of luring the player along with the promise of a happy ending
despite everything pointing in the opposite direction. By fully
embracing the bleak nature of the setting it can layer on the
atmosphere and create an experience which captures best parts of
early to mid game of Blood Covered. Everything is dangerous and the
characters are confused and scared in the face of this monstrous
place, it is here the horror in Corpse Party games is at its
strongest and Book of Shadows fully capitalises on this at every
turn. This is why the false hope and focus on previously minor cast
members are so important, the player must have the ability to put
themselves in the characters head space rather than distancing their
feelings from people they know the fates of.
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| Pulling out hair from your throat might be a bad sign |
Relying
so heavily on Blood Covered comes with the problem of Book of Shadows
feeling as if it does not meaningfully advance the narrative. It
spends the majority of its play time expanding on what has already
been established but not in a way which points to anything
substantial for the future of the series as it just clarifies events
which have already reached their conclusion. The final section of the
game does try to set up for a squeal with a new story set after the
events of the original, but its execution is a bit messy. This
manifests as a general lack of confidence in its own material and the
game’s systems not having the same impact they did in the school.
Perhaps the best example of this narrative issue is the over the top
cliffhanger which is so contrived and overly violent that it moves
into being almost comic. There have been plenty of violent scenes
before this point but the bright lights and visual clarity highlight
how silly it is. There is a reason the school is so dark and it is to
blur the unflattering lines of the horror fantasy since the genre
sits closer to comedy when all is clear to see, horror is only scary because
there is some level of the unknown to it. As for the mechanics, this
chapter is set in what is essentially a haunted house, but it is not
very big and only consists of a few rooms. What this does is remove
much of the freedom and exploration offered before and it makes for a
very linear flow. As a result it brings all of the minor issues with
the system to the front since there is nothing to distract from it.
Overall it is a weak note to end what is otherwise a strong horror
experience.
Getting A Turn In The Spotlight – Characters
When
it comes to the cast there is the continued focus on expanding on
established ideas. There are not truly any new characters with those
who seem to be new at first glance having actually appeared as
corpses in the original. Their fates have already been written and a
player who remembers these details will be rewarded with a sense of
the tragedy to come. Each one is given enough space to provide a
rounded presentation of themselves so the player has a good sense of what
makes them tick. In terms of their role
within the narrative, there is a great deal of variation as some get
to be major characters in their chapter while others serve
the role of sacrificial lambs to the slaughter and it is often hard
to tell which they are when they are first introduced. By spreading
out the importance of these characters the game can keep the player
on the edge of their seat as to how long they have left which it can
play with to create a sort of suspension bridge effect to foster an
emotional attachment to the characters. As for the returning cast
they are still the same entertaining and clashing personalities as
before and since they are already established the focus can
instead be put on new interactions and exciting situations. There is
a brand of what if fiction to the characters’ choices and these new
stories are given a feeling of wandering
off into unknown territory. While they cannot go too far off the
beaten track, each character gets enough new material to satisfy fans
and make them a relevant part of the narrative despite their stories
having already reached their conclusion.
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| It is nice to see more of the cast before the terrible events happen |
Intimate Terror – Visual, Audio and Technical
When
it comes to presentation there is a move away from the pixel art of
the original title and into a style more in line with that game’s
CGs. This is done to accommodate the change in gameplay from an RPG
into a point and click adventure game. As such the player needs a
static and clearly presented world to interact with in order to be
able to reasonably understand what they are able to use within the space and
what reactions they might be able expect. The result is a direct
visual style where the first person perspective makes the horrors
personal and intimate as it is offered up in a vivid detail not
possible before. A corpse on the floor is no longer a jumble of
pixels symbolising its horrific nature and it is instead the rotting
remains of what was once a person which represents the fate awaiting
those trapped here. In terms of audio Book of Shadows
inherits the tool set of its predecessor but utilises it
in a slightly different manner. Rather than being something to
highlight key moments and actions, it instead focuses on creating
a general ambiance where everything makes some kind of
unsettling sound in order to sell the hostility of the environment.
Promoting the school itself has a living and antagonistic entity
underpins a lot of the presentational choices since it still holds an
unknown threat to it which the ghosts no longer possess and it allows
the game to capture the same fear as the original.
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| The sprites on the movement screen is a fun nod to the first game |
On
the mechanical front this is a fairly standard point and click
adventure game with a normal inventory system and movement.
However, there are several strange design choices which are worth
talking about in the form of the sanity system and how the player unlocks
the final chapter. Introduced in the first chapter, the sanity system
represents how much the school’s influence has infected the
playable character. This is a system at its best during that opening
chapter where as the character’s sanity drops their behaviour begins to change and their interactions become more wild, violent and
unpredictable. Unfortunately this is the only real time the sanity
system has any real effect on the game and from then onwards it is
just a health system which gives you are a game over if it maxes out
and nothing else. It is such an odd choice to build up the importance
of the sanity system in the first chapter only to throw it out of the
window instantly and it leaves a disappointing aftertaste when the
player realises this fact. When it comes to unlocking the final
chapter the developers decided that the player must either have save
data from Blood Covered or they have to complete every single bad
ending the game. As good as the various bad endings in Book of
Shadows are, they are not something the player should be forced to
complete like a checklist and it takes all the mystique and terror
out of them. There are also quite a lot of them so the process is
long and repetitive since if the player has just been completing the
chapters normally then they will likely only have a handful. A horror
game should never devolve into data entry as there is nothing less
scary than busy work.
Conclusion
Expansion
is at the core of Book of Shadows’ identity as it adds more layers
to Blood Covered’s narrative and setting from a new and exciting
angle. It loves to give the player hope and snatch it away as cruelly
as possible while it showcases the various minor characters who have
been snared into the deathtrap. Moving away from a sprite based RPG
into a CG based point and click adventure style allows for a more
direct and personal presentation of the horror where the school
itself feels more antagonistic than before. By mixing in familiar faces,
the narrative can reveal new sides to them while still making them
consistent with what was established in the original in order to create a more well rounded experience. Despite some issues with it not pushing
the overall story forwards and some odd gameplay design choices, Book
of Shadows stands out as an example of how a horror sequel can be
recapture the magic of the original title.
Verdict –
Builds upon what made the first game a strong horror experience
to create a well rounded and expanded version of that terror with new
angles on familiar characters and ideas. It does slip up a bit when
it comes to progressing the overall plot and has a few odd design
choices.
Pros -
+
Gives the player just enough hope for the moments of despair to hit
all the harder and mixes it in with a good dose of the familiar to
undermine expectations.
+
New life is provided to existing major characters and new and minor
cast members get their time to shine while selling the horror of what
is happening to them.
+
Perfectly transitions from sprites to CGs and manages to capture new
angles on the established horror of the school.
Cons -
-
Does not really move the overarching narrative forwards and even when
it tries to it is quite messy.
-
Several odd design choices in the form of a vestigial sanity system
and being forced to complete all the bad endings.
