RECOMMENDED
A classic murder mystery with a whiff of drama. Add a sci-fi twist and a secluded location and you might be accused with plagiarism, but write a horror story with competent characters? Now you’ve made a true original. Lastly, add a cute heroine and well, now you’ve created art. At the request of his client, detective Sen Ikeda and his foul-mouthed antisocial scaredy-cat of an assistant (Nedeko) go to a secluded island to find out why their client’s father killed himself. Things start going awry fast, and now they’re trapped on the island filled with people shooting at them, a deformed creature, and worst of all, snakes.
The concept isn’t original, but the script is competent, which is more than one can say for a genre filled with people constantly making wrong decisions, and having the instinctive need to separate from each other because the killer is running out of time. Ikeda is not a detective we need to babysit, nor is he infuriatingly slow in his deductions. He and Neneko juxtapose themselves nicely. He is confident and calm while she, scared and at the mercy of her curiosity.
For all the right notes this game manages to hit though, there are mainly two that make it stand out. These are the main reasons you are playing this game: Nedeko and Nedeko’s voice actress, Iguchi Yuka. She brings a charming stuttering wit to the scared heroine that I even went through the game a second time when I heard her performance. She is more known in the anime sphere for her roles as Index in A Certain Magical Index and Tsukihi in The Monogatari Series, but she’s more involved with anime tie-in visual novels rather than original ones. Here she was rightfully cast in the main heroine role delivering a marvelous performance that had you heard her before, you would be surprised at her range. Every stutter is expertly delivered and exciting, and I never tired of listening to her. Everything else falls under the defaults of the genre and expected doujin sacrifices, but even with that, the game still manages to provide a thoroughly gripping and entertaining experience throughout. One that properly reflects its length and price tag.
I’d planned for this review to be longer, but it felt like I was stretching most of the game thin. It isn’t that deep nor does it need to be though. It follows the main characters on their latest case. It is a basic murder mystery taking place on a secluded island, but it’s amateurish and raw art style adds a unique feel that help the game make the atmosphere its own. It’s music which is simple but effective also helps the game stand out more than contemporary doujin games. The eerie sounds effects craft a surprisingly sinister horror experience that I felt visual novels have sorrowfully missed since 07th Expansion stopped putting out horror titles. It is a true modern horror title, and although it doesn’t stand out in much else, it is a shame to see it pass under many peoples’ radars and I hope to see more of this new developer and their characters. Hopefully in a more experienced setting.