600Seconds ~The Deep Church~
More than any other, I think the word “odd” describes 600Seconds the best. More compelling than the sum of its parts, 600Seconds combines exploration with a fairly short and straightforward third person shooter adventure through a church. Exploring the empty church in the waking world for items for ten minutes before your siege in the nightmare seemed, at first, an unnecessary and kind of obnoxious feature (ten minutes is a long time!) though it does help set a certain kind of mood, but after dying in the nightmare once or twice the interest was made more clear to me.
– Real player with 11.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Anime Third-Person Shooter Games.
First and foremost, I think it’s best to remember that this is StudioGekko’s first title. So know going in that it’s not very complex, not very long, and may be prone to jankyness. All that in mind, I still had plenty of fun with the game.
Item placements are not random, so learning the layout of the church and location of everything was really fun. I like that there’s no text or story to read and that I can just make my own assumptions about what’s happening, though maybe a little more to see would’ve been nice. After my first couple of unsuccessful runs, I thought I was done with the game but I found myself coming back to it the next few days to learn more and give it another shot.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
Hermitage: Strange Case Files
Hermitage: Strange Case Files is not your average visual novel, nor is it your average cosmic horror title. With relaxing-yet-energetic jazzy tunes that’ll have you sipping coffee and pondering the depths of the darkness that resides within the human mind, the game feels oddly comfortable and confusing at the same time. It’s not that I didn’t want Hermitage: Strange Case Files to end — it got to a point where I genuinely didn’t think it would, its unexplained mysteries consuming all that’s left of me (40 hours to complete, y’all). If you’re looking for an interactive visual novel to get absolutely lost in (in every possible sense of that phrase), Hermitage: Strange Case Files has a literal bookstore to delve into.
– Real player with 40.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Anime Mystery Games.
Playing status: 100% achievement
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (10 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Guide: Click here
Intro
Hermitage: Strange Case Files is a visual novel about mysterious beings. It tries to mix Lovecraftian lores and investigation elements with a heavy emphasis on the story. There are 6 chapters in total, each focusing on a certain case.
– Real player with 35.3 hrs in game
I’a I’a Cofflhu Fhtagnyaa
I cannot believe I streamed this train wreck. 10/10.
– Real player with 5.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Anime Interactive Fiction Games.
Art and char design is just adorable ; music and voice acting is quite nice and the is even a cute badge with quite nice emotes going with
Sadly the game is very badly translated and it’s sometimes quite hard to understand who is actually speaking (outside of the voice acted ones), they mixed up gender and such ; i think even google translation don’t do this
Take it in sales if you really want to do a peek at this game or understand chinese :p
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
The Last Yandere: Cursed Dark
This one is a gem and underrated. I loved everything in this game. Thank you For everything.
– Real player with 8.6 hrs in game
Very cool game. As a fan of visual novels I can definitely recommend.
9/10
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
Loser Reborn
What?!
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There isn’t enough variety of class options. There is Knight/Samurai, Wizard/Wu-jen & Rogue/Ninja to bring to a total of six. Problem is there is no differentiation between, say, a Knight and a Samurai. Only the starter skill is different. And the usual normal class traits don’t really apply here–a Warrior/Samurai in Loser Reborn is a “supporting class” and Rogue/Ninja are more of a “attacking class”.
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Throw-away plot with typical plot-holes of anime.
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Equipment Balance Issues: MC can be K’O in one hit. To explain: equipment can be either conducive or combustible–meaning you have to be very careful how much “weakness” stacking you are doing. Combat is about memorization; for example: one class is more inclined to use fire-tribute skills than physical attacks or a foe is more resilient to physical damage but more acceptable to magical damage.
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
I can tell that the developer of this game put in so much love and effort into this game.
This short, yet extremely difficult rpg game is basically inspired by the isekai trope of magically teleporting the player into a fantasy world on the brink of annihilation. There are basically three classes: Knight, Mage, and Rogue. The Knight specializes in tanking for his team mates, the Mage uses spells, and the Rogue is fast and focuses on debuffs. The goal of your mission is to defeat the Dark Lord who is threatening to destroy the entire kingdom or world thing. You are assisted by your harem party of brave heroes to defeat him.
– Real player with 2.2 hrs in game
Depersonalization
Introduction
Run! Dice! Cthulhu!
Bad End！ Multi branch! Different worlds!
Content
“It is not you pursuing knowledge, but knowledge is pursuing you”
Death cycle
Irreparable regret
Unrivalled enemies
……
How will you accomplish your mission meanwhile save those who are important to you?
Exploration
The exploration part is based of COC game running skills
Investigation
Investigation skills can find props in the scene
Learn about other characters
As well as the discovery of the scene of hidden doors, hidden channels, and not obvious clues
Listening
Listening skills can hear whispers in partitioned rooms
Strong listening skills can detect danger as soon as possible
Conversation
Conversation skills include persuasion, threat, deception and so on
It can be used to talk to other characters to get more information
Psychology
Psychology skills can discover what other characters are currently thinking
And their hidden secrets
PS:It doesn’t work for the character whos psychological defense is strong
PS: In order to have fun, we directly made psychology into a mind reading type of black magic
Stealth
Stealth skills can find targets around you which can be used to hide yourself
Avoid enemies' search
Battle
The battle part is a card game.The cards consist of the character’s own basic cards and their equipment cards. The numerical effects related to the battle are
accomplished by the dice goddess.
？？？？
Those indescribable beings are waking up
Crazy, listen to its voice!
Sing and pray for its coming!
Crazy, listen to his voice!
Sing and pray for his coming!
Iwaihime
This is gonna be my first time reviewing a game/visual novel so bare with me here
There will probably be some MINOR spoilers
Honestly the story was unsettling and great at first but as it went on I honestly started to lose interest, it got boring and tiresome to read, maybe I’m just not a visual novel person but my main gripe was with the main protagonist.
Suzumu is an incredibly boring character who is lacking in flaws which made the whole story a chore to read, all these girls fawning over the most boring and generic character ever. Honestly, it made it hard to relate to the characters because they were all so in love with the most boring generic “anime boy hero i will save them with my plot armor!!!”. Literally so much plot armor throughout the story for him but then the ending is unsatisfying bc his plot armor fails near the end, won’t go into detail, the one time his plot armor shouldn’t have failed it did leading to this ending. The curses were disturbing and stuff at first but somehow they got less and less interesting the more they explained how they were not really a part of reality at all. Toe was really interesting and actually unsettling at first but gradually like when it explained the reasoning for her behaviors it kinda got more uninteresting to me for some reason. The DLC however, was the best part of the game, it was actually unsettling and disturbing and is what I paid to see, completely unnerving and great, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE SUSUHARA IS NOT PRESENT FOR THE MAJORITY OF IT, unfortunately he appears later in it tho. And also the entire thing with the dolls was really not expanded on a lot, there are a lot of doll imagery but its just revealed it really wasn’t much of a mystery vs the soot which was kinda lame.Also going to add that naturally since the protagonist was boring, so are all the romances.
– Real player with 79.6 hrs in game
Full video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndlcGnufiZQ
Summarized version below!
It’s Spooktober, and as someone that thrives on horror games, movies, and other media, it’s one of the best times of the year. So here we have a horror visual novel written by the same guy that did Higurashi. Yeah, that’s pretty much my calling.
Story:
So right off the bat, if you’re familiar with the author’s other works, you’ll already know that any story from him is going to be quite the ride and that is no exception here with Iwaihime. It’s dark, it’s depressing, and it’s even outright nasty at times, but that’s par for the course given the writer’s track record. In fact, it doesn’t take long before the game goes into full-blown descriptions of humans dying in the most brutal way possible, with organs flying everywhere and this overall sense of dread that never quite leaves the writing, even towards the end of the game.
– Real player with 37.4 hrs in game
The Song of Saya
I got this game both because people are trying to compare it to Doki Doki Literature Club and because I’ve heard of its explosive popularity when it was (re-)released.
Right off the bat, to clear the air, there is absolutely NO COMPARISON between the two games. They are on their own separate tiers, respectfully.
I was excited to play it since it immediately started out with the horror. Though, when it gives us the option to choose to censor the gore and such, I expected to see it ALL, but that is not the case.
! For example, in the case of Fuminori driving his head down into the axe, and Koji dreaming of him in that state, we are not allowed to see it because it is actually censored , weirdly enough. Saya gets violated, and we see it while she’s in her “human” guise and, while I’m glad I didn’t have to see that, I was surprised to see it so censored. Not only that, some of the voice acting was taken out for that part, in what I assume to be another form of censoring so that it wasn’t as disturbing? But, what about the voice acting that’s done when Yoh is being violated when she clearly refuses–both when she has her mind and when she loses it? Lastly, what I was most disappointed with was that the game refused to give us any CGs of the full body of these disgusting “aliens.” Was it to add to the narrative that they were just that terrifying and disgusting? If that was the case, then why even bother with those first CGs of the “aliens” that Fuminori sees in the beginning? With the close up shots of the eye and another with something bulging(?) to the tentacles we see with the more nude shots, I believe they were more than capable of giving us a CG of these monsters. Maybe it is because it was initially released in, I believe, 2003 that it was afraid of giving us more? Whatever it is, the gore isn’t too bad unless you truly hate seeing guts in any form. To me, the guts were just so computerized(?) that I believe most would be able to stomach it.
– Real player with 13.9 hrs in game
“To you, who loved me, I give this planet”
The Song of Saya (Saya no Uta) is a Lovecraftian horror love story where love is disturbing no matter which way you look at it and the monster changes with your perspective. It’s depraved and wicked while taking you on a journey into the deepest parts of madness. Like every good Lovecraftian story it promises to defile and poison you by “the insanity called truth”. It also examines different truths by juxtaposing different perspectives through a prism of a hellish mirror.
– Real player with 13.8 hrs in game
To Ash and Ember
Meet your Maker and Kill Them.
That which was Dead refuses to Die. One of the Slaughtered Gods is resurfacing; bringing with them all the terrors of the night as the world warps under their dead weight. Through hidden doorways and between flesh-strewn trees you seek the name of the one who dares haunt this world and, in fantastic ritual, rip them from out of the Veil to face you in grim combat. Wounded, mentally shattered, and bedeviled by a Godcurse you return triumphant to a city whose people have become further twisted by this game of cosmic import. But how long until your mortal body fails you? In what hour shall your will be finally broken? How many divine curses can your soul bear before it shatters? The embers of chaos still burn and another Fallen God shall surely surface – and again you shall stand against them until either you, this world, or all the Fallen Gods are Ash and Ember.
To Ash and Ember is a singleplayer Dark Fantasy Event-based RPG. It plays like a board-game without needing to shuffle decks, set out a board, or read manuals. This is a game of time management and decisions, of who to save and who to sacrifice, and of a City whose windows and streets grow darker and stranger the longer your battles continue.
Features
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The Slaughtered Gods leave indelible marks. Investigators may become as warped as that which they fight: going mad, growing horns, and perhaps even dying and becoming a Wraith. The City’s locations may burn, be distorted, or become infested with otherworldly abominations.
Battle horrors beyond imagination. In the shadows gleam knives and teeth that shall seek to crush you that their dead God be allowed to return.
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The World forever twists underfoot. You will routinely encounter World Distortions that change how the game is played or impose restrictions as the Slaughtered God stirs in their astral grave.
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Harden your heart, steel your mind, guard your soul. Investigators gain Experience from their trials and battles which they can use to level up, gaining Perks and Quirks: advantages that come with disadvantages. The more experienced, the more Complicated.
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Enlighten the World or Burn it. If all is lost you may abandon a Worldline to its fate and migrate to another. Even if Investigators fall, you can Enkindle new ones to continue the fight against the constant horrors that face this world.
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Fate’s cruel but fair dice. In true board-game fashion, you roll against Fate herself to determine the outcomes of the many tests that face you with six-sided dice; each Investigator has their own strengths and weaknesses.
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This is Your Story. Game events are presented as mini-narratives with branching paths, opportunities, and perils. Your choices may open up new possibilities – or seal them.
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Come as you are – armed to the teeth. Wield, discover, empower, and sell an array of spells, weapons, and beasts alone or with Companions and Allies as you stand against the Resurrection.
Eldritch Hunter
As far as $5 games go, Eldritch Hunter is everything I could ask for; a game that takes some very fundamental mechanics and executes them excellently, steadily introducing more and more challenging maps in the process that steadily test your approach to the game. It’s not a game that I’d ever consider “difficult” in the way that games that you have to work at for hours to master are difficult, but its level design is constantly requiring new approaches and exploration of the tools you have. It’s a few hours of solid action platforming delivered in bite-sized tactical chunks that play out perfectly for what they’re meant to be. At its price point, Eldritch Hunter one of the more engaging and slickly put together games I’ve played in a while.
– Real player with 7.9 hrs in game
A clever little action-puzzle platformer about a little girl shooting at tenacles and slimy things with dungeon punk style guns. I’ve been really looking forward to this one, and I was thankfully not let down.
Add this one to my cute but devious category, This game has a cute, cupcakey hand-painted character look, but has some very tricky gameplay segments that test your tactical planning as much as your reflexes.
In this game, you go room by room, level by level, clearing out enemies and making your way to shoot the evil priest, which is the target of every stage. However, this game is not a Contra-esque action shooter, but more of an action puzzle. Many enemies are traps that leave behind obstacles or fire hard to avoid missiles when killed, and if you go in guns blazing you can end up boxing yourself in. The game also makes copious use of pest-spawning flesh creatures that make being accurate and choosing good footing to advance with important to not getting bowled over by an endless steam of worms.
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game