Umineko When They Cry - Question Arcs
Ryukishi07, you sadistic bastard, I love you.
Before getting this one, I would recommend you to at least try to read the Higurashi When They Cry series. They’re amazing visual novels that have some connection to Umineko’s plot. Don’t worry, they’re not required, but they’re also great stories that, if you finish them, you’ll have a whole different view on some of Umineko’s important characters.
Umineko is a story about sin, punishment, guilt, trauma and especially love. Written by Ryukishi07, who had experience as a social worker, it’s a mystery in it’s core, but not entirely. The content ranges from bittersweet love stories to chuuni fantastic logic and reasoning battles, where arguments take form as weapons. How can you have so many different kinds of dilemmas in one story? Well, just look at the hour counts which people who read this series have on Steam. It’s easily an 100+ experience.
– Real player with 112.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cult Classic Visual Novel Games.
This is a review of the whole of Umineko, not just the Question Arcs. Just so you know.
Mystery stories are, at their core, just one big puzzle. An author writes a story, gives you hints, and typically tells you all you need to know before the story’s conclusion so that you have a fair chance at figuring it out if you’re perceptive enough. Good mystery authors make it possible to figure out the killer long before they are revealed in the story. But it has gotten to the point that many people either don’t try and figure it out, or if they do, their guesses are far more lukewarm, because they know the story will succinctly reveal everything at the end of the story and wrap everything up in a nice little bow. Umineko, on the other hand, does not do this. Umineko lays out clues for you and tells you to figure it out yourself, not directly revealing the answer to a majority of its individual mysteries, and, while giving you more hints to its biggest mysteries, never outright stating the answer. What makes the story even more difficult to solve is the constant questioning of whether what you’re seeing is true or false, and whether or not the murders are truly being done by magic, not helped by the constant seemingly impossible closed room murders. Can you figure out the truth? That’s up to your observational skills.
– Real player with 108.7 hrs in game
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi
First, a brief note to the uninitiated:
This is not a pleasant story, whatever the screenshots may have led you to believe. Beneath the veneer of a cheesy, run-of-the-mill school-comedy lies a cruel world of madness, terror, and violence. Major characters die routinely; sometimes on-screen, sometimes off, but never in a peaceful manner. Nonetheless, it is a highly compelling experience, and very rewarding if you can endure to the end of the series. If this intrigues you, feel free to read on, but those looking for nothing more than a stereotypical anime-harem-style rom-com would do well to look elsewhere. Higurashi may resemble that on a superficial level, but this is a series that delights in letting the reader think they know what is going on, even as it brings the façade crumbling down around them.
– Real player with 33.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cult Classic Visual Novel Games.
TLDR: The thumb is pointing up. That means good.
Important Information to Know
This game covers the first arc (Abducted by Demons arc, about 2 manga volumes long) of the story, while it says Ch.1 this game covers the first 4-5 episodes of the show and has something like 12 chapters in the game. This game is a visual novel with about 15 hours of reading. A visual novel is basically a book with relevant background music, sound effects, background art, and character art to enhance the reading experience.
– Real player with 23.1 hrs in game
Umineko When They Cry - Answer Arcs
The second, more uneven half of Umineko. There is some fantastic content in these four arcs, particularly with the introduction of a new character from the fifth arc. Continuing with the ongoing trend of deconstructing the detective fiction genre, the fifth and sixth arcs provide a stark contrast to the preceding ones that reveal further truths, mostly on the rules governing the game board and its pieces. The new character uses the limit of the rules to play with the game boards in novel ways not seen before, and makes for the series' best antagonist. You’ll hate her, but love every moment she’s on screen. Like the games in the Question Arcs, there is an exciting back and forth interplay between characters arguing the logic and reasoning behind what is shown. These two arcs are the highlight of the Answer Arcs, and perhaps of the entire series.
– Real player with 115.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cult Classic Visual Novel Games.
It takes two to create a universe and undoubtedly it must have taken more than two to create this universe of umineko. After a long journey of exploring theories and techniques of logical arguments and mysteries, it is no secret that the reader must have gained some skills in interpretation and analysis. Although, the creators describe this novel to be fictional and fantastical in nature the story is undoubtedly philosophical. Compared to the first installment of the visual novel, the answer arcs are far more focused on unnecessary details and fights and seems elongated like how a bollywood soap opera would cleverly add endless episodes of drama to just get more room for ads. In my personal opinion this whole story would have ended in in the answer arcs with just two long episodes and I will stand by that. When I was reading the question arcs I felt refreshed and amazed by each episode, but I expected more from answer arcs. The whole two visual novels revolve around this one single incident : the murders of Rokkenjima, when a whole visual novel with like 4 episodes were given based on twisting the same story it would be impossible to enjoy it fully in the 5th or 7th time. I was mainly bored in the 5th 6th episodes and what mostly interested me was the last two. On the terms of the mystery genre and explaining mysteries I have far not read any visual novel that would impress me. So that credit would go to Umineko alone. IT should also be noteworthy to mention that I like Higurashi novels better no matter how repetitive it was- it was different each time with the same setting much better than umineko.
– Real player with 73.1 hrs in game
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi
**The Snake in the well was happy, for it did not care what was outside the well.
The Snake in the well was happy, for it had naught to do with what happened outside the well.
And you were happy too, for you did not know what happened outside the well. - Frederica Bernkastel**
Just… whoa… Every time, I swear that this won’t either surprise or annoy me, it ends up being a new creep-bomb… Ehm, sorry. This is the third game in Higurashi When They Cry series: Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi. Invoking what I gathered from the publishing information in Manga Gamers forums priorly, the original series consist of 8 chapters, which will probably keep inventing new and refreshing ways to both consternate and creep us out continuously, both with the imaginatively disturbing and the eerily mysterious that serves as the main body of these Hinamizawa stories.
– Real player with 37.1 hrs in game
Higurashi, with this release, has possibly become my favorite series of all time. Every release adds something, has a different flavor, and never gets boring. This one leaves even less room for setup than before, knowing that, because you played the other two chapters, it doesn’t need to waste its time with introductions. By chapter 3, the plot is already in motion, and things are starting to get incredbily sad…and creepy.
Let me warn you: This episode is depressing. If you can’t take representations of child abuse well, then I would suggest you stay away from this. It isn’t the most detailed description/situation out there, but it’s enough that it gets the point across and is extremely depressing (and disturbing). So, with that out of the way, let’s get into the basic plot of this chapter!
– Real player with 26.0 hrs in game
Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon
When Under a Killing Moon debuted in 1994 it was a marvel, the first story-based adventure game to incorporate both 3D first person movement and FMV (Full Motion Video). When it showed up on Steam at a bargain price I decided to replay it and see how it held up against the recent spate of indie-made story games that I’ve been playing. The verdict - it’s still pretty amazing.
Sure, the graphics are pixellated and the controls are a little…odd. But the production values are stellar - great sound, acting, writing, and game design. The mouse-based movement control took a little getting used to, but actually worked much better than the fidgety controls in recent games like Edith Finch and Stories Untold, which just about drove me mad.
– Real player with 23.0 hrs in game
Trawling through the relics of adventure gaming’s past can often be more frustrating than fun, but I’m happy I gave Tex Murphy a chance! Under a Killing Moon tells a great tale set in a near-future, post-apocalyptic world, done up in the most advanced tech 1994 could muster. Even if – unlike myself – they don’t see beauty in jerky live-action videos so low res they contain weird rainbow blotches, everybody who enjoys adventures will find something to love in the silly-serious narrative, and especially in the character of Tex Murphy: a down-on-his-luck, fedora-wearing PI torn straight from the pages of a Raymond Chandler novel. Some of the actors are pretty good, some are so bad they’re good, and some of them are just straight-up bad – tough, yet affable, yet goofy ol' Tex, though, is consistently played to perfection (perhaps that’s because he’s portrayed by Chris Jones, who is also the series' head designer). It’s easy to see why this character picked up such a cult following!
– Real player with 16.8 hrs in game
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition
I would recommend you not to read too much about the game. Play the demo first, it’s a good representation.
If you, after completing the demo find the game interesting and, want to continue your experience I would suggest that you back up your saves, before the purchase, because Steam will just delete it all upon installation of the full game.
I was a bit sceptical about the game at first, especially in regards to the new boy’ish look of Gabriel Knight and this silly southern voice that is being used, but also in regard to the changes of design. It took me awhile to get past that change and I was just barely ahead of it at the end of the demo.
– Real player with 37.3 hrs in game
I was afraid something like this would happen when playing a 20th anniversary edition… Gabriel Knight: Sins of the fathers was the first adventure from Gabriel (the Shadowhunter) in 1993 and the first game created by Jane Jensen.
At the time it was a fantastic game, it was one of the first games to include a dark subject, not exactly suited for kids, not because of the violence or blood (that was something that other games always had) but also because of the dark, dramatic, almost ghotic nature of the main story and characters. Something different at the time (and still to this day) was the research that jane did for these games, mixing historical facts, real places, with of course a good dose of fiction to create her own story, and not just an historical retelling. It was always fun (and amazing) to go looking for these places after finishing the game, and see how much of the real world was put into the story. For me the most amazing story of all that jane had created was the one for Gabriel Knight: the Beast within, the second game, about the legend of king Ludwig II and Richard Wagner.
– Real player with 37.1 hrs in game
Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive
Tex Murphy is one of those things you either had to grow up with or which you’ll probably never get.
That being said, it remains one of the least worst FMV series in existence. Some would even go as far as to call all of them a masterpiece. Personally, I won’t but there’s definitely historical merit to them and the story is indeed actually quite cool.
The acting is not as cringeworthy as the old C&C in between mission movies and has its moments, but all things considered this age pretty terrible.
– Real player with 126.2 hrs in game
Truely awesome game. Had this back in the day but forgot how good it really was. The story line is great and the puzzles are devious but not un-doable with a little logic. All in all, it took me 38 hours to complete. ( although that includes time spent going off to make a cup of tea while I thought about where to go next) . Some of you may find that the initial scenes, discussions and traveling a little tedious at first but the game does become more exciting as it goes on.
The Tex Murphey games are the leaders in this genre. IMO.
– Real player with 71.4 hrs in game
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, sh1t on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it
no further explanation needed, its a legendary game with high affordability
– Real player with 120.7 hrs in game
When you deductive reasoning
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– Real player with 106.0 hrs in game
The Last Express Gold Edition
I think this may well be the greatest game ever made. Yes, the controls are clunky as all get out. Yes, for people used to today’s games the ultra-high-tech-for-1997-digital-rotoscoping technique looks extremely antiquated. Yes, you’re dropped into the game with no idea what to do, and you’re going to fail. A lot. But at the same time “The Last Express” includes:
- Probably the best-developed characters in any adventure game I’ve yet played (the weakest is arguably Robert Cath, who the player controls, but even he has an intriguing and irritatingly-largely-unrevealed-due-to-lack-of-a-sequel backstory). By the end of the game you know what they want and what makes most of them tick, and since certain bad things are more or less guaranteed to happen to a number of them the result is the equivalent of an emotional shovel to the face.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game
Ahead of its time but stuck in the past
First read about this game way back when it came out, in a magazine I still have, where the reviewer was left in complete awe because of unique design for an adventure game. Ever since it occupied a small cluster of neurons in the back of my head, waiting for me to play it and its moment to shine. I should say I never played the original so my review will only address this 2013 port, with some inferior exceptions others have noticed.
It plays like Myst, from 1st person perspective with static scenes as you move around, but is set in realistic environment of an vintage luxury passenger train called Orient Express. The whole game takes place in the same 4-5 vagon carts with beautifully rendered backgrounds. You move by clicking edges of screen with mouse cursor that contextually changes functions to forward, backward and left or right turn, with interaction prompts for opening doors and object/NPC interaction.
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.4 Himatsubushi
Higurashi is a mystery. There is no point in reading only one chapter, and no chapters can be skipped. I’m assuming if you’re here, you’ve read chapter the previous chapters and you want to read more. Thus, this review will just inform you about three things I feel all people getting into Higurashi should know.
One: A patch for every chapter exists to add voice acting, new portraits with lip sync, and a different OST. You can find it here: (https://07th-mod.com/wiki/Higurashi/Higurashi-Part-1 –-Voice-and-Graphics-Patch/).
– Real player with 17.5 hrs in game
It took me eight separate occasions to try and finish this game. It also took me going to an entirely different country to fully complete and even think about it. For example:
Why had it taken me so long? Why could I never seem to make it past chapter three?
I think the answer lies in the fact that this kept being advertised as a side/bonus story and I didn’t want to believe them and because I didn’t– I guess I got a little disappointed.
My first issue is that it’s a lot shorter than the other entries.
– Real player with 10.4 hrs in game