The spookeiest game for this silly ecchi October!

Okay, it wasn’t really scary for me, but it is a proper horror VN at least. Has a spinoff I’ll read at some point when it’s not way to expensive, and the sequel is due out early next year, which also I want to read once it’s half off. The length of the VN is just not equal to the 50$+ cost.

Story-6

After hearing about a some disappearances, a man scoffs at silly rumors and walks off, only to awaken in front of an old mansion with no idea who he is. He looks for a wallet or something kind of ID, only to find a business card for a Saya Kujo. Who also happens to be living in this manor. He goes to knock, some spooky stuff happens and he finds (presumably) Saya dead in her room, with flowers bursting out of her.

Shocked, the man goes down to find the creepy doll he passed by talking to him. She informs the man of the Death mark, a spirit mark that means a spirit is out to kill you, but wants to sweeten your soul taste by making you despair and also happens to erase memories the longer you have it. The man decides to fight his fate and the mark, but has no clues on who or what cursed him, as he finds such a mark on his arm.

Just then a high schooler and an elementary schooler show, each bearing a mark as well. So the night goes on as they research the spirit the cursed the children and figure out how to put it’s soul to rest, peacefully or otherwise to save their own skins. Upon success, it turns out the man has a lot more work ahead of him for that spirit was in fact mpt the one he needs to find…

If I have any issue with the story its the lack of any good character to carry it. Other then our lead, no other character gets through all 5 proper story chapters. He has amnesia for that whole duration so there’s no learning about our lead until the end. So hope you like the ghost stories, the other living cast members barely get backstories either. Each chapter kind of feels like an episode of Conan. Where you introduce 3 or so new characters and give them just enough to have them be characters, but nothing more as they serve the mystery, not the world.

As for the ghosts, chapter 1 and 3 are tragic. 2 requires reading through logs to actually get which I just never bothered, what I did understand didn’t make me grow to care for that “tragedy.” 4 serves the greater plot, and 5 doesn’t really have a sob story. Chapter 6 is a dlc extra and while it’s also tragic, that bit was generally higher budget and effort then almost the rest of the game. It also plot hooks a sequel or side games, which I kind of want to read. Having the sequel get English announced around the time I beat this was kind of convenient timing.

Gameplay-3

This has 3 different game… mechanics I guess? Exploration, multiple choice(game over if wrong), and boss fights of sorts. Each is a different method of making the read take longer on top of the slow text. It took me 10 hours to finish the game, it would likely take 4-6 if I could read at my own pace and the “mechanics” didn’t slow it down further.

Exploration is the most simple and probably the most fun. In each area you can take out a flashlight and search around for clues and items to deal with the ghosts. This is the most interaction you really get and some of the fluff text is nice and the random jump scare and background spooky ghost are nice touches to help sell the atmosphere. They also keep your perspective in mind, some areas have different backgrounds depending on which direction you came from. Kind of feels like a waste, especially since only chapter 2 ever has you required to move in a specific way.

Live or Die, the multiple choice part, is a 3 answer set of questions where getting one wrong can kill you. You also have a timer which acts as HP I guess? You can find stuff to increase your value as you explore and get some back when you answer right. Most of these have the answer given to you as you explore and read files.

Finally, boss fights. These are also multiple choice things were you use the info given to you through the chapter to survive the ghost fight. You are given two item uses per turn and must block ghost attacks until it’s close enough to use a combination of items to either lay the ghost to a restful slumber, or slay it such that it gets one last set of killings in. This is the difference in good and normal ends to each chapter. What you need in each boss fight can differ a lot for the 7 battles, but only chapter 2 is set up in such a way that you can start the battle without the good end items. As soon as you can win the fight at all, the battle begins.

Just to note, multiple choice is not a fun mechanic, even if it does make it a logic puzzle. I just followed a guide, I don’t care for horror or forced resets.

Lewdness-2

So that image up top is the only “safe” sexy image in the game, the others having some level of violence in them that I will go over. This is not a get horny game for most people.

So chapter 1 has two cgs of mostly naked girls. The first is a complete stranger getting basically tentacle groped by thorny rose vines. She’s also getting undressed by them with her bra falling off and her bottom bare, decent only because the vine is between her cheeks. She’s also cut up and bleeding in a few spots. The second is a high school girl in lingerie, for some reason as it never addresses why her clothes were taken off, hanging from the ceiling in a drug like stupor. There’s a male corpse next to her and she kind of looks like a creepy hanging doll. But hey, boobs.

Chapter 2 has a girl naked save for a wet see through coat. She also has holes drilled into her flesh, still red with blood.

Chapter 3 has the doll girl of the game naked. Not really sexy, but it is a naked women looking character.

Chapter 4 has a girl surrounded by snakes as she is naked. She’s also crying and half passed out from fear.

Chapter 6 is the above image, a girl stripped to underwear trying to be seductive but surrounded by spider webs. There’s also an image of a girl with her tongue hanging out tongue, but this was censored in the original port of the game to the West as it’s one of the harder sequences in the game to stomach. If anything creeps someone out, it’s this scene. Easily the most unsettling bit of the whole game. Really Chapter 6 is the best bit of the game in general.

Final Thoughts

I liked it. Wish it had more of a core cast, or the main guy had a bit more personality to string through the cases, but as a horror mystery I enjoyed it. It’s something only for fans of spooky stuff or the grotesque or mysteries, no romance or lewd or good gameplay to be found here. It is something to only get on good sale though, it’s a ten hour basically linear thing that should cost 20$, not the 40+ it does.

At the very least, it intrigued me enough to read the other stuff in the series.

Save for Spirit Hunter: Death Mark

Save to before each boss battle for good or normal or bad ends of each chapter, these also serve as quick ways into each new chapter. All cgs and such got.

Gameplay: 3/10 Eroticness: 2/10 Story: 6/10

Completion: Just get all good ends. Nothing’s missable really.