Captured on Nintendo Switch (Connected)
If you haven’t heard of Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo, don’t worry. Although this curious visual novel is releasing worldwide on the Switch eShop, its reveal was specifically for the Japanese Nintendo Direct in February.
So while we’ve no doubt fallen in love with Metroid Prime Remastered Shadow Dropping and the release of Game Boy games for the Nintendo Switch Online service, the lack of a Western announcement for Paranormasight means that many horror fans have may have missed out on what is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and entertaining visual novels we’ve seen in a long time. Luckily, we’re here to fix that mistake.
Describing Paranormasight is a tricky business. Much of the joy we felt while playing was the result of entering it with very little prior knowledge of the story, so we felt compelled here to provide you, dear readers, with a similar advantage. That said, we think we can safely state the general premise without spoiling anything.
Paranormasight takes place in the actual Honjo district of Tokyo’s Sumida district, where an old legend related to the “Seven Mysteries of Honjo” continues to permeate the daily lives of its citizens. These mysteries form the basis of the ‘Rite of Resurrection’, which is a scroll that allows the wearer to revive someone who has just died. The problem is that to obtain the Rite of Resurrection, those who seek to seek it are imbued with a “Cursed Stone”; ancient netsuke carvings imbued with curses derived from the Seven Mysteries of Honjo.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Offline)
followed so far? Good material. Cursed Stones require the user to kill indiscriminately to fill the container with “Soul Dregs”. Once full, the Rite of Resurrection will be accessible. Theoretically, at least. This is where we find the protagonists of our story: each of them found themselves in possession of a cursed stone, but at the level of their motivations, their actions, and the way their stories are ‘tangle, we’ll leave that for you. experience for yourself.
The way the characters’ stories unfold is quite fascinating. Each story scene is part of a “Story Frame”, which is basically a visual representation of the different branching paths that you can unlock as you progress through the game. The good thing is that you can jump between the multiple tracks between scenes and even replay certain scenarios at will. In fact, it is often necessary to move forward. Certain story branches can bring a character’s story to a rather abrupt and gruesome end, so you’ll need to go back to an earlier scene and figure out how you can alter events to trigger a different story.
Forking in the road is a gameplay trope that’s been used ad nauseam in games, but the way it’s implemented here is wonderful, forcing you to really stop and think about how the story of one character connects to that of another, and how you can get information obtained from a narrative. way and implement it in another. The puzzles found in Paranormasight are excellent, and while they won’t challenge you Also a lot, there is an undeniable satisfaction when you know how to proceed. There’s even a nifty little puzzler near the start that breaks the fourth wall a bit, and we think it would even have Hideo Kojima grinning from ear to ear; We won’t spoil what happens, but it’s pretty brilliant.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Connected)
All of this would be pointless if the story itself wasn’t engaging, but thankfully it’s one of the most intriguing and engaging storytelling we’ve seen in a long time. The game drops you deep and throws a ton of exposure at you after the first five or ten minutes, and while we admit it’s a bit overwhelming at first, you can always check out the game’s menu, which says discover all the people of interest, files, the Story Chart itself and more to keep you refreshed. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of reading here, but if you’re willing to commit, the payoff will be exponentially more satisfying.
Paranormasight is not only fascinating to play; looks and sounds good too. The visuals have an almost hand-painted quality, and the environments in particular are surprisingly realistic and vivid. All of the characters feel fully three-dimensional thanks to the beautiful artwork provided by Gen Kobayashi, who you might know as the character designer for The World Ends With You and its sequel.
Animation is limited, with characters changing from pose to pose, but it almost works to elevate the experience even further. Because most of the experience is spent watching the characters interact with each other, those brief moments of pure horror when you see a ghost or corpse are beautifully communicated, with the camera zooming in at full speed and the environment warping around you. It’s shocking and makes you realize how the characters may be feeling at that particular moment.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Connected)
Given its silent release and lack of fanfare from Square Enix, Paranormasight is truly one of the most amazing games we’ve played in a long time. Horror fans will love this, but we bet general visual novel fans will get a lot out of the experience as well. It’s the kind of game that we think will find a decent-sized audience through word of mouth, and we sincerely hope it encourages Square Enix to explore the next stage of this new adventure.
conclusion
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is one of the most amazing games we’ve seen in a long time. Its overarching narrative, while initially quite heavy on exposition, is wonderfully told, weaving together the lives of multiple protagonists and tasking the player to progress their stories in meaningful ways. The puzzles are fantastic, the characters are well-realized, and the visuals are top-notch, making those brief moments of horror and terror extremely effective. This is an experience that we recommend you go through with as little information as possible, as it will turn out to be an incredibly memorable experience. one that can stand side by side with Switch’s best visual novels.