Developer: Cherrymochi, Studio Mebius, Mebius
Publisher: Square Enix, Unties
Platform: PC, Mac, PS4, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Tokyo Dark Remembrance – Review
After the amazing Kickstarter success of the original Tokyo Dark where the developer Cherrymochi quintupled their original goal, the game hits some new platforms like the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo’s Switch. Not only did Cherrymochi updated the name of the game to Tokyo Dark Remembrance, but they also rebuilt the parts of the story that could not be told properly in the original. Dive into the story of Detective Itō Ayami, in which her new case starts like any normal case but rapidly takes her down the rabbit hole.
Story
You start out by playing detective Itō Ayami and find yourself in a trainlike vehicle. Absorbed in thoughts you see a red-haired girl which is sort of glitching through your mind. You look around and see your missing partner’s police badge covered in blood lying on the grimy fabric of a train seat. Asking yourself where he is…
After that, you’re pulled back into reality when you are suddenly surrounded by people and are aware that your phone is ringing. Answering the phone you hear the voice of your superintended Yukimura who was apparently trying to reach you for the last twenty minutes. He presumes that you already know about the phone that has been located of your missing partner and you tell him that you are already on your way to Shinjuku because you won’t miss another chance of solving a piece of this mysterious puzzle by waiting for reinforcements. He is a little hesitant because this will be your first time back into the field after the incident that occurred six months ago and ask you to not perform any heroics. He doesn’t want a reoccurrence of what happened in Kamakura.
Arriving at Shinjuku you think about the events that occurred five days ago when your partner Kazuki went missing after leaving the Police HQ. There was no sign of him and you nor the rest of the people in Police HQ had any leads. From one of the most populous cities on earth, he simply disappeared… That is, until an hour ago, when his phone was mysteriously turned on. Tracing it led you here, to this grimy road on the east side of Shinjuku. Nothing good ever happens in this part of town.
Graphics
Visually the game has a beautiful anime art style with well-polished characters and environments all around the game. Like most visual novels, Tokyo Dark Remembrance has digitally painted backdrops with a few animations to make the world come alive around you. The developers made sure those backdrops are extremely detailed, in most cases at least, which brings more depth to the game. In our opinion, this is a necessary feature that games like Tokyo Dark Remembrance should posses.
Sound
Sound-wise the game manages to give you that eerie feeling throughout the whole game, thanks to the fitting background music and accurate sounds the characters are making in Tokyo Dark Remembrance. It also succeeds in creating an appropriate atmosphere for each place that you visit or end up in. Sadly, the voice-acting is only in Japanese but still, it doesn’t break the immersion.
Gameplay
Tokyo Dark Remembrance is both a point and click adventure and a visual novel which features a psychological horror storyline. The game is very story-rich which will be immediately clear thanks to the huge amount of dialogues in the game. When you progress in this visual novel it becomes apparent that your actions have severe consequences, so you need to be careful which options you choose. Due to this element, the game delivers 13 exciting endings.
The game features a few fantasy elements such as the urban legend of the door deep below the sewers of Tokyo, the story goes that whoever enters the door is lost forever. But it also takes you to Tokyo and famous places in Japan. After you progress a certain amount in the storyline, the game gives you a map with the locations you’ve previously visited but most of the time you won’t be able to access them freely.
When you start your first playthrough, the game warns you that you can’t save manually, probably because if you could and you don’t like how one of your decisions plays out you could just go back and undo your mistake. This ensures that you need to approach the game with more care than many other games and it makes the decision-making more realistic.
Tokyo Dark Remembrance is a very text-heavy game that lets you engage with multiple interesting and sometimes even crazy characters. It has a few different features that make the gameplay more interesting than it already is. Firstly the story lets you interact with multiple objects and characters which can lead to finding clues or answers that you were seeking. Those clues can be used in a few puzzles throughout the game but those are fairly easy and even if they weren’t you could use a hint in exchange for investigation points.
The biggest feature the game has to offer, to make it more interesting is definitely the S.P.I.N (Sanity, Professionalism, Investigation, Neurosis) system. This feature keeps track of every decision you make and thereby gives you negative or positive points in the four subdivisions which can be sometimes used as currency for something, like for hints. It also changes how other people interact with you or react upon whatever it is you have to say and which actions are available to you.
Conclusion
Overall Tokyo Dark Remembrance is a joy to play if you like horror at least. Take your mind on a trip in the darkest parts below the sewers of Tokyo and discover one of the most amazing urban legends of the city. The game offers multiple features you can enjoy, which make the game more interesting and even daring at some times. Sadly, the game does not provide us with English voice-acting, which would have been a nice addition, but does not disappoint in any other way.
Tokyo Dark Remembrance - Review,
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