Jishogi
released on Jun 23, 2022
A dark, story-heavy puzzle game. Enter the mind of Mayu, as her soul is invaded and dug through by a seemingly evil witch. Can you stop her? What if you were able to get the upper hand, and invade her back? Would you show mercy, or destroy her? Jishogi will test you in more ways than one.
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I really liked the characters and felt in love with them, I felt like for a true 10/10 this game would have needed better mechanics and structure on how it played besides toning down a bit the puzzles, maybe it could have made it so the "essences" you received could be used earlier on to change aspects of the world and the mind of each other; but besides those complains very solid and tear jerker writing!
Jishogi is great game, and one I would consider quite underappreciated compared to its quality. Thankfully it's gotten a bit of a spotlight since I put it in the backlog last year, but since as of writing this it has no reviews on the site I figure it deserves at least some level of write-up.
Jishogi tackles some very dark subjects and features 2 wonderfully fleshed out characters, the player character Mayu and the witch Fifield. Their interplay as well as the consequences of the choices you can make were definitely a highlight of the game as a whole to me. Whether it's diving into memories or deciding whats best for both characters, the story had me hooked pretty much from the start. There's quite a bit of freedom as to how things can play out, from places I'm surprised the dev was willing to go to much more positive resolutions. Worth experiencing and not spoiling here for sure.
The one larger criticism for this game, one it seems the dev is aware of, is that the puzzles can actually be a bit reductive to its goal sometimes. There are multiple between every story beat, meaning getting stuck on even one can very well kill the pacing of the game. Either placing a memory between every puzzle or reducing the number of them would have helped. Though the puzzles themselves are still clever and enjoyable for the most part, even reflecting the personalities of the 2 characters well.
All said a great work for a solo dev, and I hope they continue in the future with more projects on this level!
Jishogi tackles some very dark subjects and features 2 wonderfully fleshed out characters, the player character Mayu and the witch Fifield. Their interplay as well as the consequences of the choices you can make were definitely a highlight of the game as a whole to me. Whether it's diving into memories or deciding whats best for both characters, the story had me hooked pretty much from the start. There's quite a bit of freedom as to how things can play out, from places I'm surprised the dev was willing to go to much more positive resolutions. Worth experiencing and not spoiling here for sure.
The one larger criticism for this game, one it seems the dev is aware of, is that the puzzles can actually be a bit reductive to its goal sometimes. There are multiple between every story beat, meaning getting stuck on even one can very well kill the pacing of the game. Either placing a memory between every puzzle or reducing the number of them would have helped. Though the puzzles themselves are still clever and enjoyable for the most part, even reflecting the personalities of the 2 characters well.
All said a great work for a solo dev, and I hope they continue in the future with more projects on this level!