Raging Loop has been on my radar for a long time but always got pushed back for one reason or another. Following a bad storm and a long power outage with nothing to do, I saw a good opportunity and went ahead and jumped on it. A very comfortable ~25 hour experience split into a few nice binging sessions. Anything “999-coded” (murder mystery with a flowchart and remembering things that you shouldn’t be able to remember!!!) is always going to speak to me on a deeply personal level because it is simply the greatest of all time every time it’s implemented, but in all honesty I really wasn’t feeling Raging Loop during its first route. I was considering dropping the game after the conclusion of the first route, in fact, but I’m glad I persevered because the middle stretch of the game was much more consistently engaging and well-paced.

Raging Loop is interesting because I think it really shines in this middle section, where the player is just familiar enough with the setting, its cast, and the “ruleset” of the game to feel like an active participant in the deduction-making while still leaving plenty of room for the inevitable “you haven’t seen anything yet” reveals. The ending suffers from some pacing issues and lack of satisfying buildup and closure for certain characters/plot points but there are some undeniably great scenes so it isn’t anything too egregious. I was especially impressed with how much I came around on the main character who went from actively taking away my enjoyment in the first route to a surprisingly endearing lead in the game’s final hours. At no point did I ever really care about the “romance” aspect the game seemed so hell-bent on trying to spoon-feed to me. I was definitely not buying what Raging Loop was selling on that front, sadly.

It’s not perfect but it was a very fun read, I’m glad I finally got around to it.

Reviewed on Apr 06, 2023


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