SPOILERS

“No man is happy before his death.”

Herodotus, the Histories

In a dilapidated church, lined with empty pews, a single figure rises from their coffin; crows flee skyward and lotus petals scatter.

Thus begins the era of necromancers.

Tokyo Necro (TN) leads with this delicate scene and though what follows is an undeniably rip-roaring zombie filled cyberpunk bonanza—the kind of game it’s marketed as—it has ambitions to come full circle. The path we take back to this intro arms us with the experiences to challenge it: the residents of this frozen Tokyo must face the past, and in seeing that, we must decide the future. And so the question becomes: are the key players in TN strong enough to sell it?

Dynamic duo—the machine-like So’un and firecracker Ethica—would certainly have you believe so. So’un clings to his AI assisted EX-Brain with standard pistols, hoping it makes all his decisions for him; convert input to output, no more no less. Ethica on the other hand uses a smaller model of EX-Brain paired with a bombastic custom chainsaw—affectionately called Rabbit Punch. One is calm, business like, and just wants to get the job done, while the other intentionally goes against the grain, standing out as if for rebellions sake alone.

The two polar opposites form the heart of TN, and though the rest of the cast have some fantastic moments (and arcs, depending on the route), it was really witnessing how these two change over the course of the story that invested me. Across the four routes, their contrasting stories weave in and out to take many forms. At times So’un finds what he’s been missing all along and grows to value his humanity, but when he does, Ethica finds herself on a downwards spiral, losing her spark and what made her feel alive. It makes it even more heartbreaking when in the next you’ll see the reverse: Ethica living without regrets and So’un shrinking back into his tragic shell. It’s incredibly powerful.

It would be one thing to just knock this stuff out in one route, but it’s really how TN utilises the medium for maximum synergy that makes it all click for me. Every route is fully fleshed out and satisfying in their own right, but also contribute to each other like pieces of a puzzle.

Every time the end credits roll we hear the distinct voice of Sub-Con—the so called AI consciousness of Tokyo—sing us a broken song. But every time it plays, and the further you get, the clearer it becomes, and with it the frozen Tokyo on the menu screen lights up just a little more. It’s an absolutely beautiful touch and loops back to what I said at the beginning: TN knows and shows the cruelties and harsh realities life throws at us, but as you watch So’un fight for his new beginning, or Ethica overcome her past, it finally allows not only Sub-Con, but us, the player to deny the quote it leads on. When our characters follow their emotions, they are lead to happiness, and when they lose them, it all ends in tragedy.

TN's cast is stuck in the past: Milgram, Hokoyasu, along with all our main characters are used to explore a lot of themes. Ethica, however, is easily my favourite. While she is defined by a perceived frivolity, her character firmly denies that people exist to simply survive and her arc in Kiriri’s route is a phenomenal affirmation of homosexuality while also tying it all back to this core idea:

“But there to be something more meaningful out there, just waiting for us to find it.”

The results of the only two choices in TN are incredibly revealing, too. It’s only when Ethica intentionally goes against the EX-Brains decision that she survives, and for So’un, only when he prioritises Iria (his newfound love) over Milgram that he does.

To wrap up, while I do agree with a few peoples sentiments about TN not having the strongest prose, for my money it more than makes up for it with flawless theming, some inspired use of the medium, and a lot of heart. It’s a wonderfully constructed setting about people keeping a dead city on life support, and our characters literally fighting the dead (the past), but it’s only when they break away from it all and reach for that future that things truly begin to change for the better.

The dead cannot be loved, but despite our mistakes, we don’t have to join them yet: push for a new tomorrow, sit on the lotus throne together, and fill the world with colour.

“We’ll start our lives anew and live not for the past, but for the future; not for the dead, but for the living.”