Paranormasight is a horror and mystery-themed visual novel/adventure game hybrid that stars multiple protagonists with intertwining stories. The game has a ton of really unique and strong ideas both narratively and mechanically. Unfortunately, this is ultimately its biggest downfall, as the game is rather overambitious. It tries to do way too much, and it doesn’t have the time to explore all of its ideas in a satisfying manner. As a result, the experience feels rushed and rather unfulfilling.
The game takes place in the city of Honjo in 1980’s Japan, a time when fear of the occult was on the rise. Throughout the city, several people with an interest in a ritual known as the Rite of Resurrection, which allows whoever performs it to bring someone back from the dead, come into possession of cursed stones. These cursed stones provide them with the ability to inflict a curse upon others if their victims meet specific conditions. Everyone in possession of a cursed stone must use it in order to kill people and obtain enough “soul dregs” from their murders to be able to perform the Rite of Resurrection, and other cursed stone users provide far more soul dregs than regular people. As a result, the cursed stone users must compete with one another in order to be able to use the Rite for their own purposes. You play as several protagonists, each with their own narratives that intertwine with one another.
The gameplay is heavily reminiscent of the investigation segments from the Ace Attorney games and A.I. The Somnium Files. You explore environments that have various objects you can observe and people you can talk to. Normally in these games, locations are comprised of just one or two screens that you can swap back and forth between, but in Paranormasight, the locations are actually full 360 degree environments that you can turn around in. This makes the places you visit a lot more immersive, and early on, the game establishes a sense of paranoia with a couple of jumpscares from behind you, giving you the impression that you need to be vigilant, as you can never be sure whether or not there’s something or someone behind you.
There are other unique mechanics as well. There’s one mechanic in particular that I thought was really clever and executed extremely well, but I can’t really talk about it because I feel like it’s a bit of a spoiler. Aside from that, there’s the story chart, which is where you can view and pick between the different characters and their stories. Sometimes, you’ll need to perform actions in or gain knowledge from one character’s story in order to progress another’s. This generally works rather well, and is one of the game’s biggest strengths. However, it can get convoluted at times, especially during a section in one specific character’s story, which hinges on experiencing one of the most random, out of pocket, highly specific conversations ever in another character’s story.
Despite these unique and well thought out mechanics, the game barely utilizes them at all. As a matter of fact, you don’t even really do that much investigating in general. The vast majority of this game is just talking to people. You rarely need to inspect areas, and that cool and well executed mechanic I mentioned earlier is only used like - twice throughout the entire game. The game as a whole feels too short, despite being a little over ten hours. It isn’t given the time it needs to explore its mechanical ideas to a satisfying extent.
This problem applies to the story as well. The story in general is very heavy on exposition. It’s heavily rooted in Japanese folklore as well as the culture of the era the game takes place in. This means that characters constantly have to explain said folklore, such as what the seven curses are, how they work, the history of the city of Honjo itself, etc. This is in addition to having to explain the different characters, factions, and events unique to the story. Exposition ultimately takes up a huge chunk of the overall narrative, which makes it feel like you’re waiting almost the entire time for the game to get on its feet and kick things off. But it never really does, and then it starts to wrap things up when it feels like there should be a lot more to it. Potentially impactful aspects of characters, certain plot threads, as well as social issues the game brings up aren’t explored to a satisfying degree, making the whole thing rather flat as a result.
I think what ultimately harms the game the most is the prologue with Shogo. It inflates expectations way too much by introducing the game’s mechanics and establishing a tone as well as a majority of the plot threads that you expect the game to have major payoffs for. However, that ends up not being the case at all, and it’s really disappointing.
I really like its presentation. The character art looks nice, the music is appropriately moody, and I think it's really cool how the whole thing is framed as if you were watching it on a colored television set from this time period. It's one of the better elements of the game, and plays a role in keeping you immersed in the story.
In the end, Paranormasight didn’t really leave me feeling much of anything at all. While I wouldn’t say that the game does anything bad, I can’t help but feel that the experience as a whole was rather mediocre. It promises a spooky and thrilling mystery, but it never really lives up to that promise. It is still an interesting read, but it evoked little out of me in terms of emotion. It has some unique spins on adventure game mechanics, but these mechanics are extremely underutilized. The whole game oozes potential that it sadly never quite lives up to.
The game takes place in the city of Honjo in 1980’s Japan, a time when fear of the occult was on the rise. Throughout the city, several people with an interest in a ritual known as the Rite of Resurrection, which allows whoever performs it to bring someone back from the dead, come into possession of cursed stones. These cursed stones provide them with the ability to inflict a curse upon others if their victims meet specific conditions. Everyone in possession of a cursed stone must use it in order to kill people and obtain enough “soul dregs” from their murders to be able to perform the Rite of Resurrection, and other cursed stone users provide far more soul dregs than regular people. As a result, the cursed stone users must compete with one another in order to be able to use the Rite for their own purposes. You play as several protagonists, each with their own narratives that intertwine with one another.
The gameplay is heavily reminiscent of the investigation segments from the Ace Attorney games and A.I. The Somnium Files. You explore environments that have various objects you can observe and people you can talk to. Normally in these games, locations are comprised of just one or two screens that you can swap back and forth between, but in Paranormasight, the locations are actually full 360 degree environments that you can turn around in. This makes the places you visit a lot more immersive, and early on, the game establishes a sense of paranoia with a couple of jumpscares from behind you, giving you the impression that you need to be vigilant, as you can never be sure whether or not there’s something or someone behind you.
There are other unique mechanics as well. There’s one mechanic in particular that I thought was really clever and executed extremely well, but I can’t really talk about it because I feel like it’s a bit of a spoiler. Aside from that, there’s the story chart, which is where you can view and pick between the different characters and their stories. Sometimes, you’ll need to perform actions in or gain knowledge from one character’s story in order to progress another’s. This generally works rather well, and is one of the game’s biggest strengths. However, it can get convoluted at times, especially during a section in one specific character’s story, which hinges on experiencing one of the most random, out of pocket, highly specific conversations ever in another character’s story.
Despite these unique and well thought out mechanics, the game barely utilizes them at all. As a matter of fact, you don’t even really do that much investigating in general. The vast majority of this game is just talking to people. You rarely need to inspect areas, and that cool and well executed mechanic I mentioned earlier is only used like - twice throughout the entire game. The game as a whole feels too short, despite being a little over ten hours. It isn’t given the time it needs to explore its mechanical ideas to a satisfying extent.
This problem applies to the story as well. The story in general is very heavy on exposition. It’s heavily rooted in Japanese folklore as well as the culture of the era the game takes place in. This means that characters constantly have to explain said folklore, such as what the seven curses are, how they work, the history of the city of Honjo itself, etc. This is in addition to having to explain the different characters, factions, and events unique to the story. Exposition ultimately takes up a huge chunk of the overall narrative, which makes it feel like you’re waiting almost the entire time for the game to get on its feet and kick things off. But it never really does, and then it starts to wrap things up when it feels like there should be a lot more to it. Potentially impactful aspects of characters, certain plot threads, as well as social issues the game brings up aren’t explored to a satisfying degree, making the whole thing rather flat as a result.
I think what ultimately harms the game the most is the prologue with Shogo. It inflates expectations way too much by introducing the game’s mechanics and establishing a tone as well as a majority of the plot threads that you expect the game to have major payoffs for. However, that ends up not being the case at all, and it’s really disappointing.
I really like its presentation. The character art looks nice, the music is appropriately moody, and I think it's really cool how the whole thing is framed as if you were watching it on a colored television set from this time period. It's one of the better elements of the game, and plays a role in keeping you immersed in the story.
In the end, Paranormasight didn’t really leave me feeling much of anything at all. While I wouldn’t say that the game does anything bad, I can’t help but feel that the experience as a whole was rather mediocre. It promises a spooky and thrilling mystery, but it never really lives up to that promise. It is still an interesting read, but it evoked little out of me in terms of emotion. It has some unique spins on adventure game mechanics, but these mechanics are extremely underutilized. The whole game oozes potential that it sadly never quite lives up to.