One of the most visceral games I've played. Corpse Party isn't a perfect game, in fact a lot of the game elements actually hurt it. As an experience though I think it stands above the average horror story. CP is a adventure game that lies heavily on the visual novel side.
A lot of the exploring and puzzle solving can be quite frustrating. I'd go as far to say it's almost impossible at times to know what to do without a guide. While that sucks it doesn't hamper what I'm playing the game for.
The story is rather straight forward but it's Corpse Party's intensity in it's description, sound and voice work that sets it apart. In CP you play as several characters who are trapped inside a haunted school and are slowly being killed one by one as they try to figure out how to escape. This is one of those games where the path to victory is set in stone and there is only one true end but has many bad ends sprinkled throughout. Normaly when I play and come to an abrupt end after one bad choice or picking the wrong option you couldn't possibly get right the first time and get a bad end I hate it and feel like it's a waste of time. Not here though. The bad ends have a lot of time put into them and get pretty damn creative and gory on how your character meets their end. The awesome sound design and voice work really elevate the experience. There are times when it really does sound like a person is being murdered right in front of me. They are never overly long for the most part and don't over stay their welcome and you can just reload right back to where you were.
One of the key features is that every line is voiced and even though it's in Japanese you can tell it's a stellar cast and a point that they were clearly proud of behind the scenes. That coupled with the amazing sound design. Sound effects are loud and impactful and feel all too real at times when it comes to gut wrenching sounds. The music is a very different for a horror game. It's often uplifting and bombastic and something you can really groove too. It goes well with those horror protagonists that you really want to see succeed. You would think that would clash with what's going on but often times it's the stark cut of no sound and just the pure sound effects that really drive the horror home. The lingering moody pieces do their work as well. I really like the score for this game a lot and it really sets up the mood they are going for.
The writing is pretty decent here and outside one cringe moment part at the start, there aren't too many bad anime tropes. The descriptions in the text and the characters are all pretty well defined and not one dimensional. The game does an amazing job at setting up it's world and backstory as you learn the history of the haunted school piece by piece. The school Heavenly Host is one of my favorite horror settings right up there with Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Heavenly Host isn't just a location but also it's own character as it's actually alive. Truly spooky when your environment is aware of you and can change to put you in a bad spot that could cause your death. This is one of those places where if you wind up here you are beyond screwed. I don't want to get into spoilers or anything but this is one place that I won't soon forget.
A lot of the exploring and puzzle solving can be quite frustrating. I'd go as far to say it's almost impossible at times to know what to do without a guide. While that sucks it doesn't hamper what I'm playing the game for.
The story is rather straight forward but it's Corpse Party's intensity in it's description, sound and voice work that sets it apart. In CP you play as several characters who are trapped inside a haunted school and are slowly being killed one by one as they try to figure out how to escape. This is one of those games where the path to victory is set in stone and there is only one true end but has many bad ends sprinkled throughout. Normaly when I play and come to an abrupt end after one bad choice or picking the wrong option you couldn't possibly get right the first time and get a bad end I hate it and feel like it's a waste of time. Not here though. The bad ends have a lot of time put into them and get pretty damn creative and gory on how your character meets their end. The awesome sound design and voice work really elevate the experience. There are times when it really does sound like a person is being murdered right in front of me. They are never overly long for the most part and don't over stay their welcome and you can just reload right back to where you were.
One of the key features is that every line is voiced and even though it's in Japanese you can tell it's a stellar cast and a point that they were clearly proud of behind the scenes. That coupled with the amazing sound design. Sound effects are loud and impactful and feel all too real at times when it comes to gut wrenching sounds. The music is a very different for a horror game. It's often uplifting and bombastic and something you can really groove too. It goes well with those horror protagonists that you really want to see succeed. You would think that would clash with what's going on but often times it's the stark cut of no sound and just the pure sound effects that really drive the horror home. The lingering moody pieces do their work as well. I really like the score for this game a lot and it really sets up the mood they are going for.
The writing is pretty decent here and outside one cringe moment part at the start, there aren't too many bad anime tropes. The descriptions in the text and the characters are all pretty well defined and not one dimensional. The game does an amazing job at setting up it's world and backstory as you learn the history of the haunted school piece by piece. The school Heavenly Host is one of my favorite horror settings right up there with Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Heavenly Host isn't just a location but also it's own character as it's actually alive. Truly spooky when your environment is aware of you and can change to put you in a bad spot that could cause your death. This is one of those places where if you wind up here you are beyond screwed. I don't want to get into spoilers or anything but this is one place that I won't soon forget.