Alright, I cleared 5 out of 10 endings, I think I'm ready to complain now. I'm usually a pretty big fan of shlocky and dumb storytelling. But I cannot bring myself to play along with it here, when it goes against every single intent that this Sound Novel was supposed to promise. The wiki page for this game states that the developer wanted to create a game that's so atmospheric and scary, the hurdles would stem not from challenge, but from your very own fear of advancing the story forward. Furthermore, it was made with the developer's girlfriend in mind, so, I thought it was being catered for a more adult audience, or in the very least, an audience of all ages that could use this as an entry point into video games. And in all these senses, Otogirisou completely fails. It's not just that its scares are weak. Sometimes, it seems to forget that it's supposed to be a horror visual novel for adults at all.

What you actually have here is a 20 dollar budget haunted house attraction where depending on your luck, you're either gonna run into an ensemble of Scooby-Doo cliches (i know other reviews used this comparison too, but there really is no better way to describe it), or multiple fakeouts in a row. The pacing of it all frantically jumps between too much random shit happening at once, or literally fucking nothing happening ever. The characters themselves seem unable to decide whether they're actively in fear for their safety, blowing off everything they see as an illusion, or feeling so completely safe that an entire half hour scene will be dedicated to them figuring out how to get the shower working so they can wash themselves off. Right in the middle of a place trying to kill them.

This tonal inconsistency is likely owed to the way choices are handled here. Y'know, there IS something cool about the idea that you're not just deciding your outcome in a predetermined story, but rather, the choices you make are actively rewriting the story to fit what you want to see happen. But this system is so loose, that you can swap from one route to an entirely different one, and it'll start talking about things that have never happened, or forget the things that did. It's like playing around in AI Dungeon, you're generating a story that's only consistent when you don't try too hard to experiment in it. But there's nothing to account for the fact that you are capable of ruining the story, leaving gaping plot holes and unresolved Chehkov's Guns that leave the experience as a terribly unsatisfying one.

This already deflates the tension hard enough, but the final nail in the coffin is when you're hit with the realization that you are never in any actual danger of dying. The danger is an illusion, that the characters always escape from unscathed, no matter how hard you try to lean the choices into bad ideas. I couldn't even so much as get the girlfriend character to kick the bucket and get a bad ending where the protagonist grieves her! I mean, I sound like a psycho when I say that, but- you get the point! This especially drives the "haunted house attraction" comparison home, when it feels like the haunted house is going fucking easy on you. It's like this isn't about the fear of your girlfriend winding up dead because of you, but rather, this is a chance to grow closer to her, to show her how brave, and cool you are, and-

Wait, that's why the developer created the game, didn't he...? Oh. Well, I guess it all makes sense now.

And oh my god, I only described one half of the game! The other half is just a soap opera combined with family melodrama. The kind where I'm leaning my head against my hand, rolling my eyes as I'm scrolling through walls of "I felt my mother's love, in my heart, telling me to stop my fish monster brother and have him remember his true self..." What game am I playing? This was supposed to be horror, right? What is this? What IS this??? WHAT IS THIS. NAMI, STOP BRINGING UP YOU MEASURING HEIGHTS WITH YOUR SISTER IT'S NOT THAT AMAZING OF A MEMORY

Ohh, fuck me. And I've still got like 5 endings to go too. I hear there's some pretty funny dialogue options that get unlocked when you clear out all the endings (Edit: I reached them. Wasn't worth it). The fan translation's pretty cool by the way, I could never shit on people who bring these region-exclusive games for other audiences to experience. They deserve a ton of respect, and the way they translated this one got a few laughs out of me.

But like, fuuuck, the main ingredient is dry spaghetti, and it's got no sauce. No self-awareness. No tension. No focus. All its got is a pretty cool title screen theme, and a historical novelty. But the moment I started diving deeper into it, I realized that Otogirisou had one important promise that made up its entire existence, and that promise was swiftly broken. This review is my Otogirisou. You know the meaning of the flower, right?

Alright, I cleared 5 out of 10 endings, I think I'm ready to complain now. I'm usually a pretty big fan of shlocky and dumb storytelling. But I cannot bring myself to play along with it here, when it goes against every single intent that this Sound Novel was supposed to promise. The wiki page for this game states that the developer wanted to create a game that's so atmospheric and scary, the hurdles would stem not from challenge, but from your very own fear of advancing the story forward. Furthermore, it was made with the developer's girlfriend in mind, so, I thought it was being catered for a more adult audience, or in the very least, an audience of all ages that could use this as an entry point into video games. And in all these senses, Otogirisou completely fails. It's not just that its scares are weak. Sometimes, it seems to forget that it's supposed to be a horror visual novel for adults at all.

What you actually have here is a 20 dollar budget haunted house attraction where depending on your luck, you're either gonna run into an ensemble of Scooby-Doo cliches (i know other reviews used this comparison too, but there really is no better way to describe it), or multiple fakeouts in a row. The pacing of it all frantically jumps between too much random shit happening at once, or literally fucking nothing happening ever. The characters themselves seem unable to decide whether they're actively in fear for their safety, blowing off everything they see as an illusion, or feeling so completely safe that an entire half hour scene will be dedicated to them figuring out how to get the shower working so they can wash themselves off. Right in the middle of a place trying to kill them.

This tonal inconsistency is likely owed to the way choices are handled here. Y'know, there IS something cool about the idea that you're not just deciding your outcome in a predetermined story, but rather, the choices you make are actively rewriting the story to fit what you want to see happen. But this system is so loose, that you can swap from one route to an entirely different one, and it'll start talking about things that have never happened, or forget the things that did. It's like playing around in AI Dungeon, you're generating a story that's only consistent when you don't try too hard to experiment in it. But there's nothing to account for the fact that you are capable of ruining the story, leaving gaping plot holes and unresolved Chehkov's Guns that leave the experience as a terribly unsatisfying one.

This already deflates the tension hard enough, but the final nail in the coffin is when you're hit with the realization that you are never in any actual danger of dying. The danger is an illusion, that the characters always escape from unscathed, no matter how hard you try to lean the choices into bad ideas. I couldn't even so much as get the girlfriend character to kick the bucket and get a bad ending where the protagonist grieves her! I mean, I sound like a psycho when I say that, but- you get the point! This especially drives the "haunted house attraction" comparison home, when it feels like the haunted house is going fucking easy on you. It's like this isn't about the fear of your girlfriend winding up dead because of you, but rather, this is a chance to grow closer to her, to show her how brave, and cool you are, and-

Wait, that's why the developer created the game, didn't he...? Oh. Well, I guess it all makes sense now.

And oh my god, I only described one half of the game! The other half is just a soap opera combined with family melodrama. The kind where I'm leaning my head against my hand, rolling my eyes as I'm scrolling through walls of "I felt my mother's love, in my heart, telling me to stop my fish monster brother and have him remember his true self..." What game am I playing? This was supposed to be horror, right? What is this? What IS this??? WHAT IS THIS. NAMI, STOP BRINGING UP YOU MEASURING HEIGHTS WITH YOUR SISTER IT'S NOT THAT AMAZING OF A MEMORY

Ohh, fuck me. And I've still got like 5 endings to go too. I hear there's some pretty funny dialogue options that get unlocked when you clear out all the endings (Edit: I reached them. Wasn't worth it). The fan translation's pretty cool by the way, I could never shit on people who bring these region-exclusive games for other audiences to experience. They deserve a ton of respect, and the way they translated this one got a few laughs out of me.

But like, fuuuck, the main ingredient is dry spaghetti, and it's got no sauce. No self-awareness. No tension. No focus. All its got is a pretty cool title screen theme, and a historical novelty. But the moment I started diving deeper into it, I realized that Otogirisou had one important promise that made up its entire existence, and that promise was swiftly broken. This review is my Otogirisou. You know the meaning of the flower, right?

Amongst every Igavania released, Symphony of the Night feels especially unique, and it's not just because it was the first of its kind. Something I've always lamented is how these 2D Castlevania titles would later be relegated to handheld, with the small amount of space constraining and limiting what these games are capable of. As much as I like Aria of Sorrow, and as much as it makes sense to take advantage of the handheld market, SotN was a clear-cut example that you could do a lot of shit on a 660MB disc that you simply couldn't fit on a cartridge. If Aria of Sorrow's development was focused on cramming the most amount of content within the smallest amount of space, Symphony of the Night is about cramming the most amount of content, just because you can.

I love these sorts of games where you get the feeling there wasn't really much of a plan behind anything, the developers just threw in whatever they wanted, just for the hell of it. SotN has all these very little unnecessary and pointless details going for it, but these are the details that make up much of the game's heart, and add further layers to its mystery-based exploration. These are the things you find out about and share with your friends, like one mentor passing their knowledge to the next. Much of the game's excitement lies not in what items you discover, but what you do with those items, and the multiple hidden effects they may hide. Experimentation, and the surprise of what that experimentation may bring is the true essence of the game, the chaos that keeps it alive, and the gift that keeps on giving.

Another thing that a handheld title wouldn't be able to do, is voice acting. Look, we could go on another several dozen years of our life until the rebirth of Count Dracula, making fun of the "What is a man!" opening exchange between Richter and the aforementioned. But I'm not indulging in that take tonight. This scene isn't poorly acted, nor poorly written, it is exactly as it should be. It's a dramatic stage play, a theater performance spoken in verbose back-and-forths. It's dripping in over-the-top delivery, for sure, but what more could you imagine for Dracula, a character whose presence in theatre has been popularized for over a century? Castlevania's gothic aesthetics aren't for the sake of scaring you, they're there to add a sense of drama, elegance, and beauty to the nightmare that resides within. To have characters use flowery language, I believe was just one part of that goal.

Alucard's voice especially, is one that deserved more than just one game. Throughout SotN, you feel practically unstoppable. You're in a power play, enemies fall, explode, and scream as they evaporate before you, towering monstrosities collapse into pieces, your quest to reach Dracula is determined and persistent. And Robelt Belgrade, Alucard's VA, encapsulates his cool and collected aura - yet threatening at the same time - in just a few unrelenting words when he's warned to cease his assault on the castle. "I will not."

There's silent protagonists. And there's characters that talk a whole lot. Alucard is one of those special in-between cases where his dialogue is rare, but every bit of it enhances his no-nonsense personality in both story, and gameplay. The voice delivery is focused, undeterred, he has a duty to fulfill, and anybody who stops him, dies. Much of that is reflected by his effortless counquering of the castle's many dangers, actions speaking louder than words throughout. Here, less is more. Less adds to Alucard's mystery, less adds to his otherwordly nature, to his silent destructive rampage. And finally, less ensures that when Alucard DOES speak, it is an earned insight into a character who feels so much cooler than you could ever hope to be.

It is something that I hope more developers can understand in the modern age. That even though we have the space for hundreds of thousands of dialogue lines to have our characters talk as much as we want, there is an incredible magic in making that dialogue a reward, rather than an expectancy around every corner.

That's honestly all I wanted to go in-depth on for this review. I mean, the game is good, I don't think you need me to clarify that! I love the soundtrack too, "Wandering Ghosts" is up there as one of my top Castlevania songs, if not the best one. The one missing star is because of the Inverted Castle, as you may expect. Even though it hides the true final boss within, I've done playthroughs of the game where all I do is explore the normal castle, and stop at the bad ending. The Inverted Castle often does not count as "the 2nd half of the game" in my head, it is so shockingly undifferentiated from the regular castle, that it feels more like playing a hard mode. But even then, the new tougher bosses it tries introducing are completely worthless, seeing as you're so overpowered by that point, you can take most of them out in less than 5 seconds.

Symphony of the Night fails to correctly balance its challenge to remain actually challenging, and the Inverted Castle is just a total wash, such a wash that I don't even want to play through it most of the time. But the 1st castle is the peak of Igavania exploration, and remains a ton of fun to go through each and every single time, with lots of varied equipment, weaponry, spells, and other surprises to see. But most importantly, this is the most atmospheric that Castlevania has ever been. A GBA or DS title can only be what its specs allow it to be. Symphony of the Night creates the illusion that it can be anything it wants to be. Anything, and everything that you won't be able to predict. That's the sort of appeal that carries it for many.