If you haven’t heard of Paranormasight: The Seven Isteries of Honjo, then don’t worry. Although this interesting visual novel will be released worldwide on the Switch eShop, its presentation is specifically intended for the Japanese Nintendo Direct back in February.
So, while we were undoubtedly thrilled with Metroid Prime Remastered shadow dropping and the launch of Game Boy games for the Nintendo Switch Online service, the lack of a western announcement for Paranormasight means that many horror fans could have potentially missed out on what is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and entertaining visual novels we’ve seen. seen lately. Fortunately, we are here to right that injustice.
Describing Paranormasight is a tricky thing. Much of the enjoyment we experienced playing it was the result of going in with very little prior knowledge of the story, so we feel a certain obligation here to afford you, dear readers, a similar convenience. That said, we think we can safely lay out the general premise without spoiling anything.
Paranormasight takes place in the real-life Honjo district of Tokyo’s Sumida Ward, where the old legend of the ‘Seven Isteries of Honjo’ continues to seep into the everyday lives of its citizens. These mysteries form the basis of the ‘Rite of Resurrection’, which is a manuscript that allows the wielder to revive someone who has recently died. The catch is that, in order to receive the Rite of Resurrection, those who wish to seek it are imbued with the ‘curse stone’; old netsuke carvings imbued with curses derived from the Seven Isteries of Honjo.
Follow along so far? Good thing. Curse stones require the user to kill indiscriminately in order to fill the vessel with ‘soul dregs’. Once charged, Rite of Resurrection will be available. In theory, at least. So here we find the protagonists of our story: each of them found themselves in possession of the curse stone, but as for their motives, their actions and how their stories intertwine with each other, we’ll leave that to you to experience for yourself.
How the characters’ stories actually unfold is quite fascinating. Each narrative scene forms part of a ‘Story Chart’, which is essentially a visual representation of the various branching paths you can unlock as you progress through the game. What’s great is that you can jump between multiple protagonists between scenes and even replay certain scenarios at will. In fact, it is often necessary to move forward. Certain story branches can bring a character’s story to a rather abrupt, gruesome end, so you’ll have to go back to a previous scene and figure out how you can change events to start a different story path.
Branching pathways is a gameplay style that’s been played to death, but the way it’s implemented here is beautiful, requiring you to really stop and think about how one character’s story connects to another and how you can take information gleaned from one story path and implement him in another. The puzzles found in Paranormasight are excellent, although they won’t challenge you also a lot, there’s an undeniable satisfaction when you figure out how to proceed. There’s even a genius little gag early on that breaks the fourth wall somewhat, and we reckon it would even make the likes of Hideo Kojima smile from ear to ear; we won’t spoil what happens, but it’s pretty brilliant.
All of this wouldn’t be for nothing if the story itself wasn’t interesting, but luckily, it’s one of the most intriguing and engaging stories we’ve experienced in recent memory. The game throws you in the deep end and throws a bunch of exposition at you after the first five or ten minutes, and while we’ll admit it’s a bit overwhelming at first, you can always refer to the game menu, which sets out all persons of interest, files, the storyboard itself and much more for refreshment. Make no mistake, there’s a lot of reading involved here, but if you’re willing to commit, the payoff will be exponentially more satisfying.
Paranormasight is not only intriguing to play; looks and sounds great too. The visuals have an almost hand-painted quality, and the environments in particular look surprisingly realistic and lived-in. All the characters appear fully three-dimensional thanks to the beautiful artwork done by Gen Kobayashi, who you may know as the character designer for The World Ends With You and its sequel.
The animation is limited, with characters shifting from one pose to another, but that almost elevates the experience even more. Since most of the experience is spent watching the characters interact with each other, those brief moments of pure terror when you see a ghost or a dead body are communicated superbly, with the camera zooming at top speed and the environment surrounding you. It’s poignant and makes you empathize with how the characters might be feeling at that moment.
Considering its quiet release and lack of fanfare on the part of Square Enix, Paranormasight is truly one of the most surprising games we’ve played in a long time. Horror fans will absolutely love this, but we bet visual novel fans in general will also get a lot out of the experience. It’s the kind of game that we doubt will find a decent audience through word of mouth, and we sincerely hope it prompts Square Enix to explore where to go next with this new venture.
Conclusion
Paranormasight: The Seven Isteries of Honjo is one of the most surprising games we’ve experienced in recent times. Its overarching narrative, while initially laborious in exposition, is beautifully told, intertwining the lives of multiple protagonists and tasking the player with advancing their stories in meaningful ways. The puzzles are fantastic, the characters are well realized, and the visuals are superb, making those brief moments of horror and terror extremely effective. It’s an experience that we fully recommend you go into with as little information as possible, as this will prove to be an incredibly memorable experience; one that can stand side by side with the Switch’s best visual novels.
