So there’s this game Umineko, right? Or “When The Seagulls Cry”, but no one calls it that. It is… probably my new favorite work of fiction, full stop.
It’s an episodic murder mystery visual novel in eight parts, each of which takes the same initial setup in a different direction. The incidents that play out in each episode are confusing, obfuscated, and not entirely solvable on their own- it’s as you play through more of them that you notice suspicious commonalities and pick up on key facts that put previous episodes into context. It’s all masterfully arranged and clever as hell, with twists that turn things upside down over and over again. All that plus killer music+sound design and some really fun meta stuff makes it an incredibly fun challenge to tackle, despite not technically being at all interactive.
Now- if that’s enough of a recommendation for you, here’s the Steam page, here’s an LP if you don’t want to spend money, go nuts. But… I want to go into a little more detail on why it’s so unique and worth playing, and that requires going a little bit into spoiler territory. Not major stuff, but… the main hook gets established halfway through episode 2, and it’s hard to talk about Umineko without talking about that hook. So, a readmore, if you’d rather go in blind, which I reccommend:
This is the first time I’ve seen a coherent explanation of what Umineko actually IS, and I’m kind of into it. It sounds a bit Phoenix-Wright-esque.
Brb putting it on my Steam wishlist.
The Ace Attorney influence is very explicit- one of Battler’s sprite poses is the Phoenix Wright Finger Point. It’s a bit cw: everything, though, especially gore and detailed and intense depictions of child abuse, so fair warning.
this looks really neat, but i’m very confused because there seem to be at least three games, one base and then “question arcs” and “answer arcs” and i have no idea which are which or which you’re talking about or whether they’re related or ???.
just moving along like everyone else 