Hazama Twilight (Free Retro Horror Novel) - Introduction and Review

Rather than utilizing beautiful and immersive sound, this horror novel features distinctive pixelated graphics and retro, NES-style background music, creating a unique and atmospheric experience.
That is this film, "Hazamatasogare".
I learned about this game from an article on "Mogura Games" and decided to play it.
The playtime was almost exactly as advertised, 8 hours, and it was very enjoyable.

Game Overview

This game is a visual novel where you progress by reading text.
It's a linear story with no choices, and you can't save your progress along the way.
However, this game consists of short episodes of about 10 minutes each, and your progress is saved after each episode ends.
Therefore, when continuing from where you left off, you will start playing from the beginning of each episode.

The episode break screen displays a summary of what has happened so far.
Since a screen like this is inserted after each episode, the game naturally has a good pace and rhythm.
When you resume playing, reading the synopsis will help you remember what happened.

What's distinctive about this game is the main game screen.
Character portraits, dialogue, and narrative text are separated into distinct windows.
This clearly distinguishes between the narrative text and the characters' dialogue, resulting in a fresh and engaging gameplay experience.
The design is reminiscent of the "film window" from my favorite adventure game, "The Silver Case" (which is now also available for PC).

Because text appears in various places on the screen and images change, you might find it a little difficult to see until you get used to it.
However, it's more stimulating than having the same text appear repeatedly in the same place, and it serves as a stimulus to keep the gameplay from becoming boring.

Furthermore, this work makes extensive use of difficult-to-read kanji characters, and those that are not commonly used (or are difficult to read) are displayed in color.
By clicking "Dictionary" on the screen, you can check the pronunciation and some interesting facts.
In addition, there are effects such as the letters themselves moving, and various intricate details have been incorporated into the design.
For example, the word "float" in the text literally floated up within the window, which was an interesting experiment.

Incidentally, to continue reading the text, you need to click on the "turning book" icon in the lower right corner of the screen, but you can also do so by placing the pointer there and pressing the Enter key.
This is useful for keyboard users.

Review (no spoilers)

This game has 45 episodes and a playtime of approximately 8 hours, making it a lengthy adventure game.
However, as I mentioned in the introduction, each episode is wrapped up at just the right point, making it very easy to read.
I've heard that the maximum amount of time a person can truly concentrate is about 30 minutes, but the episodes in this book can generally be read in about 15 minutes at most.
Therefore, I felt a little unsatisfied after each episode, which I believe was one of the reasons I was able to maintain a high level of motivation until the very end.
(Recently"Death Moon Youka"(A similar mechanism was used in this free, full-length visual novel game.)

Of course, the story itself was interesting, and I was gradually drawn in as I read on.
Whether you like a story or not will depend on your personal preferences.
However, it incorporated various elements such as fear, laughter, sadness, joy, and surprise, and I was able to enjoy it from beginning to end.
If you're even slightly interested, why not try playing just the first few episodes?

Review (contains spoilers)

I really enjoyed being immersed in the world of the work.
At first, I thought it was going to be a story about some kind of supernatural phenomenon where someone gets lost in a creepy, otherworldly place.
However, despite that, Yoko is examining various phenomena through logical thinking, which makes me think that this is not just a typical classic horror story.
Then, with Saki's appearance, the workings of the world were revealed quite easily, and I was surprised that the mechanism was different from the image of the work, being a sci-fi-like world setting.

Both Yoko and Kasumi are characters with quite logical thinking abilities, so once the sci-fi setting was revealed, it all made more sense to me.
The subsequent development and mechanics of the story were logical and convincing, and I was impressed by how well the emergence of the enemy forces was justified.
Unlike many horror movies where I often think, "Why is this character acting like this?", I never felt that same sense of unease. Instead, the excitement of wondering what would happen next lasted until the very end.

The final stages were quite exciting, with trick battles involving deception and even battles involving supernatural phenomena.
And the thrilling ending in "The Finale" was absolutely fantastic.
The continuation depicted in "Afterwards" is superfluous if the story is considered complete in "The Finale," but it leaves room for a sequel, so I was simply happy.

Looking back on what resonated with me most in this film, I realized it was the way the concept of "friendship" was portrayed.
At first, we found ourselves lost in a strange world, and our relationship was purely businesslike and cooperative.
The careful depiction of how they overcome difficulties and gradually develop their friendship resonated deeply with me.
Come to think of it, the mastermind's goal was also "friends,"If you were to ask me what the theme of this film is, I would answer that it is "friendship."

As an aside, seeing the last line of the title for episode 33, "Flowers, rain, and sun," made me feel happy for some reason.
That's because there's a PS2 game I really like with a similar name, called "Flowers, Sun, and Rain."
I like the works that Goichi Suda of Grasshopper Manufacture, the company that developed that game, has been involved in, so for some reason I started to associate "Hazama Tasogare" with that group of works.
The school horror elements of "Twilight Syndrome," the full moon and the horror of humanity in "Moonlight Syndrome," the film window in "The Silver Case," and the characters bearing the name "Flowers, Sun, and Rain."
Even if it was just a coincidence, it brought back feelings for a work I loved, and made me feel somewhat sentimental.