"Crimson Memories of Water Burial" Review and Walkthrough (Free Software Novel)

This time, I'd like to introduce, provide a walkthrough for, and share my impressions of the free game "Akai Tsuioku no Suisou" (Crimson Memories of Water Burial), which was released on May 2, 2018.
The first half will be spoiler-free, while the second half will contain some spoilers.

Game Introduction

As a game, it follows a very orthodox sound novel format.
A character portrait and text will be displayed in a text box at the bottom of the screen.
There are several choices along the way that affect the branching ending.
The "About the Game" section in the game folder contains the following synopsis:

"I died that day, in that world." —This is the story of a young detective girl.
A black-haired girl named Shizuri, who calls herself the "Detective of the Moment," appears before me, who has lost my memory.
She invited me to recuperate at a Western-style mansion deep in the mountains called "Beni-tei," but
That night, a bizarre incident occurs in which a servant is murdered by an unknown assailant.
The "Detective of the Moment" series, a full-fledged mystery novel where blood and madness intertwine, begins.
That's basically the gist of it.
The graphics are beautiful, and the music and other elements are well-suited to each scene, so there was no sense of incongruity.

While the essence of a game isn't its visuals, beautiful visuals definitely make you want to try playing it.
The font is easy to read, and it gives the impression of being carefully crafted.
The official website states that the game takes 3-4 hours to play, but in my case, it took a total of about 5 hours.
It's not a very long game, so I think you can play it all in one go.

However, since there is no skip function to distinguish between read and unread text, skipping through sections when restarting from the beginning was a bit of a hassle.
The skip button only works when held down, and the speed in auto mode cannot be changed, so it couldn't be used as a substitute for a pseudo-skip function.

thoughts(Spoilers ahead)

I played it and enjoyed it.
The core trick for the players, "recreating the incident," was unexpected and surprising.
As far as I know, this is the first time since "EVER17".

The trick regarding the narrator's gender wasn't particularly unusual, but I hadn't paid much attention to it, so I was fooled.
However, since the narrator's gender isn't central to the trick in this story, the surprise feels somewhat isolated, which is a little disappointing.
Furthermore, since there was no room for speculation about the culprit's motive, having everything explained from the beginning after the true culprit was identified felt a bit redundant.

However, I appreciated how carefully the film depicted the perpetrator's justifiable reasons for committing the crime.
The fact that the characters are explored in more depth in the "Special Chapter" after clearing the game shows a desire to treat the characters the creators have created with care.

It was described as the "Detective of the Moment" series, so I'm curious to know if there will be a sequel.
This work keeps players engaged not only with the mystery of the incident itself, but also with the combination of the narrator's true identity and the reenactment of the incident as part of the game's setting.
If a sequel is made, I think the mystery of the case itself needs to be made even more elaborate and well-developed.
The detective's abilities are quite strong, so it seems difficult to create a case unless the circumstances are very unusual...

The author states that this is their first time creating a visual novel game.
I imagine it takes a lot of courage and is incredibly difficult to complete and release your first work from start to finish.
I've also mentioned some points of dissatisfaction, but these are just my personal opinions and preferences.
Please forgive me.