Midday Darkness (Free Psycho-Suspense Novel Game) Introduction, Impressions, and Analysis

The other day, I read an article about this game, "Midday Darkness," on the review site "Mogura Games."
Since it's a suspense game, which is one of my favorite genres, I became interested after reading this review and decided to play it.
This game has an intriguing plot that keeps you wanting to know what happens next, and it's a manageable length that makes it easy to read in one go.

introduction

Game Overview

This game is basically a visual novel where you progress by reading text.
The first thing that catches the eye is its distinctive interface.
When you start the game, a desktop screen resembling an older version of Windows appears.
On your desktop, you'll find shortcuts such as "Game_Start.exe" and "Game_Load.exe," and you can start the game by clicking on them.
In other words, the main game will unfold as a "game within a game."
I will consider the meaning of this later.

Graphics and sound

Because this work itself is designed in the style of a retro game, the event illustrations are also intentionally made in that style.
The art style is reminiscent of old PC games, but it matches the atmosphere of the story and has a unique charm.
Regarding the background music, there are many tracks that effectively match the suspense genre, creating a sense of unease and tension.
The music has a retro feel, but it blends well with the graphics, creating a sense of unity.

story

The protagonist is a 10-year-old girl named Hiruma Misa, who lives with her older sister.
Because her older sister went missing, she was taken into police custody and received treatment from counselor Kazu Kuregata.
I feel that the highlights of the work are the process and development of the incident, and the darkness that the characters harbor.
This is not a lighthearted or cheerful story; rather, it's a work permeated with a consistently gloomy and decadent atmosphere.

The questions asked to the player at the start of the game determine whether the episode unfolds from Misa's perspective or a third-person perspective.
There are eight episodes (plus one bonus episode), but since they are prepared from different perspectives, there are actually 16 episodes in total.
In my case, it took me about 6 to 7 hours to complete the game.
While it doesn't offer the same kind of appeal as a whodunit mystery, this is a high-quality suspense story that will keep you hooked, and I would recommend it to fans of visual novels.

Impressions and strategy notes (contains spoilers)

No matter which episode you start reading from, it will all end at episode 5.
Once you've read through to episode 5 from both perspectives, you'll be able to view the subsequent episodes.
The password for the document is not very difficult.
(Password: The Tama City incident occurred in 2028, and the young man committed the crime in 2015.)

I started by reading from Misa's perspective, and Kurekata's suspicious nature was portrayed very well.
In the scene where they go out for dinner on her birthday, he frowns at Misa's behavior, which makes it seem like he's just playing the role of a gentle person.
Therefore, when I read the episode from a third-person perspective, I wasn't particularly surprised that Kureha was the culprit.
Even so, I think I enjoyed it more than reading the third-person perspective first, so I think I read them in a good order.

Each character has a dark side, and the story realistically shows us that people aren't always what they seem.
Her older sister, Utage, distances herself from Misa's mother because of her own feelings, and she is also angry at her father for remarrying.
It's incredibly disheartening to think that what he was doing was for the best, yet it ended up creating a mental block in his beloved sister.
The episodes in the latter half are also rather bleak, depicting Misa's mental state as a reflection of her own.

Nevertheless, the episodes told from the perspective of the murderer, Kei Kurekata, were very interesting as suspense stories from the killer's point of view.
I felt that an ending where the truth is not revealed and Misa and Kei escape together would be a more natural conclusion.

Analysis (contains spoilers)

Now, while this work is simply enjoyable as a regular read, I'd also like to consider the significance of it being presented in the form of a game.
This might just be my own overthinking or misunderstanding, so please take it with a grain of salt.

First, it is revealed within the game that this game (the part concerning the episode) is based on Misa's memoirs and journalist Tanabe's interviews.
In other words, the parts concerning the episode are based on Misa's subjective descriptions and are highly likely to contain inaccuracies.
Therefore, the episodes from Misa's perspective and the third-person perspective are unreliable, as they were written by Misa.
(This can be inferred from the fact that regardless of which perspective the episode is from, an afterword saying "This work is..." appears at the end.)

So, when considering which information is factual, it seems reasonable to assume that documents outside the game, such as "DOCUMENTS," represent objective facts.
Therefore, only non-game sources are reliable.
I believe we should be skeptical of any information that is not explicitly stated in these documents.
Below, I will consider some of the documents that seem important.

Analysis of the materials

- "Newspapers of the time".bmp」
It appears that such an incident did indeed occur,Since this is a juvenile case, the name of the arrested boy is not listed.
We need to be cautious about whether this incident was truly caused by Kei.
In the episode, when Josuke confronts Kei with the article, it reads, "A boy (11) was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a girl residing in Hino City."
The "newspaper from that time" in the document states that the boy was a 13-year-old from Tama City, which is a discrepancy and raises questions.

・"Asame.mp3"
It appears that Kei and Josuke are indeed father and son, and their names are even listed on the elementary school roster.
However, it's unclear whether Kei killed Josuke, as there's no evidence or even a body, and it's not even certain if he's actually dead.
Furthermore, it seems that Josuke had feelings for Utage, and he wasn't seen interacting with Misa very often.
In the episode, Misa and Josuke often converse, but it's possible that everything they say is merely Misa's wishful thinking or delusion.
Considering this, it's possible to conclude that Jousuke's disappearance was a suicide resulting from Utage's death.

・「2027/07.mp3」
This is a phone conversation between Utage and her father.
It's clear that Utage is somewhat unilaterally rejecting her father's offer, and that Misa is quite determined not to become like her mother.
It's unclear whether he died in a traffic accident afterward, or whether Misa didn't know the truth and therefore depicted his death.

・Papa_facebook.html
This post was written by my father in November 2027.
In the episode, the father is said to have died in a car accident in July, so we need to think about that a little.

If she is truly dead, then Utage is faking it to avoid saddening Misa.
However, in that case, it remains questionable whether she would bother writing an article that hints at life insurance or introductions to potential remarriage partners.

If a character isn't actually dead, why is they treated as dead in the episode?
It's also possible that Misa simply doesn't know the truth.
However, I think she couldn't accept the reality that her father didn't come to pick her up for Mass, so she pretended he was dead.
I think the reason they didn't come to pick him up was because Utage strongly objected, but the fact that they still didn't come even after Utage's death leaves me with some questions.

・「01/18.mp3」
This is likely an audio recording of Misa after episode 8.
Since it states that the person is still alive, it can be trusted for now.
Based on the content, it's unclear whether Kei is still alive or not.

・"Summary of the incident.docx」
This is an overview of the Tamagawa incident, which forms the main plot of the game.
It appears to be true that there was a case of body disposal at a banquet.
However, it's important to note that the police, who were investigating both the possibility of homicide and suicide, ultimately concluded it was a suicide.

Furthermore, it is written that Jōsuke's biological father is Kei Kurekata, and that his mother is remarried.
However, even if we can confirm that Kei Kurekata and Josuke are father and son, we still don't know if Kurekata is the boy who committed the assault.
The reporter's notes only say, "Boy A = Kei Kurekata?"

Hypothesis 1

This theory questions whether Utage was truly murdered and instead explores the possibility that it was actually a suicide.
While there are few facts that can be inferred from the documents, even that can reveal a lot.
The biggest question is whether the disappearance of Utage was actually a murder case in the first place.

What I found strange was the question of whether a cautious Kurai would commit a crime at Misa and Utage's house and then transport the body there.
In the illustrations within the episode, there appears to be blood-like substance on the floor, along with drag marks.
However, the documents do not mention anything like that, so we don't know if the situation at the scene was really like that.
It's possible that Utage's death was indeed a suicide.
Perhaps Misa distorted her memories in this way because she didn't want to believe that she was the cause of the suicide.

Furthermore, in a conversation with a reporter, it was revealed that Kureha had been controlling those around her, which was the reason why people around her became cold towards her after the incident.
This, too, can be seen as Shizusa shifting blame based on her own assumptions.
The interactions with Josuke are also depicted in a way that suits the author's own convenience, and there are clear intentions to portray the author as not being at fault in many places.
If we consider this,The reason Misa created this game was to give the impression that everything wasn't her fault, but rather the fault of Kurekata and those around her.That would be the case.
One could say that they simply provided a story that was easy for the public to understand.

Hypothesis #2

Another possibility is that Misa killed Utage.
The motive is jealousy because Jousuke has feelings for Utage.
However, it would be difficult for Misa to kill Utage, and she has no way of transporting him.
There is testimony that a suspicious car was parked there before Misa returned home, but this may or may not be related to the incident.

One of the reasons I'm drawn to the theory that Misa was the main culprit is that this film shares the same title as the Japanese film "Darkness at Noon."
The Japanese film "Darkness at Noon" tells the story of a lone perpetrator who, in order to lessen his sentence, frames an acquaintance as an accomplice (according to Wikipedia).
If we consider it that way,This raises the suspicion that the game is designed to lessen the severity of Misa's own crimes by pinning the blame on Kurekata.
If we assume, based on the document "01/18.mp3," that Kei is dead, then it makes sense that he blamed everything, including the incident at the banquet and his current circumstances, on Kurekata.

Summary of observations

Considering everything, it seems a bit far-fetched to think that Misa killed Utage.
The reason is that it would be virtually impossible for an elementary school student to go missing and then have their body found later.
While there's a slim possibility that Kurekata helped out, it would be unlikely unless Kurekata and Misa were already acquainted.

The next possibility is that Utage really was a suicide.
This would also be consistent with the fact that the document states that it was "confirmed to be a suicide."
Furthermore, it's understandable why Misa, who believes she is responsible for Utage's suicide, would try to evade responsibility through the game.
However, it becomes difficult to explain why Kei Kurekata took over Misa.
If Utage's death was a suicide, then leaving Misa alone in the evening should not pose any danger.
I think the weakness of the reasoning here is a major drawback.

The last thing to consider is that Kei Kurekata is the one who killed Utage.
In this case, the question arises as to why Misa chose to leave her story in the form of a game.
Since Fukasa made a statement to the effect that she would give it to anyone who wanted a story that the public would find convincing, it's possible that she simply crafted it into an easy-to-understand narrative.
And it seems that he slightly altered the parts and details concerning Jōsuke to suit his own purposes.
While this theory may lack a bit of impact, it's the most logical and simplest explanation.
That's why I find it difficult to simply accept this as the truth.

I have written at length about my rather speculative thoughts.
The introductory article by Mogura Games, which I mentioned at the beginning of this article, was so suggestive that I played and analyzed the game with a degree of skepticism.
Regardless of whether they're correct or not, I thoroughly enjoyed writing down various theories while considering them.
If there are any players who have their own theories, I would love to hear them.

As a side note, and unrelated to the main storyline, I'd like to share one of my favorite lines from this work.
"I understand helping someone walk because they broke their leg, but being kind to someone because they broke their leg is different."
This is a line in which Kei criticizes Utage for "hypocrisy."
I feel like I've gained some new insights into how to interact with people with disabilities.