Kamikakushi no Yoru (Free Mystery Visual Novel) - Introduction and Review

When it comes to works that brought the "sound novel" genre to public attention, the first one that comes to mind for me is "Kamaitachi no Yoru."
My first game was "Otogirisou," but the first game I ever played on the Super Famicom was "Kamaitachi no Yoru."
Since I was little, I wasn't able to solve the mystery properly, and I remember having frightening experiences trying to solve it over and over again.
Even when I knew who the culprit was through the bad ending, I struggled to reach the point where I could name the culprit.

Now, this work, "Kamikakushi no Yoru," is a work that pays homage to "Kamaitachi no Yoru."
It is a visual novel created with TyranoScript and is billed as a "self-proclaimed authentic mystery sound novel."
This is a game I'd recommend to anyone who likes "Kamaitachi no Yoru" or other mystery games.
The total time it took to complete the game was approximately 3 hours.

Game Overview

University student Shinichiro Iwatsuki, while climbing the Northern Alps with members of his mountaineering club, is caught in a fierce blizzard.
The members take refuge in a nearby cave to spend the night, but that's where the incident occurs.

This game, "Kamikakushi no Yoru," is a visual novel with choices that begins with this introduction.
The story unfolds differently depending on your choices, and there are multiple endings.
One of the great things about this genre is the enjoyment players get from trying to deduce the culprit and figure out the truth themselves, just like in a mystery novel.

In this game, "Kamikakushi no Yoru," you cannot save or load at any point in the game.
The game automatically saves at the beginning of each chapter and immediately after you make a choice, which means you can concentrate on reading.
This is based on the specifications of "Kamaitachi no Yoru" for the Super Famicom.
When you resume, you can start from the beginning, continue, or from the beginning of each chapter.

Other features include the display of an exclamation mark (!) for important options.
Your choices may influence future events or even directly impact the ending, so choose carefully.

Additionally, you can skip already-read text by holding down the Ctrl key.
This is useful when you want to replay a section or change your choices.

Review (no spoilers)

As a story, it was a full-fledged mystery novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Especially after the incident occurs, the story unfolds with great tension, making it impossible to put down until the very end.
The story's structure and development are heavily influenced by "Kamaitachi no Yoru," so those who have played that game will likely find themselves grinning at many points.
I think you can enjoy it even if you haven't played it before.

There are a total of seven endings, plus one bonus scenario.
To read the bonus scenario, you must first unlock the other six endings.
However, you can jump to a walkthrough site from the in-game menu, so I don't think you'll have too much trouble collecting everything.
After clearing the game, several flashback scenarios and additional scenes featuring the culprit will be added to the main story.
Don't be satisfied with just collecting all the endings; I highly recommend using features like the skip function to check out the additional scenes as well.

Review (contains spoilers)

This section contains spoilers, including the identity of the culprit.
If you haven't played the game yet, please be aware of spoilers in this section.

Now, when I first saw ED1 "Great Wish Fulfillment," my head was initially filled with "???".
I thought at least Tatsumi was the culprit, or one of the culprits.
Therefore, when Tatsumi came towards me, I thought, "Ah, I knew it."

However, I never imagined the protagonist would be an accomplice, so I felt quite outsmarted.
Because it draws on "Kamaitachi no Yoru" in many ways, I neglected to consider the possibility of an "unreliable narrator."

Without realizing it, I had ruled out the protagonist as a suspect.
Furthermore, the fact that two people were initially missing meant that the possibility of them being the culprits couldn't be ruled out, making the situation quite complicated.

Tatsumi took the lead from the start and made decisions about everyone's actions at various points.
Therefore, I had a feeling that the person was either the culprit or someone cooperating with (or being forced to cooperate with) the culprit.
On the first day, I was the only one who didn't drink alcohol, and even the banana cake on the second day was something I prepared myself.

I thought Misaki was an accomplice.
I thought that Misaki would be able to handle various things, such as helping by mixing sleeping pills into food.
And in the end, I thought he was killed by his accomplice, Tatsumi.

Just before Misaki was killed, the rules of the guard were explained in such detail that I thought there might be some intricate time-delay trick involved, but the truth was that the protagonist and Tatsumi were accomplices.
I thought they killed him at the exact moment of the change of "point," but that wasn't the case.

If Shinichiro was the culprit, it would have been easy for him to mix sleeping pills into the unopened bottle of alcohol on the first night.
I think the alcohol wasn't unopened, and that the person who mixed it in had done so.

According to Risa's recollections, Tatsumi and Shinichiro went together to submit the climbing permit.
Considering that they went to submit the climbing permit themselves instead of having the department head do it, the contents of the climbing permit are likely different from what was communicated to the other club members.
It's likely they're submitting the report with a longer timeframe to avoid a search party coming.

The detailed motivations of Tatsumi and Shinichiro were not really explained in the main story, but were revealed in flashbacks and bonus scenarios.
It was a mystery novel, but it might be unusual that there are no scenes in the main story where the detective actually solves a mystery.
(Although Risa does have her own deductions.)

The scene where Risa stabs him with a stock is an homage to "Kamaitachi no Yoru" and I think it's a traumatic scene that's etched in the memories of many players.
I remember this scene well because I myself reached it many times in the "Survival Game" chapter of "Kamaitachi no Yoru."

The bonus scenarios have an atmosphere that feels separate from the main story, but they are also set in a continuum.
This volume contains information from Tatsumi that wasn't revealed in the main story, so it's definitely worth reading.
It's a pretty chaotic story with ghosts appearing, crude and meta jokes, characters going completely out of character, and Risa turning into Arcueid.
Although it was just a bonus scenario, I could sense that the writer was having the most fun writing it, and above all, I was able to finish it feeling happy.