Shin Murasame (Free Survival Suspense) Introduction, Impressions, and Strategy Notes

This is an article introducing "Shin Murasame," an adventure game created with RPG Maker 2003.
I played "Hitomisaki," another work by the same author, Urata, and found it very enjoyable, so I decided to play this one as well.

I saw all the endings, and the total playtime was about four hours.
This game is short enough to play easily.

Game Overview

"Shin Murasame" is basically a game that progresses by reading text.
Depending on the scene, you may need to control a character to explore, or you may need to hide and avoid being seen by enemies.

However, it doesn't require a high level of action, so you can think of it as just a little something to keep players from getting bored.

Incidentally, this work is a version of "Murasame" with a new scenario added.
At the start of the game, you'll be given the option to unlock the "True Murasame Route," but it's recommended that you don't unlock it on your first playthrough.

In the "True Murasame Route," events unfolding behind the scenes of the main story are inserted alongside the progression of the main narrative.
Playing this after seeing the ending of the main story will likely bring new surprises.

The synopsis of "Shin Murasame" is as follows:

That's all for now.

The player controls two characters: a male student named Sezaki and a female student named Tsukimura.
The viewpoint automatically switches as the scenario progresses.
Furthermore, if you unlock the "True Murasame Route," another character's perspective will be added.

Review (no spoilers)

The engaging setting and unfolding of the story allowed me to play almost nonstop.
The events begin quickly, and the pacing of the dialogue is good, so like "Hitomisaki," it's designed to be stress-free.

The mini-games along the way, where you have to hide from enemies, weren't particularly difficult, but they were still tense.
There are many opportunities to save freely, so it's great that you can quickly restart even if you get a game over.

The ending I saw on my first playthrough was just one step away from the best ending.
However, by going back to an earlier scene and resetting the necessary flags, I was able to see the best ending.
If you save after every playable scene, you'll reach the save data limit of around 15 slots.
Therefore, it was easy to load and restart from the desired point, making the gameplay very user-friendly.

Playing the "True Murasame Route" revealed many new facts, which surprised me.
The main story alone is a complete work in itself, but the "True Murasame Route" adds even more depth, and it's amazing how it completely changes the impression of a certain character.

Even if you've only played "Murasame," I highly recommend playing "Shin Murasame" as well.
Even if you have the event skip function turned on, the scenes added in the "True Murasame Route" will not be skipped, so you don't have to worry about missing anything.

Strategy Notes (Contains Spoilers)

This is a memo of the journey to the TRUE END.

- In the chase scene in the meeting hall, you can escape through the kitchen window in the lower right after taking the screwdriver from the drawer in the upper left room.
I didn't understand this, and I kept getting killed by the guards at the entrance.

Once you can control your character inside a building, you should generally examine shelves and bookshelves.
Even if you've already researched a location in Sezaki, you might discover something new by researching it in Tsukimura (related to driver's licenses).

- When you enter the cave while controlling Shiozaki, you can obtain a uniform button by examining Iizuka's corpse.

- After you've made it to the final four-person party, head to the village mansion to reach the ending.
However, Shindo's body is located on the left side of the map, just south of the map where the bus is, so let's examine it.
Furthermore, we stop by the meeting place and examine Eto's body in the toilet, and Endo's body, the second from the left in the upper section.
Once you enter the village, be sure to examine the bodies of the students in the upper left corner.

If all the above actions trigger the necessary events, Tsukimura will not be killed and will start speaking.

Review (contains spoilers)

The situation of "getting lost in a village inhabited by murderers and having to run around trying to survive" kept me constantly on edge and made the story very interesting.
The fact that the opponent wasn't a supernatural phenomenon, but another human being, added to the realism.
The fact that it wasn't just a simple survival story, but that there was another culprit involved, made it very interesting.

And in the "True Murasame Route," the focus was on Takashima and Hosonami.
I was surprised because Takashima's abnormality was completely concealed in the main story.
I was impressed by how Takashima was actively working behind the scenes, yet it wasn't apparent in the main story, and yet everything still came together without any contradictions.

If I had to pick one thing, I liked the scene on the rooftop at the end where Hayami's notebook is discovered; you could really feel Takashima's acting in that moment.

Regarding the characters' personalities, I got the impression that they were rather understated.
However, personally, I interpret it as them doing it on purpose.

I think this game is designed to be a short, easy-to-play game with a playtime of about medium length.
In such works, if you try to make the characters' personalities stronger, you inevitably end up with a lot of character descriptions, which slows down the pace of the story.
If that's the case, you'll need to increase the descriptions of things other than the characters, otherwise the balance will be off, and as a result, it won't fit into a novella.

As I felt with "Hitomisaki," I think that in this work as well, the characters are somewhat symbolized to draw attention to the story and atmosphere.
As a result, I felt that the story progressed smoothly and that it was a well-balanced work that could be enjoyed by a wide range of people.

I've written at length and sounded rather arrogant, but my interpretation might be completely off the mark.
However, I really liked it, so I was able to enjoy playing it.