Would you kill someone because they might try to kill you? That’s the question I found myself asking in Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. My friend had just died mysteriously, her body cold behind me. I’d recently learned about curses and become a curse bearer, and here comes this mysterious guy trying to convince me to give him my curse stone. I think not. Yes, I know this probably sounds awfully confusing right now.
Curse stones allow you to kill someone who fulfils your stone’s requirement at the press of a button. For my Whispering Canal curse stone, someone just has to ‘leave me behind’ — walk away from me essentially — and they’ll die of drowning right then and there. If I gave this guy my stone, he could kill me as soon as I left. Knowing there are other curse bearers with their own requirements, he could kill me another way for all I know. That’s how I found myself stuck in a weird game of chicken throughout this narrative adventure, which sees various characters trying to collect soul dregs with curse stones so that they can resurrect a person of their choosing.
I’d already caught him out in a lie. He was far too sus to trust. The minute he tried persuading me to turn around, I was convinced that was something to do with his curse requirement, so I wouldn’t budge in fear of losing my own mortality. The longer it played out, the more paranoid I became. It was like waiting to see who would blink first. As soon as I convinced him to leave, I cursed him. Better him than me, right?
You’ll find yourself facing this conundrum constantly in Paranormasight, thinking twice about your every move should you accidentally fulfil a requirement while scrutinising every line of conversation. You won’t always make the right choice, and sometimes you’ll find that your poor decisions lead to your untimely demise.
Some deaths are unavoidable, and there’s no possible way you could have known what to do until you experience your opponent’s curse or learn whether someone is trustworthy or not. Fortunately, you can replay each segment and learn from your mistakes, though even after death, it’s not always crystal clear where you went wrong. There was one death in particular that I was doomed to repeat multiple times as I just couldn’t fathom how to change my fate. The solution, however, had me applauding the game for its out of the box thinking, rather than angrily muttering annoyances. I haven’t seen something this clever since Hotel Dusk: Room 215 on the Nintendo DS, and I’d be a fool for spoiling its brilliance for others.
Unfortunately, this incredible puzzle happens far too early, and in a few ways, the gameplay peaks too soon. The opening character arc has the best puzzles and the most deaths, resulting in a concentrated rush of grisly storytelling and satisfying puzzle design. It’s not that the puzzles that follow are bad — there were still several that had me thoroughly stumped — but you can’t help but continue through the game with an expectation that you’ll stumble across another solution that blows your mind. You can’t be impressed by the same ruse twice. Much like peeking behind the curtain of a magician’s trick, once you solve a solution to a certain curse, the magic is gone.
While the opening hits hard to reel you in with murder, mystery, and magic, the sprawling narrative told from multiple character viewpoints does a fantastic job weaving an intricately layered plot that has you eager to discover the truth. After the first arc concludes, you unlock other curse bearer paths in the Story Chart to pursue. You hop between them periodically to progress, with some unable to be continued until you’ve reached a certain point with another character. At other times, you’ll need information gleaned from another or to move other characters into the correct location before you can continue. You might guess a plot twist or two, but there’s no way you’ll figure it all out alone. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ll get stumped on the biggest puzzle of them all — the true ending.
Multiple endings can be unlocked, and it’s easy to identify branching paths as the Story Chart shows you when another outcome is available. However, if you end the game dissatisfied, it’s likely because you didn’t truly finish it.
I couldn’t help but marvel at the game’s mechanical prowess. It’s a visual novel hybrid, so you’re dealing with the usual 2D character models, but the Showa Japan setting utilises gorgeous, three-dimensional backgrounds. Even mid-conversation, you can pan around to look for clues or information vital to puzzles and narrative. I can’t remember the last time I used the Nintendo Switch touchscreen like this, even if the constant on-screen cursor became a bit annoying.
There’s a sense of foreboding dread as you pan across each environment, hoping that you’ll stumble across a vital clue while avoiding a paralyzing jumpscare. Even when I knew it was coming, it still sent a chill down my spine. A particular section has you panning left and right to hide behind a tree to avoid being seen, though naturally, when you pan to the left to hide, you can’t see your targets either, so it’s a guessing game of how long to wait before making your move.
Paranormasight’s stellar graphic novel aesthetic is paired effectively with its cinematic presentation. The angles it uses for shots, the way scenes and characters are framed, how it switches between first and third-person view, and the way scenes transition and incorporate player movement of camera angles — it’s all very dramatic. The striking art style, expressive character models, and suspenseful shots and angles exude an effortless style that leaves a lasting impression.
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a masterclass in puzzle-solving, utilising Japanese folk tales to root around to unravel a murder-filled mystery — what more could you want? The captivating narrative, challenging gameplay, and stylish presentation make this one of my favourite games this year.
Score: 4.5/5. A Nintendo Switch code was provided by the publisher.