Thank you Ratalaika Games for sending us this game to review!

Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair is a horror/mystery visual novel in which a string of murders takes place at an unsupervised Halloween party. The player takes on the role of Raiko Shinpuku, a very calm, rational, and levelheaded character. The whole scene takes place in a remote mountain resort owned by the party host’s dad, so it makes it somewhat easier for the murderer to commit their crimes. In America, these kids would be freshmen in high school, but in Japan, they’re in their last year of middle school.

Initially, Raiko has no intention of going to the party. As she’s an introvert, this makes sense. However, she was persuaded by her mother and her best friend of many years. The party starts out as a normal (adultless) party – antics and shenanigans galore. Then, the murder strikes – and it’s the player’s job to help deduce the culprit.

Gameplay-wise, it isn’t hard to do what needs to be done. All the controls are fairly straightforward (joystick to move cursor, A to click, etc). There are plenty of choices to keep things interesting, and to ensure the player can pick their path, as well as investigation scenes where there’s more of a point-and-click aspect. The player can click on an item multiple different times and be presented with a unique description each time. There’s a lot to discover in Shinrai.

The game has very dramatic music and sound effects – and it fits. The genre matches the audio quite well. I don’t know if I’d see myself buying the soundtrack, but that’s mostly because I just see it as visual novel music. I did enjoy it though. The writing is excellently done. While it is dark for obvious reasons, it really brings the player into the game’s world, and makes up for any flaws in the art.

Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair is well polished. The UI is very well thought out, and makes it very clear where everything is, as a UI should. But it also allows the player to access everything in one place (even from the main menu). There are also very few, if any, typos (and I’m notorious among those I know for spotting those kind of things, even in fully published works). I can’t remember any typos off the top of my head. However, when I was trying to follow a walkthrough to get all the endings, I accidentally made a wrong choice (according to the walkthrough) and the game crashed.

Graphically, the game is alright. I enjoyed the background art, but the character art leaves more to be desired. Anatomically, it’s generally fine, but the way the characters are shaded is a little off-putting, and took some getting used to. As an artist, I hated it at first, but as time passed, it grew on me. The sprites are expressive enough to where it doesn’t hinder the gameplay, and the drawings themselves are far from horrible.

The moral spectrum is when Shinrai starts to fall off the deep end. I’m surprised this game didn’t get an M rating from the ESRB. The stated reasons behind the rating are accurate, but are much more present than the T rating suggests.

One of the characters is a very open pervert, and is always talking about how he wants to have sex with people (and gender doesn’t matter to him). One time, Raiko walks up to him and accidentally catches him talking about porn. The host is also a somewhat concerning character. She made sure there were no adults around, and dressed very scantily for the occasion because she wants to try to have sex with her crush. (Obviously, it doesn’t work due to the string of murders, but she hints at wanting to try again at a Christmas party.) Another character also confesses to being a lesbian. There’s a point where she kisses Raiko on the cheek, and also a point where she expresses an interest in watching hentai with her (which, for those who don’t know, is basically a form of Japanese pornography). Raiko’s parents tease her about having a girlfriend, and about the fact that at least she won’t get pregnant (despite her not dating that character).

On top of that, there is constant cursing. There are bad words from all over the spectrum, from sucks to the F-bomb. The Lord’s name is constantly used in vain as well. Considering the premise, there’s also blood and violence. The dead bodies are shown in graphic detail, and there’s a point where it shows a character shoving a knife into another. Considering there is a Halloween element to this game, there are a few references to the Japanese occult, but nothing is actually performed.

Overall, Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair is a pretty good game for those who like horror. As someone who isn’t much of a horror fan, I still enjoyed it. However, this one is not for kids. In Europe, it’s rated as 16+, and that’s the rating that I’d recommend parents follow. A simple T doesn’t suffice.