Since then Danganronpa took the world by storm, we’ve seen waves of “game of death” headlines. You know the type. A person trapped in a situation. They need to exist. However, their success means that others may be destroyed. Izanagi Games is about to have three games in its catalog. All three suitable for the genre. However, after playing through the Switch demo of Yurukill: Calumination Game Released on the Japanese eShop, it’s off to an extremely strong start.
When you start Yurukill Switching the demo, it presents the player with two options. One will take you through the main story, while the other is a shooting focus point attack mode. The campaign has three difficulty levels, which apply to the spins and the ability to save. It kicks things off from the start. After the system “tests” the prisoner with an introduction to the auto-scrolling shooter, we meet Sengoku Shunju. He is serving a 999-year sentence for arson, leading to mass murder, after being framed. He has served 10 years so far. He wakes up in a cell on a boat, in complete darkness about where he is and what is happening. Turns out, he’s not the only one. Five other people were also there as Prisoners. They will compete in the Yurukill games for a chance to get free. As he was filling out his competing will, an unknown person in the cell next to him passed a piece of paper to confess to the crime he was doing.
From there, the situation became more and more interesting. These groups of Prisoners are competing for their freedom. The team behind Yurukill will get real (or fabricated) evidence for a new trial. Each person works with a Knife. Sengoku’s is a cold-hearted teenager named Rina. She’s there basically to work with him and spy on him, and she also has the ability to kill him at any moment. Everyone’s “sin” is revealed, they know that only one of the five groups will be truly free. The setup has quite a bit of potential. Immediately, people were encouraged to root for Sengoku and there was a curious feeling as to who to trust.
From that, Yurukill It basically feels like a mix of genres. During the story segments, the player can choose how Sengoku reacts to situations and when talking to people like Rina. In some situations, it’s a very typical “exhaust all options” scenario. Although when investigating an area, you may only have one choice. In demo Convert for Yurukill, Sengoku and Rina’s first stop is the House of Fire. As the name suggests, it is a burning attraction. There are three groups of rooms. In each, a robot acts as a gatekeeper. You cannot pass to the next block unless you make the request. So, for the first time, the robot wants to draw a diary with a picture. That means getting crayons and books. One person needs to solve puzzles to unlock each one. For example, one involves simple addition, while the other is a matching game. The area claims aren’t too taxing at first, but along the way it builds the story, revealing details about Sengoku and Rina’s past, and building Maji-Kill Time.
Although the two main types of games are exploration like adventure and shooting games, there is a section that puts the player “in the test”. Maji-Kill Time appears when the Executioner is ready to hit the kill button to end their Prisoner. When this happens, you need to answer four questions to which one answers each time. Your choices will increase the Executioner’s urge. If it crosses 99%, you die. In the midst of the House of Fire’s attraction, a secret about Rina’s past emerges and the player needs to navigate their first Maji-Kill with Sengoku. While it remains to be seen how the others will go, there are answers in the first round that seem reasonable enough to be “right”, but can still be “wrong”. It seems like it could be an effective means of amplifying stress. (Or, at least, to encourage regular savings beyond the autosave function.)
Switch demo for Yurukill: Calumination Game makes it look like Izanagi Games is putting together a lot of the good stuff in a way that could work well. There is a good flow between segments. Promising premise. It looks like it will also give those unfamiliar with shooters a chance to still enjoy the adventure elements. While it’s still a while before it all comes together, it looks like it could be a unique piece in a slowly evolving genre.
Yurukill: The Calumniation Games will be coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on May 25, 2022 in Japan. It will arrive in North America on July 5, 2022, and Europe on July 8, 2022. The demo available on the eShop offers story samples and score attack modes.
