Reseñas

• gamedeal user

  Dec 27, 2021

  The game has potential but is bogged down by so many issues that sour the experience. I'm going to list mine. You cannot click to make text scroll faster, so you have to wait for every single line of dialogue to load in before you can progress to the next line. For a fast reader, this is not fun. "Went to Location A" - prepare to see text like this EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. You move from one place to another. If I had 10 cents for every time I saw this line of text, I'd probably make back the money I spent on this game. And you can't skip this text either. One of my biggest issues is with the Live or Die minigames(?). A lot of the time, either the answer is so obvious because the game literally tells you the answer 2 seconds before the minigame triggers, or there is no way for you to know the answer other than by guessing or Googling. I expected to be collecting clues in my investigation and piecing a mystery together in order to be able to survive these little Live or Die moments. But these were a MASSIVE let down. They either tell you the answer, or you just pick an option and hope for the best. There is no actual investigation, no deduction, nothing. A complete waste. They're also extremely random and unnecessary, like they were only included to increase the runtime of the game or justify it being at the price it is. You could be walking through a forest when suddenly a ghost grabs your ankle and triggers a Live or Die for no real reason whatsoever. It's never addressed after the incident, so it's like it never happened. Or you could be walking through a tunnel when a sudden beeping noise triggers another Live or Die, and you have to point at a part of your body in order to... not drop dead? What? Seriously, what is the point of these sections? Did they outsource the writing of these Live or Die sections to a group of writing interns or something? They feel completely out of place and are not even well-written or suspenseful. Confronting the spirits also more or less plays out like this too. You have a load of items in your inventory, with more than 80% of them being completely useless or irrelevant. Like with Live or Die, the game either straight up tells you what you need to do or they don't tell you anything at all and force you to guess or use a guide. And anytime you die to a spirit, you have to restart all the way from the very beginning, sit through multiple unskippable animations of the spirit showing up, making their spooky sound effects or whatever and advancing towards you with the speed of a tortoise. The game really likes wasting your time like this. In doing so, it loses any sort of suspense or tension - it just feels tedious and frustrating and like it wasn't even playtested. By the fifth time the same spirit slowly lumbers towards you, you're not even scared anymore, you just want it over and done with. The spirits' stories are also poorly explained in some cases. I still have no idea what really happened to the spirits in 2 and 4 other than it being mentioned that they were both kinda psycho and unsympathetic (so why am I trying to help them pass on peacefully? Neither of them deserve it). Meanwhile, the stories for spirits 1 and 3 are basically shoved in your face - there's no investigation or putting together of clues, the game just straight-up tells you what their stories are. Character sprites are severely lacking. I love when a character reacts to something with sadness or concern while staring at me with a giant smile on their face. I still have no idea what purpose the Stats screen served in this game. You can see characters' intelligence or dexterity stats or whatever - it serves literally ZERO purpose. Why even include it? And no, it cannot be said that they're meant to help you figure out who to bring with you on a case because the game basically tells you who you need to bring with you anyway. "Oh, this spirit has something to do with music? I sure hope one of your companions knows how to play music!" "Oh, you're about to face the spirit in the final confrontation? Don't pick this lady because she straight up told you she'll be useless in the final fight." The game needs to do less telling and shoving information like this in my face. I'm not figuring anything out for myself, I'm just clicking what the game prompts me to like I'm on Dora the Explorer. Even better, I've just finished Chapter 5 and learned I don't even get to start Chapter 6 unless I save every single Mark Bearer, which means replaying from Chapter 2 onwards and sitting through hours of painful Live or Die segments and fumbling my way through locations at a snail's pace trying to collect all the items I need. I really wish I refunded this game. I've seen reviews saying that the second game is not as good as the first one. Having played this much of the first game and seen the whole of the second game on YouTube, I honestly think the second game is better. The second game has better music, slightly better Live or Die sections, better art, better character sprites etc. It's still not great, but it seems like a more fleshed out experience than this one is. If you want this game... I'd recommend you get the second one. But if you still want this one, WAIT FOR A SALE. A big sale, preferably.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 20, 2022

  This game lured me in with an interesting plot and polished looking art, but ultimately I have to give up on it because of a combination of frustrating movement and puzzle-solving mechanics, and the incredibly uncomfortable sexualisation of tortured female bodies. To go into more detail, when you move around the map, you move relative to the direction you entered the square from. In Chapter 2 this quickly leads to getting easily turned around as most of the backgrounds for each area look the same, and when you come to a crossroads it's difficult to keep track of which path leads to which area. I nearly put the game down in Chapter 1, where I was convinced that I had soft-locked myself and an event wasn't triggering as it should. It turns out, (spoiler) that I needed to go back to a certain area, and examine and search every single corpse in the room despite the dialogue being the same for each one, except the very last corpse (end spoiler). This and other puzzles were either extremely obtuse or extremely obvious, with characters telling you in highlighted text how to solve it moments before. When I saw the warnings for the game having sexual themes and nudity, I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was in context. I can deal with nakedness, ghosts, and naked ghosts, but what I got was fully rendered CGs of women being in sexual poses, undressed, while being mutilated by thorns or drilled with holes. It was incredibly uncomfortable, and not in the fun way horror media likes to provoke. I felt grossed out by the fanservice-y way these female characters were depicted, especially the underage teenage schoolgirl. Maybe if it had happened once, I could have brushed it off as a way to be deliberately shocking by juxtaposing sex and horror, but it became clear that this was going to be a recurring theme. Naturally, male characters never received the same treatment. I wish I could have liked the game, the visual novel and point and click aspects should have been a fun combination. And it did genuinely spook me at points! I think I would have been more upset if I had bought it at full price, even if I had the patience to deal with the annoying mechanics there's a lack of polish and care in this game's visuals and translation that wouldn't make it worth the money. I can't recommend it even on sale.
• gamedeal user

  May 14, 2022

  Love the game and the artwork, cgi is amazing and voices are very on point ^^ 10/10 would recommend this game to friends
• gamedeal user

  Apr 28, 2023

  Spirit Hunter: Death Mark is the first entry into the Spirit Hunter series, and it is a fantastic 10-15 hour long visual novel, investigation and puzzle game. Thematically, visually and in regards to story telling there is much praise to be given. There isn't any spoilers here as to the overarching story, only that of what you learn in the introductory minutes and/or on the steam store. The first and most interesting factor for me (and the reason I picked this game up in the first place) was the visuals and general setting. The game takes place in Tokyo 'H City', meaning expect to see designs and areas that fit this urban Japan aesthetic, throughout areas like sewers, schools, forests, shrines and their associated liminal spaces. The reason I purchased this game was because I love Japanese urban legend, as well as horror games which involve a party or character in a realm or area that is controlled/haunted by a spirit or similar. The avoidance and violence and instead resolving the situation by finding out the nature of the haunting - why the spirit has been tethered to that location and why it's hostile - makes the atmosphere even more tense. This style of horror is my favourite, and it's rare to find any game like it. Corpse Party is the other game which fits this - there's a degree of powerlessness that is present with your characters and that is what I love - combined with some very Japanese style ghosts and demons, both in terms of their visuals reflect famous urban legends and how they operate on the mortal plane. Secondly, the mix of gameplay is that of visual novel, investigation sequences and a pseudo-battle minigame which can be likened to that of Ace Attorney's cross-examinations and Danganronpa's bullet sequences. Whilst it isn't similar in regard to interrogating a statement, it's similar in regards that you have to use items and information you've gathered in your previous investigation in tandem with the correct characters and order to 'win' the fight - achieving either the good or normal ending, which involves either peacefully resolving the spirit's qualms or killing the spirit,respectively. If you achieve the good ending for every case, you will be given the good (and true) ending for the epilogue chapter. The game generally fits into the following flow: gain information on a spirit through some means, possibly meet associated characters, investigate the spirit's area of haunting, find items, information to the spirit's presence and what could be keeping it there. Once you reach the 'battle' sequence, you must figure out how to violently or peacefully purge the spirit by figuring out it's weaknesses and it's grudge against the mortal plane. This could be something like a deep personal hatred for something or deep insecurity, or may involve returning an important item or fulfilling a spirit's wish that it had before becoming one. There are other parts like Life Or Death choices that are present which again, require you to have either general knowledge or memory of previously acquired information or character advice to pass them. This could be as simple as 'Don't say or do a certain thing in front of the spirit' or could be more complex like understanding how a particular name or word is read. Either way, I think the developers have found a good gameplay balance here. The investigations do not feel too long nor too basic, it feels like you are indeed exploring a haunted location and you can slowly piece things together as you do. The overall battle sequence introduces a fine little spin on the climax of the chapter. The partner system is also interesting, though sometimes it feels difficult to predict what partner will be good. Every character has a stat number in things like Strength, Dexterity, Spirit power etc, which decides whether they will succeed in doing certain actions. For example, there is a check where you can ask your partner to pray for you when you get attacked by a lone spirit not the big villains, but just a minor one you can find, and if your partner is particularly attuned to spirit power then they will succeed in praying and removing that spirits threat. As for the third, the story and characters are good. The story is especially intriguing albeit a bit limited in scope. I prefer it like this, as it really makes you feel isolated which is key both to the plot and to the player experience. There are usually 2-3 characters per case, with some permanent names showing up in information. The story starts off with your character showing up to a mansion, with little memories remaining, not even knowing his name. He know's he is there to see someone who works with spirits, but nary else. The main concern of the game is the titular 'Death Mark' that you and the characters have. The death mark is effectively a mark given by a spirit which will kill the person by a certain dawn, unless the spirit is dealt with. The game follows the main character trying to find what spirit gave him the death mark and helping others along the way. This culminates into something larger however, as you realise a consistency between the cases you cover. The characters involved are usually likeable, though some don't get screentime due to the nature of the partner system, in any case, they all had a defined personality, with many having realistic reactions to the death mark situation that they find themselves in. There is little conflict between characters, instead most of that development is left with characters interacting with you. The world and story are particularly interesting, and I am very excited to see what kind of style of ghost story is done in Spirit Hunter NG or Death Mark 2. Overall, I really wish game developers delved into the Japanese supernatural and urban legends more. This also applies to this style of horror game which involves a cast of characters getting stuck or being forced to enter an area that is controlled by a spirit. The puzzle solving that you have to do and the tenseness of some of the scenes, combined with the gruesome and FANTASTIC art design in this game makes it an experience like none other. Just like Corpse Party, I think this game does really well in setting up for a situation for characters to truly show their colours and to show their struggle against the vengeful spirits. I feel like this style of ghost game is much better than the generic Slender 8 Pages (or the Japanese Equivalent) as it doesn't rely on chase sequences or tedious stealth systems to make up it's gameplay, instead, rewarding the players for being investigative and active in their role makes for a very fun experience. My most major complaints with this game are the settings, which to experienced visual novel readers, is such a basic thing. That is, namely, lack of auto-scroll options (such as speed) and, my biggest gripe, the inability to skip a line. Instead, you are forced to watch a line slowly unveil itself - whereas other games you can press A to begin the line, and then press A again to force the entire line of text to appear, meaning you don't have to limit yourself to the system's speed. The only way you can achieve this is with the skip function which skips the entire line, and then, if necessary, reading it via the chat log. To summarise, getting back on topic, Spirit Hunter: Death Mark is a fantastic game for Horror Enjoyers, doubly so for those interested in the Japanese spirit world and urban legends. It's got a great balance of gameplay, visual novel and horror material, and with Spirit Hunter: Death Mark 2 on it's way this year, I find no other time better to play this one. The game is about 10-15 hours (depending if you cover the good and normal endings of each and the overall story), and I picked it up on sale for like 10 pounds I believe. It's one of my favourite purchases of 2023 because the theme and setting really speaks to me, and it made me realise how little Japanese horror titles we have of this nature.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 6, 2019

  Death Mark is a Horror/Puzzle Game that relies on memories (or a piece of Paper and something to write) and requieres a bit of concentration and logic during segments of it's story - The Story of the Game is about 8 - 10 h but depending on your pace it will tak longer to finish. I'd recommend to play rather slowly and to concentrate on the diffrent kinds of clues and information that you'll find since you'll be presented with boss "fights" at the end of each chapter. For these you'll need every bit of information that you found during your investigation or you'll befriend the Game-Over Screen rather fast. - In each chapter you're presented with an "Investigation" Time where you'll need to find information about the Spirit that will be encountered at the end of the Chapter. I want to add on that the fact that characters can die if you don't do your research right so it's important to find as much information as possible or you might end up killing your newly adopted child. - The outcome if the Bossfights depend on how much information you remember / collected because as stated before you can end of killing an character. On the other hand if you give the wrong answer or use the wrong item during an encounter you'll likely end up with a Game-Over Screen. - Based on my personal expirience it's the easiest if you're getting a piece of paper and a pen and write key notes down since you'll find a good amout of information and you might end up in a random encounter where you're presented with a life or death version of "best of 3". (Well or you can just go full Ricardo and embrace your S&M side while setting an world record in Game-Over screens for this Game) - BONUS: Unlike the PS4 Version the Steam release is uncensored as far as information goes and the DLC is included; so you're buying the Main Game + the DLC - The DLC is an additional Chapter starts after you complete the Main Game. All in all if you enjoy Horror / Puzzle Games i'd recommend this since it's well made and got an intresting story line. If you don't mind dying a "few" times then go for it. (I'd also recommend checking out the Soundtrack). [This is my first time attemtping to write a review so if I missed sth tell me and i'll try to answer if i'm capable of doing so]
• gamedeal user

  Apr 7, 2019

  [h1][b]”A Perfect Horror Experience of Curse, Dark Mind, and Death.”[/b][/h1] After I completed every chapter and experience all endings. I must say it brings memory of how traditional horror should be while adding unique features to original visual novel. Death Mark or Shiin (死印) is developed by Experience Inc. and published by Aksys Games. It was originally released on PS Vita (2017), followed by PS4, Switch (2018), and PC Steam (2019). Steam version is uncensored with included free DLC of extra chapter. [h1]Story among Mark Bearers[/h1] Death Mark is a story involve around life, death, and urban legend. It starts from kid’s rumors spreading around Tokyo’s H City. People who receive strange mark will die in cruel death. You play as middle-aged man who suffers from amnesia as one symptom of being marked. You end up in front of western-style mansion, the place that holds his answer and the way to dispel the curse among other mark bearers. [url]https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1704760094[/url] The world of Death Mark is full of dark mystery, haunting places, and spirits. You will be tasked to work with another mark bearer as a partner, investigate the locals that could hold the source of mark. The more you progress through the story, the more you learn about mark, partner backstory/personality, and the truth behind each spirit. Even through, there are some backtrackings of old location, but it’s well-connected and provides explanation between chapters. The writing in Death Mark is well-crafted and engaging. I genuinely feel care for each partner and pity for victims I found. It had me hooked for several hours in row. It keeps up its pacing and don’t drag into unnecessary part for too long or become stale. The amnesia plot might sound cliché at first, but it is done by reason through its finale. Death Mark achieves the intense feeling of survival from unknown threats. [h1]Perfect Blend of Gameplay[/h1] Unlike other visual novel, Death Mark gameplay consists of dialogue, choice event, exploration, and battle sequence. The dialogue part plays out like common visual novel where you learn the story and characters with few common choices that doesn’t affect the story. You will be tasked to work with one partner (for reason) and travel to place that define source of spirit. Here’s where Death Mark provide different experience. The exploration mode will allow you and partner to search for clue and useful item. You can freely move between section / room with directional key or mouse. You also use flashlight to reveal interactive spot which can be observed, touched, or combined with items to solve puzzle or obtain hidden item. The exploration is where you learn backstory of spirit with hint notes and items that have major impact on battle sequence. The exploration also creates uneasy feeling and fear of unknown with amazing ambient sound and jumpscare in unexpected moment. There is no time limit in during exploration, but once you reach to certain point/items, the game will hint player with change of your mark as spirit is closer and warn player to prepare for incoming battle. [h1]Live, Confront, or Die[/h1] [url]https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1705815897[/url] During exploration, player will encounter unavoidable deadly choice which called “Live or Die” sequence. It basically chooses right answer before time runs out. Timer is indicated as Soul Power starts with 1,000 point by default and drastically decreases during Live or Die. If you choose wrong answer, the point will instantly deduct by 500-1,000 or result dead end. It is intense near death situation to test critical thinking and how far you focus on NPC conversation as secret hint. Some are ambiguous or related to wording. Fortunately, most of them are forgiving as you can basically restart when you failed and obtain talisman will increase 500 soul power by each. Moreover, partner is not just regular NPC, each person has own personality, attitude, and stats (which the game barely explain in details). They will comment and give different advices. Some even have specialized knowledge to discover hidden path or ability to handle specific item during encounter. It’s nice touch and add layer to exploration. My only gripe is sometimes you have to travel back to mansion in order to switch partner and some battles are tied to one specific partner. [url]https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1703667257[/url] The battle sequence appears near the end of chapter. You’ll face the main spirit; this part is designed similar to turn-based RPG. Instead of relying on statistic, player needs to use right item and information to defeat spirit because not all items are effective. Two items can be used at a time (player and partner), it can be combined to create combo for defensive and offensive action. The key is to defense player and partner from incoming attack hint by note and spirit movement, hold until spirit come close and use items to defeat it. The way you defeat spirit can result partner’s fate and ending. It’s well designed as different gameplay connected to each other and rewards player who pay attention. [h1]Disturbing Beauty[/h1] Death Mark is visually beautiful, yet disturbing and horrifying aesthetics in high quality. From distinctive character design to grainy detailed background, it creates mature style and unsettled environment that work so well. There are few CG scenes that contain partial nudity or victim exposed in sexually position which I found very subjective. It’s thin line between fanservice and disturbing terror that could break immersion for some people. I also adore animated spirit design as the game hold its true appearance until final encounter. They are striking, twisted, and symbolic that reflects to their backstory. My only complaint is each human NPC only limit to two expressions which it sometimes doesn’t fit to dialogue or certain event. [h1]Audio / Soundtrack[/h1] It can’t be great horror without sound element. Death Mark’s sound design did a fantastic job. The ambient sound during exploration such as cracking wood, cicada, dog barking, or weird whispering sound from nowhere can easily chill down my spine and get eerie without any music. Each Death Mark theme is also memorable and catchy it fit very well to its theme especially during Live or Die and battle where music intensifies to highest. However, I found based game lacks of voice acting compared to DLC chapter. [h1]Performance / Playtime[/h1] Death Mark runs in solid performance during my completed 21 hrs. playthrough. I had no single crash or any game breaking bug. The game also supports key binding for exploration mode and graphic option. Playtime could be varied depending on how well you figure out each puzzle/riddle. Player is allowed to save during switching partner in mansion and exploration area as you can experiment choice and ending as replayability. The game also unlocks free DLC chapter if player achieve true ending, featuring 3-4 hrs. extra case that very enjoyable and challenged puzzles. [h1]Closing[/h1] Death Mark is an example of well-balanced between horror and story with additional elements of gameplay. It presents the fear of unknown, death, and reflects the darkest mind of humanity that you rarely see in modern VNs. I highly recommend to all horror VN fans. The price could be very high on some regions (I bought around $14 for my country) and I can’t blame for that. You could wait price for drop down a bit. Until that time, don’t hesitate to try. Update: Spirit Hunter: NG (No Good) is finally port in Steam as spiritual sequel of Death Mark. You can check my review here: https://steamcommunity.com/id/dicenaries-tech/recommended/1100430 [quote][i]If you found this review helpful, please consider and give a thumb up, any feedback and exchanging idea are very appreciated[/i][/quote]
• gamedeal user

  Apr 15, 2019

  [h1]If your game crashes after epilogue / before credits / before you can get to the DLC chapter[/h1] - https://www.codecguide.com/download_k-lite_codec_pack_mega.htm - Had the same issue, this worked for me - just install everything. update: some w10 users report this didn't work for them. I had w7. Devs really need to take a look at this. Quick points review -instant text display not available -can only save in allowed places -could have used more voiced lines. -credits playback attempt crashing for some users =okay localization +interesting story +great art +great soundtrack +Mary is waifu +Mashita is the truest waifu
• gamedeal user

  Jul 5, 2019

  I really enjoyed this game. I'm bad with jump scare, this game has some but not that scary and sometimes you can predict them which is nice if you don't like that type of horror. Nice story, incredible art, all of the stories are based Japanese folklore. [u] This VN is a little short, for me it took 14 hours,[/u] but it might take less if you are a fast reader. I bought it for half the price in this summer sale and I think this price is fair, probably not worth the full price because is short and a little redundant in the scenery. [b]I advice you to buy it with some discount.[/b]
• gamedeal user

  Jul 9, 2019

  I thought this game is just a ordinary japanese horror visual novel game like others (Which I have already played plenty.) But oh boi, I was so wrong. Well, it's still a visual novel game nonetheless. But I can see the developers want to try something new with the genre. The atmosphere is great, creepy music and the graphics definitely help in some way. The story is pretty good for me although there's some bugs between switching characters to one other. The controls had some problems but none of them caused me too much troubles. And yeah, for a pretty long game. There's not much to say... A good horror game indeed. (The jumpscares are pretty weak... but I guess that's not a bad thing)
• gamedeal user

  Dec 27, 2019

  Liked: Fun Not repetitive Getting the "good" or "normal" endings per chapter effect things to an extent. Multiple achievements for different endings and choices make me want to go back and play segments again. Etc. Disliked: Sometimes the "good" ending requires you to bring a certain partner and you can't really determine if you need x partner because there isn't really any evidence showing one partner is more suited for this investigation than the other.