Between its haunting and delightful artwork, intriguing story, and simple play model, I’m truthfully shocked that I didn’t know in regards to the Spirit Hunter sequence till the current English launch of Demise Mark II. Although not very lengthy, the tight pacing and assortment of scares make for a satisfying expertise.
The story of Spirit Hunter: Demise Mark II follows protagonist Kazuo Yashiki. He’s a specialist relating to coping with hauntings. The headmaster of the esteemed Konoehara Academy hires him to analyze recurring rumors a few ghost known as The Departed. The Departed leaves notices across the college, warning college students {that a} spirit will goal them. These notices often come true, with the warned pupil disappearing the subsequent day. Yashiki, together with among the pupil physique and his Mark Bearer mates from the earlier video games, examine these spirits. However simply as he’s pursuing The Departed, so too is The Departed pursuing him.
Whereas it is a direct sequel to the earlier video games within the sequence, I by no means felt misplaced whereas taking part in it. It explains previous occasions and characters in a concise means, giving me sufficient info with out bogging down the pacing. Since a lot of the sport is a visible novel, with side-scrolling journey components when exploring, the plot is extra necessary than the precise gameplay. Thankfully, the story is pretty fascinating. All the ghosts that The Departed warns about are based mostly off of well-known Japanese people tales. For instance, we’ve bought Hanako-san and Kokkuri-san. I personally actually preferred that! I loved seeing how the sport places its personal spin on these tales and breathes new life into them.
Once I say that Spirit Hunter: Demise Mark II breathes new life into these traditional horror tales, I imply it in a number of methods. For instance, the primary case specializing in Hanako-san actually humanizes her. Who was Hanako, and why did she hate the world sufficient to linger as a spirit? Hanako-san is so ingrained in Japanese tradition that most individuals seemingly aren’t frightened of her. In Spirit Hunter: Demise Mark II, although, Hanako-san isn’t only a lady in a bathroom who’ll drag you right down to hell, or make a lizard eat you. You discover one in all her victims in the bathroom who died after Hanako made rubber hoses sprout from his eyes, pushing out his eyeballs (which you’ll be able to nonetheless see clinging through the optic nerve).
Now, I’ve learn and written my fair proportion of horror tales with that degree of physique horror. It’s one factor to examine it and picture it in your head. It’s a complete different factor to see that picture rendered with loving care in your Swap. I used to be actually shocked! I had been below the impression that video games on Nintendo units are often pretty family-friendly. Due to that preconception, you’ll be able to think about my shock once I noticed simply how disgusting the our bodies on this sport look.
The artwork for the sport is de facto one thing, between the attractive shading and the way visceral it’s. The artist went arduous on depicting the ugly deaths, making you’re feeling sorry for the victims even when a few of them actually deserved it. The steadiness of gore to physique horror is implausible. There isn’t quite a lot of blood, which may serve to censor the accidents. The artwork explains this fashion with objects caught contained in the victims to staunch the movement of it. As somebody who does take pleasure in physique horror and guro, I discovered this steadiness to be inventive and I genuinely loved feeling the preliminary rush of disgust. In case you’re not somebody who enjoys gore or physique horror you’ll be able to flip off quite a lot of the gore and soar scares from the settings. I actually turned off the soar scares as a result of I’m not a fan of them.
Whereas Spirit Hunter: Demise Mark II was an amazing expertise general, I’ve to say that the exploration for the sport generally was missing. The environments aren’t too fascinating to have a look at, which may make exploration a slog. I do should say that I admire how the sport allows you to teleport again to the infirmary. That’s the place you save or change companions. I extremely suggest going again each time you make progress! That is so that you just don’t should backtrack an excessive amount of if you must change companions for a Suspensive Act. As nicely, for all I praised the story, I observed that it dips in high quality in a while. The start chapters have been simply too robust. A part of this comes from pacing. It positively feels prefer it ought to be an extended sport and that they needed to lower some stuff out.
Over the course of seven chapters, Spirit Hunter: Demise Mark II spins a terrifying and intriguing yarn that leaves you wanting extra. Even for those who use its accessibility options to take away the gore or soar scare, it stays a suspenseful learn. As a brand new fan of the sequence, I’d love to return and see Yashiki and the opposite Mark Bearers’ earlier adventures as I watch for the subsequent installment.
Spirit Hunter: Demise Mark II is available on the PS4, PS5, Home windows PC, and NIntendo Swap.
