Dramatical Murder ( 2021 )

Favorite Character - Ren

I have some history with this game! I first played this back in 2014 when the original english fan patch was released. In all honesty, I was far too young to play this game at the time, and did not get very far into it before stopping because many of the themes were a little too intense. I was pretty excited to come back to this game 12 years later, and I can say after seeing 100% of the game...I really enjoyed it! It's extremely silly and bizarre at points, but did manage to make me cry several times!

THE GOOD: the art style is so striking and colorful! I do find the character designs to be a little busy, but I respect the design sentiment. Out of the initial routes available, Noiz was my favorite (a younger me loved Clear) but my heart truly belongs to Ren. Finally unlocking his route and discovering exactly what all the bizarre plot decisions the studio made led up to was SO satisfying...

THE BAD: Dramatical Murder has some capital C Content in the game, so I reccommend it with many a caveat. Mink's route is kind of a train wreck! I wish he was handled differently, because I do respect the Scary Powerful Gang Leader fantasy he repesents! I just hate that the character with the darkest skin is portrayed as such. Some of the bad ends seem to be going more for shock value than anything as well...

THE FUNNY: Aoba's insistence that he is 100% heterosexual is so funny to me...there are only three female characters in the entire game and he shows 0 interest in any of them. "Guys don't kiss other guys!"...YOU DO!!!

Room No.9 ( 2020 )

Favorite Character - Daichi

A story of a vacation between two life-long friends gone very, very wrong (to put it lightly). This was a game I mostly went in blind for, and what a brutal game it was! Forced into a bizarre and cruel social experiment, Daichi and Seiji are made to do unpleasant tasks to one another to earn their freedom from the titual Room Number 9...and lucky(?) for us, the viewer, we are made to watch it all from Daichi's perspective!

THE GOOD: I really felt for Daichi and his plight throughout the story. I thought his dynamic with Seiji was really well written, and I was genuinely moved at points! I'm not gonna pretend like this game is a meaningful look into trauma and how it affects our images of ourselves and each other, but I was impressed with the looks they did give into the psychology behind what the characters were going through. As a fan of both bromances AND tragic/doomed relationships, this game scratched the itch I was hoping it would.

THE BAD: MAN are some of the scenes in this game brutal to play through. In my pursuit of getting all the endings, I really did have to sit through a lot of Content. Dear readers, please heed my warning! There is a scene with an enema!! You can turn the visuals of this scene off but no matter what route you choose you will have to read it happening at least once.

THE FUNNY: Choosing whether Seiji wears his glasses or takes them off before the more...mature scenes DOES affect what ending you get. It's not just a visual preference!