Junji Ito meets Phoenix Wright in this stylish supernatural mystery game

City Fantasy Dissolution Heart is a very intriguing recreation the place you play as a younger clairvoyant girl named Azami Fukurai. In search of to get a greater understanding of this capability (and later trapped in a contract as a consequence of an unlucky incident with a cursed chair), you end up employed by the mysterious City Fantasy Dissolution Heart.

Beneath the tutelage of the middle’s eccentric but extremely proficient director, Ayumu Meguriya, you got down to resolve varied circumstances revolving round myths and supernatural occurrences. From rental issues to cursed relics, every case has its personal distinctive narrative that pulls on recognizable city legends, from Bloody Mary to Hanako of the Bathroom.

City Fantasy Dissolution Heart is a high-quality mixture of a visible novel recreation and point-and-click recreation. It sees you journey between areas associated to circumstances, questioning witnesses, inspecting areas, and placing collectively hypotheses based mostly on the clues you’ve uncovered.

As you examine, you collect threads of data in your journal, uncovering contemporary leads as you progress. After all, you additionally should make use of Azami’s distinctive energy, which you hone by placing on a pair of spirit glasses. By means of these, you’ll be able to see shadowy figures and glimpse into previous occasions in every location, however it’s as much as you to find out whether or not these figures had been people or spirits and what their actions imply to your case.

Between areas, you get the chance to carry out social media analysis. I actually love this method, because it permits you to scroll by lifelike posts associated to the case and get a greater understanding of the world round you, shopping feedback and searching up related phrases, then discussing them together with your frosty but lovable co-worker Jasmine.

As you uncover extra particulars in regards to the case, you get frequent alternatives to recap the data you’ve uncovered. These segments usually depend on a number of alternative questions or on you filling out blanks in a speculation. When you’ve gathered sufficient info, you’ll be able to workforce up with the director to carry out a ‘dissolution,’ the place you will need to use all the clues to kind a conclusion and crack the case.

The method is straightforward but pleasing, as you slowly peel again the layers of every thriller and start piecing every thing collectively. I additionally admire that no case is completely easy – typically you face hoaxes, lies, misinformation, and deceptive conditions, all of which add a way of ‘realism’ to your job as an investigator.

The writing is strong all through, with attention-grabbing takes on acquainted legends and dialog that makes every character stand out. Nevertheless, I’ll admit that City Fantasy Dissolution Heart may be very a lot a gradual burn and is much from ‘scary’ – so don’t go in anticipating any substantial frights. Typically circumstances may also really feel slightly drawn out, however I nonetheless discovered myself engaged all through.

This sense of engagement is probably going due in no small half to the sport’s hanging aesthetic. It’s superbly simplistic, with distinctive 1-bit sidescrolling gameplay, gorgeous pixelated scenes, and emotive character portraits. On high of this, the selection to render the sport with such a easy palette that contrasts muted shades towards a vibrant, contrasting crimson is extremely efficient, particularly through the ‘gory’ horror scenes.

Sadly, City Fantasy Dissolution Heart options no voice appearing, as a substitute choosing an oldschool typing sound impact when characters communicate. Nevertheless, the delicate sound results and retro OST are fairly impactful, even with the quick music loops.

I genuinely really feel like one of the best City Fantasy Dissolution Heart expertise is on a handheld. For this evaluate I’ve been enjoying it on my Nintendo Swap, however it’s additionally Steam Deck appropriate, that means you’ll be able to play it on all one of the best handheld consoles. Its simplistic design makes its efficiency extremely easy, and it helps full touchscreen controls, from biking by dialog and opening menus to strolling.

General, City Fantasy Dissolution Heart is a simplistic but hanging episodic thriller journey with a trendy aesthetic and distinctive perspective. It efficiently blends the digital world with the supernatural, remodeling acquainted city legends into contemporary new frights. Whereas it may be slightly gradual at instances, it nonetheless manages to grip you with its uniqueness, and its moreish mysteries are good for some bedtime sleuthing.

In case you’re in search of one thing a bit extra spooky, we’ve obtained loads of suggestions in our guides to one of the best indie horror video games and one of the best horror video games general. We’ve additionally obtained a listing of one of the best thriller video games in the event you’d desire to proceed investigating as a substitute – simply watch out to not sit on any cursed chairs!