Welcome to our preview of PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo, the new horror visual novel game from Square-Enix.
How far would you go to bring someone back from the dead?
In Japan, whispers surround the tale of the “Seven Mysteries of Honjo.” A mysterious ‘Rite of Resurrection’ leads to conflict between those who have the power to curse…
This unsettling tale takes place in the Sumida Ward of Tokyo, Japan, in the late 20th century.Unravel the hopes, dreams and fears of these unique characters who find themselves in the grip of deadly curses, as their motivations intertwine in a story that twists and turns.
Shogo Okiie, an ordinary office worker, visits Kinshibori Park in the dead of night with his friend, Yoko Fukunaga, to investigate a well-known local ghost story: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. Shogo doesn’t quite believe Yoko when she talks about how the Mysteries are connected to the Rite of Resurrection and doesn’t pay it much mind – that is, until strange events begin to unfold before his very eyes.
Detectives investigating a series of strange deaths, a high-school girl seeking the truth behind her classmate’s suicide, and a mother who has sworn revenge for her lost son. Their desires and motives intertwine and interplay, with the Seven Mysteries of Honjo at the core, leading the story towards a battle of wits and curses.
As someone that is generally not into the horror genre and into visual novels, PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is both a challenge and a delight at the same time. On the one hand, I went into this preview with very little expectations and on the other, I had this feeling that the game could only be boring, right?
Well, it is not a boring game, despite the nature of visual novels being a rather niche genre and something you really need to click with, the atmosphere of PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo sure did its best to create an eerie tingling upon your senses. From a game that was clearly intended to played on a handheld, I can say that so far, my only gripe is that playing it with a controller is kind of annoying.
You read that right, instead of being able to play this game on my gorgeous TV, I am playing it on my OLED switch. Not that this is a downside or so, I just feel like the controls would have been best used in a different way, which is difficult to really convey in words without actually playing. It feels like the touchscreen is just so much more handy for this game, as well as its entire feeling.
I will say one final thing on this preview, as much as I am generally not into this genre, I do seem to enjoy this game more, granted I am just at the start of the second chapter at the time of writing this preview, but after a few bumps here and there with the controls, PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo has been growing on me and can not wait to share my experience once I get further down the game.
