Yurukill: The Calumniation Games Review (NSW)

Written by Anthony L. Cuaycong

Title: Yurukill: The Calumniation Games
Developer: IzanagiGames
Publisher: NIS America
Genre: Adventure, Action, Strategy
Price: $39.99

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At the outset, it’s hard not to feel confused about what Yurukill: The Calumniation Games attempts to do. Its quirky over-the-top nature might seem forced the first time you look at it, especially when you get to its gameplay mechanics. It's a visual novel, filled with escape room segments, all while being interspersed with a solid shoot-’em-up minigame. That is not a combination you'll often find, and, at times, the pacing does seem a little off. However, if you set aside your initial misgivings, you'll see that the game has far more going for it despite its weirdness, and that while it doesn't excel at any particular thing, it does do a superb job at balancing the different genres to keep things lively.

Yurukill: The Calumniation Games follows the story of Sengoku Shinju, a man who's been framed for the deaths of 21 people. His chance for freedom, however, arrives in the form of Binko, a mysterious woman who offers him a chance to redeem himself. All he has to do is participate in some games in an eccentric location known only as Yurukill land. These are no simple games, though; in Yurukill land, winning might mean total freedom, but it's rife with danger for the unwary. A simple misstep could spell disaster, and when Shinju's closest partner is someone who has it out for him, it's not going to be as easy as it seems.

This concept is what propels much of the story of Yurukill: The Calumniation Games. There are interesting dynamics to be explored with each character, as they all have their own agendas and goals to fulfill. The tension is always present because of this, especially in the scenes where prisoners and their partners are involved. There's a clear power imbalance at play, and this creates great friction that allows each character's story to develop, especially when it gets emotionally charged in the game's more dramatic moments. These dramatic moments also extend to other portions of the game, particularly in its escape room segments. They share the same quirky, weird personality that Yurukill land has to offer, but does so in a way that makes each puzzle feel unique. Each problem you have to solve in these sequences has its own internal logic, setup, and solution, and this gives it a strong personality that manages to make these sequences memorable.

To be sure, the escape room segments in Yurukill: The Calumniation Games are far from challenging. Each puzzle can be figured out pretty easily, and the hint system that can be availed of doesn't penalize players who use it. In fact, it seems almost expected for you to experiment with it, as the dialogues these hints have are fun and reveal more about the characters and how they view the trials they face. In a lot of ways, these puzzle segments seem like the developers' way to break up long visual novel segments of just pure reading.

This, however, does not extend to the shoot-’em-up segments of Yurukill: The Calumniation Games. While the game in the easy setting is actually pretty, the harder modes are where the challenges really amp up. The game certainly isn't shy on throwing trying stages at you. The characters you have available to choose from all have their own strengths and gimmicks, and the differences in their playstyle actually have an impact on how smoothly you can proceed depending on what kind of power-ups you prefer. It doesn't do much new in the shmup genre, but it does things well enough to make it actually enjoyable. Colorful lights shoot at you, dozens of projectiles home in, and plenty of powerups can be discovered and enjoyed to counter these.

That's Yurukill: The Calumniation Games in a nutshell. You rotate between its three game modes, mainly getting story beats through its visual novel side to tell you more about its sinister plot. The puzzle and the shoot-em-up segments pop in now and then to break up the long reading bouts, occasionally chiming in with story details or small plot-related anecdotes that help smoothen the experience. And, honestly, while it might not strive to be more, it does what it has set out to do. All of its parts, when played, are equally satisfying, and the main hurdle the game has isn't in its lack of quality; it's in finding an audience that's willing to accept this mish-mash of genres to really dig deep into its story. Granted, parts of the narrative do drag a little, especially in the beginning when it has to establish its important plot points, but the rest of the story is able to keep up its pace to a satisfying degree.

Yurukill: The Calumniation Games is best when it's able to suck you into its world this way. Its great soundtrack mixes with its strong presentation and its personality, and it embraces the inherent silliness of its premise. Even so, it manages to still keep its sharper edge when it needs to, forming a story that is, at its core, a mystery surrounded by characters you'd really like to see triumph. When it plays to this strengths, it highlights its best parts quite well, especially if you enjoy the themes it has at play.

The overall package of Yurukill: The Calumniation Games does give you enough content to really dig your teeth into, with a lengthy story mode to uncover, and its shmup side adding on to the replay value with its arcade mode. Your first run will really have you engrossed in its story and its characters, and its premise is enough to draw you in to appreciate its other modes. While it does have some minor issues on the Nintendo Switch (especially when the screen goes crazy with its visual effects), these barely detract from the singular experience it's providing, and any fan of a good visual novel will find a place for it in his or her collection.

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THE GOOD

• Interesting genre mix of story, puzzle, and action gameplay
• Likeable characters with a tense and interesting premise
• Good artstyle and sprite design, combined with a strong visual flair during its shmup segments

THE BAD

• Minor performance issues during tenser segments can be annoying
• Escape room segments are a bit too easy (and are impossible to fail due to the hint system in place)
• The story's slow start may feel boring compared to its more developed plotlines later on

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RATING: 8.5/10

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