Paranormasight: The Mermaid's Curse

This is the second Paranormasight game, and as such, this is the second one I have played. The formula stays the same for the most part, but I feel like I enjoyed this one a little more.There are quite a few lore dumps focused on a modified version of Japanese history that take some effort to get through, and the writing feels off sometimes, but overall it's a solid experience.

What I Didn't Like

Sudden Gameplay Change

This game has multiple endings, which is a good thing. As usual, there are bad endings, good ending, and one great ending which is usually the hardest one to get.

The gameplay in Paranormasight is really focused on the player doing research and making the occasional deduction to figure out what to do next. There is a lot of reading, a lot of coming through notes you unlock, and you eventually learn all the material, what things are critical and you solve the mystery and get the good ending. Not the great ending.

The attempt to get the great ending is where my complaint stems from.

We ended up using a guide to find this, and they offer you a hint, but after so many hours of going through the material, we knew where the loose threads in the information were-- it was just a matter of pulling on those threads.

Or so we thought.

Without spoiling it, this is where they do some tricky stuff with the gameplay and change the expectations on how to pull on threads for your investigations.

There are interesting reasons for doing this related to the plot, and I can appreciate that, but I didn't like how gated it was. They offer to give you a hint, which we didn't take because we thought we already knew what to do, but I feel like this should forced onto the player to say "the game is changing everything".

All that being said, I respect the choice that the game designers made to me the hint optional. It just rubbed me the wrong way.

Tone Change in the Writing

There are characters in this game that feel like they were written, or possibly translated, by two completely different people that didn't compare notes before submiting their work.

They go from what I would call anime-style dialogue, to overly casual North American style-- complete with extra swearing and such.

I tend to be more sensitive to the writing in this investigation games, considering you're focused so heavily on the text and dialogue throughout the experience. Hopefully next time around, they can clean that up a bit.

What I Liked

Gameplay into the Narrative

I realize I complained about the gameplay change earlier, but I still think it was clever what they did with it.

Again, without spoiling things, they use the narrative of the game to explain all kinds of gameplay elements. I find this quite clever and really enjoyed it after-the-fact. I only wish I would have been able to be nudged in the right direction more subtly so I could have that "ah-ha" moment without needing a guide to show me where to go.

Diving Mini-Game

This is one of the first things that you do in the game, and you continue to go back to it later. It isn't a complex mini-game, but it adds to the experience.

I just found it very satifying to swim around and level-up once and a while, and would do it again.

The Conclusion

Reading over this review, it appears like I there is more weight on the stuff I didn't like as much-- but I did genuinely enjoy the game.

I think I am just frustrated by the those few minor issues because the game (which is essentially a visual novel) really grabbed me for the most part. Had those minor things not been there, I think this game could have ranked higher in my mind palace of gaming.Instead, those final moments of frustration are what I'll remember the most.

Still, I recommend this game to anyone looking for a bit of a thriller with a lot of lore to sift though.