Eons ago when CD-ROM technology was brand new, the games industry started to see a bunch of titles crop up that utilized real-life actors in pre-recorded footage. Colloquially referred to as FMV games, the most prominent of these from the 90s was the Sega CD exclusive Night Trap. You essentia🌌lly watched a movie and had li🦂mited interactivity in how the events played out.
While there were other games that simply used actors for cutscene purposes (the old Command & Conquer series, for instance), others attempted to 𒀰provide a TV show or film with audience participation. It all but disappeared after the 🌌transition to full 3D happened and developers were able to fully develop different choices instead of just filming them.
Why bring all of this history up? Well, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Death Come True occupies a strange space in the current games industry. This mystery title isn't exactly what you'd call a game, resembling something more like Night Trap with how limited its interactivity is. You could even make a comparison to the Netflix film Bandersnatch, which blended videogame logic with real-life actors in an interactive manner. There's not much else like Death Come True currently available, so the on🎶ly ﷽place to look is in the past.
Making Choices
Written and directed by Kazutaka Kodaka of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Danganronpa fame, Death Come True starts off with a premise that fans of Kodaka's will be familiar with. An amnesiac named Makoto Karaki wakes up in a mysterious hotel room with no knowledge of what is happening. A TV newscast informs him that he's apparently a serial killer and is being chased by the authorities for his crimes. Not sure what to do, he hears a knock at the door and begins to panic.
I'll refrain from explaining more because the plot is basically all that Death Come True has going for it. I don't say that as a negative, just that you need to understand this isn't a game in the traditional sense. The gameplay elements of this title take the form of multiple choices you can make at different segments. Once you select an option, the scene will play out and you'll either live or die.
This is all baked into the story and is used to get you thinking about the nature of this strange hotel. The very first choice, in fact, kills you and starts off a chain of events that will lead you to down a spiral of intrigue and murder. You'll be dying a lot in this, which is similar in vein to the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Zero Escape series.
No Time Killer
That might be a bummer for people expecting something more, but what is on offer is actually quite good. The plot is laid out in a fairly logical manner with dialogue cluing you into the correct choices you should be making. There aren't a huge number of them, mind you, but you can cruise through the main story in roughly 90 minutes if you've got a keen eye for details.
The opposite choices will double that playtime (and some funny achievements on Steam give you the incentive to do that) while the multiple endings will have you questioning which reality is the truth. A very convenient fast forward and rewind feature lets you replay events or skip over previously seen dialogue, so it's not like Death Come True even wastes your time on a second playthrough. You're given DVD-like controls and that's wonderful.
The acting, direction, and soundtrack are also really good. There's a bunch of famous Japanese stars here -including Chiaki Kuriyama of Kill Bill fame- and the vibe of the story feels very futuristic. There's some meta-commentary going on, but I'm not going to spoil that twist.
It creates an intriguing experience that is fun for the brief time it asks of you. For the price of $16, too, you could compare it to buying a DVD of your favorite film versus just streaming it from a subscription service. You'll find that once you've finished the game, some bonus behind-the-scenes material is unlocked and funny skits with a "Death Tube" star are available to watch. It's enjoyable, which is what the whole point is.
Be Kind. Rewind.
I could get more critical with the plot and start nitpicking things, but that's really counterproductive. The aspiration of Death Come True wasn't to reimagine what was possible in gaming but give fans something to hold them over until the release of developer Tookyo Games' next title, Death March Club. You could view this interactive exper𝔍ience as a way to fund thꦇe passion project Tookyo is dying to create.
That isn't to say Death Come True is a throwaway gag or a low-quality offering. It's not in the slightest. This is more a fun little thing to get your mind thinking for a few hours. In that regard, it succeeds really well and I wouldn't mind seeing a longer version of this in the future. There's a lot of potential here, even if the plot and characters are fun enough in their own right.
A PC copy of Death Come True was provided to TheGamer for this review. Death Come True is availa♊ble now for iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It ⛦will be coming to PS4 later this year.
