and that's why I rarely ever post anything here now oopsie
I kinda wanna post here more regularly though

sometimes i do things instead of sleeping

Im so, for lack of a better word, conflicted by Nanashi No Game. I think it has a lot of things going for it, especially for a horror game on the DS, but I think certain aspects of the game really make it suffer. It often leads to aspects of the game feeling frustrating, which sucks because the parts of the game I like, I ended up really liking.

Now I think its clear there are inspirations of The Ring here. The premise of Nanashi No Game is that it’s a cursed game that will kill you in 7 days after you first get it. Not only that, but the first area of the game has a well as a centerpiece, while that may be a coincidence, it adds to the support of this game being inspired in some part by The Ring. I bring this up because I think translating the idea of The Ring into a game is a really fun concept, and it offers a lot of potential. There are some minor points in the game that give a sense of blending with reality, like how it mimics the DS launch screen, but I wish the game did more with it. I wish the “cursed game” segments of the game did more to actively mess with you, the player.

The other half of the game though is 3D Exploration and it’s… kind of rough. I think a big problem comes with the controls, though I would say the controls are fine at first. For the first two chapters, the controls are a little tough, but they’re fine because it felt like the game was meant to be explored slowly. This is all compounded with how during the 3D Exploration segments, you have to have the DS held vertically, which means you don’t have too good of an FOV. But these segments being the way they were allowed you to take in the environment really well, which was great because I think it had a really nice aesthetic. The DS has very limited 3D, and a game like this able to make a fully explorable 3D Environment look good is impressive. But the controls become tough when they introduce the ghosts in Chapter 3 onwards. Ghosts will oftentimes chase you, but it’s hard to run easily because you’re using tank controls in first person, while also needing to use the touch screen in order to run. And since you don’t have that great of a FOV, sometimes there may be a ghost around the corner that you’ll not be able to see because you don’t have a wide peripheral. I honestly would’ve preferred it if the ghosts just didn’t appear during the game at all, as slowly wandering through these locations, and taking in the atmosphere was really good in the chapters that the ghosts didn’t appear in.

The story is also nothing to write home about. It’s a simple ghost kid story, and doesn’t really do much to build upon that idea. I think there’s something to note about how they try to explain haunted phenomena, and while I didn’t fully understand it, I thought it was interesting. The game has two different endings, and while I didn’t get the good ending, honestly I think the Bad Ending is more interesting. It leaves a sort of haunting note to leave the game on, and I’m kind of glad I didn’t get the good ending, though it’s pretty easy to get if you want to go for it.

And that’s why I feel so conflicted over Nanashi No Game. A game with immense potential, and it has some really fun concepts, but it never really reaches it. I think it’s mainly because the 3D Exploration struggles heavily thanks to awkward controls and perspective not meshing well with having to avoid ghosts. This doesn’t even account for the extreme lack of checkpoints, which would lead you to lose a large percent of progress at times. I would’ve loved to enjoy this game more than I do, but it ultimately feels… okay. It’s a fun concept and I think it’s worth trying out because of that, but I think it’s just kind of fine.