SHINRAI - Broken Beyond Despair [Murder Mystery]

[Gospel]

SHINRAI - Broken Beyond Despair, as well as its complete soundtrack, are now available on itch.io and Steam!
For more information, please check out our store pages:

Steam (Game): http://store.steampowered.com/app/499910/
Steam (Soundtrack): http://store.steampowered.com/app/509120/

itch.io (Game): https://gosatsuvns.itch.io/shinrai-brok ... nd-despair
itch.io (Soundtrack): https://gosatsuvns.itch.io/shinrai-brok ... soundtrack

Story:

On October 30, 2010, a small group of friends gathers at a secluded mountain resort,
in order to spend the night of All Hallows’ Eve together.
However...

What was originally intended to be a fun little Halloween party quickly turns into an actual night of horrors.
When one of the attendees is found dead, fear and uncertainty spread among the group,
as the friends realize they are trapped with a murderer.

Who is the culprit? What is their motive?
Will you be able to uncover the truth…?

Features:

• Make Choices that will not only contribute towards your Detective Rank, but also influence the story and unlock bonus content upon its completion. And who knows? Maybe you will even be able to save a life!
• Investigate certain locations inside the resort and interrogate your classmates in order to collect clues and evidence, which will help you solve various mysteries throughout the night.
• Present Evidence to back up your claims as you unravel the truth and reveal the identity of the culprit.
  Be careful with your deductions, however, or you might end up accusing someone innocent of the most heinous crimes!

Other features include:

• Character Profiles which provide you with additional info about the characters, and their current status (Alive, Dead, Missing, Unknown)
• Diary which summarizes the story's progression
• Notebook which is frequently updated to help you keep track of gathered information and evidence
• 5 Endings (4 Bad Endings & 1 True Culprit Ending)
• Unlockable Gallery encompassing CG art, miscellaneous art, bonus scenes & extra diary entries
• 250+ Sprites (16 characters with various poses, facial expressions and clothes)
• 47 BGs (almost half of them being unique, the others variations)
• 14 CGs (12 of them being unique, the others variations)
• 7 more event graphics (even though they function as such, I wouldn’t really call them "proper" CGs, so I’m listing them separately)
• Original Soundtrack consisting of 21 unique tracks, as well as a couple of variations
• 100+ SFXs
• 150,000+ words
• 8-10 hours of playtime, depending on your reading speed and how thorough you are
• 15 Achievements (Steam release only)
• Trading Cards (Steam release only)

Characters:

(Click on them to get to their respective character descriptions on our blog)

Demo & Digital Instruction Booklet:

Demo Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/5ctya ... I_demo.zip (119.53MB)
Digital Instruction Booklet: http://www.mediafire.com/download/6164j ... ooklet.pdf (1.25MB)

The demo contains the prologue, as well as the entire first chapter, and amounts to approximately 35,000 words.
Its main purpose is to introduce you to the setting and characters, as well as some of the interactive/gameplay elements.

For more information about SHINRAI, please check out our dev blog or pay us a visit on Twitter!
You can also find gameplay videos, BGM samples, and even a trailer on our YouTube channel:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GosatsuVNs
Dev Blog: http://gosatsuvns.tumblr.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJHANC ... DuQ/videos

Screenshots:

(Click on them to enlarge)

[sbester]

This looks great! Awesome job!

[Zelan]

This looks pretty cool! ^_^ Props to the artist(s) who worked on this.

[Heiden]

I spent the entirety of yesterday playing through this (I logged at LEAST 12 hours into this), absolutely glued to my seat.

An incredibly well plotted mystery that had me deducing right until the very end. I thought the mystery had a nice difficulty level, nothing too rediculous, but not super obvious either.

I also ended up really symbathizing with all of the characters, even ones I thought I wouldn't care for. Which I thought was really impressive and a mark of great characterization.

Are you planning on revisiting this world/characters?

The ending seemed to hint at a sequel?

Congratulations on finishing! And thank you for making such a fun murder mystery!

[Gospel]

This looks great! Awesome job!

This looks pretty cool! ^_^ Props to the artist(s) who worked on this.

Thank you so much for the kind words!

I spent the entirety of yesterday playing through this (I logged at LEAST 12 hours into this), absolutely glued to my seat.

An incredibly well plotted mystery that had me deducing right until the very end. I thought the mystery had a nice difficulty level, nothing too rediculous, but not super obvious either.

I also ended up really symbathizing with all of the characters, even ones I thought I wouldn't care for. Which I thought was really impressive and a mark of great characterization.

Are you planning on revisiting this world/characters?

The ending seemed to hint at a sequel?

Congratulations on finishing! And thank you for making such a fun murder mystery!

Haha, thanks! I am so happy that you gave it a try and ended up enjoying it that much!
There were a lot of things I was worried about, especially in regards to the mystery and the characters, so I'm rather relieved right now!

I definitely do plan on revisiting this world and its characters. I wanted this story to be self-contained and without the dire need of a sequel. However, I do have a lot of ideas in mind as to how the story can be continued. And I would love to realize those in the future.

[Periwinkle]

I was a little uncertain about buying this game at first, but I'm so glad I did. This game was so much fun! It's probably my new favourite indie visual novel.
One problem I did have with it was the age of the characters. They didn't look or act at all like middle schoolers, which took away from the realism/credibility of this game. It would of made a lot more sense if they were high school seniors or college aged, and the story wouldn't have been changed at all.
But aside from that great game. The mystery was very good too. I thought I had it figured out by the end, but I turned out to be completely wrong.
Good art, fun story, and interesting characters for the most part. I'd recommend you give this game a try if you're uncertain.

Kamen was a very enjoyable and unique character. She had such good chemistry with Rai so I'm glad there was shown to be some romantic feelings between them in the end.

[Gospel]

I was a little uncertain about buying this game at first, but I'm so glad I did. This game was so much fun! It's probably my new favourite indie visual novel.
One problem I did have with it was the age of the characters. They didn't look or act at all like middle schoolers, which took away from the realism/credibility of this game. It would of made a lot more sense if they were high school seniors or college aged, and the story wouldn't have been changed at all.
But aside from that great game. The mystery was very good too. I thought I had it figured out by the end, but I turned out to be completely wrong.
Good art, fun story, and interesting characters for the most part. I'd recommend you give this game a try if you're uncertain.

Kamen was a very enjoyable and unique character. She had such good chemistry with Rai so I'm glad there was shown to be some romantic feelings between them in the end.

Oh wow, I don't even know what to say! I'm feeling quite flattered, haha.
I'm so glad that you decided to give it a try and didn't regret your decision!

And yeah, the age thing can be a bit tricky, but I'll keep it in mind for next time!
Anyway, thank you so much for leaving a comment here and letting us know what you thought about it!
It's very helpful and truly appreciated!

[Ran08]

Oh my gosh! This is finally released! <3 I can't believe it! Yay! Haha, congratulations! I'll make sure to check it out when I get more free time on my hands! (150k words, woaaaah. Awesome! <3)

[Googaboga]

I've been watching the development for this for awhile, it's great to see it released! Congrats on all yor hard work. I hope I get a chance to buy it soon .

[Gospel]

Oh my gosh! This is finally released! <3 I can't believe it! Yay! Haha, congratulations! I'll make sure to check it out when I get more free time on my hands! (150k words, woaaaah. Awesome! <3)

I've been watching the development for this for awhile, it's great to see it released! Congrats on all yor hard work. I hope I get a chance to buy it soon .

Thanks, you two! If you'll get around to playing it, please let us know what you thought about it!
Feedback is always appreciated for future projects! I hope you'll enjoy it!

[Forester000]

Hello, it’s been 2 years since the game was released so maybe no one will check this thread any more, but I saw you are working on a sequel for Shinrai so I wanted to give you guys a review just in case.

I bought the game recently with a Halloween sale and finished the game in one session (11 hours in total).

Overall, I am happy with the purchase as I enjoyed the game.

I’m a big fan of murder mystery so maybe because of that, I didn’t find the game too difficult, but the mystery wasn’t a let down either. I thought the mystery was of average difficulty and that was probably a good balance.

After finishing the game, I got a perfect score (S+). I did make a few mistakes at 3 or 4 points in the game, but I loaded the game again to make sure I made no mistakes . Only did so because my first mistake resulted in something bad so I had to go back and change it.

For this review I’ll obviously be biased and talk about stuff that I personally liked. I’ll also be completely honest and give you my clear thoughts on various things. Hopefully, the feedback (even the negative one) will help.

The review will be full of end-game spoilers so don’t read if you haven’t played it.

First of all: the art and soundtrack are fine in my opinion. They are used fittingly across the game.

The story:

Like I said, I’m a big fan of murder mystery and familiar with various troupes so I thought the identity of the killer was a bit cliché and obvious by the end. But the game did have me guessing throughout.

During the first part of the game I suspected Momoko and Rie. Momoko because the innocent shy girl is usually the killer and because of her costume (I was thinking she could use it to frame Runa or something; either way, I had a feeling their costumes would be significant). Rie because she was the host and she was missing for a whole part of Chapter 1. But these weren’t high suspicions.

During the middle of the game I suspected Runa and Hiro. I was also considering the possibility that someone had wanted to kill Runa but killed the wrong person instead.

By the end, I was almost sure it was Momoko. Taiko accusing Runa earlier (and saying how she would do it) made me think it wasn’t her. Kamen being the actual killer would have been a big twist (like, it’s too obvious so it can’t be her. Right? Realistically speaking, she could have still done it and planted the evidence to make it look like it was Momoko; but that was very far-fetched). I actually also considered Taiko since he supposedly had an alibi for the entire night. During the final investigation I was about 70-90% sure it was Momoko (due to her body missing and then appearing again).

Anyway, the killer faking their death and the innocent shy girl being the killer are a bit cliché, but I didn’t mind that much, because ultimately, the game did keep me guessing.

I do wish more characters would have remained as suspects till the end, but I get that that can be difficult to do. And it’s probably better to have less characters as viable suspects than having them act stupid just for the sake it (or, for example, having weird coincidences happen just to make an innocent character seem guilty; that would have been really trope-y and annoying so it’s probably better you avoided that).

Now, the characters:
My favourite is Raiko. Glad she’s the MC.

What I don’t like about her is that her being an introvert is implied to be only because of trauma. I get that that would change behaviour, but I’m not sure it would change personality. I get that trauma would make an introverted person to shut down even more, but from how I read it, I got the feeling she completely changed after her sister died. Maybe I read too much into it though.

The other obviously introverted character is Momoko, who is bullied and goes crazy and paranoid and can’t trust her friend any more.

It’s not a big deal, but idk, it made it seem like being an introvert is something wrong that needs to be fixed. But, again, not a big deal. Runa seemed rather introverted too and she seems fine.

With Nobara, I liked most her interactions with Raiko and their friendship. But at points she kind of annoyed me. I get that her constantly bringing up the paranormal as an explanation is probably a nod to Umineko and that they are supposed to be kids, but after a while, her bringing up ghosts all the time made her look a little stupid.

About Kamen: I finished the True ending and didn’t really like how her character ended up. I don’t mind her being into girls, but I really didn’t like her having a crush on Raiko. Not because of the romance, but because I see it as a devolution of her character.

In the beginning she was a complete ass-hole, but she had a reasoning behind that. Plus, she was open with her feelings and she could speak her mind. That can be a plus which can be further explored (especially in contrast with Raiko). She felt real.

At the end, however… she just lost her best friend and her crush who tried to frame her and destroy her life… but that's ok because she is now infatuated with Raiko who reminds her of her dead crush because they are/were both introverts. Yes, I got that it’s implied that there is some history between Raiko and Kamen, but still.

Also I don’t think Kamen would easily let herself be infatuated by another girl so easily without checking if that other girl is also into girls (after getting burned the first time).

And I also want to nitpick on the kiss at the end. I get that it’s supposed to be cute because it’s girl love, but what if Kotoba had done the same? Sorry if I sound too harsh. I’m not a girl, but I am gay and I would prefer a more realistic depiction of such characters. Maybe it’s because I’m older and not into cutsey romance things that I couldn’t appreciate it. I just rolled my eyes at that part to be honest.

If you plan on having Kamen in the sequel, personally I would like it more if she and Raiko developed their friendship (and maybe Kamen can find love with someone else). Their opposite personalities could make a good team.

Overall though, I did like the characters. Even Hiro the ass-hole made things interesting.

The writing:
Because I want to end the review in a positive note, I want to say a few things about the writing which I really liked. Like I said, I thought the mystery was of fair difficulty.

The writing (especially Raiko’s monologues) naturally guide you towards the correct answer every time, but it doesn’t treat you like an idiot either. For example, when you come to suspect Hiro: Raiko’s monologue mentions that “especially if I take into account that the killer wants to get rid of evidence” or something like that.

And I don’t know if this was on purpose, but in the final argument, when you have to pick between the witch’s hat or cape as evidence to present, I didn’t realise how either would be relevant, but I chose the cape because Raiko made a monologue line during the investigation that Hiro’s cape had no bearing to the case (unlike Kamen’s cape). So that correct answer felt a bit like a reward for checking things thoroughly and paying attention to stuff.

I should note that at the beginning of chapter 5, I had all the evidence, but still didn’t understand everything like Raiko did.

In the final chapter, I really liked that Taiko lists every possibility (for example, Runa could have not gone to the bathroom, but gone to kill Hiro instead), because I’m assuming most readers also took into account those possibilities into account.

Ok, I think I wrote enough. Thanks for the game, and hopefully this feedback will be of some help in your future projects.