The Letter is a horror visual novel, think in lines of a Japanese horror film, Ju-On (The Grudge internationally), the game focuses on a group of people who unwittingly find themselves the victim of a vengeful ghost when one of them discovers a cursed chain letter in the attic of an old mansion. What follows is a descent into madness and terror as the ghost unleashes her wrath on the game’s ensemble cast of characters.
The Letter is divided into 7 chapters, each told from the perspectives of one of the seven protagonists, giving players the chance to explore the events of the game from the point of view of each character, There is some overlap between the individual chapters, mostly with respect to the curse, but, each chapter offers a unique gaming experience that does a great job of drawing out the suspense and mystery of the story.
There are some extremely well-timed jump scares peppered throughout the game, if you’re looking to be outright scared, This might not be the game for you, The Letter The atmosphere slowly shifts and the feeling of creeping helplessness grows and grows as you progress through each character’s chapter, so it’s more of a mind scare than outright horror score. The story really is quite good, and the level of character development is incredible, this is where the game shines. Of note, the game doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, such as race/racism, sexuality, self-harm, and more. This definitely isn’t a game for the faint of heart.
Gameplay is very much in the same vein as other Visual Novels – The Letter is, essentially, a playable book. You progress through each character’s chapter by simply advancing through their dialogue. There are a few minor other gameplay events, you will be presented with a quick time event. They can be surprisingly difficult, though there’s also an option to disable or simply skip them if you’re having too much trouble. You also have access to a journal that will automatically add entries in chronological order, which can be helpful when viewing events from different characters’ perspectives. There are also branching storylines based on the choices you make, largely based on your relationship with other characters. It’s an interesting mechanic and means that you’ll need to play through it multiple times to get the whole picture.
The game looks absolutely amazing! The sound effects were absolutely spot on as well. The soundtrack is great, I’m a sucker for a good soundtrack as many readers of the blog, and listeners of the podcast will know, so this got very high marks from me for this aspect. Pro-tip, wear some decent headphones while playing, as the creepy whispers that drift in through the background, and the ominous noises that creep up on you will immerse you into the gameplay even more.
The only negative thing I can say about the game is there are some glaring grammatical errors in the game, I realize this is probably due to translating the game to English, but it’s a pretty big deal for a visual novel to have this many. But I can overlook that somewhat, as the gameplay and story make up for it, just if you are the type of person that will be annoyed by such things, this is going to be hard for you to overlook.
Overall, amazing graphics and in-depth storytelling will draw you in, and keep you going back for more.
Recent Comments