NIS America has given us the opportunity to 
check out one of their newest games dubbed YuruKill: The Calumniation Games. It’s a twisted blend of mystery, visual novel, and shoot ‘em up gameplay. Fans of the Danganronpa series should feel right at home.
As the game begins, you find yourself waking up in an unfamiliar situation. Locked inside a caged room, gradually, small pieces of information begin to reveal themselves. You are by yourself in your holding cell, but you are not the only person in the area. A woman dressed oddly and wearing a fox mask introduces herself as Binko. She reveals that she is here to take care of you, all of you, in a magnificent theme park dubbed Yurukill.
So why are you here? Well, you have been in prison for the last 10 years. You are one of several prisoners who have been shipped off to this special place and offered the chance to prove your innocents by competing and participating in attractions around this theme park. Prisoners and others dubbed executioners will team up, but they can’t acquit everyone…. only one will win their freedom.
The story of Yurukill is related through a visual novel style of gameplay. Each character will speak their lines turn by turn until you are presented with a task to resolve your current situation. For example, you will find yourself in a burning apartment and will have to solve puzzles before you can move out of the danger. You’ll be required to search and interact with the environment to find tips and clues to solve the puzzles as well as given multiple choices in dialog to choose from. Your words are just as important as your investigation, because they might also get you killed, but you will need more than just brains and cunning to survive. Your reflexes will be pushed to the limit as you are required to compete in a shoot ‘em up gameplay in order survive. Think of the old game Galaxia, but pumped up and modernized.
The Dialog is all in Japanese with English subtitles, but even with the audio in a different language, you can not only hear, but feel how insanely good the voice actors are. For example the character of Binko alone has an outstanding performance. In the same line of dialog, you can hear her expressions change three times as she moves from stern seriousness, to fanatical emotion, and right into absolute crazy. These performances are only enhanced by the nightmare inducing soundtrack. All of this only helps emphasize just how ludicrous of situation you find yourself in throughout the game.
Now I’m not a big fan of puzzle games, but should you find yourself wanting to press on without having to squash too many brain cells in the process, there is a hint option given to players. Of course, you’ll still have to pay attention, because they story will require you to interact with your partners, and those choices might just lead to an untimely death. I myself died quite a few times, but it would be interesting to see how many different paths the dialog options might lead you. It’s worth more than one play through.
Graphically, everything is done well and the game has a very stylish look. The animated scenes are high quality and well done for a game of its type. It was always a treat to see the cut scene movies play out and display the utter lunacy of this amusement park/death trap. Everything complements the vibe of the game well. The only thing I could ask for more at this point, would be a CD soundtrack of the game.
THE BOTTOME LINE: YuruKill: The Calumniation Games is another unique game brough to us by Nippon Ichi Software. If you’re looking for something new and different in a game, this blend of genres is definitely outside of the box. I can’t say it’s a match for everyone, but well worth the chance at the right price for you.
- Graphics (Great)
- Gameplay (Good)
- Story (Great)
- Soundtrack (Outstanding)
- Replay Value (Good)
Game Rating: (3.8/5) (Great): This product is highly recommended. It is well worth the investment if you are interested in it. You will not be disappointed in a purchase of this item.
Game Details
- Platform(s): Nintendo Switch™, PS4™, PS5™
- Genre: Adventure, Shmup
- Age Ratings: ESRB: T (Fantasy Violence, Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Language, Drug Reference), PEGI: 12 (Violence, Bad Language), USK: 12, ACB: M (Violence, coarse language) – Digital release only
- Publisher: NIS America, Inc.
- Developer: IzanagiGames, Inc.
- Audio Languages: Japanese
- Text Languages: English, French, German, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean
- Website: https://yurukill.com/en/
We would like to thank NIS America for sending this copy for review.
-Nate Biller
