Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is definitely one of the biggest surprises for me this year. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of its very brief announcement, and I’m glad I didn’t look too deeply into what was shared. I urge people to go into this knowing as little as possible, though I guess if you’ve read this far, I did ruin a tiny bit of its surprises in order to review it. Hey, I did repeatedly give you a spoiler warning before laying everything out...If you bear the slightest bit of interest in what you just read or what you’ve seen from this game, I heavily recommend playing through it. Luckily, it isn’t a full-priced title either and I think it’s absolutely worth the asking price.

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries Of Honjo is a gripping and horrific adventure that branches outside of what genre fans would expect. It plays with your intuition and tests your deduction skills as you piece together each puzzle. Unfortunately, the narrative intermission brings gameplay to a crawl, but you’ll want to stick through until the end to experience everything this twisted adventure offers.

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a more complicated version of Phoenix Wright. It contains some tricky puzzles to overcome while being driven by a thick amount of Japanese folklore, as well as a touch of horror. It can be frustrating, if not overwhelming at times, but its take on the Phoenix Wright gameplay logic puzzle structure makes for a fun and unique experience.

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is that kind of magical realism that makes me feel like something like this could actually happen and maybe ghosts, sorcery, and mediums exist. At its core, it’s a story about urban legends that are not only true, but begin to have a material impact on real people’s lives. While not the most sterling example of a visual novel murder mystery, Paranormasight is well worth anyone’s time, especially those with a fascination for the occult.

With a snappy script and some genuinely unnerving jump scares, Paranormasight is a very approachable J-Horror game. The slow process of turning around using a mouse on the PC was a great way to amplify the tension in a lot of scenes. Because it leans heavier into the mystery aspect of the horror-mystery genre, even players who are nervous about horror games can enjoy it. It is a beautifully crafted game that makes imaginative use of its medium. Clocking in at under 10 hours—with some of that time spent lost, idling, or just reading through its impressively detailed files—Paranormasight is a wonderful game for a lazy weekend.

Overall, Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a fun little visual novel that doesn't quite hit all the marks but is still a breezy and enjoyable romp with some creative use of gameplay mechanics. I had a difficult time getting past the fact that it wasn't the game I was had expected based on the first couple of hours, but once I did, I was able to enjoy it for what it was. The setting is clearly built up to potentially allow for more games in the same universe in the future, and I hope the next game in the series is willing to be a bit more daring.

Paranormasight features a multi-layered story with interesting insights into Japanese myths, even though it promises more than it delivers in terms of content and gameplay.