Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 74 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 61 out of 74
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 74
  3. Negative: 10 out of 74
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  1. VoicedReason
    Jun 1, 2017
    10
    First, let's get this out of the way. This "game" is a probably 85% Visual Novel and 15% SRPG. People who are expecting more gameplay and have less patience for a good story should stay away. I believe this misconception is akin to someone dressed to play soccer but walking onto a basketball court and being sorely disappointed causing lower review scores.

    That being said, for what it    First, let's get this out of the way. This "game" is a probably 85% Visual Novel and 15% SRPG. People who are expecting more gameplay and have less patience for a good story should stay away. I believe this misconception is akin to someone dressed to play soccer but walking onto a basketball court and being sorely disappointed causing lower review scores.

    That being said, for what it is, this "game" is a wonderful experience and has the magic of a good book. I've never heard of Utawarerumono before and had no idea what I was getting into. My main focus within any game is Story and Utawarerumono doesn't disappoint. There's definitely something to be said about the loss of storytelling quality going from a book to a movie or game in this day and age. Many subtle insights are overlooked as we get into cinematic territory. With the approach Utawarerumono takes, every little thought or feeling the main character experiences are conveyed thoroughly through inner dialogue and immerses the player in a way that no cinematic or gameplay can.

    The story is definitely a grand adventure with memorable characters. Every story nowadays is a recycled form of an older story but Utawarerumono mixes, matches and interweaves different parts of a story and this makes the overall shine!

    The Voice acting is all in Japanese but the actors convey emotion well through tone. Questions, Surprised reactions, embarassements, etc. are all well acted and it's nice to hear the voice of a character. It helps to distinguish different characters and push away the monotony of just reading dialogue.

    Gameplay is few and far in between but that doesn't affect my outlook towards the game at all. it was actually refreshing to just simply be immersed in an enjoyable story. I was kind of sad it all ended once I beat the game but that's just how it goes. All I know is that if I felt that way at the end, then it was a good Experience through and through.    … Expand
  2. Gold_Grande
    May 23, 2017
    10
    I will be honest. I am a little biased when it comes to this game having found the original Utawarerumono interesting since it came out over a decade ago. I'm a lover of SRPGs and great visual novels (VNs). This is one of the best there is in both genre. Some critics (and players) are going to come into Utawarerumono with different expectations than one would need. This can cause unfairI will be honest. I am a little biased when it comes to this game having found the original Utawarerumono interesting since it came out over a decade ago. I'm a lover of SRPGs and great visual novels (VNs). This is one of the best there is in both genre. Some critics (and players) are going to come into Utawarerumono with different expectations than one would need. This can cause unfair review scores simply because this is not your average first person shooter, open world sandbox, etc. This game is heavily and foremost a visual novel. Most of the "playing" will be done reading the story. However, the story is great and if you like VNs, it is a real treat. Lovable main, side, background characters. Great lore and world building, the works. The SRPG parts (around 20 or so) are great in comparison to other games in the genre. If you like SRPGs, you'll find a nice challenge with this on hard.

    I also have the benefit of playing Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth before they were localized in English. Let me tell you now that this game is a first half to a story where the second half unfolds in Mask of Truth. Mask of Deception ends in a cliffhanger, so do not be too alarmed, there will be more. It is possible to play these two without playing the original Utawarerumono game (or watching the anime) but if one wants to understand why the Utaware world is the way it is and the appearance of some original characters in the two sequels, it would be best to get knowledgeable about the original. The original Utawarerumono anime is a great adaption and can probably be found on streaming sites. Highly recommended game. VNs as good as this do not come around often.    … Expand
  3. Revadarius
    May 24, 2017
    3
    I'll be honest, I haven't finished the game. I'm about 6hrs in (at the pace of the game's auto command for moving through the dialogue).

    I understood it's be a VN, with RPG elements. I didn't realize to the extent how much dialogue that would include. It took nearly 2hrs before your first "battle" (the only time you have any real input into the game). Nearly 3hrs before your first    I'll be honest, I haven't finished the game. I'm about 6hrs in (at the pace of the game's auto command for moving through the dialogue).

    I understood it's be a VN, with RPG elements. I didn't realize to the extent how much dialogue that would include. It took nearly 2hrs before your first "battle" (the only time you have any real input into the game). Nearly 3hrs before your first "choice" (Which was basically click 'X' because you only had 1 option). And in 5hrs I've had 3 battles, and just came across my 2nd (though actually 1st) choice.

    I think the art works is beautiful, the voice acting (Though in Japanese) is magnificent and the music is soothing and creates the right atmosphere. But sadly, this game needs 1 thing - 1 simple thing - and that's English Voice Acting.

    Don't get me wrong, I prefer Japanese voices at time - but that's when not-so-much reading is involved. But with the amount of reading, and the poor displaying of some of it... it'd be nice to just listen to the story. Because there's too much text. I'd honestly prefer this entire story in book format.

    But a lot of the dialogue is unnecessary chatter, or over explanation of events. Which is the oddest, and brand new form, of 'fluff' I've come across in gaming.

    Honestly, regardless of what die-hard fans will say (the sort of people who would jump on the hype for this VN) I'd recommend the anime for anyone wanting the story in a more immersive and easy to digest manner, which - itself - is still a masterpiece. Granted, there are changes but I personally prefer the anime on that basis alone.

    If they ever bring of English VA's (which they likely won't) then I'll pick it up, but we're not getting the experience as it was intended because - unless you can understand Japanese - then this is just a pretty digital book.

    And yes, I love VN's. I've burnt through a few, most are short and sweet - and some are lengthy - but this "game" takes the biscuit, and the RPG elements may as well not exist. It's not deep, meaningful... it's entirely unnecessary to the 'experience'.

    3/10. It's good, it's just hard to digest - and for anyone with dyslexia, or difficulty reading for long periods of time... it's going to take forever to get through this game, English VA would have helped appeal to a wider audience. It's a shame, I was hoping to fully compare it to the anime - and thought it would have much more of a game to it, in term of it's RPG elements, and didn't realize the issue of lacking English VA. But now I know, and that was a risk I took when buying the game - and I hope I inform people who don't make a similar mistake.    … Expand
  4. midipon
    Apr 27, 2020
    10
    The amazing world and writing of the Utawarerumono games totally sucked me in from beginning to end. The SRPG battles really helped to set in the story, were unique, and never grindy like most others on the market. Absolutely would recommend to people who want a JRPG with writing > gameplay.
  5. zaftgun
    Dec 8, 2018
    8
    The dialogues are super long, but if you have the patience its very enjoyable. But its not like there arent any other RPGs that have long scenes, but usually they offer a option to skip and provide a summary.

    But this game is different I have to say, you will be getting a very different experience if they offered you an option to skip. But with the slow pace, its a farcry from the    The dialogues are super long, but if you have the patience its very enjoyable. But its not like there arent any other RPGs that have long scenes, but usually they offer a option to skip and provide a summary.

    But this game is different I have to say, you will be getting a very different experience if they offered you an option to skip. But with the slow pace, its a farcry from the usualy PS4 games.

    Nevertheless, its a great game with one of the very best plot, dialogues, characters, art, music, voice acting and game play.

    Note that game play is turn and grid based - what they call tactical style.

    Cant wait for to play the sequel and Zan!    … Expand
  6. tomvs123
    Sep 22, 2020
    6
    Not a bad harem-focused visual novel with a small amount of okay strategy combat.

    I'm always looking for games with intelligent writing, and while this one doesn't quite qualify, it is at least interesting and kept me coming back to find out what will happen. To summarize the basics of the story: you're a normal human who wakes up with no memory in a pre-industrial world of    Not a bad harem-focused visual novel with a small amount of okay strategy combat.

    I'm always looking for games with intelligent writing, and while this one doesn't quite qualify, it is at least interesting and kept me coming back to find out what will happen.

    To summarize the basics of the story: you're a normal human who wakes up with no memory in a pre-industrial world of animal-eared and tailed people. The girl who finds you takes care of you until you can become self-sufficent. Along with her, and many other girls you befriend, you establish a home base of sorts and do jobs for particularly famous government official, who isn't exactly well liked by the other heads of government. While navigating the political landscape, you also learn more about your past, the world's past, and eventually uncover most of its sci-fi-like secrets.

    The story seems to be targeting male teens, as I can only describe your situation as harem-like. You spend a lot of time getting to know the girls that become your friends and who assist you with your work. There's a bit of nudity here and there and a set of particular girls are very sexually-suggestive, but your protagonist never crosses into the territory of having a deeper relationship with any of the girls. And of course, because this is a psuedo-harem, most of the girls have various levels of unexplained love for you.

    There's minor plot holes and issues here and there, but they weren't big enough to distract from the rest of the story. For example, the explanation of why you are able to move up in society so quickly is a bit unreasonable. The game points out that you're much smarter than the average animal person, but the so called "intelligent" acts that you perform are questionable at best. And they get even more questionable after you realize just how smart everyone else is. Many of the "dumb" animal characters have expert levels of determining others' intentions. Understanding of human psychology is typically much more advanced than being able to figure out how to swap broken gears or pushing a monster down a cliff (which are two example of your protagonist being "smart"). But I guess if the animal character were actually dumb, they wouldn't be very interesting to talk to, and you spend a lot of time talking to them.

    And finally, writing-wise, this is a game that leaves nothing to the imagination, and nothing to analyze. You're constantly given character's inner thoughts, so everything is clear. It's a story suitable for beginners and for people who don't understand psychology. It all just washes over you, requiring no work on your part to understand a character's true intentions, as those intentions are always written out in plain text. This, in addition to the story not tackling any mature themes, is why it is sub-par, intelligent-writing-wise.

    But hey, it sure is interesting. Taking the slow grind to figure out why the world is the way it is, uncovering your past, and navigating the political landscape kept me wanting to keep playing the game, which is more than I can say for most games I play these days.

    As for the combat, it's basic square-grid strategy combat and there's only about 15 battles in the entire game. Characters move across a grid and either heal or attack, and that's it. Being a strategy-game veteran, I found normal mode to be easy, and never lost a battle. I didn't feel like I wanted a challenge in the game, so never increased the difficulty level - the story was much more interesting to me.

    So if you like interesting / sci-fi-ish stories and pretty anime girls, this is a decent choice. I don't even particularly like visual novels and ended up not regretting my time with it. Just don't expect Shakespeare or Nier levels of writing, and you'll be fine.    … Expand
  7. JamesFrankel
    Aug 30, 2020
    7
    Most negative reviews for this game come from people who have only shallow knowledge about anime/manga related stuff and have no idea what exactly a visual novel (short, VN) is. A VN is not an usual 'game', but more a book accompanied with still images and music. If that doesn't appeal to you, this game isn't for you.

    This game is mostly VN, accompanied by a small part of SRPG    Most negative reviews for this game come from people who have only shallow knowledge about anime/manga related stuff and have no idea what exactly a visual novel (short, VN) is. A VN is not an usual 'game', but more a book accompanied with still images and music. If that doesn't appeal to you, this game isn't for you.

    This game is mostly VN, accompanied by a small part of SRPG (Strategic RPG, usually tile- and round-based; see Disgaea games). Expect a lot of VN content. Sometimes, between two SPRG battles, there lies more than 3 hours of reading text. So the enjoyment of this game comes mostly from the reading part, while the SRPG part should really be seen as a bonus.

    For this review, I will expect that you know that this game is a sequel to the original 'Utawarerumono', a visual novel which also got an anime adaptation. This sequel has completely different main characters and can be enjoyed without knowing the first game, but several characters make cameos, so watching at least the anime of the first game is highly recommended. Btw, this game (Mask of Deception) also got an anime adaptation already, which does differ from the game though in various details.

    So, how is the story? First of all, pretty...'anime'. You have lot of the usual cliches, from stereotypes over fanservice to demonized, one-dimensional villians. You'll definitely need a certain 'tolerance' for those things if you want to enjoy this VN.
    On the good side, certain other aspects are handled quite well: Most of all, the world is quite fleshed out. The game comes with a glossary where lot of details about the world, it's culture and food are included and also in the story, various side stories revolve around the game world's various aspects and details. These side stories, which have a slice-of-life character, are pretty humorous in nature and bring the characters closer to you. Much later in the game, there are more serious parts, which work pretty well, since the characters grew on you in the previous segments. At the end of the game, I really liked all the characters and really wanted to know how it continues - exactly, the story is left unfinished, but it is already known that it will be completed by another sequel named 'Mask of Truth', set for release in Sep, 2017.

    The SRPG part is also surprisingly well made. It isn't as complex as other games in the genre, which is actually rather beginner-friendly. After the 17 battles in the main story, which can be played in 'normal' or 'hard' mode, an extra 16 battles await the player in post-game. These are much more difficult than the main story battles, but can be beaten after understanding the game's mechanics and tactics well.

    Graphic-wise, the game isn't anything special. The japanese version actually appeared for the PS3, and even for PS3 standards, the graphics can be described as 'functional' at most, though, honestly, it could have been much worse. The attack and character animations actually look nice. Outside of the SRPG part, the VN parts look pretty good, of course, coming with a bunch of great-looking CGs.

    The physical copy of the game (at least, the german version) comes with an additional art booklet. It's the same size as printed manual booklets (remember those?), but filled with artworks and infos to the characters and the world. This was a great addition and again showed the love to detail.

    The western version of the game is kind of censored, as one certain CG is altered a bit. This change was pretty minor though and can be tolerated, in my opinion.

    The trophy list of the game is quite easy and if you've beaten all of the game including the post-game battles, the platinum should easily pop up. So yeah, easy platinum here.

    All in all I can recommend the game to every anime fan, especially fans of the first anime or the existing anime. Don't except an epic tale, but expect a fun journey with loveable characters and a story that gets quite interesting towards the end. And be prepared to buy the sequel, lol.    … Expand
  8. kaleidonec
    Jun 9, 2019
    8
    Good visual novel with a perfect execution and plot, though it lacks replay value and there's no scene viewer.
  9. Clownshoe
    Jul 23, 2019
    8
    Absolutely loved it, the characters are fantastic! Was skeptical as it’s like a visual novel/hybrid tactical game but god damn.
  10. Haku76
    Aug 12, 2020
    10
    This game is mainly a visual novel, most of the game is story based but there are strategic battles here and there in the game. The story itself is fantastic and the gameplay is fun, it is an overall great experience. There is no english dub for the voices though so you will have to read the story.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 22
  3. Negative: 1 out of 22
  1. RPG Fan
    Aug 8, 2017
    72
    As a visual (kinetic) novel, Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception is quite good. It does take a long time to start, but once the story gets going, it is quite compelling. The music is fantastic, the voice acting is good, there’s a fun cast of characters, and the visuals are there. Unfortunately, as a game, it doesn’t do nearly as well. The tactical RPG part of the game lacks complexity and difficulty. The game doesn’t properly explain how the battle system works, and you will be left to fend for yourself to learn how to properly fight. If you can get over the 20 hour hump for the story to pick up, and can sit through the uninspired fights, then you can enjoy a story full of political intrigue that makes you realize how much you actually care for the characters and what they go through. However, if you are an impatient soul, and/or would prefer your games with good gameplay, stay far away. In short, this is a good visual novel, but a mediocre game.
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  2. CGMagazine
    Jul 17, 2017
    60
    Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception tells two different stories—one serious, one sexy—that are so at odds with one another that it loses itself in the process.
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  3. RPGamer
    Jun 16, 2017
    60
    My experience of Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception went through some distinct phases, starting with interest, then devolving into boredom as nothing significant happens for a long while, before finally sucking me back in once things finally got moving. Those coming in expecting a deep tactical RPG simply won't find one. However, as a visual novel, and ignoring the problems of the first half, its second half did exactly what it needed to do to suck me in. Thankfully, the ending at least implies that the missteps of the first half should not be repeated in Mask of Truth, so taken as a package the two games could end up being a very worthwhile experience overall.
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