Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 62 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 55 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 62
  3. Negative: 5 out of 62
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  1. tomvs123
    Oct 5, 2020
    3
    When compared to the first game, this sequel is overly-long, cliche, has more plot holes, and is not nearly as interesting.

    The combat is mostly the same as the last game and there's about twice as many combat missions, though that's due to the game being nearly twice as long. Combat is slightly harder. Where I failed no missions in the last game, I had to retry two missions in this    When compared to the first game, this sequel is overly-long, cliche, has more plot holes, and is not nearly as interesting.

    The combat is mostly the same as the last game and there's about twice as many combat missions, though that's due to the game being nearly twice as long. Combat is slightly harder. Where I failed no missions in the last game, I had to retry two missions in this game (one being one of the final bosses). Though this isn't really a game you play for the combat, so I'll get onto the story.

    I'll be brief and general here, as talking about the story could spoil the previous game (Mask of Deception), which you should play before considering playing this one.

    Whereas the last game kept me interested in the world due to strange (and believable) things being uncovered, this game takes a much more generic approach. There's very little new and interesting happening and the characters unfortunately become solidified into their stereotypes, which makes them less interesting.

    The first half of the game is all about a war that you're leading. The writers are not very good at war stories, so if you're into those types of stories, you'll be disappointed here. One of the main things they do is to have one side discuss what possible battle options there are, make a decision, and then switch to the enemy, who discusses the exact battle options. This is a writing trick to convince the reader/player that those are the only options that exist, which adds credibility to the plot. But the more critically-minded will see a large number of options that weren't discussed and see that the narrow-mindnesses of the opponents is due to the writers wanting to force the story to move in a certain direction, while providing these explanations as an attempt to improve believability.

    I should also point out that during the war section of the story, there's an individual enemy who vows to kill you, but never actually does. You get into numerous battles where he is about to make the final strike and possibly end your life, but something silly comes up that requires his attention and it turns into a children's "I'll get you next time!" fiasco.

    Oh, and there's the mind-altering bug that's implanted into a different individual to manufacture another opponent for you. Yep, we've got mind control here and it's the only instance of something like this being used with no reasonable world-explanation for its use. That's not bad on its own, but nonsensical stuff like this just keeps coming up over and over in the story.

    After the long (and arguably pointless) war section, you get back to the interesting stuff, such as the origins of this world, its people, and yourself. This section is also drawn out and has very little new to offer when compared to the previous game. New enemies are manufactured for you to fight, and for some reason, you must fight them multiple times. It seems as though the protagonist in this game has a hard time verifying whether someone is dead before declaring victory.

    You'll run into other writing issues here too, such as learning it's much easier than you expected to get this "key" that unlocks the secrets of the world - making some of the major actions in the previous game pointless. And coming across not one, but two, people/entities who want to destroy the world because they're depressed.

    Oh well, at least there was one well-written and touching scene in the middle of the game regarding a particular mother.

    Not exactly the game/story for people who easily notice (and dislike) plot holes, but decent enough if you liked the first game and just want to get more of these characters.    … Collapse
  2. kaleidonec
    Jun 9, 2019
    9
    A step up to Utawarerumono Mask of Deception. It improves nearly every shortcoming the prequel has.
  3. minneyar
    Apr 1, 2018
    10
    Utawarerumono: Mask ofTruth is, without a doubt, one of the best visual novels I've ever played. It's a long game, but despite the length is well-paced and doesn't feel like it ever drags arcs out unnecessarily. The writing is fantastic and a pleasure to read, the music is fantastic, the character development is careful and intriguing, and the plot is filled with great twists. ComparedUtawarerumono: Mask ofTruth is, without a doubt, one of the best visual novels I've ever played. It's a long game, but despite the length is well-paced and doesn't feel like it ever drags arcs out unnecessarily. The writing is fantastic and a pleasure to read, the music is fantastic, the character development is careful and intriguing, and the plot is filled with great twists. Compared to the previous game, the combat is balance a bit better, although still on the easy side; fortunately, there's an extensive post-game that is quite challenging.

    Really, the worst thing I can say about this game is that you need to play through its predecessor (Mask of Deception) and watch or play the original Utawarerumono in order to understand it at all. They're fine games in their own rights, but not on the same level as Mask of Truth. This game is the perfect end to the trilogy, and I highly recommend it to anybody who enjoys visual novels.    … Expand
  4. Falmung
    Sep 18, 2017
    9
    Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is a visual novel that completes the trilogy of a game series whose release have been spread out between nearly 10 years in Japan. As part of a two part story it continues right where it left of from the previous game Mask of Deception.

    I want to be clear in that this is a visual novel. It may have some SRPG elements but it's main focus is the story. If you    Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is a visual novel that completes the trilogy of a game series whose release have been spread out between nearly 10 years in Japan. As part of a two part story it continues right where it left of from the previous game Mask of Deception.

    I want to be clear in that this is a visual novel. It may have some SRPG elements but it's main focus is the story. If you do not enjoy reading visual novels then this game might not be for you. You can pass hours without encountering a single SRPG fight and it's not something that should be taken negatively. Visual Novels like Steins;Gate don't even have gameplay.

    In order to fully enjoy the great story in Mask of Truth it is required to have played Mask of Deception. It is also encouraged to watch the anime game adaptation (Utawarerumono (2016)) of the first game that was never localized on the west. The first game not only has direct cameos to Mask of Deception but is of great importance on Mask of Truth.

    Contrary to Mask of Deception, Mask of Truth has a more serious story that occurs during a tense war. Mask of Deception was more slice of life with the character enjoying care free life and which focused more in developing it's characters.

    The story is fantastic with a lot of interesting characters, twists, and revelations that bring the Utawarerumono to a satisfying conclusion. The soundtrack in the game is fantastic having some of the best music I've heard and songs by Suara which will bring forth a lot of emotion during the important segments of the story. The voice acting is superb having some of the best voice actors in Japan.

    As for the SRPG element of the game it has received some notable upgrades over it's Mask of Deception battle system. Benched party members now receive EXP after a battle. Equipment can be imported from a Mask of Deception save. The game now allows party members to attack together in co-op chains as well as perform some final strikes in co-op as well. Mock battles have been added which allow you to randomly fight against party members ranging from 3v3 or 6v6 in different sections of maps. The preparation menu for battles is better organized compared to Mask of Deception. You can now use BP to increase equipment slots for characters.

    Battles in the story now tend to be much longer compared to the previous game. There are battles which have different clear requirements and some battles which have special circumstances which will change the way you play them.

    A annoying part of the Mask of Deception was that the share features of the PS4 were blocked for the vast majority of the game. In Mask Of truth nearly the entire game can be captured. After beating the game you unlock New Game+ and a event viewer which allows you to rewatch every single story segment in the game. The event viewer is by far one of my favorite features in the game allowing me to re-watch some of my favorite parts of the story.

    The end-game content is bountiful adding a good 20 to 30 hours of SRPG gameplay to the game in harder battles than the story based ones under different battle requirements.    … Expand
  5. snakekill321
    Sep 11, 2017
    10
    If you are playing Mask of Truth, it is probably because you were entranced by Mask of Deception, and I can honestly say to anyone on the fence: do it. If you dont like Slice of life fr the first half, watch the anime, itll be quicker, but for those looking for almost 100 hours of living in another world, feeling the whole story, and having the cathartic feeling when it ends, I recommendIf you are playing Mask of Truth, it is probably because you were entranced by Mask of Deception, and I can honestly say to anyone on the fence: do it. If you dont like Slice of life fr the first half, watch the anime, itll be quicker, but for those looking for almost 100 hours of living in another world, feeling the whole story, and having the cathartic feeling when it ends, I recommend the whole series.

    I hate visual novels. I dont like reading my video games, and you dont really rate the novel on its gameplay, because it is focusing more on telling a story. I picked up Mask of Deception because it was sold to me as an SRPG. I played it and got tired of it for a while, on a whim I picked it up, and Once i finished the first few battles, I fell in love with the cast, the characters, the story, the music, the whole damn thing. It was such a fresh experience. Even the beginning which is almost all slice of life, felt engaging. The music and the writing really made you feel like you were there. When the story finally picks up though, you feel the rush coming, when the climax is at the peak, it leaves you wanting more, and that is where Mask of Truth picks up. It maintains the same music, and style of writing, which is perfect, but more of the story is shown, and It has all sorts of plot twist and turns, and each character death really made me feel something, whether it was a guy I hated, or someone i loved. I teared up multiple times during this game. Suara, (the singer of most of the vocals) does a great job on these games, in fact she also did the songs for the Anime as well.

    I highly recommend anyone who likes a fantasy style atmosphere in their anime. If you are playing this just for the SRPG elements, I would say shy away from it unless you love a good story, the battles are few and far between, but I didnt play Mask of Truth for the gameplay, I wanted to finish the story, and as this is the onyl way to see the sequel in a non manga form, I gladly shelled out the money to finish my story with Haku and Kuon. I honestly feel empty and happy at the same time, It is one of those games that you want to forget so you can do it all again. It reminds us of why we are only human, and that nothing is perfect.    … Expand
  6. tomvs123
    Oct 5, 2020
    3
    When compared to the first game, this sequel is overly-long, cliche, has more plot holes, and is not nearly as interesting.

    The combat is mostly the same as the last game and there's about twice as many combat missions, though that's due to the game being nearly twice as long. Combat is slightly harder. Where I failed no missions in the last game, I had to retry two missions in this    When compared to the first game, this sequel is overly-long, cliche, has more plot holes, and is not nearly as interesting.

    The combat is mostly the same as the last game and there's about twice as many combat missions, though that's due to the game being nearly twice as long. Combat is slightly harder. Where I failed no missions in the last game, I had to retry two missions in this game (one being one of the final bosses). Though this isn't really a game you play for the combat, so I'll get onto the story.

    I'll be brief and general here, as talking about the story could spoil the previous game (Mask of Deception), which you should play before considering playing this one.

    Whereas the last game kept me interested in the world due to strange (and believable) things being uncovered, this game takes a much more generic approach. There's very little new and interesting happening and the characters unfortunately become solidified into their stereotypes, which makes them less interesting.

    The first half of the game is all about a war that you're leading. The writers are not very good at war stories, so if you're into those types of stories, you'll be disappointed here. One of the main things they do is to have one side discuss what possible battle options there are, make a decision, and then switch to the enemy, who discusses the exact battle options. This is a writing trick to convince the reader/player that those are the only options that exist, which adds credibility to the plot. But the more critically-minded will see a large number of options that weren't discussed and see that the narrow-mindnesses of the opponents is due to the writers wanting to force the story to move in a certain direction, while providing these explanations as an attempt to improve believability.

    I should also point out that during the war section of the story, there's an individual enemy who vows to kill you, but never actually does. You get into numerous battles where he is about to make the final strike and possibly end your life, but something silly comes up that requires his attention and it turns into a children's "I'll get you next time!" fiasco.

    Oh, and there's the mind-altering bug that's implanted into a different individual to manufacture another opponent for you. Yep, we've got mind control here and it's the only instance of something like this being used with no reasonable world-explanation for its use. That's not bad on its own, but nonsensical stuff like this just keeps coming up over and over in the story.

    After the long (and arguably pointless) war section, you get back to the interesting stuff, such as the origins of this world, its people, and yourself. This section is also drawn out and has very little new to offer when compared to the previous game. New enemies are manufactured for you to fight, and for some reason, you must fight them multiple times. It seems as though the protagonist in this game has a hard time verifying whether someone is dead before declaring victory.

    You'll run into other writing issues here too, such as learning it's much easier than you expected to get this "key" that unlocks the secrets of the world - making some of the major actions in the previous game pointless. And coming across not one, but two, people/entities who want to destroy the world because they're depressed.

    Oh well, at least there was one well-written and touching scene in the middle of the game regarding a particular mother.

    Not exactly the game/story for people who easily notice (and dislike) plot holes, but decent enough if you liked the first game and just want to get more of these characters.    … Collapse

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. GameCritics
    Apr 18, 2018
    90
    It’s hard to say whether Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is better than Mask of Deception since they’re essentially one story split into two halves, but I found the entire tale thought-provoking and its characters lovable and (mostly) funny. It’s a visual novel worth playing, and now that I’ve reached its end, I’m a little sad saying goodbye.
    Read full review
  2. SpazioGames
    Jan 4, 2018
    65
    If you're a fan of visual novels and enjoy reading a story you can safely get Mask of Truth; the gamers who are actually looking for a challenge and don't care for the plot should probably look somewhere else instead.
    Read full review
  3. Cubed3
    Nov 20, 2017
    70
    It is difficult to pull off, but Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth has managed to both make a solid SRPG and visual novel in the same game. The world is interesting, and the characters are enjoyable to play as and to see the world with, even though sometimes it is too reliant on common tropes. The combat system also has depth to it with a lot of systems in place to reward those who think several turns in advance. The problem is that both aspects of the game are somewhat bloated. For fans of both genres this will not be obvious or even an issue at all, but for those who only likes the former or the latter, this might quickly make either feel like it's overstaying its welcome, in a good 80+ hours long game.
    Read full review
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