Of all the otome games coming out this year, 9 R.I.P. is one I was looking forward to the most due to its spooky, supernatural premise.
I originally intended to play it as one of October’s games, but since it’s on the longer side due to having 9 different routes, that didn’t end up happening.
Instead, I finished it this weekend, so let’s talk about it!
9 R.I.P. follows a young woman named Misa who is stressed about her plans for after high school. Her mother is pressuring her to go into medical school, but that isn’t what she really wants. There’s a legend that says someone with significant worries will be spirited away – and depending on your early choices, Misa will find her path crossing with those of ghosts and spirits in one of four different scenarios.
Similar to Winter’s Wish, which I we discussed last year, 9 R.I.P. has a branching common route that focuses on only a couple love interests before splitting off into the individual routes. I’ve found that I like that format for a game with numerous routes like this. It lets you get to know the characters before starting their routes without requiring a common route lengthy enough to accommodate all of them at once.
While 9 R.I.P. isn’t a horror game, it has levels of spookiness that vary depending on which scenario you’re playing. Well, for three of the common routes, that is. The fourth is a comedy, and that ended up being my favorite.
Despite what seems like a high stakes premise – getting stuck in the world of the dead or being stalked by vengeful ghosts sounds like it should make for an intense game – the whole game actually has a fair amount of focus on slice-of-life situations and individual character dynamics. There are some tense moments, but they aren’t the norm. Even so, I wasn’t expecting one of the common routes to be a wacky comedy instead, nor did I expect that to be exactly what I needed. It was just fun.
(Really, I could have played an entire game just of that scenario and their goofy antics.)
Anyway, an otome with this many routes sometimes suffers from feeling rushed… and unfortunately there were several routes that felt like they progressed too quickly or like they would have benefited from an extra chapter or two to help flesh things out. There were even a couple that had me baffled at how what on paper sounded like a perfect route for me could end up feeling so boring.
Fortunately, they aren’t all like that. There are some excellent routes here as well, and the grumpy spirit Koharu was pretty much worth the price of admission alone as far as I’m concerned.
This being a story about romance between a mortal and ghosts/spirits, a lot of the routes end up feeling bittersweet instead of truly happy. Still, there were enough good feelings there that I’d say it’s still a happier game overall – although one perplexing aspect is that most of the time, the low affection endings are more positive than the high-affection endings. Not always in a subjective way, either. It’s an odd quirk of 9 R.I.P. that I don’t quite understand, although I do have a theory.
Click for vague/general 9 R.I.P. spoilers
My guess is that the high affection endings ended up worse more often than not due to the dangers of being obsessively in love with a ghost or spirit. So without that extreme attraction forming, the characters could resolve things more reasonably and achieve a happier ending.
It’s still weird though, because it flies in the face of how romance games (otome, galge, or anything else) almost always do things. If it was meant as an intentional subversion, they didn’t make that clear.
Overall, while I did finish several routes with mixed feelings and criticisms, I enjoyed my time with 9 R.I.P. and found it to be an entertaining experience. More importantly, I liked the characters enough that if they localize the recently-announced sequel (please), I’ll definitely get it.
The Hundred Line: -Last Defense Academy- is the upcoming new game from the creators of Danganronpa and Zero Escape.
