Tokyo Psychodemic caught my eye when it was first announced, and I ordered a physical Japanese copy for the Switch that came with a promise English would eventually be patched in.
That happened in November, so it joined my lineup of mystery games to review this May.
Although I played the Switch version, Tokyo Psychodemic is available on Steam and PlayStation as well. It’s an adventure game that uses both a 2D visual novel presentation and live action videos as you try to solve its cases.
Set in the aftermath of a viral epidemic that led to a lockdown, it follows two detectives trying to solve strange cases while searching for clues about a cult of psychics.
Tokyo Psychodemic begins with a message to the player that all of its cases can be solved with real-world science, which holds true for most of the game until the main plot actually comes into focus near the end, because the main plot is legitimately about people who developed psychic powers due to a cult’s unethical experiments. I’m not sure why they included the disclaimer, unless it’s meant to make sure players know they should be looking for realistic explanations for the cases.
This is a game that at once feels complicated and yet simple. You have a bunch of tools at your disposal – an image analysis machine that lets you compare videos and images, an audio analysis machine, documents to examine and find key words, and a computer where you can contact members of your secret network to ask for information and new data – and it can seem overwhelming. At the same time, it’s often a very guided experience that tells you exactly what you should analyze and what tools to use, with only a handful of times when you’re left on your own to figure out where to look for the information you need.
The result is a combination that might turn some players away, but I enjoyed it. It feels like you’re actually putting in real detective work to solve the case, without being so obtuse that it’s frustrating. For example, in one case you need to watch security camera footage (which is live action), scan the faces of passersby to see if they match the victim, and send that information to your contact to track the victim’s path across the city.
(Although there is one point where you need to figure out a password by recognizing a Japanese melody… if there’s a way to identify the melody in the game, I missed it.)
Most of your time will be spent on this sort of analysis, moving from one screen to another and searching for clues. When you aren’t locked in to a particular activity, you can move around the tiny area that serves as your base to feed your cat or go outside. Going outside at these points gives you a series of optional visual novel scenes that help to flesh out the characters and their relationships a bit.
Unfortunately, it’s not quite enough. The visual novel scenes are nice, but there weren’t enough of them for me to get attached to the characters or especially invested in the plot. The player character might as well not even exist; Tomona (the girl in the cover art pictured above) feels more like the protagonist in most scenes. And until near the end, the main story takes a backseat to the mystery solving.
But solving the cases is interesting, and I enjoyed its approach to analyzing evidence for clues. Tokyo Psychodemic ends on a sequel hook, and although it wasn’t an amazing storytelling experience, I’d be interested in trying the sequel if and when it’s made.
