Let’s talk about Happy Game, a short game that warns you right on its Steam page that it is not a happy game.
In terms of tone, it’s psychological horror, but as far as gameplay goes, it’s a puzzle game before anything else.
You play as a little boy having a nightmare, and I have to praise it for really capturing a surreal tone. The imagery is often disturbing, sometimes bright and colorful at the same time, and always bizarre.
The puzzles, meanwhile, are the type that seem to be complete dream logic when you first look at them, until you figure out the rules of each situation and see how to proceed. It’s simple mechanically – the main things you do are walk and click – but tricky in terms of figuring out solutions.
Now since it’s a horror game set within the context of nightmares, I’m sure there is a ton of symbolism here. It’s clear that it’s exploring childhood fears and trauma to some degree.
At the same time, everything is so surreal that it lends it ambiguity. There was a point while playing where I wondered if it simply was just a nightmare after all, and other points where I started to theorize about certain things. I feel like it’s the sort of game that lends itself to multiple interpretations.
It’s also disturbing enough in tone to be a great fit for this month. The final section in particular felt like a perfect game for Halloween.
So if you’re looking for a strange, surreal puzzle game that takes only a couple of hours to beat and is set within the context of a nightmare, Happy Game is certainly one to consider.
Today had the potential for some exciting video game announcements, so I was looking forward to it, starting with Level-5 Vision 2023 II early this morning.
It began with a message from Professor Layton’s Japanese voice actor, who revealed that when he was first given the part of Professor Layton, he drew inspiration from James Bond. Not what I expected, but that’s a fun detail.
The first game they showed was Megaton Musashi Wired, which will be out on April 25, 2024.
Getting an actual release date for one of the games relieved some of my worries, even though I’m not interested in that one specifically.
Next up was a new trailer for Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, which I’m really looking forward to! The new trailer highlights changes from the first game as well as a summer 2024 release window. While that’s further off than I’d like, at least it gives me a chance to get through the rush of early 2024 games first!
They spent a good deal of time looking at the next Inazuma Eleven game after that. I’ve never gotten into that series, but since this game has been delayed over and over again for over 7 years now, it’s nice to see it finally making progress. While it didn’t get a release date, there will be a closed beta test for the online features in March 2024.
Now, you know I only watched this live because I wanted Professor Layton news, so I was thrilled when they showed Professor Layton and the New World of Steam next.
The new trailer shows a small section of the game, including a 3D cutscene and some gameplay. Watching them tap around for hint coins and encounter a puzzle might not sound like a big deal, but seeing that good, familiar Professor Layton gameplay make me so happy. Hearing narration during the puzzle-solving was a bit odd, so I think that might have been purely for the trailer (unless that’s the way hints will be handled in this game). It also appeared like they were using the touchscreen, which is interesting.
Unfortunately, Professor Layton and the New World of Steam won’t be out until 2025. With the other games all delayed to 2024, I was expecting it, but it was still a little disappointing.
I had expected them to end with Professor Layton, but instead they went on to briefly discuss the success of the Yokai Watch mobile game, and then they continued with Decapolice.
I’ve been interested in Decapolice since I love mystery games and it seems to have JRPG elements as well, but I was surprised to hear them describe it as an open world game. The showcase also said the release date had been moved to “post-2024,” although a tweet later clarified that they meant 2024.
The showcase ended with the announcement that the next showcase, titled Level-5 Vision 2024: To the World’s Children, will be held in April 2024, teasing an announcement implied to be a new Yokai Watch game. So that’s certainly exciting!
While it was mainly a showcase full of delay news, I was still thrilled to get a longer look at the new Professor Layton game. And the day wasn’t over yet, because Idea Factory’s otome-themed “just chatting” stream was coming up next with the promise of an announcement.
Indeed, Idea Factory kicked things off with the announcement that Cupid Parasite: Sweet and Spicy Darling, is being localized! This is the fandisc of Cupid Parasite, which I loved.
I’ve been hoping the fandisc would get localized, so that was a great surprise! It will be out in 2024, and a Limited Edition will be available as well.
All in all, it was a great day for video game news for me. And while the Level-5 delays might be disappointing, I’ve got plenty of games in my backlog to occupy me in the meantime.
How do you feel about the new trailer for Professor Layton and the New World of Steam? What about Level-5’s other announcements? Are you excited for the Cupid Parasite fandisc?
The first thing that stands out about Sarawak is its visual style.
While I’ve tagged this review with the “visual novel” tag, Sarawak is closer to interactive fiction. Text appears on the screen to be read novel-style, and pictures appear alongside the text to accompany it.
The style almost feels like that of a pop-up book, which makes it stand out.
You play as a young woman who is contacted by the police to inform her that her mother has been arrested under suspicion of murdering a professor. Troubled by this, you begin your own investigation.
Although there are several choices to make, these mainly influence dialogue and provide some extra story details, while the story itself follows a fairly linear path. Occasionally, you need to interact with the images in order to solve puzzles. For example, when you come across a locked gate with a number of gears on it, you must move the gears into the correct positions to unlock the gate.
The puzzles can be a little strange, but they’re fairly simple and straightforward.
The murder mystery takes a backseat to learning more about the professor’s past, but it still builds up a compelling story and what felt like it could be a larger conspiracy… until the murder case abruptly wrapped up and the next screen said “The End.” My surprise was partly my own doing, since I’d looked at the chapter select screen and misremembered the number of chapters, but even if I hadn’t mistakenly believed I was only 2/3 through the story, the ending would have still felt abrupt.
So Sarawak left me with mixed feelings. I love its presentation and it has an interesting enough story, but I felt like the story was just getting good when it ended. A longer story in this style with a more fleshed-out mystery might have been really compelling.