Number of Reviews: 2
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A game packed with outsider perspective on Japan, May 19, 2024This is an interesting game, entered into the Text Adventure Literacy Jam. It explores a small village and hotel in rural Japan, and includes a variety of Japanese monsters.
The emphasis here is definitely on introducing aspects of Japan to outsiders; I see the author has, on the itch page, credited others with help on being accurate, which is nice. The game goes into loving detail over the names of different mats, cabinets, etc. and includes a notepad with interesting terms and an encyclopedia/dictionary to look them up in.
My favorite part was the ending reveal, which I didn't see coming at all but seemed clear in retrospect.
The game does suffer a bit in implementation. Many objects are referred to by names that you cannot use for them (like 'friend' for your friend) and you can only CONSULT BOOK ABOUT _____ instead of LOOK UP _____ IN BOOK (which I could have sworn was Inform's default behavior anyway). A few interactions weren't clear to me (at one point I had no money, but once I did it didn't show up in inventory and I could buy tons of different things).
Overall, the enthusiasm of the author in presenting Japan feels like a big positive. My only drawbacks were some of the above-mentioned implementation issues, and a moderate lack of variation in the narrator's emotional tone, but they were enough to limit my overall enjoyment.