Devils of Terminology

Devils of Terminology

This is a visual novel that has some cool character and sword art.

It has 6 chapters and an epilogue. While the main story always happen, some choices affect the storyline, especially in a train scene near the end where the wrong choice can loop you back to the beginning of the chapter.

The game, as someone else said, is dreamlike in the sense that it jumps around and isn't super logical. Judging from the code, it was written in Korean, but the translation (if it was translated instead of being english-first) is well-done.

You play as a character known only as Detective. You words are swords that stab others, and made your parents leave you, so you stayed in your house alone for years and had birthday cake every day while hanging out with Ruina, who is, like you, a Devil of Terminology, except she looks like a literal devil and you are a person. Ruina is, of course, symbolic, like your cutting words, except not because other people talk to Ruina and your words actually become a sword you can kill people with. You meet a normal guy who gives you info on a mysterious train, but he's actually related to your father and fades from view after a message, but he's also your boss but he's actually governed by an automaton of an old men who writes stuff, but that's actually a real old man, and you're actually...well, I don't want to spoil the end.

You spend your time chilling with Ruina and investigating mysteries, including red threads of fate that appear to everyone in the world and weapons spawning from people's bodies.

In its symbolism and use of Dante allegories it reminded me of Cannery Vale, one of my favorite games. However, I felt like it lacked cohesion and found difficulty in communicating its message or themes to the player. Its possible its intentional, or that this is a standard way of writing in some communities. With my current sentiments and level of understanding, I struggled to find enjoyment in the game, though I thought the ending was cool and explained a lot.