Tokyo Dark 
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Terror and tourism in Tokyo DarkOct 31, 2017 - PC GamerIn Tokyo Dark, Detective Itō explores both the mysterious underworlds of the city and its lighter side, one that's just as unfamiliar to her even though she's a native: the tourist side of Tokyo. The search for her lost partner and the killer he was pursuing takes her to places whose names are familiar even to someone like me who has never been, like Shinjuku and Akihabara. These are the kind of places people back from holidays to Japan talk about, and talk about in ways that make them sound like they're where nerds might go when they die—if they fall in valiant combat. There are probably places where you live you've never visited because they're a bit too tourist-y as well, places that might be famous but locals don't hang out at because they're overpriced, or tacky, or just kind of silly. But those places can be fun too. When Detective Itō needs to talk to witnesses who work in a maid cafe she gets dragged into their full routine before she can quiz them, holding her hands up like paws and reciting a chant and tasting a pancake shaped like a cat emoji. Despite herself, she likes it. Later, there's a temple surrounded by falling cherry blossoms, a street stall that sells tasty octopus balls, a Golden Gai bar run by a super friendly bartender, and a cat at a cat cafe that creeps up and noses into the text box while you interview the owner. You talk to cosplayers and a kendo instructor and the owner of a manga store. Tokyo Dark was designed by an international team, an indie studio called CherryMochi based in Japan who have a creative lead originally from England, and it feels like appealing to an international audience was their aim. Even when you visit places that aren't as nice, like a bar owned by the Yakuza, the suicide forest of Aokigahara, or a hostess club where a gross dude hits on you, it feels like a familiar Japan of the kind you might read about in a Lonely Planet guide, or if Bill Bryson ever wrote a book about it. It's Tokyo as seen by an interested outsider. It's apt that the setting walks a fine line between being very Japanese while also recognizable to foreigners, because the structure of Tokyo Dark also merges two sets of influences. It's half Japanese visual novel, half western point-and-click adventure game, and that melding brings out the best in each. Visual novels can be too wordy for their own good, making you click-click-click through reams of text before you get to anything interactive, but Tokyo Dark is relatively concise (by the standards of the genre), because it's broken up by adventure game puzzles, exploration, and decisions. Those parts are all pretty straightforward too—it's not the kind of adventure game where you find a blocked door and then spend hours tracking down the right combination of items and information to get past it. Because it has a story to tell and it's more interested in which...Explore an underworld mystery in Tokyo DarkSep 9, 2017 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunCrowdfunded murder mystery game Tokyo Dark launched this week, and looks pretty gorgeous. Publishers Square Enix describe it as “somewhere between a point-and-click adventure and a visual novel”, and it follows Detective Ito, who is trying to find her missing partner in the Japanese capital. You’ll delve into Tokyo’s underworld, solving puzzles and making decisions that lead you towards one of 11 endings. I’m a big fan of the anime art style, which depicts an exaggerated version of Tokyo with lots of bright neon lights and plenty of cherry blossom trees. It’s all enticing stuff. (more…) Tokyo Dark adds a western adventure game twist to the Japanese visual novelSep 7, 2017 - PC GamerDetective Itō is losing it. She wanders into a greasy hostess bar somewhere on the tough side of Shinjuku and orders a whiskey—neat, served with ice. Her vision goes soft, and I watch the tabulated points in her “professionalism” meter deteriorate. Whatever. She looked like she needed to take a load off. It's a short reprieve. A few moments later I’m out back, ear pressed to a dumpster, listening to my missing partner’s cell phone ringing off the hook. The lock on the plastic flap won’t budge, but as far as I’m concerned, Itō is armed for a reason. I take aim and blast the dumpster open with a pair of bullets. My impulsiveness gnaws at her sanity, but after answering the phone, at least now we know our man is being held hostage somewhere in the sewers. Jon Williams, creative director of Cherrymochi, tells me that while Tokyo Dark, released today, takes cues from harrowing choice-a-thons like Dontnod’s Life Is Strange and psychological thrillers like Se7en, the majority of his inspiration was drawn from the city itself. “This story could not take place in any other city in the world,” he explains. “As much as we've been inspired by games, comics, movies and books, late night walks around the neon-lit street of the metropolis has been a major source of inspiration for us. Players will learn a little what to expect from different cities within Tokyo. Though the reality might be a little less dark.” Tokyo by night The aesthetic fetishization is clear: boarded-up yakitori shops, lecherous creeps in three-piece suits, a constant drizzle of rain no matter where you are in the city. It’s all there, and it’s all effective, but Williams’ work is also built upon one of the most Japanese-specific design philosophies in the history of games. Spiritually, Tokyo Dark is a visual novel. The real Shinjuku is only slightly less anime. If you’re not familiar with the form, visual novels can be considered the Eastern answer to SCUMM-era adventure games. They both prioritize narrative, but in visual novels the pretzel logic takes a backseat to long, winding, multi-chaptered character sketches that can occasionally spill beyond the 50-hour mark. Traditionally, the people that populate visual novels are presented as human beings with pre-assigned personalities and perspectives—meaning you won’t face a dialogue choice at every junction like you did with, say, Lee in Telltale’s The Walking Dead. With its 11 endings and scores of potential deviations, Tokyo Dark encourages wielding every monkey wrench in a player s arsenal. That intense focus on character and story can occasionally make visual novels a passive experience, an endless stream of text punctuated with sporadic puzzle solving. Development teams stymie player interaction to make sure that they can tell their tale without the risk of significant derailm...Tokyo Dark is out now!Sep 7, 2017 - Community AnnouncementsHello all! http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/30524231/5ece571ac67fdc63f30d03afafbcc25735a0b0e1.png It's September 7th and you know what that means, Tokyo Dark has launched! We are so excited to finally let the community get hands-on with the game and hear your thoughts over on our forums, however as this is a narrative focused game please try and refrain from posting spoilers. For those of you who haven't heard about Tokyo Dark before, we have a brand new launch trailer which you can check out here. We'd like to thank the community for their on-going support and we really hope you enjoy the game! -Amy Tokyo Dark is out now!Sep 7, 2017 - Community AnnouncementsHello all! http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/30524231/5ece571ac67fdc63f30d03afafbcc25735a0b0e1.png It's September 7th and you know what that means, Tokyo Dark has launched! We are so excited to finally let the community get hands-on with the game and hear your thoughts over on our forums, however as this is a narrative focused game please try and refrain from posting spoilers. For those of you who haven't heard about Tokyo Dark before, we have a brand new launch trailer which you can check out here. We'd like to thank the community for their on-going support and we really hope you enjoy the game! -Amy Now Available on Steam - Tokyo Dark, 10% off!Sep 7, 2017 - Product ReleaseTokyo Dark is Now Available on Steam and is 10% off!* Legend tells of a door deep below Tokyo's sewers. All who enter are lost forever. Detective Ito's partner is missing. Explore Tokyo & uncover the darkness that lays beneath the streets in this Point & Click - meets Visual Novel - narrative adventure that questions the very core of Ito's sanity. *Offer ends September 14 at 10AM Pacific Time
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