Break out those reading glasses and get your spooky sense ready because we’re going to the ocean in this new paranormal entry.
Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse, from developer Xeen and publisher Square Enix, is a visual novel that builds off the last game in the series, mainly with improved gameplay elements that are far more refined, and another entertaining storyline that seems far cleaner and worked out than the last. While the game is a bit slow-and-steady-as-it-goes experience, it nonetheless brings a solid story with its own unhinged creepiness for players to dive into.
Starting with narrative, the new entry into the Paranormasight series takes a different approach, as the player takes control of a young shipwreck survivor named Yuza Minakuchi, who watched his parents perish in a terrible storm, while also faintly remembering a vision of someone, or something, rescuing him. Older and still obsessed with his rescuer, Yuza finds himself back in the ocean searching for answers, while his fellow land-lovers try to keep him out of the sea because of their fear that he is stoking the fire of a curse believed to be firmly embedded on his home island of Kameshima.
While not at all connected with the last game, Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse still carries that spooky feel to it with some refined storytelling that is far more organized and executed than the last outing. The game keeps an emphasis on the obvious paranormal aspect that the series is known for, while also melding it well with an ocean theme. Dealing with sea curses, tragedies, and the occasional wondering watery ghost that looks to pull divers down into the depths of the ocean can be pretty unnerving, and yet, beautifully woven together in this story. Developer Xeen did a fantastic job of organizing this narrative and keeping it grounded, as Yuza and other characters will occasionally acknowledge the absurdity of the believed curse and ghosts, almost a fourth wall storytelling break, and shift gears quickly to phenomena that aren’t easily explained with solid logical deductions. It’s impressive how well Xeen balanced their storytelling from fiction to believable. It does a better job of drawing the player in while making the story stick and feel like it has actual stakes.
On the gameplay side of the tracks, Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse doesn’t take the traditional road of the typical visual novel. Instead of sitting and reading a book with the occasional interactivity on the side, the story balances the gameplay quite well and treats it like a dancing partner, where both story and gameplay are in perfect sync with each other. This helps push the narrative along well, as the player gets to participate in the story in various ways, but still gets a story told to them, as is expected in this genre. Most of the time when I play games of this type, I end up reading them like a book and praying for the occasional interactive moment. Most of the time, it’s far and few between, as developers in this genre assume that players know what they’re getting into, and getting a heavy helping of story with a small portion of interactivity is expected. While I love visual novels for story focus, these are still games and should be treated as such. Thankfully, Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse treats it as such, as there are lots of interactive moments.
The gameplay goes from diving under the waves with Yuza, while collecting goodies at the bottom of the ocean, and does a hard investigative shift to the land, where assumptions of what happened to Yuza are made, and people are singled out by the whim and wit of the player. It’s a bit of a hodgepodge of gameplay elements that work well, even though it can be overwhelming to those uninitiated with the series’ process of elimination when trying to solve a mystery. The interactivity of the game is firmly embedded in the storytelling, which makes ingesting a lot of story easier when the player controls the direction of most of it, and in various ways.
Truth be told, I did find myself scratching my head about some of the gameplay elements, especially when the game shifted to different parts of the island and investigating random places with people to chat with. Unlike Phoenix Wright games, which keep the investigation process nice and tight, barely letting the player stray too far from the story, this feels the exact opposite.
Players will be able to wander a bit, choosing their next path, sometimes running into a brick wall with assumptions and solutions, all while the game allows them to do so. There is a storyteller figure that will try to drop hints and keep the player on track, but it can feel like the wild west of gameplay direction at times. For me, I like freedom, but I can see the lack of narrow walls becoming a problem now and then, as the game can become frustrating with what needs to be the ‘next step’ in the game to progress forward. That isn’t terrible by any means, but it’s very different than any game in the visual novel genre, and tough to get used to when playing.
Now, having said that, the game does a more refined job of keeping its backend system clean, organized, and easy to understand. Keeping up with the various personalities Yuza meets, piecing together answers to questions and mysteries that Yuza (and company) might run into, while having the ability to bounce around the story like a ping-pong ball between moments when the player might be onto something, helps justify those moments where the game’s construction might be too fanciful and free. Again, Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse delivers far more freedom of choice for the player than I have seen in any visual novel that I have reviewed in this genre, and it works when the player understands where they are and where they are going.
Anyway, at the end of the day, this story, filled full of mystery, mayhem, and spookiness, feels like a more refined chapter in the series than the last game. It is taking strides to redefine what the visual novel genre can bring to the table, and it’s doing a great job of pressing forward with this series and improving it along the way.
On that note, let’s wrap up this review.
Conclusion
Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse is a more refined and fun journey than the previous entry in the series. It brings a spooky and entertaining narrative that works well with more focused gameplay elements that the series is improving upon.
