PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo Reviews
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
Paranormasight tells a gripping story full of murder and mystery, with some moments you simply have to experience yourself.
A gripping tale of rites, rituals, and revenge, Paranormasight has turned out to be one of this year's biggest surprises. Its subversive approach to both horror and visual novels is as refreshing as it is chilling. A must-play for Zero-Escape and Danganronpa fans.
The Switch version of Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is awful. It’s not ready to be played right now, because the menu navigation is straight-up broken. The game needs a patch with cursor sensitivity options at the very minimum, but even that fix would still make for a lazy port, that isn’t console ready. The story of Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is captivating, and the throwback point-and-click adventure gameplay will be a treat for some. But the game needs more time and effort to be an enjoyable experience.
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is one of the most surprising games we've experienced in a good while. Its overarching narrative, while initially quite heavy on exposition, is wonderfully told, interweaving the lives of multiple protagonists and tasking the player with progressing their stories in meaningful ways. The puzzles are fantastic, the characters well realised, and the visuals top-notch, making those brief moments of horror and terror exceedingly effective. It's an experience we fully recommend going into with as little information as possible, as this will prove to be an incredibly memorable experience; one that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Switch's best visual novels.
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a more complicated version of Phoenix Wright. It contains some tricky puzzles to overcome while being driven by a thick amount of Japanese folklore, as well as a touch of horror. It can be frustrating, if not overwhelming at times, but its take on the Phoenix Wright gameplay logic puzzle structure makes for a fun and unique experience.
Paranormasight wants to put on a horror show but is too goofy to realize how scary it could be.
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a surprisingly excellent horror mystery-adventure game that's tricky to talk about, and is an easy recommendation to anyone that's the slightest bit interested in it.
PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo had an immersive mystery story, along with utilizing 2D visual novel features that amplified its overall quality.
With stunning and highly stylised character art, some exceptional and efficient writing, and some excellent “death game” scenarios, Paranormasight is one of the better visual novels that I’ve played in some time. Square Enix might not be known for this genre, but perhaps the company should look for more opportunities to participate in it, because while this won’t outsell Final Fantasy XVI (to put that mildly), it does remind us of how, among the bigger publishers, it is probably the most creative and willing to take risks on smaller scale projects like this… and just how good it is when big publishers support creative projects that aren’t expected to sell millions of copies.
Overall, Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a fun little visual novel that doesn't quite hit all the marks but is still a breezy and enjoyable romp with some creative use of gameplay mechanics. I had a difficult time getting past the fact that it wasn't the game I was had expected based on the first couple of hours, but once I did, I was able to enjoy it for what it was. The setting is clearly built up to potentially allow for more games in the same universe in the future, and I hope the next game in the series is willing to be a bit more daring.
If playing in handheld mode you can get around this by using touch controls, which I found worked just fine for the game's purposes. The "horror mystery" also seems to steer away from the horror part at certain points, which might disappoint those hoping to see a lot of curse action, but the plot during these moments is just as interesting as when those curses are involved. I am happy my eye was pointed in Paranormasight's direction, as I think it may already be one of my favorite experiences of the year, and if this kind of game sounds like it appeals to you, it just might be one of yours, too.
While very well written and highlighted by some excellent fourth-wall breaking horror, Paranormasight far outstays its welcome with hours of unskippable rehashed and replayed text.
PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a great example of the visual novel genre and an immense step up from many other versions of this style of gameplay. It has a great story, although there is some weaker characterization in the early game, and it’s just fun to figure out how to use your curses on others while doing your best to avoid theirs. It’s a great game for lovers of the genre and mystery stories in general.
PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is an excellent visual novel game that blends Japanese mythology and fiction to create a compelling story, with a unique art style and fascinating lore, making it worth the price for fans of the genre.
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a superb visual novel that blends together gripping storytelling with some really clever gameplay mechanics. I was completely hooked in from start to end, so much so that I found it hard to stop thinking about the game each time I stopped playing… it’s THAT good. I’d love to go into depth about all the things that make the game so damn good, but I don’t want to spoil anything here. Just trust me when I say it’s a fantastic experience and one that I’d recommend to both visual novel veterans and those who’ve been itching to dip their toes into the genre.
It doesn’t take someone with spirit sense to see that Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is something special. A horror visual novel game that blurs the role between character and player, Paranormasight is unique in its ability to give horror fans a new brain-teasing experience while allowing those who normally chicken out over this genre the ability to finally play a scary game by themselves. Paranormasight manages to blend familiar elements from beloved genres into something innovative, inventive, and altogether new; it is my hope this becomes a continuing franchise for Square Enix, who is on the cusp of further greatness. Grab Paranormasight or be forever cursed to remain outside its sinister, alluring shadow.
PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is one of the most interesting games of its genre, standing out especially for its clever use of camera framing and for playing with the player's perception through multiple perspectives and metalinguistic elements. This title is an easy recommendation for any player interested in narrative works and shows how many ingenious ways to rethink the concept of adventure and, more specifically, visual novels.
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PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a pleasant surprise from Squire Enix, a brilliant work of art that sets the genre's standard even higher. The game's dialogue-heavy design, challenging puzzles, and unexpected turns demand players' full focus. It's a must-play for fans of both horror and visual novels and games that use multiple perspectives to tell a gripping story.
Paranormasight is a well-crafted mystery-horror that leans more into the mystery while keeping things light with a snappy script.