Death Mark Reviews
It's a rare game that can start off tense and then continuously ratchets up the mood to almost unbearable levels until the final moments of the final chapter – and an even rarer one that has enough alternative characters, dialogue, and endings to make it worth playing through more than once – but Death Mark succeeds where it really counts. There's plenty on offer here for both horror fans as well as those looking for a mystery that requires more than hoarding knick-knacks and waiting patiently for your character to officially notice something before you can proceed.
Death Mark is classic, Japanese, video game horror. It's essentially a collection of ghost stories, wrapped up in a mysterious package and enhanced with investigative gameplay and life or death moments that test your logic and ability to pay attention.
Death Mark's lurid aesthetic creates a spine-chilling atmosphere let down by gameplay that falls short of packing the scary punch that it deserves.
Death Mark is one of the best examples of visual novels in the genre of horror, which lost a bit of subtle humor during the translation into English, while maintaining a stunning atmosphere of Japanese legends and sticky, increasing horror.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Death Mark is a quite frightening Visual Novel, but it's very linear and you need to download chapter 6 as DLC on PS VITA.
Review in French | Read full review
Death Mark is an involving, disturbing and addictive game that will grab the players' attention and feelings with its marvelous visual style, script quality and lifespan. In n adventure that is as thrilling as it can be terrifying, Death Mark is one of the most remarkable games to come out on the Nintendo Switch this year and an excellent starting point to more games of this genre.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Death Mark is a genuinely scary experience that would be stronger if it didn't feel obliged to fall back on out-of-place cheesecake shots.
Gifted with an unforgettable atmosphere, Death Mark has all the qualities to be a champion of fear on both the PSVita and PS4.
Death Mark may seem at first like a shallow horror take on the Japanese visual novel/adventure genre, but the deeper you dig into its tale of wayward spirits and cursed bystanders, the more its brutality is mixed with beauty. While it could have done more with the ideas it builds upon, it still results in an unexpectedly captivating experience that stands out from the crowd
Death Mark won't surprise veterans of Japanese horror adventure, but it is a great entry point for newcomers to the genre.
Death Mark is a solid horror text adventure game. With all the hallmarks one would hope for in a survival horror, compounded with excellent writing that sparks the reader's imagination, anyone who is interested in a low-stress horror game that is actually very creepy will enjoy this. The presentation may be unimpressive and the art just adequate, yet the sound design makes up for it. If this went the extra mile with the visuals and animation it could have been a real cult classic.
While it might make you uncomfortable, as far as extreme horror goes, Death Mark also offers an unparalleled sense of atmosphere and a genuinely engrossing mystery to follow along with.
Death Mark feels genuinely fresh and absolutely shocking at times. It captures your attention with its psychological gore and then surprises you with the way the plot is laid out. This is not a visual novel for the light-hearted, but as a horror-themed game, it deserves a place near the top of the list. The atmosphere, sense of dread, the relationship between characters, it is all handled exceptionally well with multiple endings giving it excellent replay value.
Death Mark is the perfect game for Halloween scares, or even for any fan that enjoys japanese horror stories.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Despite my small issues with Death Mark, overall I was pretty pleased with it. Though it is a little pricey at $49.99, I feel it was a well-rounded and frightening adventure. You’ll get caught up with the plot and unraveling the mystery at the heart of the game, which will only fully reveal itself with the good ending. I spent about 10 hours beating the main game, and upon doing so with the good ending, you’ll unlock the final DLC chapter. For consoles, this DLC is absolutely free, which is even more added value. If you’re a fan of horror and want more scares on your Nintendo Switch, you really can’t go wrong with Death Mark. It satisfied this fan of Creeping Terror and was different enough to keep me interested. It’s good to know Aksys Games is still a great purveyor of quality horror.
Appropriately released on Halloween, Death Mark is a title that has the power to suck you in and give you a range of feelings from dread to some scares depending on how you react to weird images and sudden jumps in music. Playing out as a mix of interactive novel and traditional adventure it has a flair to it, but you’ll also need to invest some time in it before it bears fruit. If you’re able to dedicate your full attention to it, playing it as was intended, it does heighten tensions nicely. While it won’t be satisfying if you’re in search of action and thrills, if you’re down for ghost stories that you experience at a slower pace it may be satisfying.
Death Mark is a survival horror interactive graphic novel with point and click adventure gameplay elements that is designed to give the player a suspenseful and scary experience. With a heavy emphasis on reading and paying attention to visual cues, it will give fans of the genre a lot to digest. Those who want more action and adventure will want to look elsewhere.
If you don’t buy Death Mark then expect to wake up tomorrow with no memory and a scar on your arm. This visual novel is among the best I’ve played this generation with its dark themes, horrific imagery, disturbing sound effects and overall feeling of uneasiness. The whole experience, from start to end, will last you around 20-25 hours if you read all the dialogue options and play it blind from beginning to end. Add about 3-4 hours on top of that if you unlock the bonus chapter and even more if you have to replay the game to unlock the other ending to each chapter. Death Mark is an adventure visual novel so expect puzzles, riddles, exploration and traps.