Short Thoughts: Tokyo Dark

Recently, I was invited to the London Square Enix offices as part of a press event to try out some games. One of them is Tokyo Dark, a point and click narrative paranormal mystery adventure game with an Anime art style. Featuring an actively changing narrative based on your actions, detective Ito unravels the truth behind her missing partner’s mysterious disappearance. Tokyo Dark seeks to put the narrative in your hand.

Day 9 of not eating humans, never felt better. Honest.

Not quite the blend fans of Tokyo Ghoul might expect, but this slightly weird looking game has more bite than it looks. Aside from the main female character Detective Ito looking a lot like Touka "Rabbit" Kirishima. This point-and-click style game proved more compelling than at first glance. Underneath the film noir vibes and aesthetics, it boasts an almost instantaneous ability to grab the player’s attention within the first beat of the demo.

Keeping the Tokyo Ghoul comparisons aside, its down to Earth approach of its opening sets up a basic finding a loved one objective. Whilst alluding to a bigger picture that coyly smiles at, from the music’s delivery to help transport you into the world. The method of using the point and click mechanics blended the opening into an almost visual novel like experience of handcrafted story. Without the story feeling too linear, its initial footsteps allude to potential repercussions of the narrative in its later acts, with its small stat changes based on each action Ito makes. I just know that I ain’t playing this in the dark with my susceptibility of jump scares.