GENBA no Kizuna

A dear friend of mine recommended this game to me some weeks ago, knowing that not only I'm an avid mystery games fan but also a dinosaurs enjoyer. I couldn't believe a game like this could exist, but it does! And as much as I didn't want to let excitement cloud my judgment, completing it I can now assure it's a well-crafted experience! GENBA no Kizuna is an adventure full of passion and effort that's put into every single aspect of it: a compelling detective story supported by very clean and detailed art and spot-on music, as well as a diverse cast of characters and a mystery that I found intriguing but not uselessly difficult to wrap your head around. You can catch the solution mid-way through the game but I found nonetheless satisfying unveiling the last pieces of evidence needed to fully put together what really happened. Plus, the game's not excessively long and I felt that the scene's weren't dragged out more than it was needed (if not for some joke inserts and pun talks, that didn't bother me tho). Gameplay-wise the game's quite enjoyable, and even tho I expected a backlog I found myself satisfied using the rollback feature. Not the same, but it gets the job done. Speak…

GENBA no Kizuna is a prequel to Shinrai. We follow a rookie officer Keiichi and his 3 coworkers as they try to gather evidence and unravel the truth. This game starts off pretty slow but overall I enjoyed it a lot. I loved slowly getting to know what main 4 characters and the suspects were all a group of fun characters to see interact. I may even say they were more enjoyable then the group in Shinrai (although I also like them a lot). Each character had great dynamics with one another, it was nice seeing them all slowly becomes a solid team. The mystery mechanic is pretty much the same as Shinrai. Solving who done it, was neither too hard nor too easy. I liked the alternative POVs with the 4 characters which made the game more engaging (and is hugely why I like all 4 characters a lot as we got to see a lot of their minds.) Anyways I do recommend this game, especially if you loved Shinrai. I sincerely hope we get to see more of the 4 agents as I'll be sad if we don't get to see much of them in the future.

2/10 This game claims to be 12-16 hours long, but with the amount of filler and unnecessary yapping which lead to 8 hours of gameplay and what thought to be evidence towards what's actually going on being thrown out the window.

Bit longer than its predecessor (not sure by how much since I had to take breaks during game due to irl reasons and left it on for while, but I'd say by hour or two still) and its been ages since I played Shinrai but I do feel like the writing has further improved with experience. Characters feel less archetypical than in Shinrai from what I remember, but still has same charm and its neat short mystery story. Plus I liked character dynamics, I want to ship them :p

GENBA no Kizuna presents a compelling Mesozoic mystery, especially during the ferocious finale to its Triassic trial, but much of the game outside of that finale is muddled with Cretaceous character drama that the Jurassic jubilation of its final act does not make up for. The story follows rookie cop Keiichi Genba as his supervisor assigns him officer-in-charge (OIC) of the investigation into a mysterious death at the home of indie film studio Raptor Pack Productions (RPP). Apparently, a random visitor who had come to view RPP's collection of dinosaur memorabilia fell into their centrally displayed T-Rex animatronic and was crushed in its metal jaws. From there, it's up to OIC Keiichi to lead crime scene investigator Rei, officer Himatsu, and medical examiner Shinketsu as they investigate the timeline of events that led to the visitor-turned-T-Rex-food's untimely demise. For the first half of the story, given that Dr. Shinketsu is the only official on scene with significant experience, Himatsu struggles to manage the members of RPP, Rei struggles to work up the courage to investigate her first real crime scene, and Keiichi struggles to keep the members of his team on task and act…

This was a great game! I can't wait to see what comes next. Would really love another game starring Genba and the crew. I did enjoy Shinrai, but after a few initial hurdles, this clicked with me in a big way. The murder mystery in this one is paced a little better than Shinrai's I think. It gives you clues a bit more readily, and spaces out actual time for deduction rather than backloading it. Great job, can't wait for more!