The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case The Okhotsk Disappearance ~Memories in Ice, Tearful Figurine~

It feels like a privelage to play a game this monumental, this important, this good. Hokkaido Serial Murders isn't just a wonderful tribute to a game as arguably significant as Super Mario Bros, it is a perfect preservation of the original experience with no compromises or missteps whatsoever. Unlike the Famicom version of Portopia that built itself off this game's system, Hokkaido almost completely works as a game designed with the command system in mind. I'm not gonna lie, I was worried I would only be able to respect this game without actually finding it interesting to play, but that notion is completely gone. When the logic is easier to follow, the game is telling a thrilling mystery story that constantly keeps you on edge. When it's not there, the beautiful sights and sounds of the Hokkaido region welcome you with open arms. Despite having never set foot in Japan, I feel like I experienced a 5 star tour of Hokkaido perfectly catered by Yuji Horii. I think my only real complaint with the gameplay came near the end when I was looking for a character, checked a location to see nothing new, then I went off and did one new thing just to return and see it's completely changed after…

In general I would recommend, but with caveats if you're not familiar with this genre of game: It's like the Famicom Detective Club games that have been rereleased on the Switch, in that you examine the environment, talk to people, and interact with items around you to gather more information. However there are times where you will be stuck because the game expects a specific sequence of events to occur. Sometimes it's obvious, other times it not. Along with that, the mystery of the game feels like it relies on fully explaining everything at the very end to make sure you kept up with the flood of names and events. In this case it's helpful because again, there's a lot of names to remember. But to rely on that is kinda...meh. But it's still a game that I don't regret playing. If you can deal with those things, I'd recommend checking it out.

A legendary game that still holds up today. You can see the inspiration games like Metal Gear and Zelda draw directly from.

i love this visual novel format. tight, pithy writing paired with a very clean graphic style. sensational 🤌🏾

A pretty compelling detective game. It is a remake of a 80s/90s adventure game, with modern visuals and controls. The story is fantastic and I love how it approaches it from two different eras. The game was also made with a lot of love for Hokkaido, which I really appreciate. It includes cool contextual information about the places and regions you are visiting! It falls sometimes into the 80s/90s adventure game logic, meaning sometimes, triggering the exact dialogue to continue is a bit funky.

Very fun mystery adventure game; the final set piece was such a delight.