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I had a very hard time in deciding how exactly this game would fit into an Octoberween Gaming List. You wouldn’t think so given its title but you’d be surprised in what you were to expect out of this game. Upon reading the title you’d assume it has to deal with dead bodies. But how on earth would that make for a good party? Is it some kind of Halloween themed costume party game like “Costume Quest” or is it a sick, twisted, demented take on trying to survive a horror based themed party itself gone horribly wrong? I’m sure the pictures of the anime girls on screen shots didn’t help much, making us wonder if it was a quirky JRPG or an anime based property turned into a video game. Even I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I saw the pictured offered on PSN for this digital only release here in the US. I knew it was going to be more Japanese in nature and that I wasn’t sure if $19.99 was worth the price of admission. So after all these years I finally took the chance to see if I was missing out on this party. And was I? Well we shall see, but for now here is number 5 pick for this year: Corpse Party.

When I first started out I assumed Corpse Party was a 2D based horror JRPG, complete with anime like characters and cliché plot about them trying to save the world from outer worldly demons. But instead I found myself playing a very character driven horror adventure game. Though there is some RPG like elements in this game, Corpse Party for the most part is an adventure game. A VERY JAPANESE-BASED adventure game. Now before you start thinking the negative aspects of Japanese entertainment that can be associated with anime/manga/gaming , (and no this isn’t a dig toward the “ass cream” line) this creation has more akin to what you’d expect out of other better examples of the genre like Persona, Ghost Hunt, Another and to some extent classic J horror movies. Though these examples do not exactly explain what to expect out of Corpse Party, they all share similarities in the atmosphere this game tries to create.

The plot deals with a group of high school students from Kisaragi Academy who, after celebrating the school’s culture festival, decides to tell scary ghost stories during a rain storm. As the story winds down their class rep decides they should all perform the "Sachiko Ever After" ritual that is suppose to allow them to remain best friends for all eternity. After performing the ritual an earthquake hits the school and transports them to an alternative dimension where a former elementary school existed before it was torn done to be replaced by the Kisaragi Academy. This school known as Heavenly Host Elementary School, was host to a string of disappearances and deaths involving many of the school’s students and staff, had been torn down thus becoming a cursed school in this dimension. It is then up to you the player to uncover the mystery of this cursed school and somehow try to help the students of Kisaragi Academy in escaping this cursed dimension as it’s haunted by the ghosts of the slain children from Heavenly Hosts, as well as other students who had been transported there before. Though the plot and theme of Corpse Party sound simple enough, in truth it’s a bit more complex than one would think. Though it plays out like your usual mass murder horror story, it goes far deeper than that as the game progresses.

One of the things that a make this game stand out is the very strong character development that was put into each of the students in this game. From the beginning of the game you are introduced to them thru RPG-like in game dialogue scenes that portray each of them with their own unique character traits. From good natured yet cowardly Satoshi Mochida to overly cheerful and forgiving Seiko Shinohara, you find yourself becoming invested in each of the major and minor characters that are involved with this tale. The game is clever enough to be broken up into chapters that tell the story of each specific group of students as they try to find their friends, a way out of the school and trying to avoid the insta-kill spirits that roam the school. As each of the characters begin their quest, you go about trying to see where you can explore and what items you find along the way. You stumble across the bodies of deceased students and other clues that explain their appearance in the school and how they met their untimely fates, while at the same time doing your best not to have the same happen to them as well. For an adventure game it fits the mood well of the otherly dimension of Heavenly Host, the level design is spooky with its run down look and odd décor designs. The game goes a long way in describing to you almost everything in detail that is intractable in every level. Doors and windows that are just decoration and not real doors and windows, books that are not actually books but mock ups in and even going into graphic detail of every single grotesque image you run into, in both in-game description or the player character describing it in vivid detail. Corpse Party may be a 2D game but it does all it can to bring the gore factor with decaying bodies, bloody remains of victims to graphic visuals of various acts of pain and death. From hangings to stabbings to actual talk of cannibalism, this game almost borders into death fetish territory.  The game may be in 2D but it does all it can to immerse you into this adventure world. The anime still pictures of enemies, ghosts, deceased students or trigger events in the game add to the tension as your progress in the game, unsure if the path you take will lead you to the end of the level or to a painful death. Even the music, though I wouldn’t say moody or scary like you’d be use to in a Silent Hill/Resident Evil/Fatal Frame offering in such an atmosphere, still holds its own when it comes to conveying a sense of urgency as you search your way thru Heavenly Host. The only downside to the music is that it can be a dead giveaway when it either cuts out, or changes to a more somber offering, a hint to prepare for a jump scare for a ghostly interaction.

Though the game’s voice acting is all done in Japanese, the subtitles are translated well and it gives the game a foreign film kind of quality you’d find if you were watching any Asian horror flick. And like any Asian horror flick, you’ll be reading a lot of exposition about the circumstances surrounding any situation. From reading the clues about what went on at Heavenly Host, to the mindset of any particular character to even the vocal interactions you have with both good and bad spirits, you’re told everything about what a particular character is feeling at that moment. You’ll share in a particular character’s excitement as you solve a puzzle as well as their fear as a ghost tries to kill them. And though you don’t get “random encounters” of enemies like you would in a standard RPG, you instead have to deal with enemies during certain trigger events in the game’s given chapter.

It’s here that the game kind of falters for me as these trigger events actually hurt at times in pulling you out of this scary world. I’m not sure if this is the norm for adventures games of the past (I’m mostly use to current 3D adventure games like Sam and Max than I am for 2D games like Maniac Mansion) but some of the clues or hints on what your suppose to do to progress in the game, or even survive, can be downright cryptic to borderline stupid. I want to say this was done on purpose so you could experience all the possible endings to each chapter but it doesn’t help much that you are unable to skip cutscense that you’ve already seen if you tried to do something different but only to fail. The best example I can give to this would be in the first chapter of the game. (Spoilers ahead)

(Spoilers Now) Chapter 1 has three possible endings. One is the good ending and two are the wrong endings. Mind you you’re only able to progress to the next chapter if you get the good ending. It turns out that the only way to get the good ending from the start is to make sure you go back to a previous area where your character swore she heard a ghostly voice before you continue after a specific trigger event. If you don’t go back to that point before crossing that trigger event threshold your pretty much screwed in getting one of the two wrong endings. The only hint you get from this is the one scene where your character says she could’ve sworn she heard a voice. If I was in that kind of situation I wouldn’t go back into that area if I heard a ghostly voice. But in truth your SUPPOSE to go back there if you are to get a story specific item that’ll allow you to get the good ending, the good ending that allows you to continue the game. If you don’t get that item you’re doomed to see one or two of the wrong endings over and over again if you don’t have the foresight to retry the level again, or reload from a save point before that triggering event even started.  And even though your able to save the game after your death (if only for the system save system to document that you’ve seen wrong ending) you still have to go thru the long, agonizing death/wrong ending of that specific character and not have the option to skip it.

It can get very frustrating when you think you might’ve figured out what you did wrong when in truth all you’re doing is delaying the evitable. Like I said I’m sure this was done to help encourage playthroughs of each chapter, so you can unlock all the endings, but it really takes you out of the story when you see the characters dying the same way over and over again in complete unskipable detail. Even the variation in seeing one of the two wrong endings in chapter 1 is annoying to no end. As you try to escape the infirmary as Naomi Nakashima from the "darkening" spirit, you find that the door to the infirmary is closed off by long, black hair. As the spirit approaches you, you try to burn the hair away with a match but it has no effect. You’d think if it didn’t work the first time you don’t try it again, but instead your suppose to try to burn the hair again, wonder if there is any flammable liquid nearby, run to one of the cabinets in the room, find the medical alcohol, run back to the door (while trying to dodge the spirit AND the holes it creates in the floor) soak the hair keeping the door closed, then set it on fire and then escape the room. And no you can’t shorten the chain of events to get to that point. Even if you do notice the medical alcohol upon entering the room, you can’t pick it up until you really, really, really need it at that particular time.  This was only done so you could trip up somewhere and get killed by the dark spirit. And even if you do escape the room you only get a slightly different variation of the good ending where your friend Seiko Shinohara still dies by hanging but you end up getting possessed by child ghosts who force you to swallow bloody scissors. (Spoiler over)

It gets even worse in future chapters as the number count to multiple endings gets over double in what you get in Chapter 1. Again I’m sure this was done to promote replay value to see how the game ends but it got real annoying real quick to the point where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see how the game ended. Its one thing to watch an annoying character die over and over again, something I really wanted to see with the whole cast of “High School Of The Dead”, but it doesn’t work that well when you actually start to root for these hapless souls in hoping they escape. If anything it gets downright depressing that despite your best efforts, there will be some character that’ll die on you regardless if you do the right or wrong ending. This is also driven hope when you’re constantly remind by the game (by notes left by deceased individuals to the ghosts themselves) that at the time of death, the pain the person suffers will last for all eternity.  That too also serves a purpose to give certain characters startling realizations about the dimension they inhabit, along with the people involved in how this dimension affects them. Some crack under the pressure, some get possessed, some react t in ways you wouldn’t suspect until all the chapters are revealed to show the true events that happened from a different perspective.

In the end Corpse Party can be quite the convoluted horror story that would make any movie narrative proud. It’s well thought out, it’s engaging and has the hallmarks of classic Asian horror that one would expect from confusing curses, time manipulation, and dimension bending scenarios. It’s definitely one of those games that’s best played by yourself at night. Though you’d think the 2D graphics and head-hitting-wall frustration of the adventure game elements would be a turn off, as well as the utter futility of some characters, it still holds enough charm to make it a nice gaming alternative for any Octoberween gaming. It’s not a Silent Hill or Fatal Frame or even an action packed modern Resident Evil. But it packs enough mystery, violence and gore, character drama and moody atmosphere to make it a memorable trip in to Heavenly Host Elementary. That is if you’re able to overcome the multiple ending syndrome found in this game.

I was lucky enough to buy this game when it went on sale for $9.99. For me that’s a better fitting price for a game that was originally made with a RPG Maker program. $19.99 maybe too steep of a price to pay for this unique take on 2D Adventure Horror but you can’t go wrong with that kind of sales price. Or if you don’t think the game is right for you but you like the theme and premise, you could always try to check out the alternative media formats to Corpse Party. The series was also made into a manga and OVA. So if you feel that this game may not translate well for you in gaming form, perhaps it’ll hold your interest better either as reading or viewing material. In fact Pixlbitter FAF101 was nice enough to offer a Corpse Party Game vs OVA comparison to show how each compare. So if my blog wasn’t enough to sell you on Corpse Party the game, then perhaps her blog on Corpse Party the OVA could change your mind.

My Top 11 Octoberween Game Titles for 2014

#11) Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir – 3DS: $9.99 new

#10) Resident Evil: Director’s Cut Dual Shock Version – PSOne (PSN): Free

#09) Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth – WiiWare: 1000 Wii points ($10)

#08) Dishonored – Xbox 360: (XBLA GwG): Free

#07) Ghostbusters: The Video Game – PS3: $15

#06) Alien Breed Trilogy - PS3/PSN: $7.49 sale price

#05) Corpse Party – PSP: $9.99 sale price