Tokyo Dark – Review

Tokyo Dark – Review

When I first heard there was an anime point and click adventure game coming out, I got fairly excited. I have a soft spot for point and click adventure games, you remember the classics; Sam and Max, Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island…Tokyo Dark is not those games. This game, based in Japan has some dark, horror themes placed in it. Themes I’m usually not really excited about. But Tokyo Dark is different. It made me feel for the characters, it made me know that my decisions actually meant something and there were consequences because of them. I loved it.

Gameplay

The gameplay, in short, is similar to the above-mentioned point and click adventure games. You click around the screen, which is in 2D which will move Detective Ito to that location. If there are items or something you can interact with you will see a little menu come up that will give you some options. These options are usually things like “look” or “talk” depending on what can be interacted with. Diving into one of the features that sets this apart from other games, is the decisions that you will come across that will test your morality and start to evolve the story around you. You keep track of your decisions with Tokyo Dark’s built-in “S.P.I.N” (Sanity, Professionalism, Investigation, Neurosis). Each decision will affect one or more of these areas. Also, depending on where you rank in these areas this will change how other characters will react or what actions are available to you. This makes some tough decisions extremely hard to choose from, the game really tests your morality on how you want to play Detective Ito. If that isn’t enough, they have some timed events where you have to choose (or don’t). These little-timed events are critical to storylines and will shape the rest of the story for you. Tokyo Dark also boasts 11 separate endings and a NewGame+ mode which will place you at a crucial point in the story to change the endings.

Graphics

The graphics were all in the Japanese anime style and were damn awesome. Characters stood out and were memorable, I didn’t have to try to remember who that person was and what they meant to the story. The “backgrounds” of the game where you would run around too were done amazingly. They really set the tone of the game and had some amazing details that just immerse you deeper into the game. There were many times while I streamed this game where I jumped because I was so immersed in the game that I got spooked. The animation of the characters was spot on and smooth as hell. The audio was great too, again, it mixed with the graphics to bring that dark spooky experience.

Story

I’m going to try to explain this the best I can without spoiling a thing, especially since Tokyo Dark is completely story based. The story is really engrossing. This isn’t a happy story for detective Ito. Starting off with a tragic story that has clearly affected not only her life but her partner and lover’s (same person) life as well. The story really grabs you fairly quickly and makes you feel for the characters as I mentioned above. The story takes you through the heart of some core Japanese locations. (Disclaimer: I’ve never been to Japan, so this is only through pop culture.) There are Japanese temples, shady bars, cat cafes (Nyan), and a dojo. The cat cafe and other places allowed for a little humor to get mixed in, it was damn welcomed by me to get away from the dark depressing vibe around the story. That isn’t a bad thing at all, calling it dark and depressing, as that is the story they wanted to tell.

Replay Value

This game definitely banks on the replay value. With 11 different endings and different options to choose in conversations depending on how you play, really pushes the reason to fire the game back up and attempting a different path. Not to mention you get different achievements depending on your selection at major points in the story will make any completionist happy.

Bottom Line

Tokyo Dark has a story that will pull you in and beat the hell out of your morality. The dark story and beautiful graphics create this amazing adventure game and prove that point and click games aren’t dead.

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Note: GameOctane Editor Jason Germino received a code for the purpose of reviewing this game. Any code or product intended for reviews is distributed to the team to review and stream for our audience.

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