peakgurashi

One day, as a moderately passionate enjoyer of this one show called "Madoka Magica", I was searching for some other franchise that would also satisfy my primal urge to see cute girls forced to face off against the darkest, most unspeakable terrors known to man.

Eventually, I decided to try this old, (from what I'd heard) gory series whose only point of contact with me was a beautiful song called "Dear you"; I expected that it probably wouldn't be as good as Madoka, but would at least keep me entertained. I installed Onikakushi, slapped on 07th mod, and hopped in. In and out, 20 minute adventure, I thought.

I was absolutely hooked by the end of the first chapter. Not only because of the mystery, but also thanks to the intense atmosphere, detailed settings, and most of all, vibrant and lifelike characters that made me feel like I was living in Hinamizawa right alongside all of them. I wanted more. I made the best purchase of my life for the complete bundle, and for the rest of my 150+ hr journey, I stepped into a different world, one where I was never bored even once, laughed and lamented with the characters, and learned many, many things about how to live as a human.

Higurashi is just that - a story about humanity and its struggles. A story about people all hiding their dark pasts and secrets, who need to move on from them. About people who need to learn to trust others, to forgive, and to be forgiven. And a story about hope.

There's a bunch of other things it does well, like the mystery and the horror. But the core message of the series, which we, like the characters themselves, only start to grasp after a long struggle through violence, horror, and tragedy, shines all the more brightly through the darkness, and, despite having heard those same themes repeated many times before, I truly understood the meaning behind them for the first time.

Of course, it's not a perfect story. I think the last two arcs veered off the rails a little compared to how the story had established itself (though it didn't ruin it for me), and there were several questionable storytelling decisions. And if you approach the series concerned solely about the mystery aspect, I think some developments might leave you feeling unsatisfied.

But everything else about the series is just so profound that you just can't help getting drawn all the way in. It feels like I would go through the whole spectrum of human emotions over and over again through each arc. Light-hearted, goofy excitement during club activities, peaceful serenity during the slice-of-life moments, unsettling paranoia cultivated through brilliant psychological horror, monstrous terror at the peak of insanity and violence, lamentation at the tragedy that has occurred, and finally catharsis at the resolution of a conflict. The way the game makes you feel all those things, and slowly feeds you its message throughout all of it, is nothing short of masterful writing.

I wouldn't say higurashi changed my life, but it certainly wasn't far off, and it was easily capable of doing so. The first game is free, so just give it a try. If you got hooked by it, I'm sure you'll find that the rest of the series holds an experience you won't find in many other games or anime, that goes far, far beyond "cute girls killing each other".

(By the way, Sotsu doesn't exist).

I loved this game omg and I loved keiichi. I got so hooked playing this it was hard to stop at times. I was a little dissapointing to find out it has no chocies but the story was so good it makes up for it. When I first started playing I had heard there were scary parts and I was concerned but their all so tame so dont worry lol. This game was so fun and it was nice to thoerize with the character at the end in the extra thing. Cant wait to play chapter 2 and I cant believe this was free.