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The Letter (Visual Novel)

Video Game Review

By Chloe GilholyPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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Link on the visual novel database.

The Letter is a visual novel released this year by Phillopino based game company YangYang Mobile. The game is inspired by the company's love for Asian Horror and visual novels. This is their first game. The Letter was initially a Kickstarter project. They successfully raised over $30,000, had over 500 supporters, and hired some of the most talented artists and voice actors around the internet. The game was got the go-ahead by Steam and was released earlier this year.

I like horrors that are shrouded in mystery, unpredictable, and set your heart racing. I enjoy visual novels as well such as Long Live The Queen, the Ace Attorney series, and the legendary Clannad. I like visual novels because of their alternate branches and endings, it makes each first experience a bit more special. Merging these two together brings absolute joy. The merge of horror and visual novels isn't something that I've seen often. Other than The Letter, the only game I can think of that does this is Corpse Party.

The Letter is a wonderful game in my opinion. I've only had it for less than a week, but I've injected over 20 hours of my time aiming to get as many Steam achievements as I can. It shows what an addictive game it is, but I still have NaNoWriMo to do and I don't want to fall behind on that. Oh well, just shows you how much I love this game.

The game focuses on a mansion in England that is up for sale and how Isabella and her friends, a married couple, and their hired interior designer get dragged into the horrors within the mansion.

The game itself is split into seven chapters. Each chapter focuses on each of the main seven characters in the game. So we really get to see the character's motives and their personalities. What's also a really nice touch is that some of the characters have different names and nicknames depending on their mood or what's happened. Like Ashton being called Ash or the less kind name, Ash-hole. (Looks like it's taking a note from Ace Attorney with all the punny names.)

Another nice touch is the profiles, relationship bars, and the journals. You learn a little about the characters. There are plenty of save slots, much more than Long Live The Queen I believe, and trust me you will need them. You might get lost on where you are though, this is where the branch tree gets in handy so you know where you're at, who's dead and who's alive. It's a unique feature that I've not seen in games before.

All the characters are well-written, complex, and diverse. We start the game with an estate agent, named Isabella Santos who comes from a big family and wants to make that sell to help provide for her family at home. Skipping work will be her downfall.

Chapter two has the blond heiress Hannah Wright, but she's anything but an airhead. Even though she's married and pregnant, she has her own mind and isn't afraid to be independent when needed to. She's headstrong, and when she's in a good mood, she's kind, but when you piss her off, things can get nasty.

Zachery is a giant with a heart of gold. He's a photographer and also dabbles in film. His character is a refreshing delight and it's a shame to kill him off because he's one of the most genuinely kindest people in the game. Sadly to unlock achievements and memory fragments useful for future playthroughs, all the characters have to die at least once or twice. It hurts the hardest when it has to be him.

Marianne is an Irish interior designer. She loves her independence but her backstory is excellently done. She craves forgiveness from her dead friend's spirit and she craves love. Her cat is also very cute. Sometimes she ends up sleeping with Luke, then ends up hooking up with his wife. What a nice business plan there!

Rebecca is a teacher and her maternal instincts really kick in straight away as she is the first character you talk to. She's stubborn and reluctant to let go of her first crush, Ashton Frey. I've seen a lot of people get frustrated with this. I really like the scene where she confronts Luke. We get to see a softer side to both of them and Luke's goddaughter, Kylie really brings the best out of both of them.

Ashton Frey is a badass detective with American and Japanese ancestry. He's silly with his friends but when he's at work he means serious business. He struggles to keep his work and personal life apart as they both end up entwining, especially if some of his friends end up being victims.

Luke Wright is one of the most dramatic characters out of the main cast. He really has that aura of a Shakespearean villain, but he's also one of the most human characters out there. One path he ends up killing his pregnant wife or can end up framing Zach. Sometimes he can become trapped by the mansion's spirit or his possessed wife. When given the choice to sacrifice himself or escape, he can escape the mansion as the others perish or he can go up to the attack in the burning mansion as the spirit takes him. His love for his goddaughter, Kylie, is a very redeeming trait. Even though Hannah and Luke have their issues it's still evident that they love each other even if they do end up divorcing.

In my first blind playthrough, Hannah and Luke ended up being a devoted couple with their twins whilst Rebecca cried alone. It took me a while to realise that Isabella was dead. It wasn't until after Hannah's chapter I realised she was dead. Choosing to skip work was Isabella's undoing.

There are lots of ways that the game could have been different. I've had playthroughs were everybody lives, ones where everyone dies, or only a few survive. A good mixture of good and bad endings. It really adds more layers and value to the game.

The ghost is also a very endearing antagonist. She's beautifully scary and reminds me a lot of Sachiko from Corpse Party and Takako from Pretear. Her backstory is brilliant and how it connects to her obsession with Luke.

Every little thing changes the whole path of the game. There are also mini-games activated when the ghost comes, but these can be skipped using the tab key if you don't want to play them.

It's a simply fantastic game that looks good with anybody's game collection. It has just the amount right of gore and the right amount of drama to make this a compelling experience.

Get the game on Steam here.

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About the Creator

Chloe Gilholy

Former healthcare worker and lab worker from Oxfordshire. Author of ten books including Drinking Poetry and Game of Mass Destruction. Travelled to over 20 countries.

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