Welcome to Paradise, or so it should be, a nice story on a paradise island where all our worries have disappeared and where only tranquillity reigns… Well, wait no, this is not that game. We wake up one day in our room and find out that we have been in exile for no more and no less than 3000 days, but suddenly we gain freedom and they make us call. What’s going on? We control Lady Love Dies, an obsessed and somewhat geek investigator of mysteries.
He calls us Judge, and as we progress we will meet many outlandish characters. As the game starts we’ve been informed that there has been a murder. The “Council” has died along with the guards who guarded his apartment, and as if the problems were not big enough, there is also a missing person to whom everything indicates that he is the number one suspect.
So far everything more or less normal, now is where we start with the most “crazy” parts that make this title so different and unique. We are located on an island in a dream, called Paradise, this island is nothing more than another project of the same island, that is, in the game, this is version number 24 of the said island and they are in the process of number 25, they seek perfection in creation and the gods are never satisfied with what is created so they are in constant destruction and then work on it again.
In this picturesque adventure, we will not be alone, we will be accompanied by our small laptop called Starlight, he will be in charge of providing us with all the information we need about the inhabitants of the island and in charge of keeping all the information and evidence found in our investigation. We will also have the help of an old friend, Lydia, she will be in charge of transporting us from one place to another, she is, so to speak, the island’s taxi driver and the first to receive us with open arms on an island where it seems that we are not welcomed.
Gameplay
Once we’ve talked about the story and put you in context, let’s talk about its gameplay. Paradise Killer would come under the term of a visual novel, we are facing an open world to be able to exploit in the first person. Not only will we have to talk to characters and choose which option is better, but there are also more incentives in this game. We will have to solve some simple puzzles … somewhat picturesque, to continue exploring and unlocking new places.
When we get down to work with the investigation, it is very reminiscent of the Ace Attorney series, we will have to observe the crime scene through the magnifying glasses and gather more information. Simple but effective.
There are secondary missions, which as if it were not already a bit crazy, are commissioned by the ghosts that inhabit the island, they are the typical missions of looking for X objects that I have lost and that you will surely find when you are walking around the island.
As we visit Paradise, we will find numerous phone booths that will serve both to save the game and to unlock the “fast trip” one by one. How are these booths unlocked? Easy, through the blood crystals that we will find hidden. It is on these fast trips that Lydia our aforementioned friend enters the scene.
On a technical level, I have not found any problem, the game is fine. We are faced with a particular artistic style that plays above all with the saturation of the characters, some most extravagant looks (I have reached a point in my life that I only see references to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure ) in the characters, which we will find in 2D just like the objects while the rest of the environment is built in 3D. A very interesting mix that fits well in this type of more casual adventure.
Music is carefully selected, a jazz-style soundtrack that sounds especially good. Something that I have not finished liking too much is its controls, we can run or jump, but using the triggers while to be able to crouch we will have to use the buttons, a somewhat strange mixture in which I have sometimes failed and ended up doing something that I didn’t want to do.
Final Thoughts
Paradise Killer broadly speaking is a recommended game, quite complete with content and with an innovative style for the type of game it is. It is true, that the story can be complicated and difficult to understand. What we liked the most is without a doubt its aesthetics and all the bizarre atmosphere that is breathed everywhere and going a little further in what graphic novels usually are, putting that point of exploration in an open world.
Currently, Paradise Killer can be found both on Nintendo Switch and for PC, and if it is a genre that you like, it will probably surprise you.
We prepare this review with a digital review code for the Switch version of the game provided by Terminal PR
