Review: Nie no Machi -Iromusubi-

I finally finished playing the Nie no Machi fandisc! The first game was released in 2018 and I really liked it, so I was very excited when they announced Nie no Machi -Iromusubi-. This review might contain some spoilers for the first game, but I’ll try to not mention too many details.

Most routes are a direct continuation of the ones you played in the first game, though they also added some new original stories! The first time you play this game only one of the new routes is available (開幕/Opening). In this route Hisora is still staying at the inn with everyone who you met in the first game. This route also introduces a new character called Sanjuugo, whose name literally means…35 and that’s because Hisora thought that would be a good name for him (….yeah, don’t even ask). Sanjuugo/35 has two endings, but you can play most of the other endings after finishing his main ending (the one with the CG, you’ll know when you see it...). I of course recommend getting them all because you probably need all endings to unlock the final route.

After finishing this route you unlock many new stories, I summarized the three different categories below:

• Sequels (後日譚): Will Hisora stay at the inn, or will he return to the real world? These are direct continuations of all the good and normal endings of the first game.
• Side Stories (外伝): These stories focus on the side characters, but in most of them you’ll also see some other characters. Akari, Totonoe, Komachi, Kuro and Sata all have their own new stories.
• If (いふ): These are continuations of the first game’s bad endings, though only the ones in which Hisora is still alive of course. In this case that’s both of Naruomi’s bad ends (Akari end, Shiro & Kuro end), Koko’s bad end, Asuku’s bad end and one of Mio’s bad ends (Totonoe ending).

You’re free to play them in whatever order you want, but some of the bad endings and side stories can get pretty dark, so be prepared for that! (but if you played the first game you of course already expected that).

Once you finish all of these two other stories unlock! Especially the final one is pretty long and almost feels like a whole new route. In this route the choices you pick matter because you can get a few different endings, though there’s only 3 choices so it’s pretty easy to figure out.

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Final thoughts
I really enjoyed this fandisc! In my opinion fandiscs are always a bit of a hit or miss, some of the other ones I’ve played felt a bit short and others didn’t add the bad ending continuations I would love to see. However, Iromusubi is a pretty long fandisc, I think it took me at least 38 hours to finish everything, which is comparable to the length of the first game. Iromusubi is also a bit cheaper than the original game too, so I think pricewise it was a good deal.

Apparently they changed the writer for this game, but I didn’t really notice it? Of course Japanese isn’t my first language and it has been 4 years since I finished the first game, so maybe I just don’t remember. The first game had a lot of gory content and the fandisc definitely had a lot of this too. Not every scene had a CG, but sometimes you didn’t even need that because the descriptions were already graphic enough. I’m not complaining though because I’m a big fan of horror VNs! Also that first route which you have to play before you can even access anything else... I certainly didn’t expect that...

I was surprised that one of my favorite endings was actually Mio’s good end, because I don’t think he was my favorite character in the first game. I also really liked the side stories because not only do you learn more about the side characters, they also show a couple of new scenes with Koko, Naruomi and Mio. I do wonder what happened to some of Asuku’s content? The side character in his first game route was Ao, but he’s not mentioned anywhere in the fandisc. Because of this you don’t learn super much new about Asuku’s past either, though they do briefly mention it in his good end continuation. Also the new route you unlock near the end is my guilty pleasure route... but I won’t spoil it right now.

I do recommend playing the fandisc if you enjoyed the original game! You can buy the digital version here, DLsite usually has discount coupons, so I think I got it for 30% off too. If you still want to buy the first game, they also sell a bundle which contains both games here! All pictures in this blog belong to Zombilica and were posted on the official website.

Upcoming BL game: Ōe (Adelta)

Two weeks ago Adelta posted some information about the release date of their newest game, Ōe (大穢)! The R18 visual novel is scheduled to be released fall 2023, though they’re also planning on releasing some other Ōe-related projects like an all-ages TRPG (tabletop role-playing game) version of the game (fall-winter 2023) and a digital format novel (somewhere in 2024).

Story synopsis

It’s the 30th year of the Showa era (1955). Detective Ōsaki travels to an abandoned fishing village located on the remote island of Ōe-jima, south of Tokyo. After receiving a strange request from his client, he attends the commemoration of an actress who passed away three years ago. During his stay on the island a series of strange events happen. The ship that is supposed to pick them up never arrives, no one has heard anything from the event organizer and there seems to be an unexplainable hatred and fear between the people who gathered on the island. Stranded on this ominous island, ten people unravel the mystery of their shared past and the death of the actress "Ōe".

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The game focuses on the ''Closed circle mystery'' element that can often be found in detective fiction, which refers to a situation in which a crime was committed and the culprit is one of the people who was present at the crime scene. The chaotic atmosphere peculiar to post-war Japan will also be noticeable in this story. The genre is ‘’Mystery x Detective x Japanese horror’’, but it won’t have any ghosts or extremely gorey content. This is also the first Adelta game which will have a top protagonist (all of the other guys are bottoms, who are also supposedly ‘’straight’’ lol!).

All nine attendees, who are also all murderers, will have their own routes, although some routes might be shorter than the others (4 full main routes). The servant who dies at the beginning of the game will also have his own route. When one route is cleared, more choices will be added to the game and more routes will unlock. Some newer blog updates also showed that there’s actually a 10th route? Which probably unlocks after clearing all of the other routes. The newest blog update also shows that the writing is almost completely finished, just the final route left...!

Characters
Every character's personality seems to be inspired by the Buddhist fundamental earthly desires (workings of life that are believed to cause one psychological/physical suffering and impede the quest for enlightenment). I looked up the kanji that were used in the image below and added some translations/definitions of each term.

Ōsaki (大崎) - Main character
Detective, calm and collected

Ariake (有明) -  Disregard (Anapatrapya 無愧)
Mortician, helps out others

Shimbashi (新橋) -  Stinginess (Mātsarya 慳)
Screenwriter, prideful, germaphobe

Hinode (日出) -  Wrath (Krodha 忿)
Junior high school student, aphasia

Shijoumae (市場前) -  Shamelessness (Āhrīkya 無慚)
Surgeon, big-hearted, open-minded

Shiodome (汐留) -  Restlesness (Auddhatya 掉挙)
Folkorist, energetic, loud

Funeno (船野) -  Sleepiness (Middha 睡眠)
Servant, timid, a kind-hearted big man

Toyosu (豊洲) -  Regret (Kaukritya 悪作)
Monk, soft, a bit of an airhead

Takeshiba (竹芝) -  Lethargy (Styāna 惛沈)
Magician, cheerful comedian, Kansai dialect

Aomi (青海) -  Envy (Īrṣyā 嫉)
Music teacher, quiet beauty

Side characters
Daiba Shizuma (台場静馬): Client, seems pretty identical to Ōsaki  
Shinagawa Zakuro (品川柘榴): Junior detective, always tired
Shinkiba (新木場): Manager, likes reading books

Image sources: [1] [2] Characters and illustrations belong to Adelta. 

The official Adelta Twitter account frequently posts new updates about the game, so I recommend turning notifications on! You can expect background illustrations, CG previews, lineart, sketches and some other art related to the new game (also possibly some Hashihime/Uuultra C content).

By the way, in a previous blog post it was mentioned that 大穢 will be used to refer to the 18+ BL visual novel version of the game which will be released first, and  大江 for the all-ages TRPG version, though both seem to have the same reading (just a disclaimer why the images still display ‘‘ 大江 ‘‘ instead of ‘‘ 大穢 ‘‘, I think this decision was only made later!).

I’ve played all of Adelta’s other games so naturally I am very excited to play this one, the other games had so many CGs and backgrounds, I’ll be patient and wait until the game’s released in fall!