Tokyo Dark

This merging of Japanese-style visual novels and Western-style adventure games is an intriguing one.

Quite a good show for a new studio. Tasteful presentation and a great sense of atmosphere manage to elevate it above the issues I had with the scope of the game. If you're looking for something spooky to play during the Halloween season, you could definitely do worse. Like whatever new entry in an annual horror series is going to be announced and released in the span of two weeks when October arrives.

Cherrymochi's S.P.I.N on the adventure genre makes for a flawed, but compelling psychological thriller.

At first, Tokyo Dark seems to be little more than a pale replica of better Japanese adventure and horror games. The game's presentation is amateurish, its characters are stereotypical, and its depiction of Tokyo doesn't break any new ground. Thankfully, the game's innovative SPIN system and focus on player choice heightens what would otherwise be an uninspired homage. Tokyo Dark falls well short of greatness, but hardcore point ‘n' clickers looking for something a bit different may want to give the game a stab.

Overall, Tokyo Dark stands as yet another impressive and surprisingly gripping entry into Square Enix Collective's portfolio of diverse titles, given its scale but more prominently its tone.

Tokyo Dark is a solid if underwhelming detective noir story. It's good for a diversion but will ultimately leave you wishing it were something more substantial.

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.

Tokyo Dark serves as a very good primer for those who are either curious about the visual novel genre or just want more to do than click through text boxes. The multiple endings are certainly a tempting thing for completionists, while the short runtime makes it so that the journey to the endings doesn't feel so tiring. Though most of the journey is rather linear and there's a significant lack of puzzles, the various choices at your disposal and needing to actually move to the spots gives you more to do than idle mouse-clicking. More importantly, the story is engaging from beginning to end, so you'll want to see the various paths along the way. While Tokyo Dark may not drive players toward the visual novel genre, itprovides a better appreciation for the genre's capabilities.

I can count on one hand the number of times where Tokyo Dark fully takes advantage of its powerful storytelling abilities, and you're left looking for more of them.

A flawed but brave take on a traditional genre, and one which oozes enough atmosphere to keep you playing until the credits.