Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth's strengths aren't entirely justified by the sheer amount of time it would take to experience them in full, but anyone that's already willing to give it that time - or those who come in with properly calibrated expectations - will find an entertaining saga that's worth seeing through.

One of the best-told stories in years provides a very satisfying conclusion to the Utawarerumono series.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is a beautiful conclusion to a 14-year long narrative. While it still has its flaws, it is a journey worth seeing through to the end.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth continues the trend of the first game and improves upon its combat.

Great art, great music, gameplay that actually doesn’t feel like a distraction from the main story, and a story that’s both unique and well-written. The two games have a lot going for them and the fact that they’re actually decent PC ports is also a nice bonus. It’s about time we got them on PC and now it’s just a wait to complete the trilogy with the release of Prelude to the Fallen.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth, is the third game in the series of visual novels that begin with a Japanese eroge called Utawarerumono, developed by a company called Leaf in 2002 for Windows.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth will test your patience at times, but it serves as a good conclusion to Mask of Deception's story.

If you're a fan of visual novels and enjoy reading a story you can safely get Mask of Truth; the gamers who are actually looking for a challenge and don't care for the plot should probably look somewhere else instead.

It is difficult to pull off, but Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth has managed to both make a solid SRPG and visual novel in the same game. The world is interesting, and the characters are enjoyable to play as and to see the world with, even though sometimes it is too reliant on common tropes. The combat system also has depth to it with a lot of systems in place to reward those who think several turns in advance. The problem is that both aspects of the game are somewhat bloated. For fans of both genres this will not be obvious or even an issue at all, but for those who only likes the former or the latter, this might quickly make either feel like it's overstaying its welcome, in a good 80+ hours long game.

A rich, thrilling adventure with memorable characters and a complex, mesmerising narrative.