[Review] Seven Mysteries

Title: Seven Mysteries
Genre: Horror
Developer: Sanggameboy (Le Hong Sang)
Original Language: Vietnamese
Translators: Greater Good 45 | Blurry Mind | Neku Sakuraba


The game's charm is in its story telling and how they based the stories on a set of fictional ghost stories from Kindaichi Case Files. It's what drew me in in the first place. You can search up some info on the Seven Mysteries of Fudo High so you can better appreciate the game if you're planning to play it.

I love how the stories all connect. That as you play each chapter, you get a better understanding of what exactly is going on because the stories narrated in each chapter are all happening simultaneously. There's also a huge twist in the end, which gives this game extra points.

Scariness factor? Well, with the dark school hallways which you explore with just a flashlight or candle and the creepy background music, will scare perhaps those not quite used to the horror game atmosphere yet. Based on my standards, it's far from scary and relies heavily on loud sounds and jump scares. Jump scares are important in horror games, but inducing fear without them and just letting fear creep into the player gradually is something I look for in a horror game. Yes. I want to be horribly disturbed.

My reaction to this game? I kept laughing for the first 3 chapters. And there's nothing that's meant to be funny in this game. I just found so many random things funny. When something is out of place or too exaggerated, that's when I start laughing. The chapters after that got me intrigued, cause it's where they start to reveal the truth and stuff.

Overall, this game isn't bad. It's like listening to a classmate telling you ghost stories and later finding out the gruesome secrets behind them, which is pretty enjoyable.


Summary:

1: Thirteen Steps

You play as Sang in this chapter. Sang and My are on night patrol, walking through the hallway with flashlights. At some point, they end up splitting up. Sang's flashlight runs out of battery. (Sucks for him.) Suddenly, he hears the sound of glass breaking. Thinking it's a prank pulled by My, he unlocks the classroom door and finds the window broken. He peers through the window and finds someone standing outside.
Goes looking for My to warn her and passes the stairs. He stops and remembers playing counting steps with "him", so he decides to count the steps. He's sure there are 12 steps, buuut... he ends up counting 13 steps in all. After he continues walking, My suddenly drops from the ceiling and went *splat* on the floor. (It was so random. I was just like... lalalala s'plorin'.... *SPLAT* WOAH LOLWTF.)

Am I a maniac for laughing at this scene?

2: The Music Room

This time, you control My. As she walks alone in hallway, the piano starts playing in music room, so she decides to go check it out. When she enters the room, the door closes and she's locked in. (Such typical horror game scenario) Suddenly, light flashes and bloody dead students are littering the room for a brief moment. My mutters, "It has started." (For a minute there, she sounded like a paranormal investigator who knew exactly what was happening.) Then, a notebook drops on the floor. And *poof* there's suddenly a rope ladder so she climbs that. As she goes through the mysterious attic place, she bumps into blonde haired glasses guy who screams as if he just saw a ghost and runs away. My continues walking, but falls through hole and dies.

3: The Chemistry Lab

You play as Loi for this chapter (who's the dude My bumped into.) He comments about how creepy the candles are so he should turn on the lights. WAIT. DUDE, LIKE WHY DIDN'T YOU TURN THEM ON IN THE FIRST PLACE? WHY ARE YOU WAITING IN A ROOM WITH LIT CANDLES ALL OVER THE PLACE? THAT'S PRETTY SHADY.

Anyway, so he flips the switch on but it doesn't turn on, so he decides to look for his other classmates and bumps into one of them, Mahn, at the door. He's happy... but then the guy hits him with a knife. lolwtf So Loi grabs a knife and fights him in the dark.

When he gets to the cafeteria, his other classmate Minh tries to kill him too. so he's desperate for light so he turns on the oven and it explodes. Loi gets thrown outside from the blast. THAT'S ONE SCARY OVEN. AND HOW IS THAT GUY STILL EVEN ALIVE AFTER BEING BLASTED THROUGH CONCRETE WALLS?!

EVEN THE OVEN IS TRYING TO KILL YOU.

Then he suddenly goes on "kill or be killed" mode and decides that he must kill everyone. He walks around the school grounds and finds a window where the shattered glass sound came from. He peers in and sees someone inside. (Note: Sang also peered through the window in chapter 1) Something appears behind Loi and pokes or pushes him, then disappears.

He heads inside and goes on a killing spree. (I had fun stabbing people in this part of the game. lol) Then, he wakes up in chem lab. IT WAS JUST A DREAM?! But he's holding a knife... so IT WAS REAL. Then Mahn enteres the room and complains about how he's taking too long. Mahn is alive?! They go to where everyone else (all of the people Loi stabbed earlier) was. They're still alive?! Loi becomes frightened and says, "Stay back!" He climbs up the rope ladder bumps into My who now looks deformed, so he screams and runs.

4: The Library

You play as Tuan this time. He's locked in the library. As he searches around, he finds a list of students who transferred. He wonders why a lot transfer every month. So, he continues to search the room and finds a pretty badly drawn map that indicates where the 4 treasures are. He goes "Well, if I'm going to be killed anyway, might as well enjoy treasure hunting." (Well, somewhere along those lines.) So he ends up finding a  rope, a calendar, a pen, and a diary.

(Note: The diary is the notebook that dropped when My was in the music room. Apparently, Tuan was hiding under the table the whole time. Aand, he was the one who broke the window in the classroom)

This soo reminds me of Ib.
Plus, the hallway music sounds like the same one from Ib too.

5: Good Morning

This chapter is narrated by student named Linh. Everything in this chapter is what's written in the diary. I'll leave this part as a surprise because it's what ties all the events together. It's best if you played it yourself.

6: The End...?

You control Tuan again and go check out that secret room mentioned in the diary. He gets locked in. Then weird stuff start happening once he tries to get the door opened. (I must admit. This scene was directed pretty well.) After the weird stuff, he leaves the room and follows a trail of red arrows. Once he enters the room they lead to, he relives the memories of Linh. His eye is hit by a stone and starts bleeding so he walks to the infirmary. (The surreal effect is cool and all but I hate how it's hard to tell where you're going or what you're examining.) He gets to the infirmary, grabs the first aid kit and heads to the library. After he uses it, he wakes up in the infirmary the day after (?). OR IS THIS ANOTHER ILLUSION? Well, he walks to the classroom and talks to Sang and My (WHY ARE YOU ALIVE?!) who tell him that there are illusions caused by paranormal activity that take place at night in the school and he's caught by it so he has to die in another's illusion so he won't die in real life. WHAT MADNESS IS THIS?! I DON'T TRUST YOU SANG. YOU KNOW TOO MUCH.

I STILL DON'T TRUST YOU, SANG!

Tuan tells Sang to meet him after class. When they meet, Tuan tells him that he knows how to break the curse. He asks Sang to lead him to a place with lots of mirrors. Once Tuan discovers the secret entrance, Sang pushes him in. TRAITOR!

This game has several different endings. This summary is based on my first play, in which I got a bad ending. lol