Jisei: The First Case HD Review

Jisei: The First Case HD is the latest interactive novel from Ratalaika Games. Jisei: The First Case HD originally was released on the PC many moons ago and this version is effectively a straight port over with nothing new added. Ratalaika Games have released quite a few of these visual novels, so lets see if time has been kind to Jisei: The First Case HD.

In Jisei: The First Case HD you play as a mysterious teenager with no name (remains nameless throughout) and with no home to speak of. You unfortunately are burdened by the weight of an extraordinary and hard to explain ability. That ability is when you touch someone you can end up reliving their final moments and feel the emotions of the dead person. Another part of your ability is that you can sense when someone has died nearby. The side effects of knowing someone has died nearby makes you feel nauseous, forcing you to visit the nearest restroom. At the start of Jisei: The First Case HD you are waking up in a coffeehouse, a strange place to nap, especially when you’ve just drank a coffee. Suddenly, your ability kicks in and that oh so memorable feeling of nauseousness stirs. Someone has died nearby.

You visit the restrooms and find a woman in the ladies toilets dead with a large knife in the chest. Unfortunately, another woman finds you over the body and accuses you of the murder. As your day goes from bad to worse, an off-duty policeman just happens to be drinking in the same coffee house and takes charge of the investigation. This is the start of Jisei: The First Case HD, this is the point where you can start moving between different locations within the coffee house (obviously you can’t leave as you’re a suspect) and also begin to speak to the other people who are in the coffee shop. The barista is Chance who runs the coffeehouse, there is Miss Bergstorm the woman who found you in the ladies toilet and accused you and Kizaki a student. Detective Gurski remains in the coffee house and for some reason will listen to your observations and provide guidance.

Without delving too much into the story of Jisei: The First Case HD, you progress Jisei: The First Case HD by asking these characters a series of questions and moving in between the limited set of locations. Usually after you’ve asked Kizaki, Bergstrom and Chance all the questions you can, you’ll speak to the Detective or go back to the scene of the crime. Jisei: The First Case HD doesn’t delve into any new interactions (for example, Steins Gate had you answering the phone, sending messages, etc.) so all your influence is through the questions you make and your investigative skills. The story of Jisei: The First Case HD is quite engaging as you find out more and more about each character, it becomes fairly obvious who the killer is early on but the experience is worth persevering. Like most visual novels, there are different endings which add more longevity to Jisei: The First Case HD. Luckily you can skip through most of the dialogue, which there is a lot of. If you choose to read everything then Jisei: The First Case HD will last several hours, if you choose to skip everything you’ve already read, then a couple of hours, if you choose to skip everything, then you will not understand what the story is but you’ll finish Jisei: The First Case HD in roughly half an hour.

Jisei: The First Case HD has some gorgeous backdrops and lots of different facial expressions for the characters, each character has a lot of detail. The locations you visit are quite small, but the backgrounds have in general a lot of detail in them. The acting in Jisei: The First Case HD is very good whilst the voice acting is of a professional standard and helps move Jisei: The First Case HD smoothly. As mentioned previously the story is quite interesting and you’ll definitely want to find out what happens. The extra endings do not necessarily add anything more in regard to the Jisei: The First Case HD experience, but helps increase the replay factor.

Jisei: The First Case HD is one of the best Japanese visual novels out there at the moment. If you enjoy these kinds of games or fancy trying out one for the first time, then you won’t get much better than an introductory title like Jisei: The First Case HD. The graphics, voices and plot all pull you into Jisei: The First Case HD and is a good addition to your visual novel catalogue.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Playstation 4 code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.