[blog] Green Starfish's Inconsistent Blog

Here's my long-postponed backlog blog. Not sure how much I'll update this since I don't think it's all that necessary, although I might at the very least post all my completion reviews here as well for the sake of completeness.

The reason I decided to create this blog in the first place, is because my Higurashi When They Cry review hit the character limit and I didn't want to split it into separate chapters since I consider those as parts of a whole. Thus I've decided to make a blog so I can post it. Enjoy my Someutsushi review. For context, it's the first side story arc and the second Ch3 console arc.

September 9th - Higurashi When They Cry: Someutsushi - 9h 49m - (100%) 7/10 - Beat the chapter, saw all the tips, including the after-cast party.

Here's my review:
Pros:
Someutsushi provides a unique perspective of someone in almost the opposite situation that Keiichi is in, where she used to live near Hinamizawa but moved out. Natsumi's perspective provides a fresh unique POV compared to Keiichi with its different setting and slightly older cast. Despite being a couple of hours shorter than the main arcs, Someutsushi still manages to build up its cast so that you get attached to them as much as you do the main cast. Another way that it feels different compared to the main arcs is that it takes place over a much larger timeframe than the main arcs, which mostly works to its benefit by making it more unique.

I liked the ways that the chapter connects to the main chapters in a realistic way, which is technically what makes it a side story. It even manages to expand on some aspects of the main story and give new insights into that as well. The ending of Someutsushi is a bit more sudden than those of the main arcs and it includes one of the most shocking moments so far, which is Haruko murdering Aki out of nowhere.

Neutral:
One aspect of Someutsushi that felt worse compared to the main arcs was the ending sequence. It felt a bit too dragged out. I was expecting it to end after the main climax, but then it went on for another scene, and then another one. It was still very interesting, but maybe it could've been condensed a bit more.

Another slight complaint is that this is supposed to be the question arc for the side story, but it revealed much more than the past 3 question arcs for the main story did, which makes me doubt whether it deserves that title. This is definitely due to the side story being condensed to 2 arcs instead of the main story's 8, but I felt like the mystery could've been kept a bit more secret. I already feel like I know what happened in Someutsushi, there are barely any mysteries I'm left wondering about like I am in the main arcs.

I finished Himatsubushi which is the 4th main chapter of Higurashi. Although, it's shorter than all the other ones.

September 15th - Higurashi When They Cry: Himatsubushi - 9h 18m - (100%) 9/10 - Beat the chapter, saw all the tips, including the after-cast party.

Here's my review:
Pros:
Due to Himatsubushi's short length, it doesn't set up any of its own mysteries but builds upon the main overarching mystery of the game. But before I get to that, first some background. The flashback setting of the chapter was pulled off very well. It made sense why the case it covered wasn't mentioned in any prior chapters, which I originally worried would be an issue. Seeing the differences in Hinamizawa 6 years earlier is also quite the contrast compared to the rest of the chapters and interesting to see.

The main plot twist that Rika knows what is going to happen beforehand including her death raises a lot of questions. Why didn't she try to prevent any of the events? Is she unable to for some reason? Why does she know what's going to happen? I think the most likely answer to the last question is that the link that Rika has to Oyashiro gives her some powers, such as being able to see into the future.

The epilogue is much more shocking than I originally suspected. Not only was Rika trying to warn Akasake of his wife's death but also pleading him for help. It paints the rest of the story in a tragic light, that Rika was doing her best but that it didn't quite work out.

Tsukiotoshi is another console arc, which according to the 07th-mod reading order should be read after Meakashi. Still, my brother recommended I read it before that, because vibe-wise it's closer to a question arc than an answer arc, which I ended up doing.

September 21st - Higurashi When They Cry: Tsukiotoshi - 7h 34m - (100%) 7/10 - Beat the chapter.

Here's my review:
Pros:
Tsukiotoshi is a combination of all the question arcs up to this point as it shares elements from all of them. The most obvious one is from Ch3, as Teppei is with Satoko in this arc as well. However, the direction of the story is vastly different compared to Tatarigoroshi. For one, Rena and Shion join Keiichi for the murder, which is what allows the elements of the other chapters to seep through into this one.

The chapter builds up a good mystery, while also showing how the viewpoints of the characters can get warped by their insanity. At first, it is unclear as to what happened to Satoko and Shion, which made me think that something similar might've happened to Shion's disappearance in Watanagashi. Instead, the plot twist is that Satoko went insane and killed Shion herself, which is even more surprising since I thought that Satoko was incapable of going insane. This was due to her age and since she didn't do so in Tatarigoroshi.

Even though you can surmise that Satoko was behind the murder due to her clawing out her own throat, the characters are blinded by their insanity and instead suspect Mion, which leads to her murder as well. After this, Rena and Keiichi start suspecting each other as well. (I'll get back to this later.)

For the ending sequence, you switch perspectives to Rena. I like the red text as it showcases how far off the deep end she is at that point. This is also the first time you witness the great Hinamizawa disaster first-hand, which leads to yet more questions than answers. There seems to be an extraordinary group killing people, that might be behind the disaster. This is corroborated by Rena saying that the disaster wasn't caused by a curse after apparently witnessing pieces of paper being struck together. Importantly she also thinks it is vital to inform people right away. This ending sequence is great because it gave me a tantalizingly slight glimpse into the answer, without revealing all that much, which left me wanting more.

Neutral:
The one part of the story that felt a little off at first was Keiichi's and Rena's distrust of each other. It's very sudden and starts immediately after Mion's death. You would think that they would have some more comradery after what they had accomplished together. The game does explain that the distrust stems from the excuses for their terrible actions. Keiichi believed that it was all fate and destined to happen, while Rena believed that by killing them, she was saving them from Oyashiro's grasp. The only problem is that it wasn't conveyed very clearly and needed a bit more explanation.

I finished Meakashi which is the 5th main arc of Higurashi and the first answer arc.

October 22nd - Higurashi When They Cry: Meakashi - 16h 24m - (100%) 9/10 - Beat the chapter, read all the tips and the staff room.

Pros:
As the first answer arc, Meakashi delivers, answering most of the questions laid out in Watanagshi such as the syringe Rika had and how Mion stabbed Keiichi after she was supposedly already dead. It does this while leaving mysteries for the remaining chapters and even creating new ones, such as who Rika was calling to when she died.

This chapter greatly benefits from the POV character being Shion instead of Keiichi, like in most of the question arcs. It allows the reader to understand the dynamic that Mion and Shion have and how close they are. Alongside that, the chapter starting a year earlier gives insight into Satoshi's disappearance and the twist that he was the one who murdered his aunt.

The big twist that Shion was the one who committed the murders while pretending to be Mion was surprising yet made a lot of sense considering her love for Satoshi and wanting to punish those responsible. This leads perfectly to the moment where she realizes Satoko's strength and how she failed to keep her promise to Satoshi. To further crumble Shion's motivations she finds out that the Sonozakis aren't responsible for the murders, which is easily the most direct clue given to the reader so far.

Meakashi also has the most memorable soundtrack so far, with a bunch of great pieces, such as Solitude, Thanks, Confession, Shadow and of course the ending theme You.

Neutral:
The one plot point that could've been explained a bit better was the fact that Mion and Shion switched places permanently at some point before the events of the game and that Mion was born as Shion and vice versa. The reason I was confused by the swap was due to Shion's insanity. I thought that she was so insane that she started believing herself to be the true Mion. She was already pretending to be her after all. Luckily there's a tip at the end of the game that spells it out for you very clearly in case you managed to miss that plot point.

I finished Tsumihoroboshi, the 6th main arc of Higurashi and the second answer arc.

November 14th - Higurashi When They Cry: Tsumihoroboshi - 19h 36m - (100%) 10/10 - Started November 3rd - 11 Days Taken - Beat the chapter, read all the tips and the staff room.

Here's my review:
Pros:
Tsumihoroboshi is action-packed with amazing moments. While other chapters had one or two standout scenes, Chapter 6 has three, which are comparatively longer and more memorable than the previous moments as well. I'll discuss these three moments in detail and why they work so well, but I'll first get some general positives out of the way.

The Tsumihoroboshi's music keeps up the same quality that Ch5 had, with multiple fantastic songs, my personal favourites being Pros, Z.E.R.O, Escape, Cradle Song, and Birth and Death. The opening theme Qualia of the Shining Sky added to the chapter by 07th Mod is great as well, it has a better ending than the other openings so far and has a repeating beat that makes the song feel more coherent.

One benefit is that the chapter has a fast pace, especially at the beginning. It only takes 3 chapters to get to the meat and potatoes of the chapter, which starts with Rena's ENTIRE backstory. (I'll get back to this later.) It only keeps escalating from there with Rina being introduced, made a villain and disposed of within 3 chapters. By that point, you're only halfway through the chapter but you have no idea where the chapter could go from there as there was a resolution to Rena's murders. In classic Higurashi style, one event then naturally sets the trajectory for the remainder of the chapter and brings that to its conclusion. Even before the third part, Tsumihoroboshi starts strong with some non-linear storytelling, specifically a flash forward to something Rena has done, which immediately hooks the player and leaves them thinking about what it could be. By the time the player is about to reach that scene, they will have mostly forgotten about the start of the chapter but will eventually realize what's about to happen and how it all slots together.

That scene is of course the scene where the group discovers that Rena has done the horrible deed of murdering Rina and Teppei, but despite that still manage to forgive her. Keiichi pulls it off by telling her that they're friends and that friends trust each other. Friends don't face their problems alone, forcing them to carry all that mental baggage by themselves. No, instead they reach out and help solve problems together. This may seem a little corny from the outside looking in, but it connects to what is a fundamental core of Higurashi's story. If you think about it, a lot of the problems in the previous chapters came from people not trusting their friends and not talking it out with them. In Ch1 Keiichi stopped trusting his friends after he found out about Hinamizawa's dark past, a similar thing happened in Ch2, where the catalyst for the entire debacle could've been avoided if Mion had talked about it to Keiichi. In Ch3, Keiichi believes that he has to solve Satoko's problem by himself, instead of as a group. Lastly, in Ch5, Shion snaps because she stopped trusting in Mion and that the Sonozaki's couldn't have been behind Satoshi's disappearance. After five chapters of mostly misery and betrayal, it is refreshing to see something good happen for once—something unequivocally good that makes you smile.

This point of trust is reinforced further throughout the chapter. When Rena and Keiichi start believing in Takano's theories, Rena stops trusting Mion and tells Keiichi to not talk about the theories with her. The Keiichi we saw in Ch1, 2 and 3, would've followed these orders and continued living in fear, doubting his friends, but due to the aforementioned scene, in Ch6 Keiichi knows the power of trusting his friends and decides to tell Mion anyway. He immediately finds out that the theories in Takano's scrapbook are complete nonsense. After clearing that first seemingly insurmountable hurdle, he is rewarded for his trust.

The second standout scene in Tsumihoroboshi is the one in the classroom the morning after Rena has gone into hiding. We get some backstory for Keiichi which greatly fleshes him out and lets him fully escape the somewhat basic cookie-cutter protagonist role he had before. This backstory comes in the form of Keiichi talking about his past to Mion, Satoko and Rika, including the secrets he had been hiding. This makes Keiichi realize that what happened in the past doesn't matter as long as you are forgiven for your mistakes and have learned from them.

Up to this point in the chapter, astute players would've noticed the striking similarities that Ch1 and Ch6 share. Ooishi calls a person out to his car and explains what happened on the night of the Watanagashi, which leads to that person doubting their friends. The key difference is that in Ch6 instead of that person being Keiichi, it is Rena. These similarities aren't merely a nod, but they are crucial to Ch6's story as in this scene Keiichi manages to (somehow) remember what transpired in Ch1. Right after learning a valuable life lesson, he is crushed by the realization that he can't be forgiven by Rena and Mion for murdering them in Ch1 because they're dead in that chapter. Keiichi doesn't let this make him hopeless however and turns this tragedy and misfortune around into determination to prevent the same from happening to Rena. In the scene before this one, Rika gives up on the current chapter's Rena and Hinamizawa. She resigns herself to her death and is ready to await the next Hinamizawa, which will likely be more of the same. She has completely given up on making any difference in the current timeline/time loop. The main reason why this scene is amazing is that Keiichi's determination and remembering the events of Ch1 (which Rika believed should have been impossible) shows her that there is hope for her escaping her situation, that she can make a difference and help avoid the tragedy. It's a fundamental shift in her perspective going forward. Likely one she held when she started looping before she became disillusioned at her lack of progress towards escaping the time loop.

You may think that it's unreasonable for Rika to become disillusioned especially when there are many things she could do to help prevent her death, but you have to realize that she's been stuck in the time loop for around 100 years without ever managing to find a solution. This implies that the solution to Rika's death is much more complicated than we might at first imagine. Being stuck in a time loop for 100 years also means that Rika's mental age and the age of her body are so drastically different. To the extent that she feels disconnected from her body and resorts to alcohol to drown out her problems. The biggest thing we learn about Rika's situation however is the existence of a mysterious character who's by Rika's side. It's implied that she's the supernatural one who knows about the future, including when Rika is going to die instead of Rika herself. This is because Rika asks her for that information in one of the tips. She also seems to be the one who seems to have caused the problem, so she's probably behind the time loop in some way.

The third standout scene in Tsumihoroboshi is actually the entire last part of the chapter. It covers Rena's last-ditch attempt to reach "victory" and expose the conspiracy she believes in. At this point, everyone except Rena has realized that the theories in Miyo's scrapbook are false and that she's being delusional. Rena is very clever and devises a hostage situation which results in the school blowing up, with almost no way to avoid it. I thought that this chapter would end in a tragedy like all the previous chapters and there were moments within this last part where I was certain that would be the case. If you had been paying attention to Keiichi's character development throughout all the chapters so far you would've noticed that Keiichi does trust his friends more in each chapter, just not enough to make a difference in the outcome. However, in this chapter, it does make a difference. To further reinforce the message of the chapter, the bad endings are avoided when Keiichi puts his full trust in his friends and their abilities. It is only with that level of cooperation that they manage to diffuse Rena's hostage situation and that Keiichi makes her realize the error of her ways. Finally, tragedy has been avoided.

Neutral:
The one minor nitpick I have for this chapter is that maybe Rena's backstory could've been shown in a more diegetic way. Previous character's backstories are given piecemeal throughout their respective chapters mostly from other characters. Meanwhile, Rena just reminisces on her life and you get given everything in one go, which devalues the backstory compared to if it had been given another way. Especially since Keiichi's backstory was given similarly, but he was prompted to tell it by Rena not trusting him, because he didn't tell her about his past.

I finished the second ending of Taraimawashi, which you read later than the rest of it. Because of that, I've decided to post my full and updated Taraimawashi review here. I have left the original completion date since that accounts for the majority of this chapter's playtime.

September 3rd - Higurashi When They Cry: Taraimawashi - 4h 8m - (100%) 6/10 - Beat the chapter, read all the tips and the all-cast review.

Here's my review:
Pros:
Taraimawashi is the first console chapter you play and even though it is very short, it still adds interesting information worth considering. The first notable piece of information is that the great disaster happens no matter what, unlike Ch3 where it could be a supernatural force that grants Keiichi's wish to have Hinamizawa perish. The second is that both Mion and Shion went missing around the time that Satoshi disappeared which could mean that they have more involvement in that case than you were first let on.

Before this chapter, I was also under the impression that the right thing for Keiichi to do was to ignore all the strange things happening around him and act normal, but with the existence of the great disaster, that solution is futile.

Despite its short length, Taraimawashi's ending still manages to leave a strong impression due to its sudden nature. You just go 10 years into the future where Mion is the sole survivor of the disaster and in an amnesiac-like state. It's very shocking and frankly harrowing.

Taraimawashi's second ending, which you read much later, eludes to the fact that the disaster is fishy and that there might've not been a disaster at all, but the clue Rena gives is cryptic so I don't know what it could mean. If the chapter had stated that the hamster died from a natural cause like starvation for example, that could potentially prove that there was no gas at all, but it doesn't clarify anything like that, so I'm left dumbfounded how this clue would help Mion figure out the secret behind the disaster.

I've also decided to backport my reviews of the earlier Higurashi chapters here, so they're all publicly available.

November 5th 2023 - Higurashi When They Cry: Onikakushi - 15h 54m - (100%) 9/10 - Beat the chapter, saw all the tips, including the after-cast party.

Here's my review:
Pros:
Onikakushi is an excellent introduction to the Higurashi storyline. You get lulled into a false sense of security with all the slice-of-life moments in the first half of the game that you nearly forget that it's supposed to be a horror game. It slowly builds up the more creepy and unnatural elements until the scene where Keiichi confronts Rena and you witness creepy eyes for the first time. When I first saw that sprite and the following CG I was shocked, completely flabbergasted. After I experienced that, I knew that Higurashi was something special and worth sticking through.

The rest of the chapter manages to masterfully build the stakes and creepiness ever higher until you reach the climax. I especially liked the connection with the first scene you see of Keiichi murdering Rena and Mion, which you at first don't understand, but afterwards you do. Most importantly, however, the ending leaves so many unanswered questions, about the organization going after Keiichi and his cause of death, which leaves you wanting more.

March 31st - Higurashi When They Cry: Watanagashi - 20h 42m - (100%) 9/10 - Beat the chapter, saw all the tips, including the after-cast party.

Here's my review:
Pros:
Watanagashi introduces Shion as a new integral character to the story, who is used in the chapter's main mystery, while also subtly building off mysteries established in Onikakushi. The main point that this chapter hammers home for me is that a lot of Keiichi's issues would have been solved if he just communicated with his friends better. The cause of the events of the entire chapter was Keiichi missing the cue that Mion wanted the doll he won and what ended up being his death sentence at the end was not apologizing for that mistake.

The ending is equally as head-scratching as Onikakushi with the impossible encounter Keiichi has with Mion after she should already be dead and the simultaneous death of Shion. The interesting connection to Ch1 I mentioned earlier is the syringe that Rika has in her pocket when her body is found. Is that the same syringe that caused the death that Tomitake experienced? All in all, due to these factors, Watanagashi's ending is equally as powerful as Onikakushi's.

May 1st - Higurashi When They Cry: Tatarigoroshi - 20h 54m - (100%) 9/10 - Beat the chapter, saw all the tips, including the after-cast party.

Here's my review:
Pros:
When I started Tatarigoroshi I was expecting it to follow the same formula as the previous two where the person who goes insane is the one who is the main focus of that chapter, in this case, Satoko. But the twist that it ends up being Keiichi himself is well done because don't see it coming and because it gives you a glimpse into the mental state that might've been affecting Rena and Mion in the previous chapters.

Where Tatarigoroshi truly elevates itself even further is the second half where it gets supernatural. Keiichi enters a parallel world/timeline where he didn't kill Teppei and he starts doubting his sanity. Then you have the segment where it seems that whoever Keiichi wishes to die ends up doing so afterwards. It's so baffling and I can't even begin to explain it, which is why it's so powerful from a storytelling perspective. I want to know what the cause was and keep reading.

I beat Yoigoshi yesterday which is another extra console arc. I've decided to start rating the individual arcs instead of only Higurashi as a whole because my opinion differentiates between them and it'll give a more accurate view of my thoughts on the game.

December 12th - Higurashi When They Cry: Yoigoshi - 13h 9m - (100%) 7/10 - Started November 18th - 24 Days Taken - Beat the chapter, read all the tips and the staff room.

Here's my review:

Pros:
Yoigoshi is a nice self-contained mystery that (mostly) works well on its own. Its best aspect is its focus on mystery. You do read Yoigoshi during the question arcs, but by the end, most of the secrets are revealed, so it works out. The mystery starts with a bang with the ghost Rika scene, which is a sudden WTF moment. From there the mystery increases slowly by posing questions like "Who's stealing all the cars?", "Why are there this many people staying in an abandoned village?". I especially liked the mystery of who killed Takumi during the long bad ending. In that version, it felt like an honest-to-god murder mystery, which is surprisingly rare in Higurashi.

All this tension and build-up results in an incredibly emotional scene where Otobe and Towada spill their backstories and secrets. Even though these are new characters that we shouldn't care that much for, their backstories still hit hard because they're relatable. You could imagine someone making the same mistakes and ending up with similar problems. Even though these confessions originate from a console arc, they still tie together one of Higurashi's main messages of communication. Both of the outcomes that the characters found themselves in could've been avoided if they had communicated more. Otobe with his parent's about his financial struggles and Towada with her husband about his recent behaviour. After the confession, Towada's mistake is driven home further by the job acceptance paper that Takumi had.

Yoigoshi features a strong supernatural element in the form of ghosts. There's a ghost for Rika and Mion as well as every new dead character introduced in Yoigoshi. The new dead characters seem to be summoned by the ghost Mion and elevate Towada's and Otobe's confessions to greater heights, driving home the mistakes they made by not communicating with those around them.

After realizing their mistakes, we are shown how they'll improve their lives and do better. Otobe returns the cash card he stole, determined to tackle his debt head-on. He's even willing to risk his own life to fulfil Mion's wish, something the coward Otobe we see before the confession, would've never done. Even Arakawa steps in to help because he also realizes that he has to work harder and stop half-assing his work, hoping that he can get a big scoop from Hinamizawa.

I found the reveal that Miyuki was married the entire time, extremely hilarious considering the feelings that Arakawa had towards her during the chapter, which made it very unexpected.

Neutral:
The reveal that the chapter's main mystery was caused by a Yakuza power struggle makes a lot of sense, especially considering how Yoigoshi takes place in the same timeline as one of the bad endings of Tsumihoroboshi. It's just not nearly as emotional as the other reveals in the chapter.

Cons:
Even though I have praised Yoigoshi plenty, it has one major flaw, which is the explanation for the ghosts or the lack thereof. I mentioned that the ghosts were summoned by ghost Mion, but that is my assumption based on one throwaway line. A real in-depth explanation is never given for how she managed to bridge the gap between the dead and the living. This is one of the few times that Higurashi has failed to answer a mystery it set out. Even the explanation that is given for ghost Mion is vague and brief. She stuck around due to a strong attachment to Shion and possessed her body in a time of need. How did she manage to do this? It's not said.

The most illogical outcome of the whole chapter is that Shion somehow survives. It is established that Mion possessed Shion's body, but she takes Shion's place in dying from the gunshot wound. This could still be somewhat reasonable if it was a one-time cause of death and she was healed immediately afterwards. Instead what we get is that after Shion comes to, the gunshot is magically gone even though Mion merely replaced Shion's consciousness within the same body. By all accounts, Shion should've died as well. For supernatural elements like these that are crucial to the main story of the arc, a solid explanation needs to be provided, considering that very few of the mysteries in Higurashi end up being supernatural in origin.

From now on I'll also start posting my regular game completions on this thread as well as the "post your wins" thread. This will keep them more organized and for those who want to easily look at all my reviews in order without the restriction of the character limit.

December 15th - Outer Wilds - 27h 24m - (Main+) 8/10 - Started December 5th - 10 Days Taken - Beat the main game and the DLC. Got 5/31 achievements.

Here's my review:

Pros:
Outer Wilds is a non-linear adventure game that encourages exploration. This could easily have resulted in a frustrating experience where players get stuck and don't know what to do next but it manages to avoid these traps by giving you leads on where to go next. A lot of the areas you explore will at some point, lead to some other area you need to learn more. This provides a logical next step for the player to follow. This worked so well that it was easy to do another loop to explore the next area hinted at or apply the new knowledge I had learned. It made me play longer sessions than I originally planned because I kept saying "Just one more loop". This system of leads, clues and knowledge is greatly benefited by the ship log, which helps organize and track all the information you have gathered so far. It removes a lot of the mental load off the player by not forcing them to remember all the information they've gathered throughout the entire game. It stores almost all the crucial information, such as the connections between various locations, even showing ones to locations you haven't visited yet, which can help prompt your next move. A great quality of life feature is that it tells you whether you gathered all the information within a specific area, which reduces player doubt and helps them be more focused in their exploration. In essence, the ship log removes the frustration of a non-linear mystery game without detracting from the player's feeling that they are solving the puzzles themselves and from receiving the eureka moments when things finally click together.

Intertwining the story and the mysteries was a great choice. The more you explore and learn the more you piece together about the story. The story is quite a sad and tragic one. The Nomai were stranded in an unfamiliar star system and yet managed to persevere and almost reach the eye themselves. But they were wiped out by the ghost matter from the interloper at the last step. Then you step in, salvage it and reforge the galaxy anew. The game's time loop mechanic being part of the story all along was a shocking reveal that meshes with the story perfectly.

Echoes of the Eye complements the story further by adding a further layer of tragedy and sadness to it. The strangers got curious about the eye and sacrificed their entire planet to reach it. Once they did, they learned of its horrors, but by then it was too late. To retain their old way of life, they recreated their old planet virtually so they could still live out their lives on it. They even tried to stop the eye, so no other species could be lured to their doom like they were, but one rogue stranger released the eye's block for long enough for the Nomai to get attracted to the eye as well. However, in a twisted way, that act indirectly allows you the player to save the stranger's species by including them in the recreation of the universe.

Outer Wild's music is also important because while most of the time it is silent when it isn't, it plays well into the narrative and gameplay. It signifies when you're close to the end of a loop and that same music is played when you remove the warp core from the center of the Ashen twin to highlight the significance of what you're doing. I especially enjoyed the climactic music that played while in the Vessel after supplying it with the warp core. The best musical aspect of the game, however, has to be the main theme. You hear it every time you boot up the game on the main menu, but it's more than just that because every member of the Hearthian crew also plays one instrument of the song. This means you hear the song much more than you may think and results in the final scene hitting that much harder. You bring all the instruments together and finally hear the full complete version of the song during gameplay.

Neutral:
One nice QOL feature would've been the ability to restart at a loop at any time without having to exit the game to the main menu and then resume the game because all it does is waste time.

Cons:
There's only one part of the game that genuinely frustrated me and resulted in me having to use a guide to progress. That part was how to reach the first tablet in the Shrouded Woodlands. I was conditioned to think that the solution to reach each tablet was limited to each area because that was the case with the second and third tablets, which I did before the first one. I could've maybe figured this out by myself if I had a cool head and wasn't already frustrated to hell and back.

What frustrated me you say? The Stranger's. To reach the previous two solutions you had to kite and lure the Strangers away from where they were standing so you could get past them. This is a very action-heavy mechanic in a puzzle game and it goes against a principle that the base game strives for. This principle is that after you figure out the solution to a puzzle and have the eureka moment, actually executing it and getting your reward shouldn't be too difficult and take a long time. The longer it takes to reach the reward, the more the positive feeling of solving the puzzle diminishes. By adding the more action-based Strangers, knowing the solution wasn't enough and you had to kite and lure the Strangers multiple times in the dark. Safe to say that this got quite frustrating after enough failed attempts. The only enemy in the base game, the anglerfish had a clear weakness you could exploit and after you figured it out, you didn't have to worry about them anymore. The same can't be said for the Strangers. They put a massive blemish on an otherwise wonderful DLC that explores a bunch of interesting and unique puzzle ideas.

I beat Kageboushi which is the answer arc to Someutsushi, although it isn't the final arc in the side arc like I originally expected it to be.

December 27th - Higurashi: Kageboushi - 13h 15m - (100%) 8/10 - Started 20/12/2024 - 7 Days Taken - Beat the chapter and read all the tips.

Pros:
Kageboushi has two different storylines that interconnect in the end. You have the Natsumi's friend group like in Someutsushi, but this time from Chisato's POV. Alongside it, you also have the police group investigating the Great Hinamizawa Disaster and the following incidents, which consists of Tomoe, Akasaka, Ooishi and Madoka. Kageboushi has a few scenes that are lifted from Onisarashi, but most of it is original and a lot of details are changed.

The police storyline shows why Akasaka and Ooishi teamed up to investigate the incidents in Kakiuchi City, which is a detail that I don't think was elaborated upon in the manga. It also shows the process that led them to zero in on Natsumi specifically. Some of the scenes felt a tad slow, but they provide great context, which can largely be applied to Onisarashi as well.

The scenes with Natsumi's friend group are also given additional context due to being from Chisato's perspective instead of Natsumi's. You see a new side of Natsumi's character, one that probably went under your radar when she was the POV character, which is how controlling she is of Akira. That causes her to misconstrue pieces of information and distrust her friends.

The answer given for Someutsushi is that Natsumi has multiple personality disorder and that flipping to her dark side is what caused her to murder her family. At first, I thought this was a bit too much of a stretch and too far removed from what caused Natsumi to go insane in Someutsushi. But when I thought about it more, it all made sense. Every Hinamizawan has a limit on how much stress and negativity they can take before they go insane. Natsumi was given a drug from Hinamizawa that was supposed to remove all her insanity, but instead, all it did was seal her insanity away. The drug created a light side with only Natsumi's positive aspects and a dark side with only her negative ones. This was likely a defect or maybe an unknown side effect. When these two sides become too different from each other, it resulted in a split personality. This idea isn't as far-fetched as I originally thought either because it has frequently been mentioned that when people go insane, they seem like completely different people.

My favourite scene in the arc has to be the final one on the rooftop. At first, we finally learn about Chisato's backstory and the event that was hinted at throughout Kageboushi and even in Someutsushi. The event is that one moment of hesitation and fear resulted in her sister dying from not receiving a blood transplant. She also didn't help Natsumi with the struggles she was going through and decided to not immediately notify the police that it was Natsumi who attacked her, which resulted in Natsumi having enough time to murder her parents. This makes Chisato think that she's unable to save anyone. But her epiphany comes when Natsumi tries to kill her as well, Chisato realizes that even though she failed previously, that doesn't mean that she can't make a difference in the here and now. So she reaches out to Natsumi to pull her out from the clutches of insanity. Her efforts cause Natsumi to remember a similar moment when Tomoe was appealing to her, which hits extra hard because of her death. This results in Natsumi coming to her senses and reconciling with Chisato. This scene allows Kageboushi to showcase one of Higurashi's main messages, which is communication. If Natsumi's friends had talked to her sooner about Hinamizawa or if Natsumi had done the same, they could've solved their conflict and misunderstandings before things went too far. It is only through that communication that prevented Chisato from becoming a victim as well.

After discussing the answer to Someutsushi let's return to the police storyline and what it brings to the table. It focuses on Tomoe's and Madoka's backstory and relationship. Their relationship became strained after their father's death in a fire while on the verge of a breakthrough. Tomoe wanted to provide for her younger sister, while Madoka felt it was putting an unnecessary burden on her. It doesn't help that Madoka then marries Tomoe's boss, which she naturally doesn't appreciate very much. I'll return to this later, but the best sequence in the storyline happens around Tomoe's death. The entire sequence kept me invested, with the epiphany that makes her leave, to her being attacked in the next scene and her passing away. I wasn't expecting a major character like her to die in the slightest, it came as a complete shocker. The scene where she passes away is voice acted wonderfully and you get to see an emotional side of characters you don't get to see very often, which adds an extra layer of depth to them. My favourite was Ooishi's breakdown and admittance that his monicker as the messenger of Oyashiro affects him a lot. Seeing all the people he tries to help, die around him, shows that he's not as cold as we originally thought. It also sets up a great hook for the following arc with the question of who killed Tomoe and whether that is connected to her father's murder.

This arc has some great emotional pieces of music as well, my favourites are Moonlight Butterfly, Melody and Sister.

Neutral:
The one part of the police storyline that felt a little out of place was Tomoe accepting and supporting Madoka's marriage. It felt a little sudden, considering before that, there wasn't that much development and progression in their relationship. Especially in a way that would warrant such a drastic change in attitude for Tomoe.

I made a tier list of every game I've ever played for the Discord server and I might as well post it here.
Every game is also ranked within the tiers so you can treat the tier list as a ranking if you want.

I made a tier list of every game I've ever played for the Discord server and I might as well post it here.
Every game is also ranked within the tiers so you can treat the tier list as a ranking if you want.

Just wanna say that it's absolutely insane that you put in the effort to do this, well done. You didn't even brag about how each game is sorted in each tier! I feel like that's worth mentioning.

Just wanna say that it's absolutely insane that you put in the effort to do this, well done. You didn't even brag about how each game is sorted in each tier! I feel like that's worth mentioning.

I've updated the post with the info about the ranking, thanks for reminding me. I do enjoy ranking/making tier lists of dumb stuff like this. Fun to process and go through my thoughts on various pieces of media.

I've decided to make a separate year-in-review post for Higurashi since I don't include it in my completions. This blog is mostly me talking about Higurashi either way.

This is my WIP tier list for the Higurashi arcs I've played/watched/read so far. However, this post will only cover the VN arcs, since this is a gaming website.


I beat 10 Higurashi arcs in 2024 after starting the game last October. In total, I spent 127h 34m playing Higurashi VN arcs this year. Hopefully, it'll be entirely finished by the end of next year.

List of the arcs I beat this year in chronological order:

01. March 31st - Higurashi When They Cry: Watanagashi - 20h 42m - (100%) 9/10
02. May 1st - Higurashi When They Cry: Tatarigoroshi - 20h 54m - (100%) 9/10
03. September 3rd - Higurashi When They Cry: Taraimawashi - 4h 8m - (100%) 6/10
04. September 9th - Higurashi When They Cry: Someutsushi - 9h 49m - (100%) 7/10
05. September 15th - Higurashi When They Cry: Himatsubushi - 9h 18m - (100%) 9/10
06. September 21st - Higurashi When They Cry: Tsukiotoshi - 7h 34m - (100%) 7/10
07. October 22nd - Higurashi When They Cry: Meakashi - 16h 24m - (100%) 9/10
08. November 14th - Higurashi When They Cry: Tsumihoroboshi - 19h 36m - (100%) 10/10
09. December 12th - Higurashi When They Cry: Yoigoshi - 13h 9m - (100%) 7/10
10. December 27th - Higurashi When They Cry: Kageboushi - 13h 15m - (100%) 8/10

My favourite arc I beat this year would definitely be Tsumihoroboshi. The way it breaks from the existing formula does it's reveals and character development is superb.

My least favourite VN arc would be Taraimawashi, but it's not even that bad, it's just very short and only gives a little additional information to add to the existing mystery. The manga and anime arcs are all worse than this, so it's still solid.

Here's a couple of other fun ways I found to rank the arcs, starting with days taken from least to most days.

10. Himatsubushi - 3 days
09. Someutsushi - 5 days
08. Tsukiotoshi - 5 days
07. Taraimawashi - 6 days
06. Kageboushi - 7 days
05. Tsumihoroboshi - 11 days
04. Tatarigoroshi - 15 days
03. Yoigoshi - 24 days
02. Meakashi - 29 days
01. Watanagashi - 104 days

This ranking is for how long they took me to beat from shortest to longest.

10. Taraimawashi: 4h 8m
09. Tsukiotoshi - 7h 34m
08. Himatsubushi - 9h 18m
07. Someutsushi - 9h 49m
06. Yoigoshi - 13h 9m
07. Kageboushi - 13h 15m
04. Meakashi - 16h 24m
03. Tsumihoroboshi - 19h 36m
02. Watanagashi - 20h 42m
01. Tatarigoroshi - 20h 54m

Let's end off with a ranking of my favourite Higurashi tracks that I've listened to over the past year.

7. Moonlight Butterfly
6. Confession
5. Conviction
4. Birth and Death
3. Night When the Invisible Scares You
2. Thanks
1. You (vocals)

I quickly went through Minagaroshi because I was very invested in what would happen next.

January 12th - Higurashi When They Cry: Minagoroshi - 23h - (100%) 10/10 - Started 6/12/2025 - 6 Days Taken - Beat the chapter, read all the tips and the staff room.

Here's my review:

Pros:
Minagoroshi starts with a bang by diving deep into the overarching mystery of how the chapters are linked together and how Rika ties into that. This immediately hooks the reader because of how different it is compared to the rest of the story. This also subsequently applies to Rika's very unique POV. It uses this POV to highlight the chapter's main story of fate and how miracles happen. Rika struggles with fate quite a lot, whether she should succumb to it or fight with her will. At first, Keiichi teaches her that a will can overcome fate that is caused by a weaker will. The chapter proceeds to escalate the wills it throws at Rika and see if she can overcome them.

It starts with the board game during the club activity which is Rika's tutorial for changing fate. The main challenge and test of Rika's will in the chapter is Teppei taking Satoko. This was nicely foreshadowed by Rika saying that whenever Teppei takes Satoko, she gives up in that world. She has to do something she's never done before in her 100 years of being alive (mentally at least). The quality of the world and Rika's newfound will to change fate prevents her from doing so in the current world. Overcoming that obstacle and saving Satoko teaches Rika another valuable lesson. For a miracle to happen and change fate, everyone involved needs to have a strong will and believe that the outcome they want is possible.

Then we arrive at the final obstacle which is Rika's death. This seems surmountable since everyone is ready to save Rika, but then the main cast goes home since it's late. Now that Rika and Satoko are alone, defeating fate looks impossible. Their efforts allow them to escape and survive a bit longer, but ultimately their resistance is futile. That is until it is revealed in the greatest plot twist of the chapter, that the rest of the cast never left. This moment made me jump out of my chair at how surprising it was. This restores their ability to change fate, but ultimately it doesn't work out because there was actually one person who didn't believe in the miracle. That person was Hanyuu, who's been telling Rika all chapter to not get her hopes up and to just accept fate. This comes as a shock because Hanyuu can't do anything besides talk to Rika, so how does her not believing make a difference? Even though Hanyuu can't do much, she can still be a source of encouragement and motivation for Rika, which means she can make a difference in changing fate, no matter how small. On a meta-level, this also applies to the reader who's in a similar position to Hanyuu, because they are also a bystander to the events of the story. The player won't believe that Rika can succeed either because they know that there is one more chapter after Minagoroshi. But despite that, when the rest of the cast showed up to save Rika and Satoko, I regained my hope and started believing in a miracle just like Rika did.

Outside of Minagoroshi's focus on fate, it also reveals a lot of overarching mysteries. The true nature of Oyashiro's curse, the disaster and Higurashi's main villain. It does so in chunks, leaving the reader wanting to know more at each step. These reveals also have some foreshadowing, such as the government's ineffective solution for preventing another gas disaster and Takano's strange behaviour in Ch3 after Keiichi kills Teppei. Despite all the reveals, Minagoroshi still leaves some mysteries up to speculation, such as who the person in the opening sequence is, how they are aware of you, the player and what caused Satoko to go insane.

On top of this amazing story, Minagoroshi has some absolutely fantastic music, my favourites are C-examination, Fearlessness, White Mist Peak, Hollow and LIVE. With special note to C-examination and White Misk Peak since they elevated their respective plot twists to new heights.

Neutral:
The one middling aspect of Minagoroshi is that the main plot of saving Satoko does drag the pace down a bit during the third segment of the plotline, but that slight blemish is heavily outweighed by the great aspects the plotline provides.

For the GotM 10th anniversary, I decided to go through all the games I've nominated and provide some stats for them.
Here's a collection with some of the stats as well: COLLECTION

I've nominated 17 games in 25 nominations for slightly over 2 years.

There are 4 games I've nominated multiple times.
Luigi's Mansion 3 (2x)
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2x)
Neon White (4x)
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (4x)

None of my nominations have won any of the polls, but some have gotten closer than others, so here's a ranking of how each of my nominations has performed. Votes come first (because the amount of nominations in each poll varies) and if there's a tie, the placement is taken into account. If there's still a tie after that, the tiebreaker is my personal rating for the game.

25. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope(2x) - N/A - N/A (Not included in the polls because it wasn't a horror game.) - October 2023
24. Azure Reflections - 2 votes - 17th place - June 2024
23. The Entropy Centre - 3 votes - 16th place - May 2023
22. Neon White(3x) - 3 votes - 14th place - April 2023
21. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope(4x) - 4 votes - 15th place - May 2024
20. Neon White(4x) - 5 votes - 18th place - February 2025
19. Human Resource Machine - 5 votes - 14th place - February 2025 10th Anniversary
18. Fire Emblem Three Houses(1x) - 5 votes - 12th place - August 2024
17. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope(3x) - 5 votes - 12th place - November 2023
16. Super Mario Bros. 2 - 6 votes - 12th place - December 2022
15. The Looker - 6 votes - 10th place - April 2023 Fool's Choice
14. Metaphor: ReFantazio - 6 votes - 9th place - January 2025
13. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope(1x) - 6 votes - 8th place - September 2023
12. Event[0] - 6 votes - 6th place - June 2023
11. Neon White(2x) - 7 votes - 12th place - February 2023
10. Mini Metro - 7 votes - 8th place - December 2024
9. Luigi's Mansion 3(2x) - 7 votes - 8th place - August 2023
8. Octopath Traveler - 7 votes - 8th place - November 2022
7. Fire Emblem: Three Houses(2x) - 7 votes - 8th place - September 2024
6. Persona 4 Golden - 7 votes - 5th place - July 2024
5. Persona 5 Tactica - 8 votes - 8th place - February 2024
4. INMOST - 9 votes - 4th place - October 2024
3. Neon White(1x) - 10 votes - 5th place - January 2023
2. Stray - 10 votes - 2nd place - November 2024
1. Luigi's Mansion 3(1x) - 12 votes - 3rd place - July 2023

Hopefully one day, one of my nominations does win though.

From now on I'm going to start making reviews for Fortnite seasons as well, so I can better form my opinion on individual seasons. I'll start with my review after which I'll provide some of the stats I tracked during that season.

February 16th - Fortnite: Ch6 S1 - 71h - 7/10 - Reached level 201

Here's my review:

Pros:
Starting with the season's battle pass, there were two skins I liked which I used a decent amount. Those two are Shadow Blade Hope and Night Rose. I usually stick to my 5 main skins, so when I use another skin, that means it's pretty good. Night Rose's music pack isn't half bad either.

I don't usually have too strong opinions on a season's gameplay, since I'm fine with pretty much all weapons and game mechanics. Nonetheless, this season did have one unique and interesting item. The Shadow Oni mask, which lets you teleport. I love cool concepts like that and I didn't expect something like that to be added to Fortnite. The boons were a pretty neat new mechanic, allowing you to gain new abilities throughout a match, which provides another mid-match objective to focus on, like the broadcast towers. The unvaults throughout the season like the kinetic blade and lock on pistol fit the season theme nicely. Unvaults in general also kept the loot pool fresh, which prevented it from getting boring and stale.

The map for the chapter has a great amount of variety from the start, with multiple biomes and even a unique design with mountains in the middle. There's also a bunch of neat small aspects like the tunnels going through the mountains and the vault at Nightshift Forest which you can only open by doing a quest for Bushranger. The map changes this season have been better than they have been in a while, with bigger and more numerous changes. For the Christmas event, there was extra snow added to the map and even a mini-event. The Godzilla collab had Shining Span get destroyed and then repaired afterwards. Most unexpectedly of all, a brand new mid-season POI was added. I hope Epic Games keeps up this level of map changes.

The story this season was a little slow throughout the middle with not much happening, like most seasons these days. But it did have some good aspects like tying it together with the previous live event and keeping old characters relevant, while still setting up new mysteries. The best part of the story, however, is easily the mini-event and its aftermath. At this point they can hardly be called mini-events, because it was a whole cinematic battle between Daigo and Shogun X. What I especially enjoyed were the little touches after the event, like Jade foretelling how the season transition will happen to S2 in a way that makes complete sense, instead of it happening out of nowhere, like it sometimes seems. Another detail was Shogun X being replaced by another demon since he got defeated in the event as well as Night Rose no longer being a boss because she was freed from Shogun X's control. These are the little details that didn't have to be added, but make the world feel so much more alive. The story also sets up a potentially great overarching villain with the dark presence in the spirit realm remaining and in control of the zero point shard. I hope this storyline stays throughout the whole chapter since Fortnite has had issues in the past with one-off villains.

Neutral:
Despite there being two skins in the battle pass I enjoyed, the remaining skins were mediocre. I'm not a fan of collabs in the battle pass in the slightest either, especially when they affect gameplay. Although in this case, I will admit that attacking a giant Godzilla in a match is pretty cool and unique, so I can't fault it too much.

Cons:
What I wasn't a fan of was the removal of most Zero Build tournaments. I always do the ranked cups each season for the extra glider, but this season I had to do them in builds, which I dislike much more due to how competitive it is. The only good aspect that came out of this is that I found out that the ranked gliders take your highest rank from any mode, even Rocket Racing, which means I won't have to grind ranks in builds for the ranked cups.

Stats:
Ok, now let's get into my stats for this season, starting with my most used skins. Sylvie is at the top because she's my main, but I also used Shadow Blade Hope a decent amount. The standout new skin though is Hatsune Miku with fantastic hair physics, which is helped by having the longest hair in the game. (Before Cassidy Quinn surprisingly dethroned her in Ch6 S2.) She was so good that she managed to join my exclusive club of main skins, which is currently only at 5.


For most POIs, my favourite is probably Canyon Crossing although Masked Meadows had a great underground tunnel system.


Overall I played about an equal amount of matches of BR and RR. Although not equal by hours spent, because RR matches are much shorter. I do wish RR gets revived at some point, but currently, it's still pretty much dead in the water.


Here are some overall stats for BR this season. Not the best win ratio, but I'm not all that competitive, so I don't care that much. I got my first win early enough, so that's all that matters.


Excited to see how Epic does comparatively in Ch6 S2. Hopefully, they can keep the good aspects from this season going.