
You are a new transfer student to Fujisawa Academy, an unseen blank avatar with no particular name or gender beyond the one you choose for yourself at the start of the game. Like a bad teen fan fiction, your entire personality can easily be summed up as "sarcastic and horny", while your sole skill of note is the ability to force people to tell the truth via magical powers of poorly explained origin, egged on by an invisible fox demon. Naturally, things are not entirely what they seem at your new school, and it takes all of five minutes before you're dragged into investigating the titular seven mysteries – are these enigmas genuine occult phenomena, school rumours run wild, or an intriguing mix of both? Welcome to Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa.
Unfortunately, what could have been another excellent Death Mark-like supernatural adventure ends up more akin to a particularly bad run of old Scooby Doo episodes, although rather than pulling off Old Man McCready's rubber mask to reveal the truth, you instead force your way into a schoolgirl/boy's mind and undress them against their will via the medium of a poor man's Bejeweled-style minigame. While the obvious lack of consent is never addressed by the game, you can at least tenuously scrape some vague comfort from them officially and conveniently all being "eighteen" years old (please take the time to perform your own Dr Evil style air quote action here), presumably to avoid any outrage at a game encouraging you to remove lingerie from girls wearing panting, mid-coital expressions with tears in their eyes.

The visual novel portions of the game are where you'll be spending most of your time and have all of the basic features you'd expect of the genre. There's the ability to create a quick save/load point at any time, text history logs, an auto setting that saves you from having to jab a button (or the screen – Kotodama can be controlled entirely by touch) to move text boxes along, and a not-fast-enough fast forward option to skim over any previously encountered text. All spoken dialogue is in Japanese, although in a few places no written English translation is provided – most of the time this means missing out on a little flavour chit-chat, but at other points you are left staring at a blank text box. An overview "map" of any plot branches you've witnessed so far is conspicuous by its absence and grows to be a real hindrance on further play-throughs.
Although certain decisions are critical to not only your progress but your very survival, the game often only gives you one "choice", making it almost feel like it's just checking you're still there and haven't already fallen asleep with your Switch in hand. This is especially insulting during your mystery investigations as working out the truth involves nothing more than clicking on every location to exhaust all options before having the only possible answer (which was already offensively obvious as anyone who's not a major character is drawn in a noticeably less detailed way) handed to you on a plate by your marketably cute fox-spirit companion, Mon-chan. Phoenix Wright this ain't.

The tone of these mysteries varies wildly, running along a sliding scale that starts with "I just wanted to play the violin in peace" and escalates all the way up to "My girlfriend committed suicide (complete with a special "event" image of the freshly-deceased girl in situ) and I don't know why". As you'd expect from a game that sees no problem in combining any of these themes with an 'undress-the-schoolgirls' puzzle minigame, both the more lighthearted as well as the deadly serious moments are handled with all of the grace and tact of the world's largest bull in the world's smallest china shop.
As an example: An early scenario with a serious twist has you tracking down a "white wolf" (a stray dog, in reality) who it turns out has been beaten to the point of bleeding by a student as a way for her to relieve her pent-up stress and frustrations. Your response, after going to the trouble of mind-stripping the truth out of her (without her knowledge or permission – but hey, boobies!), is to keep your mouth shut about the whole thing. Yep. Bar internally describing her as (and this is a direct quote) "COMPLETELY MENTAL", later on you appear to do or care nothing about her or the truth you force out of her. Even if we ignore the plot entirely and try to look at this mess from the game's other "angle" – it's just not sexy.

Speaking of not being sexy, The way Kotodama has you find the truth is by playing a match-the-colours puzzle minigame, "peeling layers, like the lies falling away". And by layers, they of course mean clothes. All of them. Now, puzzles have been mixed with boobies since at least Taito's Gals Panic hit arcades way back in 1990 – that's nothing new or exciting – but it is a problem for Kotodama when a twenty-nine-year-old game did it so much better.
The puzzling is a simple case of matching three or more of the same colour orb either vertically or horizontally, aiming to increase your target's [ahem] "happiness" to its maximum before you run out of moves. Your grid of orbs are split into columns and prodding one of them sends that orb straight to the top of the pile, hopefully causing the rest to fall into a combo-creating place. As there's no timer here, it's impossible to overfill the play area, and only very, very, rarely does any mild interference from the character you're disrobing occur; the only pressure comes from the moves limit which you can top-up with a "challenge" – poking the person you're stripping (of course you can prod their boobs) – in the hopes of getting a good reaction and an extra few turns. If you take a short while to find a matching cluster of orbs the game will show you a happiness-increasing move without any prompting from you, perhaps fearful that you might lose interest if you're not able to make underwear fall off teenagers fast enough. It'd be nice if the issues with the puzzle segments stopped there, wouldn't it?

Let's pretend – and we will have to pretend – that there is no issue with the quality of Kotodama's puzzle game design. Let's also say we absolutely believe all of these schoolkids are legally adults. Let's even go as far as somehow setting aside that rather thorny issue of consent to the whole ordeal of being forced into a "mind rift" and then mentally stripped naked. The bottom line is that Kotodama tries to be sexy, and it's actually anything but.
For a game that's trying to sell itself on the promise of undressing attractive girls there's remarkably little attention to detail here – the reactions and wiggle animations they display as you "increase their happiness" suffer from being painfully generic and personality-free, almost as if the girls are just interchangeable blush-crying meatbags meant as nothing more than a boob delivery service. Not that you're in any danger of seeing anyone's bare chest in any case; your "reward" for tolerating this sorry excuse for a minigame is the sort of image that reveals nothing more than some bare shoulders and exposed clavicle, like a Victorian gentleman's sauciest illustrated postcard. On the rare occasion you undress a guy, you'll find that of course their reactions and reveals are no where near the same level as the girls, coming across as little more than a weak attempt to pre-empt any complaints about the game's treatment of its sexualised schoolgirls with a painfully half-hearted "But look, we can't be sexist if there's a guy in baggy boxer shorts here too!" defence.

Should you somehow yearn for more of this low-quality puzzling, "Fantasize mode" – accessible straight from the title screen – allows you to play the puzzle section of the game at any time, using any girl (or guy!) you've already stripped. If for some reason you wish to subject yourself to this ordeal on more than one occasion, defeating them rewards you with a different set of underwear to relieve them of next time. Yay.
Then the game really throws itself under a bus with – gasp – the truth behind the truth: a mysterious supernatural B-plot that has you ejected from the credits sequence and sent back to the very beginning of the very first day until you finally uncover the Truthiest of all the Truths over several repeated runs through the game. For all of Kotodama's faults, the first time this happens you do sit up and take notice; this is where a good visual novel would rip out the rug from under your feet and send you hurtling down a twisted path that gleefully unravels everything you thought you knew. Not so here.

The immediate variations to the plot are painfully small and thanks to the lack of any chapter or scenario skip it takes far too long to reach any meaningfully different content – assuming you don't run into a gaming-ending decision before then anyway. Most infuriating of these are the "dead man walking" scenarios the game is happy to put you in, letting you play for chapter after chapter only to reach yet another fake ending and be flung back to the very beginning once more, unaware of which chapter your silent error even took place in, never mind what you need to do differently. Imagine a high school version Groundhog Day but without any of the wit, charm, or powerful observations on the human condition. At least you can see that animal-beating schoolgirl's bra again though, right?
Conclusion
Kotodama could have been a perfectly fine mystery school adventure if it didn't leave you blindly groping in the dark through repeats of repeats for a tiny morsel of fresh content. Failing that it could have been a decent brain-teaser if only it had the depth of even the most casual of free-to-play phone puzzlers. It could even have been an actually erotic visual novel if your lead's "People I've met but without their clothes on" fantasies ever went anywhere, real or imagined. Kotodama is in every way too much of not enough; the individual elements do not work well on their own nor gel together to form something new and there is no unique fusion going on here, nor even a basic feeling of quality to the individual elements. Pick whichever part intrigues you most about this title then seek it out elsewhere.
Comments 55
I just feel sorry for whoever had to actually review this. Not the kind of icon you want sitting around on your Switch, eh?
Out of all the VNs coming to the Switch, this is the one that I've probably been the least interested in. Found it really cheap physically and it's one genre that I always prefer to actually try for myself rather than relying on reviews, so I'll give it at least a chance.
I gave this a glance and was almost interested. The Switch does have some interesting VNs... This isn't one of them.
i'll just play Toradora PSP and far more interesting VN Games for now.
I have the game ordered, looking forward too it ^_^
By the sound of the review, it could have been a bit more ecchi, but thats something I can live with, and honestly, the guys feeling half hearted is no minus for myself. And baggy boxers sounds better than the speedo/ panty thing in the trailer!
Apparently, GALS PANIC is developed by Kaneko with Taito actually serving as publisher not developer on some of the series entries in Japan.
Enjoyed reading this review. Amusing observations sprinkled in with the evident seething scorn.
"The girls are just interchangeable blush-crying meatbags meant as nothing more than a boob delivery service". Ouch!
Hey, at least it has a puzzler mixed in, so it should be lots more fun to play than Ayakashi Koigikyoku or Gakuen Club.
If I ever want a game like this on Switch, I will buy something with more gameplay and sense, like Subsurface Circular and Quarantine Circular, the Phoenix Wright games, or any of the FMV games by Wales Interactive.
If anyone thinks this game does not have enough boobs, I can recomend Our world is ended. Fun story, and probally the VN with moste breast jokes I have played so far. Its great
I'd only be purchasing it for the match-3 bits, so it'd probably be better to wait for a port of Huniepop 2 or something. Although I'd definitely download this in a good sale.
If the saying sex sells is true then we have a million+ seller in this one.
What a masterpiece. I was just thinking there wasn’t enough match 3 puzzle games out there. It’s a steal at cough 30 dollars.
Hmm, I've already seen two more reviews (9 from Digitally Downloaded and 7.8 from Noisy Pixel) and they seem to invalidate some points stated in this review. (Seemingly non-existent choices seem to affect other endings etc. and that the game may seem generic if you play only till the first ending and then it throws a curveball at the player)
I already have a copy of this on hand, and will try myself. Not saying that the review is wrong or something, because everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but maybe the game just didn't gel with the reviewer here and others' mileage may vary.
What is it with these eroticised games being so damn unsexy?
Huniepop should come to the Switch
I could never understand the appeal of these games.
@LeChuck Sounds like a true anime take on a female character. I mean no offense to fans of anime but that has become a real cliche.
Maybe I'm being dim, but I'm genuinely confused by this. The review describes the puzzle game like this: "The way Kotodama has you find the truth is by playing a match-the-colours puzzle minigame, "peeling layers, like the lies falling away". And by layers, they of course mean clothes. All of them." and then says: "If for some reason you wish to subject yourself to this ordeal on more than one occasion, defeating them rewards you with a different set of underwear to relieve them of next time. Yay."
All of that makes it sound like there's nudity, and yet a later bit says: "Not that you're in any danger of seeing anyone's bare chest in any case; your "reward" for tolerating this sorry excuse for a minigame is the sort of image that reveals nothing more than some bare shoulders and exposed clavicle, like a Victorian gentleman's sauciest illustrated postcard."
If there's nudity in the puzzle game, why does it become prudish for the other bit? The European eShop also currently has it as a PEGI 12 (unlike the image accompanying this review, which shows a PEGI 16) and no description of Nudity. Did we get a censored version? Not that I'm going to buy it, I'm just interested in the technicality.
@JayJ Part of the appeal of VNs can be the cliche female characters, but in the case of this game, I would also say the mystery, and maybe the mini game itself if you like the type
The bad reviews are among my favorite to read. They're just so well-written. We get more joy from reading them than we ever could from the dud of a game they discuss
This was a savage review and a joy to read. It makes me almost want to buy the game to see how bad it really is. But nah.
This was a delightfully brutal review and a sadistically enjoyable read.
So, now we have SJWs reviewing games HERE too.
Good old times when Nintendo Life was good.
It's time for a break.
See you guys someday in the future!
@Tirza
Seems like a pretty fair review to me.
"Pick whichever part intrigues you most about this title then seek it out elsewhere."
@Tirza Yeah I got that feeling as well, reading some parts made me cringe. Clearly a reviewer who does not like these types of games. Seen a few other reviews as well as discussion on social media and most seem to like it though do have some complaints.
This review seems to be an outlier from what I've seen.
Normally I would say a bad joke, but this game looks like pants.
(Oh...yay, I think I managed it!)
Most VNs don't even have gameplay, cough Nekopara cough, so I usually don't bring them up to the same level of expectations I would have for a game like Astral Chain. Just knowing that this one at least has some gameplay, and it has at least some ecchi is enough for me. I don't care what SJWs have to say about a fanservice "game" meant for weebs like me. Everyone can have their opinions, and I just shared my insanely unpopular opinion.
@penamiguel92 Your opinion ain't that unpopular, only reason people care about those peoples opinions on fanservice games is that compenies listen to them despite them not being the target audience
A really good review. And a really mediocre game (which is a shame, I guess).
Loved the "Let's pretend" part. Where other reviewers would be dragged down by their personal offences or preferences, it seems the author really tried to understand the game and, sadly, found it lacking in all regards.
@SKTTR Funny you should mention that... https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/phoenix-wright-ace-attorney-trilogy-switch/
I can't wait for this to come out, I love bad games!
@Tirza Go ahead and download this shovelware detritus, then. I'm sure that'll show 'em.
@tobibra and knowing is half the battle! G I JOOOOOOOE
@sleepinglion I personally enjoy funny steam reviews more. They're always positive and hilarious. This review sounds like someone who wants to literally shoot the game to bits, and slap the developers who made it. So much anger in this review, over a [removed] game, lol
Wow, I'm surprised that an excessively Japanese dumpster fire like this even got a Western release.
@BulbasaurusRex Maybe I remember wrong, but didn't Pqube fund the game?
@tobibra Correct, it was a co-production with PQube, a big deal for them with it being their first. I think it has much more of a western appeal than usual because of this without skimping out on the reason why people love VNs.
@tobibra fandom isn't the same as those buy the games. You don't need fandom credential to by it. So your stereotyping isn't healthy here.
@SwitchForce Assuming you are refering to my comment to penamiguel92, what I meant with that coments is that the people complaining about fanservice in games (SJWs) rarely buys the game even if they get it censored, but game companies still listen to them rather than those who buy such games. Of course anyone don't fandom credentials to buy games, but one would think a fan is more likely buy something than someone who is not a fan?
This game looks so bad, I'm half tempted to buy it just for the lolz
It's not a perfect game but easily a 7/10 if you like these kinds of games and are the target audience, which the reviewer and majority of commenters here obviously aren't. Been playing and enjoying it all weekend. The storyline's a blast.
There's much more important and meaningful things in the world to crusade against than anime characters in underwear, lol
@Silly_G
Hot Skitty on Wailord Action!?
@Fandabidozi : What I find stranger is that Ditto can breed with most Pokémon, but since it is replicating the Pokémon it is breeding with, it would also be replicating the naughty bits of its mate... so... just how Ditto breeds whilst masquerading as the same sex remains a mystery.
Something to leave you confounded with.
@tobibra Yep, OWIE has boobs AND a decent story
@pinta_vodki Doubtful. The offense probably just increased the nitpicking. I guarantee if this game had no ecchi elements, a 5 or 6 would have been given
@BulbasaurusRex The contempt for the Japanese on a site for Japanese media is sad. Bet you don't get up in arms for fanservice in Western media
This review proves that Nintedo Life reviews can't be trusted anymore. This game is never a 3/10, more like a 7/10. Why on earth does Nintendo Life allows someone to review this game if that person doesn't like visual novels?
@MJ1200 While I do agree their reviews can't be trusted (at least as far as fanservice titles) my guess is that none of their staff likes these types of games? If I remember right, someone asked the same question in another review and someone answered that they should not review these games for fans but for the average joe. (Or something like that.) Its bogus, but what can we do. One positive thing is that these games get more exposure and more people see them, and might like what they see despite less than stellar reviews
@tobibra Yes, it seems to be a problem if none of their staff likes these kind of games. Personally I'm also not into fan service games but I do like visual novels so I find this review a bit too harsh. But at least people can read the comments and can make their own conclusions .
Wonderful, a watered down HuniePop—exactly what the Switch needed.
@TheDanslator
At least I buy the games that I play.
This '''''''''''collector''''''''''' was gifted the game.
Review copy provided by PQube
@Tirza The reviewer was provided with a review copy, so they could review it and the developers can get some free press. This isn't exactly rocket science. Do you honestly think professional reviewers pay out-of-pocket for the games they review?
Just finished this game.
It took me 25 hours since Good and True Endings are really hard to reach.
I managed to collect most things (all words, CGs, Special CGs etc.) but I still don't have one character's Voice Collection...
While I can see the reviewer tried to understand this game, I don't agree with this review.
This is a fun school mystery game with occasional puzzle elements. The story is decent, the voice acting is decent (even the side characters have voice acting, which is not very common in my experience), the matching 3 game varies from easy to hard.
If shooters don't get bad reviews because you have to murder people in them, I think it's unfair if VNs get them because there are underpants in them..
I didnt know anything about this game but for a 95% discount, I thought why not. Even bad visual novels can be fun to play even if you're laughing at how bad it is.
I bought this game blind because it was on a fairly deep sale and had no idea what I was getting myself into! I was playing it on the main tv when the tutorial puzzle part popped up and I made my first match, heard the girl make her little noise and was like, this is a game for handheld mode! I have no problem with risqué games, but I just wasn’t expecting what this game actually was.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...