A PC overview copy of Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Escape was offered to IGN India by Koei Tecmo.
Japanese online game maker, Koei Tecmo has simply launched a remaster of Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Escape in March 2023. For many who don’t know, the Deadly Body sequence, often known as Undertaking Zero in Europe for some cause, consists of a number of Japanese survival horror video games. First launched in 2001 on the PlayStation 2, Deadly Body acquired reward for its horror components and is extensively thought-about among the finest horror sport sequence to return out of Japan.
Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse is the fourth sport within the sequence that was launched in 2008 for the Nintendo Wii. The sport launch was restricted to Japan solely. A European launch was deliberate, however that didn’t come to fruition. Nonetheless, the seventh sport within the sequence, 2014’s Deadly Body: Maiden of Black Water (additionally unique to Japan), acquired a remaster in October 2021 with a worldwide launch. Followers of the horror sequence outdoors Japan have additionally been ready for Masks of the Lunar Eclipse. Now, a lot to the delight of Deadly Fame followers, the remaster is lastly right here.
The sport is about on Rogetsu Isle, a small fictional island in southern Japan. Right here, a pageant named Rogetsu Kagura is held as soon as each ten years. 5 women who stay in a sanatorium mysteriously disappear on this isle through the pageant. Later, a detective manages to rescue them. However their reminiscences of this incident are misplaced.
Ten years later, it’s discovered that two of the women who disappeared once more have been discovered useless. To seek out out what occurred to their associates, Misaki and Madoka journey to Rogetsu Isle. The remaining lady, Ruka Minazuki additionally follows them afterwards to know the whereabouts of Misaki and Madoka in addition to the prior demise of her associates.
For a lot of the sport, we play as Ruka, as we slowly discover this deserted mansion that after housed them. We uncover secrets and techniques piece by piece together with the characters, as spooky particulars in regards to the island’s previous emerge. I discovered the narrative and the vibe of the sport wonderful and fairly partaking. The sport additionally has some distinctive gameplay on the subject of fight. Nonetheless, Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse additionally drags on for too lengthy and has some clunky controls.
Say cheese
A basic survival horror sport trope includes the participant exploring a location with a torch of their hand. Deadly Body: The Masks of Lunar Eclipse additionally options this trope. As well as, it additionally has an attention-grabbing software referred to as the Digital camera Obscura, a staple of the sequence. This can be a digital camera that may evade ghosts and exorcise them. The fight system of the sport is reliant on this digital camera, as our goal because the participant is to snap footage of the ghosts that we encounter to do away with them. Nonetheless, there may be additionally a requirement to purpose the lens correctly on the ghost and have the digital camera’s particular means cost up to have the ability to do any appreciable injury. Ghost encounters could be legit scary for the primary couple of hours, however they put on off after some time.
Exploration and different sport mechanics in Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse
Aside from fight, Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse additionally options exploration and puzzles that it’s essential to remedy to progress. The mansion is big, and you’ve got a number of rooms and corridors to make your means via. Whereas making your means via the rooms, you could find new objects to improve your digital camera. The characters stroll fairly slowly, and the run possibility doesn’t assist a lot. I discovered myself wishing I may make my means via the mansion sooner. This was probably executed to maintain a way of realism and invoke some eeriness.
Shifting to the puzzle fixing facet of the sport, they weren’t that tough to determine. The sport maintains a great stability on the subject of exploration, fight, and story, which allowed me to take my very own time and get immersed within the ambiance of the creepy mansion.
Whereas all that sounds nice on paper, it’s the controls that are available in the way in which of immersion. I discovered these to be a bit clunky and finicky. I most popular enjoying on the controller to the keyboard and mouse. Whereas enjoying with the controller, it took me a while to get used to the truth that each the left and proper sticks transfer the digital camera in numerous methods.
The digital camera can be gradual to purpose, making it tough to get a great shot of the ghosts. This wasn’t an enormous drawback for me, however the controls are one thing that wanted some extra polish. The slender and cramped corridors can be an issue when attempting to purpose at a ghost. This turns into exceedingly tough when there are a number of ghosts coming at you on the identical time. Nonetheless, I did discover the claustrophobic feeling as an extra facet of the horror aspect current within the sport.
Haunting melodies
Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse seems like a product of its time, and I imply that in a great way. Graphics within the sport assist set the tone of the unsettling ambiance. The environments of the sport are a mixture of conventional Japanese and trendy components. Digging additional, the mansion can be detailed, as I discovered myself stopping a number of occasions to take a look at what’s on a portray or what information article is pinned on a discover board.
The lighting is used very effectively within the sport, as I discovered myself feeling uneasy whereas exploring. It made me unaware of what to anticipate with each step I took. Speaking in regards to the character fashions current within the sport, I discovered them fairly detailed and top quality. Nonetheless, they don’t present loads of emotion even in cutscenes. At occasions, the character fashions seemed misplaced once they’re alleged to be scared out of their wits. As an alternative, they might barely transfer their eyebrows as a response.
I imagine that the fitting use of soundtrack performs a giant half within the success of horror content material throughout a number of media codecs. Thankfully, Koei Tecmo, together with composers Masafumi Takada and Etsuko Ichikawa knew what they have been doing. If Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse doesn’t scare you with its creepy ghosts, it would actually provide you with a number of bounce scares with using its music and sound results. Simply wandering across the mansion feels totally unnerving due to the soundtrack. The whispers and different minor sounds simply add to this impact. The builders managed to create rigidity completely via music as I used to be on the sting many occasions anticipating a ghost to leap at me.
A darkish folktale on a spooky island
Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse setting is charming, and the lore uncovered slowly throughout my playthrough wished me to know extra in regards to the thriller. There are loads of suspenseful moments within the story as effectively with some wonderful performances by the voice actors. The sport is barely accessible in Japanese audio, which could alienate some gamers. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a difficulty for me as I actually loved the voice performing performances and most popular to play with the unique audio.
When you’ve got by no means performed a Deadly Body sport earlier than, the characters could seem complicated at first. Particularly as a result of we do not get to spend so much of time with all of the characters and see them get fleshed out early within the sport. You will want to concentrate to the story and skim all of the logs, articles, and letters you discover all through your journey within the mansion to determine what’s going on. That being stated, the story slowly unfolds as we spend time uncovering the secrets and techniques of this thriller, discovering out what occurred up to now, and understanding this world we discover our protagonists navigating via.
After spending hours with Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse, it is clear that this Koei Tecmo horror title is an expertise to not be missed by followers of the style. The eerie visuals of the sport, in addition to the soundtrack, pulls you into this darkish world that retains you on the sting to know what occurs subsequent on this haunting and tragic story. The controls could take a while to get used to, however the camera-based fight system is fairly distinctive and enjoyable to play with. Its flaws are forgivable within the face of the sport’s uneasy setting, charming storytelling, and spine-tingling ambiance. Really useful for horrophiles.
