 I have something to tell you all, Square Enix actually made a good game. This game is called Paranormal Sight, and if you've never heard of it, I really don't blame you. Square Enix basically shadowdropped it randomly between their other releases with virtually no marketing whatsoever. I almost didn't hear about it myself if it wasn't for their newsletter. I usually get emails from Square whenever they're marketing some new crap of the week they're trying to sell us. They release so many games these days that I can barely keep track of them anymore, and a lot of them aren't very good aside from a few anomalies like Live Alive, which also didn't get much attention. I mean this is the same company that has released the worst game of the year three years in a row. That would be kind of oppressive if it wasn't so utterly pathetic. This company misses a lot, but once in a while they'll take a chance on some crazy idea and it'll be an absolute classic. So when I got this email from Square Enix announcing Paranormal Sight, the seven mysteries of Hanzhou, which would be releasing exactly a month from the day it was announced, never to be mentioned by them again, I was a bit intrigued. Would this be just like all their other monthly releases, or would it be something different? Well I'm here to tell you that Paranormal Sight is the best game that Square Enix has released in years. So this is a mystery game where you control multiple different protagonists across a story with paths that intertwine and connect to each other. The main characters you follow include two paranormal detectives, a pair of girls who like talking to ghosts, and a very concerned mother with her own private investigator. You jump back and forth between the different characters and you have them kind of work together to advance the plot. The game takes place in the 1980s in the Sumida Ward of Tokyo, Japan. The entire game is based on a real city and revolves around actual real life urban legends, which really adds to the authenticity of the game. It's a period piece and it really has an 80s atmosphere to it. The game's plot centers around something called a rite of resurrection that has started where one person can bring someone back from the dead, and as you might expect, there are many characters in the game who want to use this for themselves. So it's a bit of a race against time to prevent the right from getting into the wrong hands. Every character in the game has their own motivation driving them throughout the story. You have Shogo, the first character to play as and… well he's basically just a simp. Haru, the rich mother wants to bring her son back to life and she's accompanied by her stylish PI, Richter, who's a pretty cool character. You see this woman is kind of batshit insane and will do anything it takes to bring her son back, so Richter kind of keeps her in check mostly, so there's an interesting dynamic there. The two high school girls are named Mio and Yako, and when they aren't performing bizarre rituals to talk to ghosts, they're trying to investigate the death of their friend. And then you have my favorite character in the whole game, Tetsuo Tsutsumi, the pissed off old grizzled detective who's had enough of everyone's shit, and he's joined by his partner, the younger, upbeat detective, Jun Erio, and they're basically trying to stop the rite for good. These two have a really good dynamic, their episodes feel like an 80s buddy cop movie with lots of action and investigating. Each pair of characters has their own story where you control one of them, Haru, Yako, and Tetsuo respectively, and you're essentially trying to accomplish every character's goal which results in a lot of crossing over and overlapping. Now this kind of thing has been attempted many times before in other games with varying degrees of success. For some reason it's very hard for developers to make a story with multiple protagonists while keeping everything from getting confusing, but Paranormal Sight succeeds where others failed mostly thanks to its brilliant story chart system that keeps track of each character's plot progression and shows where every event takes place relative to one another. Every time you finish a character's chapter you get sent to the story chart menu where you can play another character story or go back and do something a little bit differently which might branch out the story in unexpected ways. The game utilizes this in such a brilliant way that breaks the fourth wall, something that happens frequently throughout the game. For example there was a point where I needed the detectives to somehow talk to the two girls to find out something and to do this you actually have to switch back to their chapter, position them in place right in front of the school, and then when you switch back to the detectives they're there ready for you talk to them. There are a lot of parts like this where the game requires you to sort of think outside of the box and use different gameplay mechanics in unexpected ways, whether it be finding clues in the pause menu, jumping back to previous chapters to get more information, or having characters work together to solve a problem. You have to think a lot when playing this game and it's up to you to figure out how all the pieces fit together. Really the story is one that can only be told through a video game, it just wouldn't work as an anime or a novel because of how much it relies on interacting with the environments and using its fourth wall breaks to progress the plot. It's really innovative. You know I've seen people refer to this game as a visual novel and I guess that works, but it's much more involved than that. It's more like a detective adventure game where you investigate and gather clues, ask people questions, and move around to different places. You aren't just clicking the screen over and over again, there's some actual gameplay here. You can talk to any character, question them about different topics, you can check your character's thoughts at any given moment, and you can interact with different parts of the environment and all of this gives you clues and tidbits of story that you can read in the game's very nice tube tv inspired pause menu. The game's aesthetics are amazing. The screen kinda has a little bit of a static overlay to resemble a tv display and the more muted color palette matches the darker atmosphere. The character's animations are great too. Every character has different facial expressions that match their mood and every time a character stumps they do this incredible duck face which is just a work of art. The game overall has kinda got the ace attorney vibe to it where you're trying to learn about the world you're in and collect evidence, information, etc. And it also has a little bit of zero escape with the important choices you make in the detailed environments featuring this sort of escape room puzzle element. But this game sets itself apart because of one key feature. Every area in the game has you stand in this three dimensional first person panoramic view where you can actually look around and observe the environment which is a very original idea and I haven't felt this kind of immersion in an adventure game ever really. The first person view means that the answer to your problem isn't always right in front of you. You sometimes have to turn around and you never know what might be behind you. Oh my god. So I should mention that the game is described as a horror adventure game and it's really not a horror game. The whole thing leans much more towards the mystery aspect. The horror element is more in the atmosphere. The game has a very tense atmosphere at times. I'm not gonna give away too much but you can actually die in this game if you aren't careful. There's a lot of people trying to get the right of direction and some of them will do anything to get it. Because you're standing in one place in every area you often feel very vulnerable. You might be facing a hostile character and if you turn your back to them it could easily mean you're doomed. Sometimes you'll turn around and you could be very surprised by what's behind you. It's a bit spooky because of that. Character interactions have a level of tension because it's not just a mystery. It's also a game about survival and outsmarting your opposition. You run into a whole bunch of a-holes in this game who are trying to kill you and you really have to use your wits to beat them. If you're not a fan of horror I still think you'd enjoy this. It really isn't that scary. This game delivered a story that is very well thought out with really well written characters. It's a very good mystery game with some intense scenes and it's a bit of a tear-jerker at times. There's some very emotional moments that go together with this great soundtrack so perfectly. The game has themes of loss, grief, and acceptance. Every character is battling a monster within themselves. There are moments in the game that just blew my mind with how clever they were. Paranormal Sight is honestly one of the best story focused adventure games I've ever played. It utilizes the medium of video games to tell a story that couldn't be told otherwise. This is why it is so crazy to me that Square Enix basically set this game up to fail. I've barely heard anyone talking about this game. Square Enix didn't spend any time marketing this thing at all. It's a travesty. They make all these shitty garbage-ass games and market the hell out of them, but when they finally make an actual good game, they don't talk about it at all. Not only that, but the game only costs 20 dollars in a time when every new release is costing 70. 20 bucks for such a high quality game that takes around 12 hours to beat so it's about the same length as your average AAA release and honestly a lot better too. It's a solid story from start to finish that will leave you very satisfied. There's so much more I want to say about this game. It's surprisingly at every corner and really left an impression on me, but I feel like this is the kind of thing that's best played not knowing too much about it. I can already tell it's going to be a cult classic one day. So if you're looking for something good to play, you can get on PCs, Switch, and mobile devices. I would highly recommend it. If you enjoyed this look at Paranormal Sight and want to hear about some other underrated games, you should check out this video right here. I think you'll definitely enjoy it. I'll see you there.