A PC assessment copy of Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Escape was supplied 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 individuals who don’t know, the Deadly Body sequence, also referred to as Challenge Zero in Europe for some motive, consists of a number of Japanese survival horror video games. First launched in 2001 on the PlayStation 2, Deadly Body obtained reward for its horror components and is extensively thought-about the most effective horror recreation sequence to return out of Japan.
Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse is the fourth recreation 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 recreation within the sequence, 2014’s Deadly Body: Maiden of Black Water (additionally unique to Japan), obtained a remaster in October 2021 with a worldwide launch. Followers of the horror sequence exterior 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 competition named Rogetsu Kagura is held as soon as each ten years. 5 women who dwell in a sanatorium mysteriously disappear on this isle throughout the competition. Later, a detective manages to rescue them. However their recollections of this incident are misplaced.
Ten years later, it’s discovered that two of the ladies who disappeared once more had been discovered useless. To search out out what occurred to their pals, Misaki and Madoka journey to Rogetsu Isle. The remaining woman, Ruka Minazuki additionally follows them afterwards to know the whereabouts of Misaki and Madoka in addition to the prior loss of life of her pals.
For a lot of the sport, we play as Ruka, as we slowly discover this deserted mansion that when housed them. We uncover secrets and techniques piece by piece together with the characters, as spooky particulars concerning 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 relating to fight. Nonetheless, Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse additionally drags on for too lengthy and has some clunky controls.
Say cheese
A traditional survival horror recreation 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 fascinating device known as the Digicam Obscura, a staple of the sequence. This can be a digicam that may evade ghosts and exorcise them. The fight system of the sport is reliant on this digicam, as our goal because the participant is to snap footage of the ghosts that we encounter to eliminate them. Nonetheless, there may be additionally a requirement to purpose the lens correctly on the ghost and have the digicam’s particular capability cost up to have the ability to do any appreciable injury. Ghost encounters might be legit scary for the primary couple of hours, however they put on off after some time.
Exploration and different recreation mechanics in Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse
Apart from fight, Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse additionally options exploration and puzzles that it’s essential to clear up to progress. The mansion is big, and you’ve got a number of rooms and corridors to make your method by. Whereas making your method by the rooms, yow will discover new objects to improve your digicam. The characters stroll fairly slowly, and the run choice doesn’t assist a lot. I discovered myself wishing I may make my method by the mansion sooner. This was doubtless achieved to maintain a way of realism and invoke some eeriness.
Transferring to the puzzle fixing side of the sport, they weren’t that troublesome to determine. The sport maintains a very good steadiness relating to exploration, fight, and story, which allowed me to take my very own time and get immersed within the environment of the creepy mansion.
Whereas all that sounds nice on paper, it’s the controls that are available in the best way of immersion. I discovered these to be a bit clunky and finicky. I most well-liked taking part in on the controller to the keyboard and mouse. Whereas taking part in with the controller, it took me a while to get used to the truth that each the left and proper sticks transfer the digicam in numerous methods.
The digicam can be sluggish to purpose, making it troublesome to get a very good shot of the ghosts. This wasn’t an enormous downside for me, however the controls are one thing that wanted some extra polish. The slim and cramped corridors may also be an issue when attempting to purpose at a ghost. This turns into exceedingly troublesome when there are a number of ghosts coming at you on the identical time. Nonetheless, I did discover the claustrophobic feeling as an extra side of the horror component current within the recreation.
Haunting melodies
Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse appears like a product of its time, and I imply that in a great way. Graphics within the recreation assist set the tone of the unsettling environment. The environments of the sport are a mixture of conventional Japanese and fashionable 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 nicely within the recreation, as I discovered myself feeling uneasy whereas exploring. It made me unaware of what to anticipate with each step I took. Speaking concerning the character fashions current within the recreation, I discovered them fairly detailed and top quality. Nonetheless, they don’t present quite a lot of emotion even in cutscenes. At occasions, the character fashions seemed misplaced after they’re purported to be scared out of their wits. As a substitute, they may barely transfer their eyebrows as a response.
I imagine that the suitable use of soundtrack performs a giant half within the success of horror content material throughout a number of media codecs. Luckily, Koei Tecmo, together with composers Masafumi Takada and Etsuko Ichikawa knew what they had been doing. If Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse doesn’t scare you with its creepy ghosts, it is going to definitely provide you with a number of soar scares with using its music and sound results. Simply wandering across the mansion feels completely unnerving due to the soundtrack. The whispers and different minor sounds simply add to this impact. The builders managed to create rigidity completely by 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 fascinating, and the lore uncovered slowly throughout my playthrough wished me to know extra concerning the thriller. There are quite a lot of suspenseful moments within the story as nicely with some wonderful performances by the voice actors. The sport is barely out there in Japanese audio, which could alienate some gamers. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a problem for me as I actually loved the voice appearing performances and most well-liked to play with the unique audio.
You probably have by no means performed a Deadly Body recreation 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 recreation. You will have 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 mentioned, 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 by.
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, fascinating storytelling, and spine-tingling environment. Really useful for horrophiles.
