A Shared Illusion of the World's End
I woke up the other day and I thought to myself, “Man, I really haven’t played a messed up visual novel lately; I should look for a new one.” So when I got to my computer, I browsed some sites and even opened up Steam. A lot were on sale at the time. I don’t know if they still are. Anyway, I came across a game called MAMIYA, with an interesting premise:
Tokyo, during the year in which the world was prophesied to end.
As we clung to reality, too spineless to throw our lives away together, we met MAMIYA.
At a friend's funeral, the entire crowd was weeping and mourning, while we thought to ourselves that the death of a single person had no meaningful impact on the world at large.
We slept, woke up, and went through the same daily grind as ever. At least, that's how it was supposed to be.
Then MAMIYA appeared...
Before we even knew it, the mysterious child named MAMIYA had wormed their way into our daily lives. They slowly, but surely, became something of an emotional support. They'd brought us down a new path.
A path that would surely lead us to our deaths…
It piqued my interest almost immediately. So I bought it (I didn't buy the DLC, “DoomsDayDreams”, until later, though), and I downloaded it, and I started playing it.
It’s one of those games that I dearly wished I had found earlier. The notes say that it had taken eight years for the full game, including the final episode, to be completed. Apparently, it’s all made by one person, which is, to me, really admirable and inspiring. After all, I want to do that, too.
The first two episodes are part of the base game, and they’re rather good. The second cuts off with a cliffhanger that also, somehow, doubles as a solid ending, so even if you don’t continue, yeah, you might be losing out on some of the mystery, but it would have sated me had I not been able to purchase the third episode right away… (So I say.)
It is a rather heavy game, however. It handles topics such as death, sexual assault, suicide, loneliness, child abuse, and more. That’s just what I’ve seen so far, too. Who knows what else awaits me?
I’m in the middle of the third episode right now. Actually, I think it’s more like the very beginning. I think there’s some twenty endings in the third episode alone and I’ve only finished two so far. It’s slow going, but I’m at the point where I don’t want it to end. Ah, if only Mamiya were here…
If you’re looking for a new visual novel with an interesting premise that betrays expectations, I urge you to let MAMIYA into your hearts.
With love, Byleth