[Post-Mortem] Death Come True

I love FMV games. Been playing them since the ancient times of Night Trap and Sewer Shark and well into the modern FMV renaissance, from high production value gems like Late Shift to no-budget schlock like Press X To Die.

It’s about time Japan threw their hat into the ring.

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/death-come-true-switch/

As has probably been known, this quirky experiment was written by Kazutaka Kodaka, the lunatic behind the Danganronpa games, a weird VN/murder mystery series known for having the characters die in elaborate ways while trying to solve an elaborate mystery.

Death Come True is basically that, except the protagonist is the one doing (most of) the dying.

Makoto Kuraki wakes up in a hotel with no idea of who he is, what he’s doing there, why he keeps dying, or why everyone thinks he’s… a killer!?

Like most FMV games, Death Come True boils down to making choices… and, uh, that’s literally about it.

I finished the game in about two hours, give or take. It’s VERY short, and far as I can tell, there’s not a whole lot of replay value. It has a few neat twists and turns, high production values, and good acting, but nothing too shocking. In fact, it’s a little predicable, knowing what the writer’s penchant for certain types of tropes and storytelling swerves.

I still had a fun time with Death Come True, but I would suggest waiting til it hits the $10ish mark for maximum enjoy. It’s nice to see FMV games from Japan, especially with a budget and big names thrown at it, just hopefully next time it’s something a bit meatier.

The unappreciated depth and secrets of Night Trap

Probably the most infamous FMV game ever made, Night Trap is part of the reason the video game rating system as we know it exists. Infamously used as part of Nintendo’s arsenal during the Senate hearings on violence in video games, Night Trap was falsely presented as a game where the player kills hapless girls by luring them to their doom.

It’s also commonly reviled as an awful game, a waste of the Sega CD, and often cited as one o the main examples why FMV games are the worst.

While there’s no secret that Digital Pictures churned out FMV games like candy, in many ways, Night Trap is probably their most replayable title, and has a lot of content that most players will miss… if you know where to look.