Mystery VNs – Genre Deep Dive
Entry posted by Pallas_Raven in Analysis
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This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here.
Through The Lies And Deception
Of all the genres Mystery is perhaps the one visual novels have the most tools of engage with. The levels of subtly and the precise execution needed to ensure a balance between the known and unknown so that the player is never lost is no easy task and demands a degree of control many games lack. At the same time they have to be able to spin other delicate plates such as character empathy and a natural feeling escalation to make sure none of these can come at the cost of the core mystery. The ability of visual novels to achieve these aims smoothly can be seen in the many types of mystery on offer from murder mystery to death games to supernatural happenings and with new ones popping up every day. So let’s puzzle our way through the villain's web and find out what mystery means for visual novels.
Subtly, Setup and Solvable Mysteries
The most important parts of any mystery are the clues provided to the player and the game’s ability to convey them. If they are too obvious then the player will figure out what is going on before the big reveal and too subtle then they may miss out on information leading to a feeling that the mystery makes no sense. Fortunately for visual novels, their natural narrative closeness to events opens a space into which clues and hints can be dropped without seeming out of place due to the way they are blended into the words and actions of the characters and world. Not only does this include what is said, but also the way something is framed as there is a lot of control over how something is presented to the player available to visual novels. This setup ultimately results in a more satisfying pay off when the player find out which of their deductions were correct while still being surprised at the twists offered. There are few visual novels with a more complicated central mystery than Virtue’s Last Reward yet it makes the most out of each element to keep the player informed even if they do not know it yet. Its clean integration of cleaver hints into exposition and narrative beats as well as the way it makes full use of its leanings into 3d space to convey the subtle intentions of its cast gives the game a sense effortless intrigue to its mysteries.
Intimacy With The Detective
A compelling and well structured mystery is nothing if the player does not care for the person investigating it. The detective comes in many forms from a professional to those who are forced into the role by circumstance. They are generally the focal point of all conflict in the narrative and by extension the mysteries. Visual novels tend towards an intimacy centring around characters and in particular the point of view character who in mysteries is often the detective or their assistant. This presence inside their mind and the way it allows us into their lives and struggles in an all consuming manner helps create a parallel between their personal victories and their solving of the mysteries the game’s story rotates around. Through these bonds visual novels can create a cohesive experience and avoid any potential issues were the mysteries seem detached from the detective’s own struggles or the detective being uninteresting and pushed into the background by the mysteries.
Despite the fact that both Higurashi and Umineko switch between point of view characters, they know to make sure the player is engaged with the current detective through how much the characters has to lose if they fail and uses paranoia and misdirection to put you into their head space. These game series understand how to use the perspective provided by visual novels to shape a relationship between player and the detective’s plight which they milk for every drop it is worth. In a similar vein, Chaos Child uses the detective perspective to misdirect, narrows their perception of the world to down to a point and makes them clearly unreliable. Yet they are our only window into this mystery so we have hope to piece together the truth by closely examining their behaviour to get a sense of how they think. This subtly moves the player into the detective’s head space and results in a very similar connection and impact to both Higurashi and Umineko, showcasing how wide the means of applying this idea are for visual novels.
Open Narrative Exploration
From a higher level design perspective the structure of the narrative space offered by visual novels and the player’s means of exploring it contribute a lot to the medium’s compatibility with mystery stories. The routes and winding pathways visual novel are know for are the perfect home to hide mysteries within while still having an exceptional degree of control over when and what is shown. Moreover the way this open structure encourages the player to explore the space around the mystery for clues and move towards an understanding of both the mystery and the greater narrative they are passing through. In doing this visual novels can provide engagement with the player being allowed to proceed in an order decided by them and at the same time subtly controlling their perceptions through the previously mention methods. This leads to the mysteries permeating every level from meta to micro which makes the experience of playing a mystery focused visual novel an captivating affair. We can see this practice even as far back as YU-NO with its free-form common route and various heroine routes all feeding the player’s curiosity as to what is around the next metaphorical corner with the teasing of the possibilities of a different path. Emphasising this idea of structure as part of the mystery has almost become its own subgenre of visual novels which follow in the footsteps of games like YU-NO and maybe more influentially Ever 17 which has resulted in this design opportunity going relatively unexplored outside this niche.
Conclusion
Few genres require the level of technical and narrative polish to achieve their aims that the mystery genre demands from its developers. The delicate balance present in these games makes them a difficult proposition for many since a single split up with how you frame your clues can have the whole experience coming crashing down. However, it is precisely these restriction which allow visual novels to merge with the genre so well. This manifests in everything from its ability to give the stories a narrative closeness which offers both a chance to blend clues seamlessly into its scenes as well as create a bond with the detective to the more open structure exploration that gives a sense of investment and agency for the player to latch on to. In combination the result is a toolset that has produced some of the greatest mystery titles in any medium and still has space to grow as new avenues of structural expression are developed.
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